BOMBMAKER received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author Daniel J. Davies.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
My book is called BOMBMAKER, published in May of 2023.
What’s the book’s first line?
“Sipping this root beer was the last pleasant feeling he would ever have.”
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
This is the story of interrogator Emma Ripley, and her relationship with a suicide bomber who survives. Fadi awakes in captivity, maimed and disfigured by his own bomb and held for years in secret before meeting Emma. The clock is ticking on the next imminent attack on US soil, and Emma must not only pull valuable intel from her captive, but unravel the mystery of what made this man – a successful American citizen with a wife and daughter – blow himself up.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
This book is a classic thriller, to be sure, but it is also about identity. I was inspired to write about the recipe that might drive a human being to kill himself, whether for belief or otherwise. The force behind this story is at once the larger picture around thwarting future attacks, as well as the human story, which perhaps many of us face, around what makes us who we are and whether we are capable of change.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
As a reader, I love a fast-moving narrative story, which I hope BOMBMAKER has in spades, but I also delight in a book that offers layers and larger ideas on top of the narrative, ones that make us think even after the last page turns.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
There are two main characters. Fadi is distinctive because he does not fit into a stereo-typical box, either as a bad guy or a completely sympathetic character. Emma, the heroine, comes with her own mixed history, values, and off-the-book ways of getting to her target, while suffering in the rest of her life.
When did you first decide to become an author?
In college. It took one professor saying one passing comment about a short story I’d written. I was hooked.
Is this the first book you’ve written?
I’ve written two others books.
How much time do you generally spend on your writing?
I write every single morning.
What’s the best and the hardest part of being an indie?
I would say it’s finding your own way, which can be fraught with dead ends and rejection. But the community of writers more than makes up for it.
What’s a great piece of advice that you can share with fellow indie authors?
Write. Remember to find delight in the actual thing, itself.
Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?
I came very close, had two offers. And I might, but I would almost certainly go back indie, for finding the guardians and gatekeepers antithetical to good craft.
Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?)
The ability to write more.
Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?
Mary Shelley.
Which book do you wish you could have written?
The Old Man and the Sea…or The Shining.