Behind the story of One Mile Under with Andrew Gross

New York Times bestseller Andrew Gross quips that the most “thrillery” thing in his life is what to make for dinner. But, in this interview about his latest release, “One Mile Under,” Gross described some experiences in his life that have been far from mundane.

“One Mile Under” is really about the struggle of downtrodden individuals against a larger and far more powerful adversary. “It’s easy to see this book as a ‘fracking’ story,” said Gross. “But, what I’m really using these issues and conspiracies for is the delivery system of a story that centers more about heroism, redemption, and the standing up by the small against the mighty.”

He describes the book as being more about people and water rights than the injustices of fracking. “It’s a story about the natural life of individuals falling under the spell of greed from outside corporations and then fighting to reclaim their way of life.”

“Any book to me is kind of a triangulation of several themes that, melded together, form the foundation of character and plot,” said Gross. “About fifteen years ago I took my family on several whitewater rafting trips, and on the Snake River, mostly Class III’s and IV’s. We had a cute, strong-willed, self-reliant female guide who I guess I developed kind of an immediate crush on, since she was so unlike anyone I knew in my life back East. I always wanted to find a way to put her in a book.

“Lo and behold, fifteen years later she came alive again as Dani Whalen, who’s tough, irrepressible, and who digs and digs after the death of a friend in the face of a lot of opposition to prove that his death was not an accident.”

Gross was also intrigued by a New York Times article discussing oil companies’ needs for vast volumes of water for the fracking process. He said, “They were bidding up water auctions in the drought-stricken West, way above what the indigenous farmers and ranchers could afford, and driving them out of their way of life. I came upon an article that these oil companies were hiring and utilizing Iraq War trained psy-ops agents to smooth out obstacles with local townships to get drilling rights and put down opposition.”

The protagonist in “One Mile Under” is Ty Hauck, a Greenwich detective that Gross says his fans have been eager to see return. In what Gross calls a modern-day western, he pits Ty and his Goddaughter Dani against the establishment.

The story has the elements of a good western with downtrodden farmers and ranchers under the control of a ruthless power. Gross said, “In this case, [it’s] not the local saloon owner or land owner, but a rogue energy company bent on taking away just what they need for their survival: water. There’s a guy in the white hat, a town in need of a hero, and a hero who doubts himself and rises up to show that the individual matters, and a shootout at the end. I see it kind of as Pale Rider meets Tony Hillerman.”

Gross and his wife drove through northeastern Colorado to view, firsthand, the wells he would be writing about in “One Mile Under.” He said, “I was kind of looking for the traditional ‘pumpjack’ trestled well, and we kept seeing these desert beige water tanks everywhere, one after another, driving past them for miles, going, man, everyone seems to have their own tanks out here, before it dawned on me, Oh my God, these are wells!”

While Gross claims he’s led a quiet life, he did have one experience most people never have—he was nearly arrested by the Houston police. “I was stopped by the police, got into a slight difference of an opinion with the cop—okay, an altercation—and was taken out of my rental car, handcuffed, thrown into his cop car, and told I was going to jail. It escalated from there—lots of police cars blocking traffic, multiple cops interrogating me in the back seat until I could finally prove I was not the person they thought I was.”

The police eventually realized their error and released Gross, but the germ of an idea for another book had been planted. “It all ended kind of benignly for me, but sitting there at the end, with only the arresting cop, I went through my mental fantasy of what would happen if he was suddenly killed in a drive-by, and everyone on the Houston police force had seen me arguing with him not minutes before. It became the launching point for the following year’s ’15 Seconds.’”

Perhaps there’s a bit more “thrill” to Gross’s life than he might realize, because at age fifteen, he met Charles Manson. He described the meeting as “argumentative and really chilling.” Nevertheless, he maintains that 90% of his time is spent sitting at a computer writing. “It’s not so common you get to have these experiences that blossom into thrillers.”

Coincidence typically doesn’t work well in fiction, but it’s a prominent factor in real life—the mistaken identity in Houston, a meeting with a future killer. Gross noted, however, that sometimes it’s the little things that remind us of how serendipitous life really is.

“In trying to find some pictures of my daughter for her wedding shower, my wife came across the very photo taken of us on the Snake River with the real-life guide who was my model for Dani. Neither of us had seen it in sixteen years. It was just totally karmic that all this time later, it surfaced, just as I finished writing the book, and there is my real life figure who I brought to life. Just shows the interweaving, both in story and conception, to which art follows and mirrors life.

Book & a Latte Contest

What: This month, Andrew is giving away one hardcover copy of “One Mile Under” and I’m adding one $5.00 Starbucks gift card. One random entry will be chosen as the winner. Winner will receive a book and a gift card.

How to enter: Choose one or more of the options below. Each option gives you an additional chance to win.

Who can enter: This contest is only open to continental US residents over 18 years of age.

When: Contest closes at 11:59 a.m., April 11. Winner will be selected on Sunday, April 12.

Verification of entries: All winning entries are subject to verification.

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