Sean Chercover is the author of two political thrillers. His latest, “The Devil’s Game,” picks up where the first left off. As a writer of political thrillers, he enjoys conspiracy theories, and says his latest thriller came about as the result of a promise he made to a friend.
Alexander “Sasha” Neyfakh was a prominent microbiologist, originally from the Soviet Union. He did his post-doctoral at Harvard, worked at the University of Illinois in Chicago, traveled the world sharing his research with other microbiologists. “He helped protect the human race from anthrax and other nasty little monsters, basically,” said Chercover.
Sasha was also Sean Chercover’s friend. “We talked a lot about the coming pandemic—make no mistake, we will experience a pandemic—and how we are actively bringing it on sooner and weakening our ability to fight it with our criminally negligent over-use of antibiotics, and how big the depopulation will be when it hits. Cheery conversation over cigarettes and cold vodka and the occasional head injury.”
In addition to their interest in social issues, Sean Chercover and Sasha both loved crime fiction and conspiracy theories. “We traded news items about the rash of deaths among microbiologists at the time. By coincidence, or not, a statistically ridiculous number of prominent microbiologists were dropping dead over a short period of time, all around the world, of unrelated causes. Online conspiracy forums lit up about it, everybody assuming the deaths were disguised assassinations, and promoting theories about who was behind it and why.
“Sasha and I both believed the deaths coincidental, and we joked about whether he should be relieved or insulted that ‘they’ hadn’t yet sent an assassin for him. He made me promise to put the dead microbiologists conspiracy into a thriller, one day. Only he didn’t call them thrillers. He had a thick Russian accent, and he called them ‘sizzlers.’
Sean Chercover went on to write the promised thriller, complete with dead microbiologists and the threat of pandemic. Chercover said, “I wish Sasha were still alive to read the book, but he isn’t. No, the assassins didn’t get him. He just got cancer and died. Which sucks. I was lucky to count him as a friend.”
Subjects such as pandemics and assassins raise the question of, is the author making an argument. Chercover makes no excuses, he said he was. “I would argue that virtually all authors make arguments and address issues when they write, even if they don’t intend to. Fiction is about how humans treat ourselves and each other and the world we live in, how the world treats us. And nobody wants to read stories about The Village of The Happy People, you know?
I want to keep you up all night turning pages…I want to make you miss your subway stop and be late for work.
“Transgressions, both committed and felt, provide the conflict in our novels. Human existence is messy, so there’s no shortage of arguments and issues, and no shortage of stories. ‘The Devil’s Game’ continues the conversations started in ‘The Trinity Game’ about plutocracy and political power, ends and means, faith and physics, and the demands of love.”
Although he set out to address certain social issues, Chercover said he’s committed to writing a good story. “My primary goal is to spin a good yarn. I want to keep you up all night turning pages, saying, ‘Just one more chapter…’ I want to make you miss your subway stop and be late for work. I’m a bit of a jerk that way. If it’s easy to put down, I haven’t done my job.”
Sean Chercover has, in fact, held a variety of unusual jobs. He’s been a television writer, video editor, support diver, waiter, and encyclopedia salesman. His favorite jobs have revolved around writing. Selling encyclopedias in Louisiana was definitely not among his favorites. He called it “a tour of human misery.”
Chercover added, “My favorite job is the one I have right now. Making up stories is the greatest job in the world.”
Learn more about Sean Chercover on his website at chercover.com.
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