INTERVIEW WITH JUAN GÓMEZ-JURADO

POINT OF BALANCE by author Juan Gómez-Jurado was our October Book of the Month. It is a nail-biting, breath-catching thriller about a Doctor who must choose between saving his child or killing his next patient -- the President of the United States. 

We were not able to interview Juan over the phone for our teleconference, but he did send us the answers to our questions; see below.  

Happy Reading.

  

Juan Gomez-Jurado

Q:  Please give us a brief synopsis of POINT OF BALANCE.   

JGJ:  David Evans, a top neurosurgeon at a D.C. Hospital needs to choose between the life of the President of the United State and the life of his most beloved person, his daughter Julia, who is the only family he has after the death of his wife. Julia has been kidnapped by Mr. White, a mysterious and smart sociopath. In the challenge of saving Julia´s life, Evans can only count with the help of his sister in law, Kate, an FBI special agent.

Q:  Why did you choose the United States as the setting for your book instead of Spain or another country? Why kill the President of the USA when you could kill the King of Spain or Prime Minister of England?

JGJ:  Have you heard something about Mr. Mariano Rajoy, President of Spain? Well, If you knew something about him, you would understand that nobody in our country would doubt between saving the President´s life or his/her offspring. There would not be any dilemma. Anyhow, to choose the US as background makes more understandable the dilemma, the story. Spain is not as famous as the US, everybody understand and knows the US culture and its way of life thanks to TV shows and films which are broadcasted almost in every corner of our planet. 

Atria Books

Q:  What kind of research did you do on the Secret Service to make the book so intriguing and realistic?

JGJ:  Phone calls, interviews with agents, many books… anything to scratch the surface and get some fresh details!!

Q:  You are a father of two.  Have you ever lost track of your kids and felt that same frantic panic that your protagonist Dr. David Evans feels?

JGJ:  Well, none of my children have ever been kidnapped by a sociopath; nevertheless, I feel something quite similar to panic every time I go on shopping with them. They are 7 and 11 years old and spend most of the time are running and playing around the adults. On the other hand, their attention is caught by different things very easily, so it is quite common to take your eyes off them when you are in a department store or in a shopping mall, but never more than 2 or 3 minutes; those minutes can be perceived as hours, but nothing similar to the distress of knowing that your child´s life is in a mortal danger.

Q:  While Dr. David Evans is the perfect hero; a good thriller needs a really good villain. Who or what inspired Mr. White?

JGJ:  I do not know. I like to look at people on the streets and imagine their lives, what they think, what they like, if they are good or bad persons. Sometimes I imagine an evil biography for someone just for fun, so I guess that he is inspired by life itself. Bad persons are around us, closer than we think; you can hear their stories everyday on TV and films, or read about them in the news, it is an exercise of reality. I just thought about what I had heard, read and watched, and added some personal background to create Mr. White, a villain. Serial killers also have a very interesting mind from a writer's point of view, which does not mean that I want to have one of them as a friend; it is only that they think in a different way, out of the rules, so they are also a source of inspiration.

Q:   Your books have been translated into 42 languages with 3 million readers worldwide.  (Congratulations by the way!) Which is your favorite novel?

JGJ:  This is like asking which of my children I love more. I feel something different for all my novels. The first one is special just because it was the first one. If you ask me which one is better, I would say that POINT OF BALANCE or my next novel, CICATRIZ (SCAR), since both are more mature and contemporary. I have evolved along with my novels and that is obvious if you read them in the same order I wrote them. From topics to writing style, there has been a clear evolution. Nevertheless, I put something of me inside every one of my novels so it is very difficult to choose only one.

Q:  Does knowing your books are going to be translated influence the story in any way?

JGJ:  I would be lying if I say that it is not important. It is really important and of course, it influences the story. To know that there are people from other countries that are going to read my books is a big responsibility. I would like for all my readers to empathize with my characters and that is only possible if the plot is common to several cultures, understanding here cultures as countries. If I write about Spain in the age of the Spanish Civil War, most probably readers from abroad would not be interested so I choose stories that can be understood by everybody without a background in Spanish History or a degree in Arts or Philosophy. Current affairs topics affecting different cultures, as the white slave traffic in my new novel, CICATRIZ.

Winner of two International
Latino Book Awards

Q:   We know that your books have won numerous awards including two International Latino Book Awards, which we imagine is a thrill.  But how did you feel when you learned that your university was using THE TRAITOR'S EMBLEM in their curriculum?

JGJ:  Well… it’s complicated. Happy, and awkward, and weird. You feel phony, but also proud.  90% of the time I think that I don’t deserve all the attention. The other 10%, I’m fighting the opposite feeling!

Q:   You are a journalist and an author.  Do you think being both helps you with the plotting and writing?  What advice would you give new writers?

JGJ:  Of course being both helps me with the plotting. When you are informed about what´s going on in the world, it is easier to have new ideas or just find topics you want to write about. And when you are a journalist it is mandatory to keep yourself updated on new laws, investigations, policy and social issues and so on. On the other hand, if someone wants to write a novel, the first thing to do is to read. Read a lot.  [New writers should] read all they can and all types of books: thriller, essay, horror, sci-fi, comics... everything. You cannot be a good writer if you are a disastrous reader. After reading a huge amount of books, you just need to find your story or let the story find you.

Q:   Tell us about your new novel, CICATRIZ, which is currently only available in Spanish. When will it be released in the US in English?

Coming Soon in English!

JGJ:  We are currently working on the translation… I hope it will be ready in a couple of months!

Q:   Is there a reason why your books now carry the J.G. Jurado name instead of your real name?

JGJ:  It was a decision from the publishing house; I had nothing to do with it. Nevertheless, I guess that for English-speaking readers it’s easier to say J.G. Jurado than Juan Gómez-Jurado when they ask for one of my novels in the bookstore.  I think that it is only a way of internationalizing my name. And it is still my real name, J.G. are my initials. ;)

Q:  We heard that your books are being considered for the movies.  Any truth to these rumors? when and with whom?

JGJ:  Sorry, I cannot say anything about it; there is a confidentiality agreement that seals my mouth. I can only confess, and only because you are pressing me too much, that the rights for some of my novels have been acquired by different movie producers, but that´s all I can say if I do not want to find a lawsuit on my table.#

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:   Juan Gómez-Jurado (writing as J.G. Jurado) is an award winning journalist and bestselling author. He is one of the three most successful contemporary Spanish authors along with New York Times bestselling authors Javier Sierra and Carlos Ruiz Zafón. In 2010, Juan celebrated the mark of 3 million readers worldwide.  Juan is the author of three international bestselling novels: GOD'S SPY, THE MOSES EXPEDITION, and THE TRAITOR'S EMBLEM. They have been translated into 40+ languages.  Visit him at www.juangomezjurado.com.