Readers first met Cab Bolton in my sixth novel The Bone House — which was also my first
novel not to feature Duluth police lieutenant Jonathan Stride. I originally envisioned The Bone House as a stand-alone, but readers soon demanded to see
more of this quirky Florida detective.
Well, after the pure stand-alone Spilled Blood (which won the 2013 Thriller Award for Best Hardcover
Novel) and the new Stride novel The Cold
Nowhere, Cab Bolton is finally back in an all-new thriller Season of Fear.
So how does Cab Bolton differ from the intense,
introspective Jonathan Stride?
“Sarcasm doesn’t
suit you,” Cab Bolton’s mother tells him.
“And yet I stick with it,” he
replies.
Cab isn’t your
typical cop. For one thing, he doesn’t
look much like a cop. Imagine a young Peter O’Toole…absolutely amazing blue
eyes, spiky blonde hair, skin so perfect you want to know what moisturizer he
uses. He’s crazy-tall and wouldn’t be
caught dead in anything but an expensive suit.
He’s got money, thanks to his Hollywood mother, so he’s a cop not
because he HAS to be but because he WANTS to be. He enjoys the game.
The challenge. He’s
clever, and he’s good at it. However,
Cab may as well wear a sign that says: Does not play well with others. He hates authority. He doesn’t like rules. He’s still figuring out what he wants to do
with his life. And for most of his 35
years, he’s been playing a game of hopscotch, jumping from place to place. Other cops call him Catch-a-Cab Bolton,
because he always has one foot out of town.
He loves women
(okay, he has that in common with Stride), but he doesn’t trust them. He’s been betrayed by women before, and he
grew up with a mother who didn’t know the meaning of commitment herself. So his relationship with his girlfriend Lala
is on-again, off-again. There are
fireworks in bed and fireworks when they argue.
Don’t make bets on a long-term affair for them.
His other relationship — with his actress mother Tarla
— is just as problematic. He lived on
the other side of the world from her for years, but now she’s back in his life
and trying to control it. Tarla made Cab
who he is, and he’s not entirely sure he likes that. She also
keeps secrets from him — like not telling him who his father was or why he has
the odd name Cab. So when people ask, he
just makes up stories.
One thing about Cab…he’s genuinely charming. Handsome.
Funny. Sharp. He banters with friends and enemies alike. He’s secure about who he is and who he’s not. He takes life seriously and himself not at
all. Which makes him impossible not to
like.
Season of
Fear also takes me to a new setting
in hot, humid central Florida. Most of
my earlier
books (except the Vegas-based Stripped)
have taken place in the American Midwest, with its dirt roads, bitter winters, and dark
forests. I love the drama of those
settings, and I like to give readers a “you
are there” feel, where they are dropped into the middle of every scene and
can taste, touch, feel, and smell it happening all around them.
However, Florida weather is typically so darn nice
that writers just seem to have fun with it.
Many of the great Florida writers are satirists (think Hiaasen) who
deliciously profile the offbeat, Jimmy Buffett-meets-Lindsay Lohan attitude of
Miami and the Keys. Me, I wanted to see
if I could export my love of dark settings to a place called the Sunshine State. Needless to say, some really bad weather is
headed for the coast.
Cab is a Florida detective, but will he stay that way? Don’t count on it. You can’t separate Jonathan Stride from his
hometown of Duluth, but Cab doesn’t have the same roots. He doesn’t have a hometown at all, and
chances are, he’ll show up in other settings going forward.
Some readers are already asking: Will Jonathan Stride
ever meet Cab Bolton? Will they — like Harry Bosch and Mickey Haller — turn out
to have some secret family connection that bridges my two series? No, I don’t think so. Cab and Stride are opposites of each other in
many ways. Stride is the emotional hero
— driven by his relationships, passionate (sometimes too passionate) about the
victims he’s trying to help. Cab isn’t
comfortable with emotions. He doesn’t
like to go there, because usually, he doesn’t like what he sees. And if Stride always seems tangled in a web
of women, Cab is a loner at heart. I
think Cab and Stride would be oil and water if I put
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