Rob Hart
Assassins Anonymous
DOSSIER: Your novel, THE WAREHOUSE, was shockingly good, and the message wasn’t lost on The Dossier. Your new novel, ASSASSINS ANONYMOUS, however, got a lot of early praise at the last Thrillerfest. People are excited about it! In this new novel, which is now highly-anticipated, how are you going to shock people with this new book, besides giving us a killer title right off the bat?
HART: Oh man, I have no idea. I like to think I put Mark, the main character, through his paces on this one. I wanted to write a book about someone who was trying to grow beyond the mistakes they’ve made and be a better person, and that’s a fun space to play in when the person in question is the world’s greatest assassin. We tend to treat the assassin character as a noble one—but they still kill people for a living, and I wanted to dig into that a little. There’s some stuff that happens about halfway through the book, that I’m very, very curious to see how it lands with readers.
DOSSIER: In your Substack article about having a writing process, specifically working with an outline but then forgetting things, have you ever gone back into the book folders for novels you’ve already published and sifted through your half-formed ideas folder to find a new home for them in your current work? You’re never going to trash those folders, are you?
HART: There’s a reason I have a system and keep everything: sooner or later it’s going to be useful. Sometimes I have stuff lying around that I can strip for parts. And sometimes I have ideas that aren’t the right fit for the moment—for where I am as a writer—while others just don’t work in a novel format, but might make a good comic or TV pitch one day. Some are just nonsense. I have a book folder that just says “alien fight club.” I’m not even sure when I meant when I wrote that down.
DOSSIER: In ASSASSINS ANONYMOUS, Mark enters a 12-step group for reformed killers. As someone who hasn’t gone through that, how did you prepare for and deliver on writing an authentic character (in this case a killer) who was trying to break an addiction? You’re known for massive research, this one must have been interesting!
HART: This one came together fairly easily, to be honest. Right from the jump we know that it doesn’t have to be a substance to be addictive. Gambling and sex are addictive. And as soon as I started to dig a little I found some studies that found similarities in brain structure between people who are addicts and people who kill. I also have a lot of great people in my life who are in recovery and were generous enough to share their stories with me. The real challenge was paying respect to the process. Recovery programs save lives. It has to be more than a hook, and I didn’t want to gloss over that.
DOSSIER: When and where do you write, and what kind of environment do you prefer? (Absolute silence/music playing/airport lounge?)
HART: I have a 9-year-old daughter, so I write however and whenever I can! I do like some music—usually something orchestral or electronic, and very chill. I have a little corner of my apartment set up for it but I also keep an office at the Writer’s Room in Manhattan, and the benefit of being there is I am less inclined to play video games or take a nap (but they also have couches, so sometimes I take a nap). And I’ll be headed off on tour soon for this book, and I’ve got another project I’m working on, and I’m excited. I tend to get a lot of work done on planes and in hotel rooms. I finished The Warehouse on a plane to Singapore.
DOSSIER: Regarding ASSASSINS ANONYMOUS, S.A. Cosby said, “The best kind of thriller. . . . Suspenseful, sentimental, and ultimately redemptive, Assassins Anonymous is a can’t-miss novel.” Do you always look to fold in elements of suspense, sentimentality, and redemption, or does the story you end up writing decide what comes out? Are those things decided in your outlining phase?
HART: Every book is like a form of therapy, except I’m getting paid instead of my therapist. It always starts with a question I’m struggling with. The Warehouse was me feeling over-worked and ground-down by the requirements of late-stage capitalism. The Paradox Hotel was about how hard it is to face myself. Assassins Anonymous is about wanting to be a better person and trying to figure out if change is possible. I just feel like it’s easier to process these things if I just throw a bunch of robots and dinosaurs and assassins into the mix.
DOSSIER: Not a lot of authors openly offer advice about the technical aspects of handling money earned from writing, but you do. (Thank you!) You talk about some of the good things you did like hiring an accountant, but what was one thing you initially screwed up and had to fix when you were starting out?
HART: I can’t think of any specific mistakes, other than being a little more careful with my money! Being a full-time writer is awesome but it took a little while to get used to the idea that I’d be getting checks every few months rather than every two weeks. But I do think it’s important to talk about money stuff—there’s no guidebook for this sort of thing, and I’ve seen too many people get jammed up when they find out that you have to pay quarterly taxes (which is why I always say, take 30 percent out of every check you get and stick it in an interest-bearing savings account, so you can make those quarterly payments…) Wait, I did make a mistake. I forgot to put the quarterly payment dates in my calendar and missed a few…
Website: Rob Hart | Amazon Page