The Messenger by Stephen Miller

First Line: If they were to make a feature film of her life, the script would always be trying to map the source of her flawed personality.

Daria, a survivor from a refugee camp, has lost everything and witnessed things that you and I could only imagine in our worst nightmares. She is a believer. Committing herself to a deadly mission, she is sent to another country where she learns languages and learns how to blend in. When her training is over, she's given a ticket to New York City where she poses as a journalist for an Italian fluff magazine. Daria is an arrow who's determined to strike as many targets as she possibly can.

The only person in the United States who truly seems to understand what Daria represents is Dr. Sam Watterman. After being falsely accused and disgraced in the anthrax inquiries after 9/11, Watterman has been taking care of his dying wife. Now the government that vilified him demands his expertise in locating a threat that has put millions in danger.

These two people's lives are destined to intersect. Their faith will be tested, and each one of them will question what it is to have something worth dying for.

Stephen Miller does something that most people might think impossible: create a character who is a committed terrorist and not only give that character a face, a mind, and a heart but make her-- if not totally sympathetic-- at least understandable and worthy of compassion. Daria has been turned into a "Typhoid Mary," and her travels across the country serve a dual purpose. One, since the reader knows that she carries a deadly contagion, this ratchets up the tension, and as she carries out her instructions, don't be surprised if you change your habits on board airplanes, in restaurants, restrooms... any sort of high traffic public areas. Secondly, these travels bring her in contact with many people, and we are able to see how she reacts to them and how her behavior begins to change.

Daria is such a strong character that Dr. Sam Watterman is almost completely overshadowed by her. Yes, the book does need someone to steer government officials in the right direction and to have them search in the right places and handle the situation in as safe a manner as possible, but Daria is magnetic. I felt the book might've been even better if Daria's hunter had been more "generic". Then Daria's evolving character could have been explored even more deeply. What I would really enjoy seeing is a future book that gives Dr. Sam Watterman a chance to have center stage all to himself. He deserves it.

This is the type of thriller that I enjoy the most: fast-paced, with an all-too-believable plot, and strong, memorable characters. Something tells me I'll be reading more of Stephen Miller's books.

The Messenger by Stephen Miller

ISBN: 9780345528476

Delacorte Press © 2012

Hardcover, 336 pages

Standalone Thriller

Rating: B

Source: the author

Scene of the Crime with Author Stephen Miller!

If you like to read books that are nail biters, have I got the book and the author for you. Stop by tomorrow to read my review of The Messenger, a book that puts a face, a heart, and a mind to a terrorist who plays a part in a deadly plot against the United States. Today, we get to learn more about The Messenger's author, Stephen Miller.

Stephen Miller

I chose this shadowy photo of the author because he's not big on social media, although he does have a website. Born in Durham, North Carolina, he now spends his time between that city, Hawaii, and his home in Vancouver, British Columbia.

He has no problem staying busy either. Miller hasn't always been a writer; he's also a professional actor who has appeared in "Da Vinci's Inquest," "The X Files," and "Outer Limits." All this, and he writes a darned good thriller, too!


What was the very first book you remember reading and loving? What makes that book so special?

I could read at an early age; we lived in the country so I went through all my parents' books.  I discovered "Landmark" books, which were sort of YA non-fiction, biographies and histories.  I spent all my allowance on them.  Then I got into Tom Swift Jr. and bought the entire series as they came out.  Highlights of early reading were all of Jules Verne that i could find in the library, the same with Sherlock Holmes, Orwell's 1984, and then at some point I was blindsided by Oliver Twist, which I just fell into.  It really was the most amazing experience.  So, maybe I have to say Dickens is really the starting point for me, even though there were many others before him.




Outside of your writing and all associated commitments, what do you like to do in your free time?  

There's very little free time, but I try to fit in the Formula 1 races during their season, (only on TV, I can't afford to travel the world), and my wife and I can often be found at the movies.  Vancouver is a great outdoor city, and we are near the beach.  We walk.  We cook.  It's very domestic and peaceful, not too exciting, but very rewarding.  We're actually shopping for a place out of town, and have been for some time, so for fun we go out and pester the realtors.


If I were to visit your hometown, where would you recommend that I go? (I like seeing and doing things that aren't in all the guide books.)

Vancouver is one of the most beautiful cities in the world.  Just going outside is the best thing.  If you bicycle, a huge portion of the city can be toured via the sea wall.  It's also a great food city with some world class restaurants.  Tojo's is world famous for sushi and everything Japanese, for example.  I always tell people to go from Vancouver to Victoria via the ferry which is just a fantastic ride.  You spot the occasional orca, plus seals and eagles.  Lovely.   Flying from the harbour in downtown Vancouver is also a fantastic tour...you're so low that you see everything. 



You have total control over casting a movie based on your life. Which actor would you cast as you?

Robin Williams

Well, Robin Williams, who I met while shooting RV, is a great guy and a bit of a goof and so am I.  Oliver Platt is a great character actor and I'd approve his casting.  Jim Broadbent if he could master the Southern accent would be a wonderful choice.  All of them could do me better than I could.


Who is your favorite recurring character in crime fiction?

Le Carré's George Smiley, hands down, not counting my own Pyotr Ryzhkov, of course.  I also like Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther.


If you could have in your possession one signed first edition of any book in the world, which book would that be? Why that particular book?

I think I'd most like to have George Stewart's Earth Abides.  It's a not very well known science fiction novel about the end of the world.  Very un-sensational.  Sort of Eco-fiction.  I think he wrote it in the 40s.   A great book.  I tried to get the film rights on two or three different occasions.  It's the most peaceful, grounded, and sane post-apocalypse book you'll ever read.


How did you celebrate when you first heard you were to be published? What did you do the first time you saw one of your books on a shelf in a bookstore? 

With the birth of each book there is a bottle of very expensive champagne.  I do sort of lurk in the bookstores to see if there are copies, and how they are displayed.  I know a lot of the owners and staff around town-- they see me coming.  One of my books, (I will not say which) had a sort of mediocre cover and I remember going into Chapters and seeing it displayed against all the other "good" covers.  It was pretty much invisible and that was a real bummer.  I'm getting better about it, and don't obsess as much as I did in the beginning.


Name one thing on your Bucket List.

I want to drive a very nimble, very fast car around the Nurburgring race course.









You've just received a $100 gift card to the bookstore of your choice. Which bookstore are you making a bee-line for?

I'll either go to White Dwarf, Dead Write, or Pulp Fiction if in Vancouver.  Or The Regulator if I'm in Durham, North Carolina (where I was born and have family)  All are independents, fabulous selection with great staff.

ON SALE NOW!

Thank you so much for spending this time with us, Stephen. We appreciate the opportunity to get to know you a little better.

May your book sales do nothing but increase!


If you'd like to see the book trailer for The Messenger, just scroll on down a bit and take a look-- and don't forget about my review tomorrow!