A Conversation with Novelist Joe Joffe

with Joe Joffe

We are delighted to welcome novelist Joe Joffe to Omnimystery News today.

Joe's new thriller, the first in a series, is Paper Soldiers (Penn Media; February 2014 trade paperback and ebook formats), and we recently had the chance to catch up with him to talk about it.

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Omnimystery News: Introduce us to your new book.

Photo provided courtesy of
Joe Joffe

Joe Joffe: Paper Soldiers is a legal thriller that explores the power struggle that ensues when three young lawyers are drawn into the investigation of their firm's star client, a major American oil corporation, for atrocities committed in the Middle East. Because the story is characterized by a conflict between competing forces (not just good and evil — there is a lot of grey), as these different forces vie for and achieve supremacy, they challenge the characters in new ways. So the characters definitely change, and some may even die. If the characters remained relatively unchanged, what would be the point?! The prospect of dynamic change underscores the most powerful lessons in life.

OMN: Give us a summary of Paper Soldiers in a tweet.

JJ: The investigation of a massacre takes an oil corporation to the brink, and three young lawyers may pay the ultimate sacrifice.

OMN: Describe your writing process for us.

JJ: I do let the story develop as I write, but I stop to think through where I am going and outline the plot in my mind. Once I have written a chapter, I can see ahead through the next two chapters. Once I have written a third of the book, I can see through to the end. Then it is just a matter of staying well caffeinated and hammering out the pieces of the puzzle. To outline the whole novel ahead of time would deprive the creative writing process of its creativity. Sometimes it's good to not be in control. Sometimes your characters do things you never expected. And that's what makes it fun.

OMN: Did any real-life event inspire the storyline of the book?

JJ: In Paper Soldiers, North Petroleum Corporation is investigated in connection with alleged atrocities committed by for-hire paramilitaries in the Middle East. While the line of investigation is based on actual US law, the events are entirely fictional. That said, very similar events (as well as investigations and, more importantly, cover-ups) have occurred in real life with U.S. contractors in the Middle East. That is a sad coincidence, but part of what gives this novel its power.

OMN: Tell us about the book's setting.

JJ: Much of the story in Paper Soldiers occurs in the Middle East, where private military contractors become entangled with locals and terrorists. In order to make this believable, it is absolutely necessary to base the novel's environment on real locations. Yet at the same time, I needed to be vague enough with the geography to provide the reader with the space to develop their own opinion about the location. Are we in Iraq or Afghanistan? Or are we somewhere else? And what implications does this have on the message of the novel? I'd be interested in reader's perceptions.

OMN: If you could travel anywhere in the world, all expenses paid, to research the plot of your next book, where would it be?

JJ: Somewhere dark and cold. Sensory deprivation is the well-spring of creative production.

OMN: What advice might you offer aspiring writers?

JJ: The best advice I could give is not to share your work until it is ready. And for any authors curious how to know when a book is ready, if you are wondering if it is ready, it is not ready.

OMN: Give us a Top 5 list on any subject.

JJ: Top five things thriller authors should do with their characters:

1. Introduce them before it's too late.
2. Develop their character with ambiguities (if it's not grey it's boring).
3. Make their enemies try to win as hard as you make their enemies try to lose.
4. Let them go where they want to go, not just where you want them to go.
5. Kill them.

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Joe Joffe is a writer and a lawyer based in New York City. Joe creates works of fiction and non-fiction and has published articles on law, society and culture. Joe is a graduate of Columbia Law School and previously worked for a law firm in New York.

For more information about the author and his new book, visit his website at PaperSoldiersBook.com or find him on Facebook and Twitter.

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Paper Soldiers
Joe Joffe
A Suspense Thriller

When law firm associate Jake Green is called in to assist with the investigation of a major American oil company and star client, North Petroleum, he quickly finds himself embroiled in a global power struggle. U.S. Attorney Arthur Benson is convinced that North is behind a recently uncovered mass grave in the Middle East, while North's power-broker CEO Bruno Sinclair is equally determined to snuff out the investigation … and anyone else who gets in his way.

As the investigation in New York barrels forward, North's activities unravel in the Middle East, where American recruits working for a private security contractor are finding themselves increasingly ensnared by the violence that surrounds them. But could the trials and tribulations of a couple nobodies like Jim Gavins and Chuck Murphy be behind the investigation of a major American corporation?

As Jake and his cohorts uncover the truth about North's dealings, the circles of violence begin to close in on them, and they soon find that they must make a choice about what becomes of them in this world.