with Donald R. Grippo
We are delighted to welcome thriller writer Donald R. Grippo to Omnimystery News today.
Don's debut novel is To Sleep … Perchance To Die (Turn the Page Publishing; June 2013 hardcover and ebook formats) and we recently had the chance to catch up with him to talk about the book.
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Omnimystery News: Is To Sleep … Perchance To Die a stand-alone thriller, or possibly the first in a series?
Photo provided courtesy of
Donald R. Grippo
Donald R. Grippo: I didn't begin my first novel with the intention of writing recurring characters in follow-up books. As the work developed, I recognized that my two most complex and interesting characters deserved to live in follow-up novels. As with people, these characters will develop and change according to the dictates of plot.
An interesting thing happened that I suspect happens to other authors. As my characters transitioned from one book to the next, I began to understand them better and know how they would think and act in most situations. In some respects they were real to me, Pinocchios to my Geppetto.
The sequel, whose working title is Unwelcome Visitors, is scheduled for release in 2014, and a third novel is in the planning stage.
OMN: Tell us something about the book that isn't mentioned in the publisher's synopsis.
DRG: As people have good and bad traits in them, so do my characters. They have flaws and are prone to making bad decisions such as entering into abusive relationships, acting irrationally, and procrastinating. The flaws give them dimensionality that I believe makes them human to the reader.
Another thing not mentioned by the publisher is that the novel has many poetic references, some obvious and others not. I feel such references enhance the quality of the writing.
OMN: How much of your own personal or professional experience have you included in the book?
DRG: Very much. I wanted to introduce readers to the profession of oral and maxillofacial surgery, to the beautiful region of northeast Connecticut, to involvement in the legal system that results in incarceration in a jail and prison, and to a famous northeast attorney.
My career as an oral and maxillofacial surgeon practicing in northeast Connecticut allowed me to complete my first two goals. My undergraduate degree in psychology, my work experience as a jail guard and a prison dentist, and my acquaintance with the non-fictional attorney character in my novel allowed fulfillment of my other goals.
The sequel, Unwelcome Visitors, utilizes my experiences as a private pilot and my longstanding love of the martial arts.
OMN: Describe your writing process for us.
DRG: This requires a two part answer.
Before I wrote a word of To Sleep … Perchance To Die and its sequel, I spent a great deal of time thinking about plot, location, and characters. It led to an outline for each novel. The outlines were divided into sections and separate summaries were developed for each section. In the end the summaries proved to be helpful but incomplete guides that had to be altered as a result of plot changes.
As for writing, I don't have a fixed schedule for putting words to Word. For me, writing cannot be regimented. It turns out I write most days although not at specific times but when the mood strikes.
OMN: How do you go about researching some of the plot points in the story?
DRG: Hooray for the Internet. Much of my fact checking was done through Google searches. In addition, I had access to lawyers who guided me through the legal system and my experience of working as a guard at a jail and as a dentist at a prison helped in writing the prison scenes. Medical/surgical expertise was, of course, the result of firsthand experience.
OMN: How true are you to the setting of the book?
DRG: A great deal of To Sleep … Perchance To Die takes place in northeastern Connecticut. With minor exceptions Connecticut locations are accurately portrayed. Even local business establishments, although not named, are presented. This degree of accuracy is because one of my goals was to introduce the reader to that part of Connecticut.
I did my oral and maxillofacial surgical training in New York City and lived in Manhattan for more than three years. It allowed for similar accuracy when writing the New York City scenes.
OMN: Tell us more about the book's cover and it's Shakespearean-inspired title.
DRG: The cover illustrates the relative importance of the three main characters of the novel. The eye of a beautiful woman dominates. Within the iris of the eye are two surgeons. The eye is Mai Faca's and the surgeons are her lovers. Mai is the most important, most psychologically complicated, and most interesting character in my novel. Through subtle and overt methods, she wields control over the surgeons and, therefore, the progression of the plot.
The title, paraphrased from Hamlet's to be or not to be speech, foreshadows the main event of the novel, a murder by dental anesthesia. It fits with the poetic theme of the book in which all chapter headings are lines from Shakespeare's sonnets and poetic references are interspersed throughout the work.
OMN: What kind of feedback have you received from readers?
DRG: A question I received from a reader was "Why did you murder Frankie? She was my favorite character. I was hoping you'd save her at the last minute." I enjoyed this question because it meant the reader had become involved with the character and, by extension, the plot and novel. Hearing such a question tells me, at least in that case, I've accomplished my goal of entertaining the reader.
I like to hear what people think about any aspect of my book. Their opinions have influenced my next book. Don't take this as boastful, but to date, the feedback I've gotten on To Sleep … Perchance To Die has been overwhelmingly positive.
OMN: What are some of your outside interests? And have any of these found their way into the book?
DRG: In To Sleep … Perchance To Die my love of poetry is revealed. As alluded to in a previous question, I earned a private pilot's license that included an instrument rating and training in aerobatics. In my teen years, I began the study of the martial arts that continues to this day. Both activities are featured in the sequel of To Sleep....Perhaps to Die.
OMN: What's next for you?
DRG: My plan is to continue writing until my mind and body tell me I can no longer do so. Unwelcome Visitors is almost completed and another sequel novel is in the planning stage. Although I practiced the profession of oral and maxillofacial surgery for many years, if asked what I am, I would reply that I'm a writer. It has been my great fortune to have found and embarked upon a new career after retirement.
Some have found interesting my reasons for and my path to a new career after retirement. I've spoken to groups about the decisions and commitments that allowed me to transition from oral surgeon to author.
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Donald R. Grippo, DDS, practiced oral and maxillofacial surgery in northeastern Connecticut for more than thirty years. His resume includes working as a dentist at the Tennessee State Prison outside of Nashville and as a guard at the Hartford State Jail in Hartford, Connecticut. He has lived most of his adult life in Windham Center and Mystic, Connecticut. His current residence is Sanford, Florida.
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To Sleep … Perchance To Die
Donald R. Grippo
A Novel of Psychological Suspense
Tangled lives, tainted love, and a Shakespearean twist lead to deception, betrayal, and murder …
Eurasian beauty Mai Faca plots to marry Jake Warden, a successful oral surgeon forbidden to her because of family honor. In an unheard-of scheme, fellow surgeon, Bret Manley, falls victim to Mai's seduction as she and Jake play a cruel trick to be together. Jake acts with surgical precision to clear the path to Mai's happiness, threatening lives including his own.
In a wake of turmoil and destruction, Bret's uncle and well-known criminal attorney Hubie Santos attempts to find out if a surgeon would use his knowledge to kill.
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