What is Jeff Abbott reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Jeff Abbott, author of Downfall.

His entry begins:

It may seem an unusual choice for a suspense author, but I'm reading Van Gogh: The Life by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith. I love Van Gogh's art, but I'm reading more out of an interest in his creative process and how he became the painter he was destined to be. You would think his road to his particular take on art was all conscious choices, but so much of what Vincent does seems illogical—he is an extreme introvert who longs for people, a man who turns every favor into an argument, every slight into a vendetta, and is...[read on]

About Downfall, from the publisher:

She is a good mother. She will do what she must to ensure that her daughter Diana has a perfect life, just as perfect as the one they've led for the past seven years.

No matter who has to die.

DOWNFALL

The simplest beginnings can unravel a life. For Sam Capra, it is the moment a beautiful young woman walks into his San Francisco bar.

Sam doesn't want trouble. An ex-CIA agent, his only desire now is to build a quiet, peaceful home for himself and his infant son. But Diana Keene is no ordinary customer. She's pursued by two gunmen, and when she finds Sam, she whispers an urgent, desperate plea: "Help me."

And without any warning, Sam is thrust into a fight for his life. For Diana is being hunted by a deadly network-a shadowy alliance of select, influential men and women who use their connections, their authority, and their wealth to bend the world to their will. Now, this network aims its relentless fury against the man interfering with their plans to seize a new level of power: Sam Capra.

Threatened on all sides, Sam has only one hope to survive the network's all-consuming attack and return to his life with his son....he must destroy the man who owns the people who run the world.

Learn more about the book and author at Jeff Abbott's website.

The Page 69 Test: Trust Me.

The Page 69 Test: Adrenaline.

Writers Read: Jeff Abbott (July 2011).

Writers Read: Jeff Abbott (August 2012).

The Page 69 Test: Downfall.

Writers Read: Jeff Abbott.

--Marshal Zeringue