Interview with Matt Miksa, author of Don’t Get Close
Don’t Get Close is your second thriller. Your first book, Thirteen Days to Die, appeared in March 2021. What can your fans expect from the new book?
Like my first novel, Don't Get Close is a modern thriller that combines psychology, history, religion, and science. However, this book is not a typical FBI police procedural because of its paranormal elements.
In Don't Get Close, rookie FBI Special Agent Vera Taggart returns from Quantico and is immediately thrust into the most important case in recent Chicago history. A bomb has torn through a downtown restaurant, and the suspect shares remarkable similarities with a group of suicide bombers who terrorized the city twenty-eight years ago. The attackers all carved strange symbols into their own skin and shouted the same warning: Don’t get close! More importantly, they all shared the same therapist, a renowned psychiatrist specializing in past-life regression hypnotherapy. Agent Taggart must race to discover the truth behind the resurgence of this dangerous group before the bodies begin to pile up…again.
Your protagonist, Vera Taggart, is an FBI agent. You yourself were an FBI agent. How did you go about researching the book and how do you turn real life into story?
This book takes place in Chicago, where I served as an FBI counterintelligence analyst. That experience gave me the tools to craft a reasonably realistic depiction of a high-stakes federal investigation. I definitely embellished the plot for added drama, however, especially regarding the ruthless office politics and blatant procedural violations my characters commit. Still, beyond what you might see on TV or hear on a true crime podcast, I hope I captured the real human vulnerabilities (and egos) of these professionals.
Vera Taggart is described as “a strong female LGBT protagonist”. What are the challenges of writing a female character and did it affect how you framed the narrative?
It’s always a challenge to put yourself inside the head of a character who isn’t anything like you. But as a writer, that’s precisely the job. In this novel, I wanted to create a protagonist who broke the mold. FBI Special Agent Vera Taggart is a twenty-four-year-old, avant-garde artist and member of the LGBTQ+ community. At her first gallery exhibit, an FBI recruiter approaches her with an unusual job offer. It’s part of the Bureau’s initiative to inject unconventional, creative thinkers into its ranks. Tag is far from perfect, but her unique perspective and background leads her to crack open one of the most elusive cold cases in Chicago history.
Through this character, I'm challenging preconceptions of what makes a “good” FBI agent. (It can’t be all "men in black," people!) In fact, my hope with this novel is to encourage readers to rethink entrenched ideas they may have about big concepts, like religion, sex, gender identity, death, and the nature of human consciousness.
In Don’t Get Close, the plot concerns a suicide cult called The Sons of Elijah, who have reappeared after millennia. What can you tell us about The Sons of Elijah and what inspired you to create them?
The Sons of Elijah is a cult of people who believe they’ve been reincarnated hundreds of times over many centuries. Twenty-eight years ago, two of its members committed violent murders after seeing the same psychiatrist. After a new bombing shakes the city, it appears the Sons of Elijah have returned. When developing this story, I wanted to create a cell of unconventional terrorists with murky motives. The reader is trying to figure out what’s behind the group’s violence right alongside the FBI protagonist.
Is there such a thing as a paranormal thriller and how does it differ from a traditional crime thriller?
The best paranormal thrillers are based on nuggets of truth. Yes, this story involves the concept of reincarnation, which is typically categorized as supernatural. However, when researching this novel, I was surprised to learn that there are mainstream academic and medical professionals who have been studying people who claim to remember past lives.
For example, the University of Virginia Division of Perceptual Studies has investigated thousands of cases over four decades following a rigorous methodology. They’ve attempted to find a scientific explanation for the truly shocking discoveries they’ve made – that somehow, some people unquestionably possess the memories of a deceased person!
I read through hundreds of cases, published in books and academic journals to immerse myself in the bizarre findings of these professional researchers. In fact, every reference to remembered past lives, hypnotic regression, and near death experiences in Don't Get Close is inspired by a real, documented case, with names and exact circumstances changed to fit my narrative.
A key factor in the story is the use of hypnotism and past-life regression. Two of the Sons of Elijah had undergone it before committing their crimes. Now Vera Taggart agrees to undergo it herself. What can you tell us about psychiatrist Dr Seth Jacobson and his use of past-life regression?
Dr. Jacobson stumbles into the practice of past-life regression quite accidentally. A college student visits him for help with alleviating her anxiety. When standard pharmacological treatment fails, he turns to hypnotherapy.
Under hypnosis, this young patient uncovers shocking memories she can’t explain. She becomes convinced that she's remembering a former life, including a horrific secret. This obsession consumes her, pushing her to madness, until she commits an unspeakable act that kills hundreds, including herself.
Dr. Jacobson fares much better. The psychiatrist goes on to publish a series of bestselling books about the murders, rising to celebrity status (and getting quite rich). The man has clearly benefited from this tragedy, and the suspicious nature of his true motivations create a lot of tension.
What made you decide to use the theme of hypnotherapy and past-life regression in the novel?
I came across a non-fiction memoir of a psychiatrist who uses past-life regression hypnotherapy to help his patients overcome all sorts of issues. Anxiety, trauma, addiction. Whether or not these people were actually remembering lives they’d lived before is up for debate, but the results were irrefutable. One woman had a debilitating fear of the sky, until she recalled a supposed memory from a past life. She believed she’d been hanged for a crime, and had looked up at the clouds the moment before the trap door under her feet gave way. After unearthing this revelation while under hypnosis, her fear evaporated.
Your original job was as an intelligence analyst, and you spent time living in Beijing. What can you tell us about that and how it affected your decision to become a writer?
I’ve always loved spy stories and crime thrillers involving complex investigations. I just learned that writing about them is safer than living them.
There is a long history of writers who started out as intelligence officers: Ian Fleming, John Le Carre, Ernest Hemingway, Julia Child and many more. Why do you think that is?
Intelligence work opens up new portals in the mind that are typically sealed shut. You learn to question everything, because nothing is what it seems. Did that foreign agent place three oranges in his grocery cart to signal to an unseen handler, or does he just like juicy fruit?
When you spend your entire day mentally peeling back the layers of reality to find the secrets hidden underneath the surface, a billion scenarios come to mind. These are essentially seeds for stories. It’s hard to let go of that once you leave the job.
What influenced you to become a writer?
I love stories that excite, entertain, and get people thinking. I prefer the novel format above all, because it gives me the space to fully develop characters over a longer period of time.
Have you read any past or contemporary thriller writers and who do you enjoy?
Right now, I’m drawn to writers of speculative fiction, like Margaret Atwood and Stephen King. Anything post-apocalyptic generally grabs my attention, especially if it offers some perceptive commentary on the erosion of modern society.
The perfect example is King’s Under the Dome. He shows how one completely unremarkable, small American town devolves into a self-destructive authoritarian autocracy within about a week. I relish tragic endings too. I was the kid who built detailed cars and houses with LEGO, only to destroy the whole neighborhood with a meteor shower the townsfolk never saw coming.
What about current movies. Have there been too many Bond films?
Bond films have their place. I’m not one who feels spy stories, or any stories, have to be realistic to be enjoyable. Stories are supposed to transport us to other dimensions. This works best when you suspend disbelief and just go for the ride. I’m a big fan of the limited TV series format. Instead of arcing a plot in a hundred minutes, a series can take its time and really build the tension.
Have you got a new work in progress and where do you plan to go next with your writing?
I recently came across a shocking scientific discovery in an academic science journal. Unbelievably, this article was written more than thirty years ago. I kept yelling at my computer, “Why don’t more people know about this?” And more intriguingly, who would want to bury these controversial findings? These little gems really get my novel-writing wheels turning. It’s probably bad luck to say any more about the new project now. Stay tuned!
Who would you like to direct the film of Don’t Get Close, and why?
I’d love to see it in the hands of a brilliant female director, like Kathryn Bigelow. She’s a master at blending violence and social commentary to spark conversation. Also, Robin Wright did a fantastic job with some of the darkest episodes of Ozark. I think she’d be perfect for the role of FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Gina Butler, too.
About Matt Miksa:
Don’t Get Close is available for pre-order from Amazon and Bookshop.org. Pre-order a signed copy from Anderson’s Bookshop, a 146-year-old family-owned independent bookstore in Miksa’s hometown of Naperville, IL.
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