Armchair Interview With – Andrew E. Kaufman
About Andrew
( Connect With Him: Website / Twitter / Facebook )
Andrew E. Kaufman is a former broadcast journalist-turned-author, living in Southern California, along with his Labrador Retrievers, two horses, and a very bossy Jack Russell Terrier who thinks she owns the place.
Andrew was named one of the highest-grossing independent authors in the country after his combined sales pushed well past the six-figure mark. His success led to an international dual publishing deal with Thomas & Mercer and 47North.
His novel, The Lion, the Lamb, the Hunted: A Psychological Thriller was on Amazon’s Top 100 for more than one hundred days. It became their seventh bestselling title out of more than one million e-books available nationwide and number one in its genre. His first novel, While the Savage Sleeps, made the Top 100 as well and was number one in its genre, passing up two of Stephen King’s current releases at the time. Both books are bestsellers in the UK and Germany, and both books were simultaneously number one in their genres in the U.S.
His newest novel, Darkness & Shadows (sequel to The Lion, the Lamb, the Hunted), is an intense psychosexual thriller and available now.
He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Cancer Book (Simon & Schuster/2009) where he chronicled his battle with the disease.
After receiving his journalism and political science degrees at San Diego State University, Andrew began his writing career as an Emmy-nominated writer/producer, working at the CBS affiliate in San Diego, and then in Los Angeles. For more than ten years, he produced special series and covered many nationally known cases, including the O.J. Simpson Trial.
On your nightstand now: Hmmm. Let me go look…Okay, back. My Kindle, (uncharged, because reading is luxury these days with the release of Twisted). Assorted chocolate wrappers (because I might possibly have impulse issues in this particular arena). Several dishes I keep meaning to remove. And a bunch of remotes for all the stuff I like to watch.
Favorite book when you were a child: Nobody Listens to Andrew. It was my battle cry, which drove me into becoming an author. Now I get to make people listen to Andrew.
Your top five authors: Dennis Lehane, Gillian Flynn (I love her earlier books best) Jonathan Kellerman (same thing with his) John Sandford, Harlan Coben
Book you’ve faked reading: Pretty much anything assigned during high school that failed to slip through my extremely narrow attention span within seconds. Yep…I was That Kid.
Book you’re an evangelist for: I don’t think I have a particular one. In general, anything strongly character-driven with depth of emotion that keeps me swiping at pages.
Book that changed your life: Again, I can’t say any in particular–but reading for sure has. It saved me more times and in more ways than I can count.
Which character you most relate to: Mostly the ones I write. I have to put my head on their shoulders and feel everything they do. It can get exhausting at times. Some are heavier than others. But as a whole, I love deeply flawed characters who have the ability to rise above those qualities and conquer them.
Book you most want to read again for the first time: Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn.
Tell me about YOUR book: I’m going to call Twisted a psychological mind bender which, while writing it, almost drove me completely over the edge. This book has so many layers and complexities, that I had to create a map for myself just to keep track of them. But more than the dark and disturbing elements–and much like my other work–it also packs a hard emotional punch that (if I did it right) will tug at your heart.
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Twisted
Add it to your Goodreads shelf / Amazon wishlist
Dr. Christopher Kellan spends his days at Loveland Psychiatric Hospital, overseeing a unit known as Alpha Twelve, home to the most deranged and psychotic killers imaginable. His newest patient, Donny Ray Smith, is accused of murdering ten young girls and making their bodies disappear. But during his first encounter with Donny, Christopher finds something else unsettling: the man looks familiar. The killer with a secret… Donny Ray knows things about Christopher—things he couldn’t have possibly learned at Loveland. As the psychologist delves deeper into the mysterious patient’s case, Christopher’s life whirls out of control. The contours of his mind are rapidly losing shape, and his grasp on reality is slipping even faster. Is he going mad, or is that what Donny Ray wants him to think? The terror that binds them… In this taut psychological thriller from Andrew E. Kaufman, bestselling author of The Lion, the Lamb, the Hunted, a tormented man must face his fear and enter the mind of a killer to find the truth…even if it costs him his sanity.
