US THE MISSING Q & A How did THE MISSING come about? I had an idea about a story involving three teenage girls who witness a vicious murder. One of the girls, Darby McCormick, is the daughter of a cop. I kept asking myself "How would the daughter of a cop respond to this? Would she know what to do?" The choices Darby makes end up changing her life and the life of her two friends. THE MISSING is a very filmic novel—did you picture it in such a way when you were writing it? Have films influenced your writing in any way? Books tend to unfold like a movie in my head. It's just the way my brain works. I've always been attracted to visual writers—Thomas Harris and Stephen King especially. Movies had a huge impact on me creatively as well. Do you go to the cinema much? What films attract you to go? Now that I have a family, it's hard to find the time! To be honest, it's rare to find a movie that I feel compelled to see at the cinema. There's a lot of junk out there, unfortunately. I really enjoy big, blockbuster thrillers that have a great story and great characters. Casino Royale is a good example. I was never a huge James Bond fan—I grew up with Roger Moore as James Bond—but I loved the way Daniel Craig played Bond. The acting, the story and the characters, it was all really well done. UK What kind of research do you normally conduct for your books? I did a ton of forensic research for THE MISSING, most of which had to be scrapped during revisions. It was too much technical stuff. You get to a point where you have to remind yourself that you're writing a story and not a handbook on forensics. What I do now is write the book, and then when the forensics and police procedural stuff pops up, I pass the questions on to some of the experts I've met in the field. You can waste a lot of time researching things that never makes its way into the book. It's better to write a draft, then do some research. Forensics is changing all the time. What I find more challenging is trying to maintain the balance between fiction and what really happens inside a crime lab. For example, in CSI, the lab technicians get DNA results in an hour. That doesn't happen in real life. And the people who work in the lab don't carry guns and interrogate suspects. I'm constantly reworking things in my books to try to make things as realistic as possible, but in the end, it's fiction. Which authors do you admire? Did any of them influence your writing? Stephen King was the one who made me want to be a writer. My parents wouldn't let me see The Shining but they let me read the book. I read it in one night—I was twelve at the time. When I closed that book, I couldn't sleep. I was shaking. That's when I knew I wanted to be a writer. Thomas Harris is a huge influence, as is Dennis Lehane. The guy is a genius. Michael Connelly, George Pelecanos, Lee Child and John Connolly always continue to impress and amaze me. If you could give any advice to the young film-makers making the book, what would it be? I'd say your best bet would be to "tease" the audience. Read the book and pay close attention to the ending. The most visual moments—the most terrifying moments—occur there. What's next for Chris Mooney? I've just finished a book called THE SECRET FRIEND. It brings back Darby McCormick, the main character from THE MISSING. In the new novel, I have Darby investigating a case and she crosses paths with Malcolm Fletcher, a former FBI profiler who is on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List.