During the 30+ years of my journalism career (so far!), I’ve had the privilege and pleasure of interviewing many people I greatly respect and admire. Local heroes, prime ministers, gifted students and researchers, elite sportspeople and popular performers.

More recently, I’ve also interviewed a swag of local and international authors, including the late (and great) Colleen McCullough, Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks, doyenne of royal historical fiction Philippa Gregory, the incomparable Isabel Allende and Australian-Irish bestseller Monica McInerney.

This month I interviewed New York-based Eric Van Lustbader, author of the last eleven Jason Bourne novels, about his latest blockbuster The Bourne Initiative (HarperCollinsPublishers), for a story published in The West Australian. Eric took over the Jason Bourne series after the death of its creator Robert Ludlum and combines writing stories about the amnesiac assassin with writing his other novels (and there have been many).

I must confess to being a bit tongue-tied during our lengthy phone chat, between his home in New York and mine on the outskirts of Perth, Western Australia, but he was gracious and accommodating — and consummately professional.

We shared a couple of laughs, he revealed his genuine concern about the state of US and international politics, expressed his feelings of grief following the death last year of his beloved mother-in-law,  and fondly described his personal and professional relationship with his wife, fellow author and editor Victoria Lustbader.

People who know me well will appreciate how thrilled I was when Eric shared links to my interview from The West on his website, on Facebook and on Twitter. I’m sharing the link here, so I hope you’ll take the opportunity to grab a cup of something hot or a glass of something cold (depending on the time of day), and enjoy this insight into brilliant thriller writer Eric Van Lustbader. 

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