We chat to author D.J. Palmer about his new novel, The New Husband, which releases on April 14th from St. Martin’s Press! In the new interview, Palmer chats about the idea behind The New Husband, his writing process, go-to authors, and more!
Tell us a little about yourself!
I’m a father of two, husband to one (married to my wife Jessie eighteen years and counting). Spend my days writing stories and my free time strumming my guitar, writing songs, playing rock and roll in my band The Big Bad Dad Band, skiing, travelling with the family, and driving from this activity to that. I do like fitness and eating healthy food, but I can’t say I’m a big fan of cooking though I’m always game for cleaning up the dishes. My best friend has four legs and a waggly little tail, but I do have biped pals who mean the world to me, as well as lots of readers to whom I’m ever grateful.
Did you always want to be a writer, or did you come to it from a more indirect path?
I’ve had a windy road to publishing novels. I never had “writer” on my career ambition list. My first thought was I’d become a filmmaker (that didn’t pan out), and then I switched to rock and roller, which was also a hard no, but I still play and write songs. In fact, song writing might have been my training ground for writing books, lots of stories in those tunes. I had a long career in tech after I got my graduate degree from Boston University’s School of Communication, building e-commerce websites for brand named retailers like Barnes & Noble and Dick’s Sporting Goods. I dabbled in some other start-up ventures as e-commerce became less of the wild west, and one day after one of those ventures went belly up, I said to myself: I think I’ll become a novelist.
I wrote some romantic comedies from the guy’s point of view, primarily inspired by Nick Hornby, which I stopped doing after finding out that women who read romance don’t particularly care about the guy’s point of view. I got the bug for writing, so I decided to switch genres to the one I read more regularly: thrillers and suspense. Thankfully, my father, Michael Palmer, a bestselling thriller writer, who, along with Robin Cook, made the medical thriller genre mainstream, was there to offer some helpful advice to get me started. Even so, it took about a dozen years from when I set out to do this professionally to when I got published, and I’ve been fortunate to be a commercial fiction writer ever since. Writing is the best gig I’ve ever had, aside from being a family man, of course.
Your new novel, The New Husband, releases on April 14th. What can readers expect?
I’d describe it as a slow burn psychological suspense novel, but once it starts boiling, I suspect readers will be racing to get to the end. It’s a bit dark and twisted, but it also has relatable characters and delves into themes like emotional abuse that are sadly all too common in our culture today.
Where did the idea for The New Husband come from?
The DJ Palmer books are a blend of family drama and psychological suspense, and I think THE NEW HUSBAND strikes a balance between authentic relationships and the thrills readers expect from my novels. When I’m starting a new book, I always look for a hook, a what if question, that can carry a narrative for 300+ pages (400+ in my Word doc). I was up in my office, thinking about a good “what if” and it came to me in a flash, a very specific visual that I thought could be the basis of a book, and a specific scene, a pivotal moment in the narrative, that would change the story from being one thing to something else entirely.
What is your favorite part about being a writer?
It’s fun to live in a world of pure imagination and creativity, not to mention that I get to make my own hours, have a very short commute, and can work in pajamas if I chose. I also like that the mission with every book, the job really, is pretty straightforward: write a novel with compelling characters, a unique and intricate plot, that’s hard for readers to put down. It’s hard work for sure, and it takes years of practice to learn the craft, with plenty of roadblocks along the way, but it’s also one of the most rewarding experiences to bring joy and thrills to people who love to read. That’s a gift, and I’m genuinely grateful for the opportunity.
How has your writing process changed from your first book to now?
Not really. I always start with a big idea that defines the book, such as a Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, which I used for my novel, SAVING MEGHAN. Then I come up with a “what if” question that’s based on that idea, then whose story I’m going to tell. A lot of times I know the ending and the twist, but in the book I’m starting now I have only the first three elements: the big idea, what if, and the characters. So this will be a new experience for me figuring out the twist and bulk of the plot as I plod along. Who says old dogs can’t learn new tricks?
What was the biggest change to The New Husband from the first draft to the final copy?
Well, I wrote this novel in a completely different way, not as a slow burn psychological suspense, more as a woman in peril story with a massive twist midway through. When I switched from writing as Daniel Palmer to writing as DJ Palmer, my themes changed along with my name. The DJ books delve more into family drama and psychological suspense in the vein of Lisa Jewell, Ruth Ware, Samantha Downing, Janelle Brown, among others. In the rewrite (of the rewrite of the rewrite), the twist remained, but everything else changed to some degree. What surprised me is how fluid something seemingly rigid as a novel can be. When you start tearing it apart, it feels daunting at first, but really it can be put back together again. And often in a better way.
As an adult who is still a “daddy’s girl” at heart, I loved Maggie’s unwavering loyalty to her father, even when it seems unreasonable to everybody else. Did this trait in Maggie come from anything in “real life”?
Growing up, I’m sure idolized my father to some extent—he was larger than life type personality. Maggie’s devotion to her father in the story likely also stemmed from my own childhood. But I think she also embodies a universal theme of wanting to put our faith and trust in someone else even when signs tell us that might not be in our best interest. We risk our hearts when we open them up, but that risk can also be rewarded. I guess in some ways, Maggie is a reflection of that dare to believe possibility, though her defiance leads her and the family to some dark places that nobody would want to go.
How does co-writing with your father, Michael Palmer, compare to writing solo?
Technically, I never got to co-write with my father. The novel TRAUMA, which bears both our names, was something I wrote based on an idea of his that I took and ran with after his sudden death in 2013. I went on to write two other Michael Palmer medical thrillers, books that adhered to his style, themes, and sensibilities to the best of my ability before switching over to the DJ Palmer books. I actually wrote SAVING MEGHAN to be a Michael Palmer medical thriller, but the story required a completely different approach than the one my father used. Lucky for me, my brilliant editor saw something in the novel that allowed us to publish the story under a new name, and I’ve been “DJ” ever since. It was an honor to carry forward my father’s legacy, and I look back at the opportunity with great fondness and appreciation.
If you have time to read purely for pleasure, who are some of your go-to authors?
I read a wide variety of authors and styles. There are big bestsellers: Harlan Coben, David Baldacci, Lisa Gardner, Tess Gerritsen, Karin Slaughter, Steve Berry, Greg Iles, Tana French, Joseph Finder, this list goes on. I read a lot in the DJ genre: Lisa Jewell is my new favorite, and while she’s been at it for a while now, she’s relatively new to me, and I find her work absolutely brilliant. Same goes for Ruth Ware, Fiona Barton, Clair Macintosh, Shari Lapena…this list goes on. I have loads of brilliant writer friends too, whose work I always enjoy: Brad Parks, Lou Berny, Danielle Girard, Jamie Mason, Jennifer Hillier, Wendy Walker, Hank Philippi Ryan, Paul Tremblay, Jennifer McMahon, Chevy Stevens, Christopher Golden, Gregg Hurwitz, and I’m regrettably leaving out many others. Lucky for me, I’ve loads of friends with lots of talent, so I’m never lacking for something great to read.
What are you currently working on?
I’m working on a book about a teenage girl with dissociative identity disorder (the updated label for multiple personality disorder) who has been accused of a truly heinous crime. Two years after the crime is committed, her comes to believe her in daughter’s innocence and turns her life upside down in an attempt to prove it. The book is titled SHE, HER, AND ME and is currently slated to be out April 2021.
