Novelist Mark Rubinstein is here today and we’re chatting about his new suspense thriller, Assassin’s Lullaby.
Bio:
After earning a degree in business administration at NYU, Mark Rubinstein served in the U.S. Army as a field medic tending to paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division.
After his discharge he returned to college, went to medical school and became a physician, then a psychiatrist. As a forensic psychiatrist, he was an expert witness in many trials. As an attending psychiatrist at New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York city and a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at Cornell, he taught psychologists, psychiatric residents, nurses, and social workers while practicing psychiatry.
Rubinstein’s high-octane thrillers Mad Dog House (2012) and its sequel, Mad Dog Justice (2014), were both finalists for the ForeWord Book of the Year Award. His novella, The Foot Soldier won the Silver award in the 2014 Benjamin Franklin Awards competition, in the Popular Fiction category. His novella, Return to Sandara, (2014), won the gold IPPY Award for Suspense/Fiction. The Lovers’ Tango, won the gold medal in popular fiction at the 2016 Benjamin Franklin Awards. His most recent novel is Mad Dog Vengeance (2017), the last book in the Mad Dog trilogy.
Before turning to fiction, he co-authored five self-help books on psychological and medical topics.
His most recent book is a non-fiction work entitled, The Storytellers: Straight Talk from the World’s Most Acclaimed Suspense and Thriller Authors, a compilation of candid interviews with writers whose novels have been worldwide bestsellers.
He now writes fiction and non-fiction, has been a contributor to The Huffington Post, was a contributor to Psychology Today, presently contributes columns to Literary Hub’s Crime Reads, and is a book reviewer for The New York Journal of Books
Welcome, Mark. Please tell us about your current release.
Assassin’s Lullaby is the story of Eli Dagan, a thirty-nine year old man whose traumatic past led to his service as an assassin for the Mossad. He now lives in New York City, where under various assumed names he’s contract killer.
Anton Gorlov, the head of the Brooklyn-based Odessa mafia, has a new and challenging assignment for Eli. Gorlov wants to leave the country permanently, so all loose ends must be eliminated. The job involves extreme measures along with unprecedented danger for Eli, who has lived a ghostly existence over the last ten years. The payout is one-million dollars.
Is accepting Gorlov’s offer a subliminal death wish? Or is it a way to reclaim part of his damaged soul? For the first time since his pregnant wife and parents were killed by a suicide bomber years earlier, Eli faces a situation that will reconnect him with his blighted past and will challenge his soul.
What inspired you to write this book?
I’ve always been interested in the duality (Jekyll and Hyde) nature of human beings. I wanted to write a novel that would have both a protagonist and antagonist who are capable of acting in extremes and who would both elicit sympathy from a reader. I think Assassin’s Lullaby does exactly that in addition to being a nail-biting thriller.
Excerpt from Assassin’s Lullaby:
Knowing his life depends on stealth, Eli Dagan moves warily with the tide of pedestrians streaming along East Forty-Second Street.
Walking amid the late-morning crowds, he does a peripheral check of his surroundings, grabs glimpses of people in store-window reflections, and watches for danger that could come from any direction.
He’s always been a hard target—tough to kill—because he’s able to think exactly like those who would ambush him. That’s one of the secrets of being a good assassin. And of staying alive.
It’s reflexive to notice everything. He misses nothing—sights, sounds, smells, movement. It’s all processed in milliseconds as his brain whirrs through the possibilities that could bring about the end of life.
Nothing distracts him: not the press of people or the clot of traffic, the blinking WALK–DON’T WALK signs, the blare of horns, the hiss of air brakes, the wail of sirens, or the clatter of jackhammers.
Because no matter where he may be, he’s focused on one imperative: survival.
What exciting story are you working on next?
I’ve just completed another thriller, Downfall, about a 34-year-old physician, Rick Shepherd, who is on his way to his street-entrance office in New York City. The street is cordoned off by police and the tarp-covered body of a mad who has been shot to death lies on the sidewalk in front of the entrance to Rick’s office. He cannot get to the office. A few hours later, while at home, he turns on the television to watch the local news. The shooting death of the man who died in front of his office is the lead-off item. A picture of the dead man appear on the screen: Rick is appalled to see that the dead man could veery well pass as his twin brother.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I’ve always been a writer, having first published a medical self-help book many years ago. About ten years ago, I began writing fiction which seemed only natural since as a psychiatrist, I was busily writing up case histories of patients, many of which seemed like fiction.
Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I’m now a full-time writer. My day begins at about 6:00 in the morning when the house is quiet. I usually spend between three and four hours at the computer and may return for another half-hour sometime in the middle of the afternoon. When not writing, I read, walk the dogs, and take care of various chores around the house. Evenings are spent at home or at times, spent with close friends or family at a local restaurant or having friends over for dinner.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
My biggest quirk involves the absolute need to write every single day. I’ve probably written every day (sometimes for as little as 15 minutes) for the last ten years. In a sense, it feels like an addition.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a physician, a goal I achieved when I went to medical school and then became a psychiatrist. Of all medical specialties, psychiatry combines elements of science and the arts.