The Truth of the Matter (26 page)
She shook her head. “God bless you,” she said. “Don’t you be afraid either.”
“I’m not afraid,” I told her. “I’m not afraid.”
The trooper turned to Rose. Rose kept looking at me.
“Charlie West,” Rose said, “you’re under arrest for murder and escape.” Then he added to the trooper, “Take him in.”
The trooper marched me out the door and into the darkness.
1. As the title of this part of Charlie’s story indicates, the answers about the past year are slowly starting to come. What part of the truth was most surprising to you?
2. Charlie says “I knew it wasn’t about things being fair. It wasn’t about them being easy or safe. It was about who I was, who I wanted to be, what I wanted my life to be about, what I wanted to stand for, live for, even die for it I had to. It was about what I wanted to make out of this soul God gave me.” Have you given much thought to what you want to make out of the soul God gave you? What are you willing to stand for? Are there any things you
wish
you were willing to stand for?
3. When Charlie eats the food from Margaret’s refrigerator he leaves money in the lunch meat container to pay for it. Would you think to do that if you were in Charlie’s situation and running for your life? What do you think this action says about Charlie’s character? Does it enforce character traits you’ve already seen in him or is does it show a new side?
4. Charlie ends up being protected by Margaret and Larry. If you came home and found a strange person there, what would you do? Why do you think that Margaret didn’t immediately call the police?
5. Charlie describes Margaret as a woman who “looked and sounded like a woman who was on a long, hard journey but knew she was headed for a good place.” Do you know anyone you would describe that way? What good place do you think Margaret is headed for?
6.W ere you surprised by Charlie’s dream about roses? What do you think is going to happen now that Rose has arrested him?
An Interview with
Andrew Klavan
Q
: There’s one book left in Charlie’s story—
The
Final Hour
, available August 2011. Any hint as to what’s going to happen to him?
ANDREW KLAVAN
: Well, if you’ve come to the end of
The Truth of the Matter
, you should have a pretty good sense of, you know, the truth of the matter: who Charlie is and how he got into this situation. But there are still some pieces of the puzzle missing. And, as so often happens in life, the final pieces can change the whole picture. I will say this:
The
Final Hour
is also Charlie’s darkest hour—a real nightmare of a situation where he and some of the people he loves are put in positions where they have to risk the ultimate sacrifice. So the story is close to ending—but it’s far from over!
Q
: Why did you choose to make karate such a big part of Charlie’s life?
AK
: Partly it was personal: my own enjoyment of the sport, my own feeling that it’s cool to do and my own pride in having earned a black belt. Partly, I thought it was good storytelling: if I was going to throw Charlie into a desperate situation, I wanted him to have some resources of physical and mental skill—I didn’t want him simply to be running away and hiding all the time. But also, and maybe this is the most important reason, there are certain values inherent in martial arts training that I think we talk about way too little and that I think are central to living at a high level. Paying attention, joyful self-discipline, focus. I wanted Charlie at his best to be able to exemplify that way of life.
Q
: What aspect of Charlie’s character do you most hope readers will remember?
AK
: His fortitude . . . Ha, there’s an old-fashioned word for you. It means: “mental and emotional strength in facing difficulty, adversity, danger, or temptation courageously.” See, a person can have courage in battle but fold his cards the minute things get tough emotionally. Or he can speak his beliefs boldly, but then turn into a mouse the minute he faces a physical threat. But someone with fortitude never gives in. Charlie has moments of real terror and even one or two moments of actual despair. But he always finds a way to fight out of it. He never gives in. Most of us aren’t going to be wanted for murder and chased by terrorists, but we are going to face grief and sickness, loss and the failure of hope, times when the best we can do is bear down and keep on, keep heading toward the light. I want people to remember how Charlie keeps on.
Q
: What’s the most interesting question you’ve been asked by a fan of this series? How did you respond?
AK
: Well, I get asked a lot of questions about Charlie’s patriotism and I always find that interesting—even peculiar in a way. There’s a school of thought today that rejects patriotism. People are made nervous by that intense allegiance to country. They think it can only lead to war and bloodshed and that fights can be avoided if we all just compromise and get along. And, of course, compromise and getting along are great things as long as you’re not sacrificing essential values. But I believe there’s a line in the sand, some things that you have to be willing to stand up for, even if it means trouble. Charlie’s patriotism is not blind, flag-waving jingoism: it’s an intense allegiance to the American concept of liberty. He’s thought it through. He can talk about it and explain it. And he’s shown he’s willing to give everything for it. I admire him for that.
Q
: The Homelanders Series has been optioned for film. Who optioned it? Any idea when we might see Charlie on the big screen?
AK
: Yeah, I’m excited about that. The series was optioned by Summit Entertainment. They’re the people who make the
Twilight
movies. The last news I got, they were looking for someone to write the script and they believed they were close to hiring someone. I’ve had a few books made into movies and my experience is that things move very slowly—and then very fast. They go along trying to put things together, working on the script, going down dead ends and you think, “Well, this’ll never happen”— and then suddenly they start filming and the picture is done. So you basically just have to stay both hopeful and patient.
Q
: Do you have plans to write any more young adult novels once the Homelanders Series is complete?
AK
: Absolutely. I’ve loved writing Charlie, and I’ll be sorry when the Homelanders saga is complete and I have to say goodbye to him, but at the same time, I really enjoy doing new things and starting on something original. Plus I’ve got lots of other great stories I’m dying to tell. My plan now is to write some singleton novels—non-series stories that begin and end in a single book. I’ve already got the first one all worked out in my head— my publisher, Thomas Nelson, and I have made all the arrangements—so yeah, I’m ready to go!
THE FINAL
HOUR
THE
HOMELANDERS
________
BOOK FOUR
AVAILABLE
AUGUST 2011
Andrew Klavan
was hailed by Stephen King as “the most original novelist of crime and suspense since Cornell Woolrich.” He is the recipient of two Edgar Awards and the author of such bestsellers as
True Crime
and
Don’t Say
a Word
.