October 30, 2025 • 5 mins
An internationally bestselling author with a knack for keeping readers on the edge of their seats David Baldacci rose to prominence after releasing his debut book 'Absolute Power' in 1996.
For more, David Baldacci joins.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Okay, we've recovered.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
And internationally best selling author with the knack for keeping
readers on the edge of their seats. David Baldacci rose
to prominence after releasing his debut book Absolute Power way
back in nineteen ninety six while working full time as
an attorney.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Now, since that first book, he's released over sixty titles
in forty five languages across eighty countries, with over one
hundred and thirty million copies sold worldwide. His latest novels
has just landed and is once again set to thrill
his legions of fans, and David Baldacci joins us love David,
(00:35):
nice to see you.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Oh, I'm good to see you too.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
These stats are incredible. You're writing between two and three
books a year. Is it true that you've mastered the
art of writing practically anywhere?
Speaker 1 (00:47):
I do have a plans trantelomobile kind of go.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Some of thedas stuff I've written has been in a
little Greek deli near my office in northern Virginia. I
feel like I'm all alone where like one hundred people
are having lunch.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
But I think what.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
Drives me is I never lost you know that eight
year old kids you know, this is my imagination. I'm
making stuff up for a living, and when I finish
the book, you know, I'm just thirsting to start the
next project.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
I've never looked at it as a job or even
a passion.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
It's really just what I identify as So that's what
drives me, that's what bills my motor.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Do you ever writing the books simultaneously or do you
always finish one before moving on to the next.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
I have written books simultaneously, so if I have sort
of a block on one, I jump over to the
other and work on that. I figure out the problem
in the other book, and then jump back and forth.
I've written two books last year. One was set in
nineteen fifty eight. One was sitting contemporary time, so I
have my own little personal time machine and went back
and forth to trit the day in the fifties.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I love that sort of that little Greek restaurant. Now,
when you're sitting there, are you distracted by the people
or are you using the people in the surrounds as
sort of inspiration for characters that are popping into your head.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Well, I'm hoping people don't recognize I go there so often.
The restaurant.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
I actually put a plock on the wall, that says
David thoughtless. So sometimes people come over there and tell
me their life stories. I can write about them, but
not too often.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Tell us about your brand new crime thriller. It's called
Nash Fools. What are we getting this time round?
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Walter Nash is a very successful businessman, but he's unlike
any of my other heroes. He's never fired a gun
in anger, he's never lifted a weight. He was estranged
from his father, and he attends his father's funeral beginning
of the book.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
His dad was a Vietnam veteran and died from Agent.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Orange, and his father's best mate, a guy in nicknamed Shock,
gets up and gives the eulogy, and part of which
he trashes Walter Nash in front of everyone.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Then Walter Nash, obviously very.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Distraught by that, goes home in late that night and
at Bai Agent comes to his house and gives him
a choice, you know, and whatever he decides to.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Do, it will be the end of Walter Nash.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
So what I've done with this character is I've taken
everything away from him, left him with nothing and see
if he can rebuild himself and come back again.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
And that's what I like to do.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Characters put him through impossible situations and see if they
can survive.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
It sounds fabulous. Your first novel, Absolute Power, was adapted
into film starring Clint Eastwood. Of course, now is it truth?
I had to rework the ending because he didn't want
his character to die.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Is that right? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (03:07):
The screenwriter Bill Goldman was doing the rewrite on that
when Eastwood signed on, and he is so you know,
sort of fluming spine. He called me up late one
night and said, look, I can't figure out how to
keep the sp alive.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Do you want to have a shot at it?
Speaker 4 (03:20):
I said, I spent three years of my life killing
him in the novel, so no, I don't. But they
figured it out and Eastwood survived and he was the
hero throughout the novel, so it worked well for everyone at.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
The end of the day.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
So more plans to see any of your other works
adapted for screen, David, I've.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Sold a bunch over the last year.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
I have a project projects at Netflix, projects at AMC,
projects at NBC Universal, and projects at Amazon, both from
movies and television.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
So very exciting times for me, right now.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Oh, is that all?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
You got a huge amount of fans, a lot of
the worlding and including some in some very high places.
For the US president's Bush, Clinton and Obama have all
sung new prizes. How does it feel when you get
a shout out from someone like that?
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Not too bad? You know.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
I enjoy that they're obviously very literate and they have
good taste in books. So I appreciate the fact that
people read books and encourage other people to read it.
If more people read books around the world would have
a much better world by far. So many of our
problems were taught the fact that enough people don't read
for pleasure, certainly because I think books to build the
greatest human strength there is, which is empathy, because that
(04:30):
leads to all the best in humanity. And if you
don't read books and you don't have much empathy in
your lives, bad things tend to happen.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
So more books for all of us.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
I like to ask authors, David, have you ever seen
anybody reading your books? Saying in an airport lounge or
somewhere and you go up and say, hey, I wrote
that book. Have you ever done that?
Speaker 4 (04:47):
I did that one time in lax and the guy
didn't believe it was me. He threatened to call the
police on me until I showed them the picture on
the back of the book matched me, and then he
wanted his books sign. He was so happy to meet
me and didn't really want to sign this book after that.
So now these days I tend to try to avoid
that if possible. Yeah, but somebody recognize me, they have
one of my books, certainly, I'll side of fantastic.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
David, want to treat to talk to you this morning.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
And we know you and your wife do some magic
work too through the Wish You Well Foundation, which is
battling illiteracy through the United States. So congratulations on the
work that you're doing with the foundation as well, and
we can't wait to read the new book.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
David Balducci's latest book is called Nash Fools and it
is out now
Okay, we've recovered.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
And internationally best selling author with the knack for keeping
readers on the edge of their seats. David Baldacci rose
to prominence after releasing his debut book Absolute Power way
back in nineteen ninety six while working full time as
an attorney.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Now, since that first book, he's released over sixty titles
in forty five languages across eighty countries, with over one
hundred and thirty million copies sold worldwide. His latest novels
has just landed and is once again set to thrill
his legions of fans, and David Baldacci joins us love David,
(00:35):
nice to see you.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Oh, I'm good to see you too.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
These stats are incredible. You're writing between two and three
books a year. Is it true that you've mastered the
art of writing practically anywhere?
Speaker 1 (00:47):
I do have a plans trantelomobile kind of go.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Some of thedas stuff I've written has been in a
little Greek deli near my office in northern Virginia. I
feel like I'm all alone where like one hundred people
are having lunch.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
But I think what.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
Drives me is I never lost you know that eight
year old kids you know, this is my imagination. I'm
making stuff up for a living, and when I finish
the book, you know, I'm just thirsting to start the
next project.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
I've never looked at it as a job or even
a passion.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
It's really just what I identify as So that's what
drives me, that's what bills my motor.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Do you ever writing the books simultaneously or do you
always finish one before moving on to the next.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
I have written books simultaneously, so if I have sort
of a block on one, I jump over to the
other and work on that. I figure out the problem
in the other book, and then jump back and forth.
I've written two books last year. One was set in
nineteen fifty eight. One was sitting contemporary time, so I
have my own little personal time machine and went back
and forth to trit the day in the fifties.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I love that sort of that little Greek restaurant. Now,
when you're sitting there, are you distracted by the people
or are you using the people in the surrounds as
sort of inspiration for characters that are popping into your head.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Well, I'm hoping people don't recognize I go there so often.
The restaurant.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
I actually put a plock on the wall, that says
David thoughtless. So sometimes people come over there and tell
me their life stories. I can write about them, but
not too often.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Tell us about your brand new crime thriller. It's called
Nash Fools. What are we getting this time round?
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Walter Nash is a very successful businessman, but he's unlike
any of my other heroes. He's never fired a gun
in anger, he's never lifted a weight. He was estranged
from his father, and he attends his father's funeral beginning
of the book.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
His dad was a Vietnam veteran and died from Agent.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Orange, and his father's best mate, a guy in nicknamed Shock,
gets up and gives the eulogy, and part of which
he trashes Walter Nash in front of everyone.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Then Walter Nash, obviously very.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Distraught by that, goes home in late that night and
at Bai Agent comes to his house and gives him
a choice, you know, and whatever he decides to.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Do, it will be the end of Walter Nash.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
So what I've done with this character is I've taken
everything away from him, left him with nothing and see
if he can rebuild himself and come back again.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
And that's what I like to do.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Characters put him through impossible situations and see if they
can survive.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
It sounds fabulous. Your first novel, Absolute Power, was adapted
into film starring Clint Eastwood. Of course, now is it truth?
I had to rework the ending because he didn't want
his character to die.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Is that right? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (03:07):
The screenwriter Bill Goldman was doing the rewrite on that
when Eastwood signed on, and he is so you know,
sort of fluming spine. He called me up late one
night and said, look, I can't figure out how to
keep the sp alive.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Do you want to have a shot at it?
Speaker 4 (03:20):
I said, I spent three years of my life killing
him in the novel, so no, I don't. But they
figured it out and Eastwood survived and he was the
hero throughout the novel, so it worked well for everyone at.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
The end of the day.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
So more plans to see any of your other works
adapted for screen, David, I've.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Sold a bunch over the last year.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
I have a project projects at Netflix, projects at AMC,
projects at NBC Universal, and projects at Amazon, both from
movies and television.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
So very exciting times for me, right now.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Oh, is that all?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
You got a huge amount of fans, a lot of
the worlding and including some in some very high places.
For the US president's Bush, Clinton and Obama have all
sung new prizes. How does it feel when you get
a shout out from someone like that?
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Not too bad? You know.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
I enjoy that they're obviously very literate and they have
good taste in books. So I appreciate the fact that
people read books and encourage other people to read it.
If more people read books around the world would have
a much better world by far. So many of our
problems were taught the fact that enough people don't read
for pleasure, certainly because I think books to build the
greatest human strength there is, which is empathy, because that
(04:30):
leads to all the best in humanity. And if you
don't read books and you don't have much empathy in
your lives, bad things tend to happen.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
So more books for all of us.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
I like to ask authors, David, have you ever seen
anybody reading your books? Saying in an airport lounge or
somewhere and you go up and say, hey, I wrote
that book. Have you ever done that?
Speaker 4 (04:47):
I did that one time in lax and the guy
didn't believe it was me. He threatened to call the
police on me until I showed them the picture on
the back of the book matched me, and then he
wanted his books sign. He was so happy to meet
me and didn't really want to sign this book after that.
So now these days I tend to try to avoid
that if possible. Yeah, but somebody recognize me, they have
one of my books, certainly, I'll side of fantastic.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
David, want to treat to talk to you this morning.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
And we know you and your wife do some magic
work too through the Wish You Well Foundation, which is
battling illiteracy through the United States. So congratulations on the
work that you're doing with the foundation as well, and
we can't wait to read the new book.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
David Balducci's latest book is called Nash Fools and it
is out now
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