Don Bruns: Stuff to Spy For
Book Club Discussion

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Don Bruns

What made you decide to use the Department of Defense as the "big deal" agency in the story? Do you really believe that deceitfulness of this kind happens often or blatantly enough in government agencies that an average person can figure it out?

I was on an airplane with a lady who told me she was the CEO of a software company that made programs to protect computers from hackers. Their biggest client was the U.S. government. She told me that they installed their software on government computers by getting all the passwords and entering the system. So this software company had to hack government computers...before they could install their anti-hacking software. (I know, it gets confusing.) I wondered what would happen if her software company was the bad guy. They legally hacked government agencies. So it seemed to me to be very simple to break into the Department of Defense. About two months ago 60 minutes did a story claiming the Chinese had hacked the Department of Defense computer systems. Imagine that.

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Don Bruns

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Don Bruns

James loved to quote movie lines. Do you do that as well? What are some of your favorites?

Actually I don't have the memory for it. But I've got a friend, Fred Rea, who is the master of movie quotes. He can find one for every occasion. If I had to choose one, I suppose it would be a line from Bad Day At Black Rock, a Spensor Tracy movie from 1955. They accuse Coley Trimble of having a bad temper.

"Got a temper like a rattlesnake."
Coley Trimble: "That's me all over. I'm half horse, half alligator. You mess with me and I'll kick a lung outta' ya'"

Of course there are about two billion other quotes. You can never run out of movie quotes.

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Don Bruns

As a child, did you find spying interesting? What was your favorite type of spy equipment?

I sent away for secret codes on cereal boxes. I bought a Jr. Spy Kit with fingerprint ink, a magnifying glass and some other equipment. I was always reading the Hardy Boys, so I did find that 'stuff' interesting. I don't remember any favorite equipment, but I was always taken with the fact that you could write a note with lemon juice, then hold it up to a light bulb and it would magically appear.

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Don Bruns

Skip wanted money but I'm not sure if he would've gone through with all that was asked of him if it weren't for James. Why is the story told from only Skip's point of view?

Skip is sort of your everyman. He sees both sides of things. He kind of settles into middle ground and tries to bring the extremes together. I think he's a perfect story teller. Booklist compared the narrative of Skip to that of Huck Finn. Now I don't pretend to be Mark Twain, but if you think about it, Huck stands in the middle and tries to describe what's going on around him. He's right in the middle of the good and the bad. He's a great story teller.

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Don Bruns

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Don Bruns

Emily was an interesting character; she was beautiful, intelligent and she had money. She was also dating Skip. Why was she so important to the story as Skip's girlfriend?

I'll let you in on a male secret. Every guy out there has seen a really hot girl with some really strange guy. And we just shake our heads and say..."what is she doing with him?" I decided to take advantage of that. What does Em see in Skip?

I think she likes his insecurities. She wants to take care of him. But I think she's just as insecure as he is.

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Don Bruns

Can you tell us what you are working on next?

The next book is Don't Sweat The Small Stuff. Skip and James are private investigators and are hired by a traveling carnival to find out why someone is sabotaging some of the rides. They are befriended by a midget named Winston Pugh who has a petting zoo called Winnie Pugh's Petting Zoo. He's proud of the fact that Walt Disney World is suing him over copyright infringement. And so it goes for Skip and James. A crazy world!