By the Book is a feature series where journalists discuss their works of fiction and non-fiction.
The traditionally slow end-of-year news cycle recently received a jolt when residents of New York and New Jersey reported mysterious drone sightings in the skies over both states. While state and federal government officials have said that there’s no cause for concern, the scenario rang a bell with filmmaker Andrew Davis and investigative journalist Jeff Biggers. The duo recently penned the timely political thriller Disturbing the Bones, which features a drone attack on the streets of Chicago among its many pulse-pounding action sequences.
That’s not the only part of Disturbing the Bones that rhymes with recent realities. The book also features a nuclear incident in Siberia, a global disarmament summit in the Windy City, and a presidential race that pits a press-hating conservative candidate clearly modeled after Donald Trump against a progressive Black woman.
“So much of this book is leaping from the headlines,” notes Biggers, 61, who has authored nine nonfiction books and written for such outlets as The New York Times, The Atlantic and NPR. The continent-hopping story is set in motion by the discovery of a skeleton in rural Illinois that may belong to the a long-missing journalist. That journalist’s now-grown son leaves his job as a Chicago detective to piece together his mother’s disappearance. In the process, he learns of a conspiracy involving a rouge U.S. general that reaches the highest halls of power in the White House and the Pentagon.
“We’re clearly focused on entertainment and keeping you on the edge of your seat, but we also put a lot of research into this novel,” Biggers says. “That comes from my journalism background, and then I’d throw it over to Andy to assemble this amazing thriller.”
As the director of such action movie favorites as The Fugitive and Under Siege, Davis knows how to keep the thrills coming. But he’s also J-school graduate himself, and makes a point of rooting his heightened Hollywood yarns in real world concerns. And, like many of us, he’s got his own concerns about the current state of the real world.
“It’s a scary time,” the 78-year-old filmmaker admits. “We don’t know what’s going to happen next.” That’s why he took comfort in being able to control the narrative unfolding on the page. “It was a good back-and-forth,” Davis says of his collaboration with Biggers, who is making his fiction debut, but has previously written for the theater.
