Why Andrew Klavan Won’t Write ‘Political’ Novels

You wouldn’t blame Andrew Klavan if he politicized his novels.

Klavan’s books always draw a crowd, and his deep Daily Wire ties mean many may expect conservative messages.

Nothing doing.

His new book, the fourth installment in the Cameron Winter series, epitomizes that approach.

“I don’t want to write a book that puts forward the kind of simplistic political idea that one set of political values will save you and the other will damn you because that’s just not true,” Klavan tells The Hollywood in Toto Podcast. “There are bad guys and good guys on all sides.”

“A Woman Underground” finds our hero chasing the girl who once owned his heart. To find her, he’ll have to unlock clues from a forgotten novel and keep his personal demons at bay. The latter is nothing less than a fight for survival. Our hero’s mental anguish has never been more profound.

That doesn’t mean the zeitgeist doesn’t collide with Winter’s latest mystery.

“I wanted [Winter] to move in an America that was as torn apart and as at odds as our is,” Klavan says. “‘A Woman Underground’ really plumbs the depths of that division.”

Winter’s therapy sessions, a critical part of the series, touch on the author’s experiences on the couch. He calls the progress he once made in therapy nothing short of “miraculous,” and the bond he shared with his therapist made the difference.

That mentor-like presence is missing in Winter’s life. His mother treated him as an afterthought and he spent years as a trained assassin.

Who wouldn’t need therapy?

A WOMAN UNDERGROUND by @andrewklavan is out today!
In this newest installment of the Cameron Winter series, the English professor who moonlights as a sleuth digs into his own past when he sets out to rescue his estranged first love from a world of extremist violence. pic.twitter.com/LV0MgqWb4E

— Mysterious Press (@MysteriousPress) October 15, 2024

Klavan may lean to the Right, but he’s not keen on feeding fans exactly what they crave on the page or off. His critiques of President Donald Trump’s post-election challenges, and the insistence the real estate mogul didn’t defeat Joe Biden likely cost him some fans.

And he’d do it all over again. He’s not willing to say what he’s supposed to say to earn clicks in our digital age. Sadly, others don’t feel the same way.

Following one’s principles can cost you money, career advancements and more, he admits. He suffered from just that when he refused to hide his conservative beliefs while writing screenplays for Hollywood studios.

“A lot of people are not going to do that. That’s just human nature,” the “Shock to the System” scribe says, adding he suffered financially when his screenwriting opportunities dried up.

“It’s not fun to tell your wife you have to sell your house. It’s not fun to move from a place you love to somewhere else,” he says. “You do that because that is the good life. That is what life is for. And that’s what my faith is about … I don’t understand why you would put words to paper if you weren’t at least trying to find the truth.”

You can hear more from Klavan, including his taken on conservative pop culture in 2024, on “The Hollywood in Toto Podcast.”

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