Dan asked Olen Steinhauer:

I've commented before that your books, especially those featuring Milo Weaver, rise to the top of my reading list because of their feints and flourishes; the way you play around by twisting time. Seems you want your readers to think and think hard to solve the puzzles your stories construct. My question is, how do you react to being labeled a master of misdirection?

Olen Steinhauer I try not to ever talk down to my readers. That is, I present scenes in an order I find most interesting or telling, and know that my readers can draw the lines of connection between them. That attitude gives me an automatic freedom to twist and turn the narrative as I like. Sometimes it's conscious misdirection, sometimes it just feels right. Sometimes the surprises that occur are surprises to me as well, because I often write myself into a corner and don't know where to go next. I'll spend a week struggling with the answer before stumbling on something unexpected.

I don't mind being labeled a master of misdirection, but I don't want people to think that this is a result of sitting down and mapping out a story full of misdirections. It's the organic twists--like I said above, getting myself into trouble and then out of it--that produce the most interesting sleights of hand. The ones I know about beforehand (those are few and far between) never feel quite as surprising to the reader.

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