From J.P. POMARE, author of bestselling crime titles The Wrong Woman and 17 Years Later, his latest book The Gambler follows PI Vince Reid on a murder case that is stacked against him.
Read on for a Q&A with the author.
MEET J P POMARE
Vince Reid returns for a new case in The Gambler. Can you tell us what sparked the idea for this story?
I’ve had this idea since high school actually, even before I knew I wanted to be a novelist. Without giving anything away, I will just say that it came to me in a conversation with a friend. We were talking about ways to make money, and we devised a simple plan that seemed flawless and over the years I thought more and more about it. I thought it would be better to write about it then to do it and you’ll understand why when you read the book. I also wanted to write about two other things I’ve thought a lot about: rising political violence in America, and the Amish.
Vince Reid has appeared before in The Wrong Woman, but The Gambler marks the start of his own series. Why did you decide that now was the right time to expand him into a full series?
I finally listened to my readers who have been asking for another Reid novel since The Wrong Woman came out. I never thought of him as a returning character when I first wrote him, but I have thought a lot about him since and have wondered what he might be up to. The only way to find out was to write him again.
The Gambler explores how AI and technology are used by criminals – how did you research these modern threats, and what surprised you most in the process?
The threat of synthetic media to truth, and a common shared sense of reality has long been a concern of mine. It feels like these tools that are designed in theory to increase productivity and human flourishing are mostly used for other purposes, some of which is crime. I read about cases in which deepfakes have been used to defraud people, I learnt about how AI has been used to bully, produce pornography, and hack. I guess what surprised me most is how unprepared we are for further developments in AI, both in terms of the legislation but also the general awareness of what threats AI poses.
Who were the authors or books that had the biggest impact on you when you were growing up?
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kessey was one of the first books I read as a teenager that made me realise the power of the novel. I would say that had probably the most profound impact on me as a teenager. I also read the Harry Potter books like everyone else in the nineties and early 2000s. In my early twenties it was Cormac McCarthy, Steinbeck, and Vonnegut that probably had the biggest impact on me.
What first drew you to writing crime and thriller fiction?
I think the psychological tension, and the satisfying way it resolves in crime fiction. The moment an ordinary life tips to something darker, and how normal people navigate that heightened/fraught state. Crime fiction allows you to explore morally complex questions in a direct way, and calls upon the reader to ask themselves: what would I do in this situation? How would I respond?
What does a writing day look like for you?
I will have a coffee, eat a bag of sugar free lollies and stare at the screen until quite magically words begin to appear. I do that in the morning, the afternoon and often the night time too. If after some time no words have appeared I might go for a walk, or eat another bag of lollies. Or call someone on my phone to have a chat about something unrelated.
Several of your books have been adapted for TV. What’s it like seeing your characters and stories come to life on screen?
I forget who said this first but I heard somewhere that books and their film adaptations are not siblings but cousins. I view it that way. That is to say they’re related, there is common ancestry so to speak but ultimately they are quite different and may not even look the same. So I don’t feel particularly attached to the adaptions but I do feel extremely proud, and lucky that the big engines that drive film and tv have found my books worthy material to use. I go on set and see how many people are all trying to bring this thing to life and it’s impossible not to feel both extremely proud, but also grateful to be a part of it all.
What can readers expect from Reid in upcoming instalments?
They can expect to see him continue to grow in confidence as an investigator. The next case I’ve been thinking about will involve his partner’s family, and at some stage I think we will likely see Reid return to his hometown of Manson before long to look at something that happened to his father twenty years ago. Those who have read The Gambler will know a little more about this.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
J.P. POMARE is an award-winning author whose debut novel, Call Me Evie (2018), won the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel. In the Clearing (2019) was made into a Disney+ Original Series, The Clearing, while Tell Me Lies (2020) was a #1 Audible bestseller and was shortlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel and the Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Fiction. The Last Guests (2021) was critically acclaimed and made into a Stan Original TV series, Watching You. His fifth book, The Wrong Woman (2022), was a top-ten bestseller and was highly acclaimed, as was Home Before Night (2023). 17 Years Later (2024) was shortlisted for both the 2025 Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Fiction and the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel, and is currently being adapted for the screen. The Gambler is his eighth novel.
J.P. Pomare was born in New Zealand and lives in Melbourne with his wife and daughter.
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