I am a trial lawyer. I’ve been around doctors, lawyers, courtrooms and medicine for my entire legal career. Over the past several years I began to notice that big drug companies and the FDA were more and more the focus of the media. Almost always the reason was because of a bad drug that never should have been approved. As I began to study the drugs, I realized there was an incestuous relationship between big pharma and the FDA. I quickly learned that what you don’t know about big drug companies can kill you. That led to the writing of THE TRIAL.

Q&A with Author Larry D. Thompson:

Why write a novel about the prescription drug industry?

No other industry impacts our lives on a daily basis like the big drug companies. Whether young, old, male or female, the chances are that you take a drug regularly. For many of us whether we live or die may be dependant on drugs. Yet, the drug companies are continually in the news for the wrong reasons. Far too often in their quest for bigger and bigger profits, they cut corners and put drugs on the market that, tragically, lead to death.

Wait a minute. Doesn’t the FDA regulate the pharmaceutical industry and keep bad drugs off the market?

That was the plan when Congress formed the Food and Drug Administration, but you know what is said about best laid plans. Somewhere along the way, too many bureaucrats in the FDA forgot that their mandate was to ensure the safety of the citizens of the United States. Instead, they began to believe that their clients were the pharmaceutical companies. Once that happened, they looked the other way when the big companies submitted drugs with clinical data that was either insufficient or clearly showed their new drug was dangerous.

Interesting theory, but how can you support it?

It’s not difficult. Once you get beyond the commercials that bombard the consuming public with the benefits of new drugs, just read the news stories. Drugs that had been previously approved are constantly recalled because their dangers outweigh benefits. Many of them should never have been submitted for approval, much less approved for marketing by the FDA.

In The Trial Samantha takes part in a clinical trial for a drug you call Exxacia. Is that drug modeled after a particular real drug?

No. I used bits and pieces of multiple drugs that were either pulled from the market or severely limited after multiple deaths were tied to them. Unfortunately, it’s not hard to find those drugs. It’s as simple as doing a Google search.

Unlike other lawyers who became writers, you are still a practicing trial lawyer. How did that expertise impact on your ability to write this story?

First, you’re correct that I’m still a very busy trial lawyer. I’ve been doing it a long time and I think it is safe to say that I’ve tried more cases than any other writer currently active. Further, a large part of my practice has been involved with medicine. While I’ve never sued or defended a pharmaceutical company, I’ve represented thousands of doctors who have been sued for alleged medical malpractice. Does that background in both medicine and real courtroom work help? Absolutely. An understanding of both medicine and courts is essential to writing this novel. I might also add that I win about ninety-five percent of the cases I try.

You chose a small town lawyer as your protagonist. Why?

Two reasons. First, the story of David v. Goliath never grows old. Then you throw in “David” trying to save his daughter’s life in his battle against a giant drug company and it makes for a compelling plot. And, I must also add my experience with small town lawyers. I graduated from the major law school in Texas and picked Houston as my place to live because I wanted to be a trial lawyer and wanted to see if I could compete with the best, who I presumed would gravitate to the biggest city in the state. Then I started trying lawsuits in some very small counties and discovered that some of the best trial lawyers in the state chose to live in small towns. After getting my butt kicked a couple of times in small towns I began to respect those lawyers.

What inspired you to become a writer?

Most good lawyers have to be good writers. Otherwise we would never succeed in convincing trial and appellate judges to adopt our arguments. As to writing novels, it must be somewhere in my DNA. My mother was an English teacher and my brother was a best selling author. My brother died at a far too young age, and I think I knew at that time that I would carry on the family tradition.

That brings up another question. You waited until later in life to start a career as a novelist. Why?

In hindsight, I probably should have started earlier, but I was too busy raising my children and trying lawsuits. Finally, when my youngest son graduated from college, I decided that I would make time to write.

Since you are still a full time trial lawyer, when do you have time to write?

As of now, my trial docket comes first. As some bard said many years ago, the law is a jealous mistress. Still, when I’m not facing an imminent trial, I write in the mornings before I go to work and on weekends. With the first draft I can usually turn out about a page an hour. Over a few months, that can develop into a complete novel. Then comes the hard part, the editing. All writers hate that process because it forces us to pare down or eliminate what we originally thought was brilliant prose. Often, some of our best lines and scenes, alas, are wiped out by the delete key.

When you are not writing, what do you do?

I’ve already explained my day job. Otherwise, I have a great wife, to whom this book is dedicated, four grown children and four grandchildren. Vicki and I enjoy traveling, seeing kids and grandkids and spending summers in Colorado. My youngest son lives in Vail where I like to hike, play golf (badly, I just admit, but who cares when you’re on a beautiful mountain course) and work on my next novel.

Speaking of novels, what’s in the works?

I’ve got one almost finished and am outlining the plot for another. They’re both legal thrillers.

Are you going to stick to legal thrillers?

For the next two or three. After that, who knows? I may decide to diversify

What’s the attraction of writing a novel?

I’ve actually pondered that many hours over the years, particularly when staring at a blank screen and the words won’t come. My “final answer” is that it is the joy of creating something that didn’t exist before. Writers, painters, sculptors, in that respect, are probably all alike. Obviously, I can never give birth to a child, but I can birth a novel and I’m drawn to that creative process.