Author of "Mirage"

November 02, 2000

Don Passman, author of "Mirage," another dazzling thriller from the author of "The Visionary," chats with fans about his newest novel. "Mirage" tells of a frightening kind of terrorist intrigue: a secret brainwashing technique code-named Mirage. Mirage's target: a mental whiz who becomes both the FBI and the police's prime suspect in the bombing of his office building.

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TWBookmark: Welcome to Time Warner Bookmark! Warner Books is proud to introduce our special guest Don Passman, author of "Mirage", another dazzling thriller from the man who wrote "The Visionary." "Mirage" tells of a frightening kind of terrorist intrigue - a secret brainwashing technique, code- named Mirage. A mental whiz who becomes both the FBI and the police's prime suspect in the bombing of his office building is targeted by Mirage. Welcome to Talk City, Don!

Ed: Don, "The Visionary" was one of the most suspense filled novels I have read and I have eagerly awaited the release of "Mirage." Could you give us an insight into the theme of this new offering?

Don Passman: "Mirage" is a tight suspense thriller. There's a brilliant computer cryptographer who becomes the unwitting victim of a brainwashing project. There's a female FBI agent, still grieving from the loss of her husband, who is assigned to track the cryptographer when he becomes the suspect in a bombing. She engages a cult deprogrammer/mind control specialist to unlock what's in his mind before a full-scale terrorist attack.

Tennessee: How did you come up with the idea for "Mirage?"

Don Passman: I was having dinner with a friend of mine who is a psychiatrist. He told me about his colleague, Dr. Jolly West, one of the world's authorities on brainwashing. Dr. West testified in the Patty Hearst trial. I found the topic so intriguing that I spun the whole novel from that spark.

Rhonda: What research did you do to find out so much about the inner workings of the FBI?

Don Passman: The FBI research was the most difficult because I had to write to Washington, D.C. and request permission to talk to a female FBI agent. It took four months - no doubt while they pried into every crevice of my past.

Frank55: "Mirage" includes fascinating information on computer cryptography and computer hacking. How did you obtain so much knowledge about these topics?

Don Passman: I discovered that cryptography and hacking are quite unrelated, and I needed different experts for each. For cryptography, I read several books, and spent a day with a Ph.D. in cryptography who teaches at UC-Santa Barbara. I learned, for example, that only a small part of cryptography is used for spying and governmental secrets. Most is for such everyday activities as ATMs, pay television, banking transfers and the like. Finding the hackers was tricky because they generally don't like to talk to outsiders. I got a lot of information by tracking someone down on an Internet site for hackers, and I got more from a family friend who knew more then I would like to think he did about the subject.

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