Author Out With New Historic Thriller

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - If you like thrillers and want to dive into a fast-moving story with a little history thrown in, you might enjoy Raymond Khoury's latest called "Rasputin's Shadow."

It comes from the same brain that produced "The Last Templar."

WCBS 880's Pat Farnack recently spoke with Khoury about his new novel.

"The contemporary story...that I really was curious about was mind control and brainwashing and the kind of experiments that the CIA and the KGB started after World War II during the Cold War," Khoury told Farnack.

"So it's a present-day thriller that takes place mostly in New York where Riley, who is my FBI agent that we first met in 'The Last Templar,' he gets involved, he gets sucked into this case where a Russian diplomat seems to have committed suicide by throwing himself off a building," said Khoury. "It all seems to lead back to something that started in the days of Rasputin, something that actually helped Rasputin become the incredibly powerful force that he was."

PF: Do you always write with the big screen in mind?

"I started off as a screen writer and 'The Last Templar' was actually the third screenplay I ever wrote when I didn't have any agents, I didn't know anyone. I'd send my screenplays to a guy who knew a guy who knew a guy who knew the dog walker to Steven Spielberg's neighbor. That was enough of a connection for me," Khoury said. So yeah, my storytelling technique is very cinematic."

PF: What would you say to get people to pick up "Rasputin's Shadow?"

"If they are looking for...a fast, page-turning thriller with a lot of history in it...it's like a movie in a book basically with a lot of history thrown in," said Khoury.

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