Tod Goldberg
Author Interview - Tod Goldberg
Author of Only Way Out
A luckless thief’s wrong turn becomes a crooked cop’s fortune in a wild ride of a thriller by a New York Times bestselling author.
Failed lawyer Robert Green has such a good plan: Crack three hundred safe-deposit boxes and sail off to South America with his brilliant, morally flexible sister, Penny. If it weren’t for the damned freezing rain.
In the dying resort town of Granite Shores, cop Jack Biddle is self-appointed king—mostly of bad decisions. Between his family’s crumbling legacy, a wife who just joined the city council, and life-threatening gambling debts, Jack’s looking for a way out. Then he spots a van spinning off a mountain road into the valley below. In the wreckage, Jack finds a very dead Robert, millions in heisted loot…and opportunity.
All Jack has to do is clean up the mess, disappear Robert’s body, make off with the fortune, and not get caught. One hitch is Penny. Another is Mitch Diamond, a wild card ex-con who knows more about the missing fortune than he lets on. Jack, Penny, and Mitch each have an endgame. But there’s only one way out, and they’re crashing headlong toward it.
Author Interview - Tod Goldberg
Author I draw inspiration from:
Elmore Leonard has always been a big inspiration -- his ability to write complex characters that might normally be considered "bad guys" showed me how to imbue even the worst people with a sense of hope and empathy. No easy task. Books like Swag or Out of Sight -- to very disparate novels -- have always inspired me. They're complex stories, simply told, and they manage to marry comedy and drama in a very fluid way.
Author Interview - Tod Goldberg | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book:
On vacation, with as little interruption as possible.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
Chili Palmer from Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard. A hitman who ends up making movies in Hollywood because it's basically the same business as the Mafia? Well. That's relevant to all my interests. It could only be better if he also somehow was now on the Raiders. I imagine we'd be in an elevator and it would suddenly stop, I would begin to weep, and he'd comfort and/or kill me.
Author Interview - Tod Goldberg | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
I think I always knew. I come from a family of writers, artists, and lawyers. I can't draw and I wasn't much of a student...so writer it was to be, always!
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
I like all these versions. I collect first edition hardbacks of my favorite books, so I've got a couple thousand of them in my house...and then a couple thousand paperbacks...and hundreds of audiobooks. I listen to audiobooks all the time. Probably one or two a week while I'm doing other things. I don't prefer to read ebooks, but their utility is great -- that you can carry around a thousand books on your phone is pretty much what my dream was when I was 12 -- and that people can get them immediately is very appealing to me. Lots of people don't have a bookstore nearby, but they always have a book they can download. That's a good thing for the written word.
The last book I read:
The Best American Mystery & Suspense 2025 edited by Steph Cha & Don Winslow. I admit I'm in this book, but I'm a huge short story fan and this book is absolutely loaded with amazing stories. Ivy Pochoda's "Jackrabbit Skin" and Erika Krouse's "Eat My Moose" both knocked me over.
Author Interview - Tod Goldberg | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer:
I have terrible handwriting. So pen and paper are out. Plus the computer has streaming sports options when I need to pretend to be deep in thought.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
I love the book Trouble Boys by Bob Mehr, which is the story of the band the Replacements. I clearly was meant to be very good friends with all those guys and that I'm not is an egregious oversight. I did meet Tommy Stinson once and told him he changed me life. He told me he was happy for me, so that's nice.
Author Interview - Tod Goldberg | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
Oh, probably a cult leader. I do like a rapt audience.
Favorite decade in fashion history:
The 1980s. I came of age in a time of hair gel and Guess jeans and Swatch watches. Everything was made of acrylic and rayon and was highly flammable. I like living with a little risk.
Place I’d most like to travel:
I'd like to go to a tiny town in Ukraise called Bar. My grandfather escaped from there in 1919. I'd like to walk the streets he walked on, I'd like to see the things he saw.
My signature drink:
Coffee, in large quantities. Cream soda, also in large quantities. And Red Breast, in smaller quantities.
Favorite artist:
I'm an evangelist for the music of Jason Isbell. (I'm wearing his t-shirt right now.) I think he's the best singer-songwriter of his generation.
Number one on my bucket list:
Play first base for the Oakland A's, which is going to require some real doing...
Find more from the author:
https://www.threads.com/@todgoldberg
https://www.instagram.com/todgoldberg/
https://bsky.app/profile/todgoldberg.bsky.social
facebook.com/todgoldberg
About Tod Goldberg:
Tod Goldberg
Tod Goldberg is the New York Times bestselling author of sixteen novels, including the Gangsterland quartet: Gangsterland, a finalist for the Hammett Prize; Gangster Nation; The Low Desert, a Southwest Book of the Year; and Gangsters Don’t Die, an Amazon Best Book of 2023 and a Southwest Book of the Year. Other works include The House of Secrets, coauthored with Brad Meltzer; Living Dead Girl, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; and the Burn Notice series. His short fiction and essays have been anthologized in Best American Mystery and Suspense and Best American Essays and appear regularly in the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and Alta. Tod is a professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside, where he founded and directs the low-residency MFA program in creative writing and writing for the performing arts. For more information, visit www.todgoldberg.com.
