ALTER EGO

If East County resident Ann Marie Marinaccio had a criminal mind, she may very well be just like a character in New York Times best-selling author David Hagberg’s new book, “Abyss.”

Oh, wait. She already is.

Marinaccio enters the ecological thriller on page 24 as the story’s evil, manipulative and driven antagonist — a multi-billionaire hedge fund/derivatives manager who is doing business in Dubai because she’s wanted in the United States for financial crimes.

“Anne Marie Marinaccio and her mob had been cruising southwest along the European Mediterranean coast for the past two weeks …”

“If I were tending to be evil, I would be just like her,” Marinaccio said, grinning. “I found her fascinating. She was intellectual, not just a plain-old crook.”

In the book, released by publisher Forge Books on June 21, a Florida scientist discovers a way to curb global warming and create an endless supply of energy from ocean currants. After a contract killer’s failed attempt to destroy a nuclear power station, legendary former CIA director Kirk McGarvey unravels a trail of assassinations and dirty money that leads to a preacher, who is controlled by Marinaccio, a broker with significant interests in the oil industry. But Marinaccio, he discovers, is just a small fish compared to the power brokers controlling her.

“I’m not going to tell you how it ends, but it’s a happy ending,” Hagberg said.

BUILDING THE BAD GAL
Hagberg, a resident of Palm-Aire, had recently started writing “Abyss” when Marinaccio cast the highest bid to become a character in the novel during the Lakewood Ranch Rotary Club’s annual Suncoast Winefestival in 2008.

When Ann Marie and her husband, Lou, owners of MGA Insurance, sat down with Hagberg for an initial meeting to discuss the book, Ann Marie was surprised to learn her husband had no interest in becoming a character.

“I bid on it for him because I thought he would like it,” she said with a shrug. “He didn’t want it.”
Ann Marie Marinaccio seized the opportunity, and Hagberg was not surprised when she wanted to play a villain and even told him to make her “really” bad.

“They all say they want to be the bad guy because, in this kind of book, the bad guy drives the action,” Hagberg said.

From that moment on, Marinaccio began her descent into becoming a world-class villain, at least on paper.

Marinaccio met periodically with the author for a year as he worked to develop her character. Marinaccio saw her first draft of the finished story about a year ago.

Hagberg said he had originally written Marinaccio’s character as a male but quickly made that adjustment to the story. He also made other changes, such as inserting portions of her educational background and looks, to bring the character more in line with his new subject.

“She’s really a nice person,” Hagberg said of Marinaccio. “There’s nothing that would motivate her to do these things, so I gave her (a reason). Ann Marie in the book is a lot more assertive.

“I had certain boundaries I had to stick with (in developing her character),” he said. “I had to be a little closer to who and what she was.”

Marinaccio, who had wondered what’d she’d be like if she were evil, said she was thrilled with the end result.

“To find out what I was really like was very interesting,” she said, laughing.

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].

Silver Screen?
Author David Hagberg says if “Abyss” ever becomes a movie, Meryl Streep would best play Ann Marie Marinaccio’s character. “I can’t see anyone else in the role except for (her),” he says.