Love of travel plays out in Addison native's first novel

Those picking up Jamie Freveletti's debut novel "Running From the Devil" expecting the Addison native turned trial attorney to draw upon those experiences might be a bit surprised by her approach.

"I kinda didn't want to write my everyday life. I wanted to escape a little bit and imagine a real person in strange circumstances, how would that play out," explained Freveletti.

The result is Emma Caldridge, a chemist who leaves a Midwestern research lab after the death of her fiancé to work for a Florida cosmetics company only to find herself on a hijacked flight bound for Bogota, Columbia, that crashes in the jungle.

Thrown from the wreckage, she watches as guerrilla fighters take the passengers hostage.

The tale of how and why Emma finds herself in that position has won Freveletti early acclaim from fellow authors such as Lee Child.

Freveletti says those who know her well from her childhood days probably won't be that surprised by her globe-trotting, thinking-woman's heroine. With a book signing tour soon coming to Chicago and the suburbs, she's expecting to see some familiar faces, especially at an Oak Brook book signing.

"A lot of my friends are coming from Addison and from Villa Park and Lombard," she said. " - I think they'll like it. I think some of them will be surprised that I didn't write a mystery, a local mystery. But I think most of them who knew me when I was growing up - I was the one who was chomping at the bit to go places, to travel.

"And I remember I had this one childhood book, it's funny how a book can really change your life, 'Come Over To My House,' and what it was, was really pretty pictures and this little girl goes to every different country in the world and she goes to play and the kids open the door and they play. She goes to India and it's a kid who has a tiger for a pet.

"And I remember reading that book over and over and thinking I would just love to go to all these places. So I kind of have been able to do this with some of the writing; it kind of takes me away. It gets me into an idea I had as a little kid: Wouldn't it be interesting to do -? And then I write about it."

There are a few, perhaps, subliminal suburban settings.

Freveletti said she envisioned all the times she drove past Fermi Lab when writing about the research lab where her character Emma initially works.

But the paramilitary bad guys and evil corporate interests prevalent in the book aren't thinly veiled attempts to demonize and kill off childhood or professional enemies.

"You know it's kind of funny, it's not childhood. It's actually drawn from a lot of politics. I'm a big fan of politics," Freveletti said. "I was watching some of our recent past administration one night and I was thinking, wow, I wouldn't mind killing off that guy. There's a character in there I just couldn't take anymore. He said one thing too far. I didn't kill him off but I really made him a total jerk in the book."

Freveletti now lives in Lincoln Park. She said she's finished a second book but isn't quite ready to say what it's about other than some of the characters will carry over.

Book signings with Jamie Freveletti

• 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 13, at Borders, 1500 16th St., Suite D, Oak Brook

• 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 19, Bookstall, 811 Elm St., Winnetka

• 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 20, Book Cellar, 4736-38 North Lincoln Ave., Chicago

• 2 p.m. Saturday, June 20, Warren Newport Public Library, 224 N. O'Plaine Road, Gurnee

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