A missing woman. Two hit men. When every second counts, who will survive?
In the stark but beautiful wilds of northern New Mexico, a couples’ retreat at a luxury resort turns into a chilling nightmare when a woman vanishes. Skip tracer Riley MacLeod and private investigator Greyson Chadwick pose as a couple to hunt for clues that might reveal the missing woman’s location. Those leads uncover a harrowing truth: They’re not the only ones looking for her. What begins as a normal tracking case turns into a deadly chase when they, too, become the hunted.
As Riley and Greyson work together, their partnership ignites a tumultuous attraction, but Greyson’s secrets prevent him from acting on his feelings for her, and Riley can’t bring herself to fully trust him. Delving deeper into the case, they find themselves fighting not only for justice and the chance at a loving relationship . . . but also for their very survival.
***
Elise’s Thoughts
Two Seconds Too Late by Dani Pettrey is a romantic suspense novel. In this story the suspense drives the romance between the two main characters that is carefully plotted within the storyline.
The plot starts off with the main female lead, Riley MacLeod, struggling after shooting dead someone who was trying to kill her. Throughout the story readers see her trying to handle the PTSD that includes vivid nightmares.
After one of those nightmares, she finds a mysterious package on her doorstep. Then, a friend of hers calls and asks Riley to investigate the disappearance of someone she knew at a luxury resort. To see what happened, she along with one of her partners, Greyson Chadwick, decide to pose as a couple. They find that others are looking for the disappearing woman that includes some nefarious figures. Each clue pulls them deeper into a mystery that puts them in more danger. As they work together the attraction between Riley and Greyson becomes intense. But Greyson feels that the demons he is battling will be too much for the relationship to survive. He has depression and sees it as a reason to never get involved with anyone.
The book is full of mystery, mayhem, and murder, providing readers with a sense of intrigue.
***
Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Rumor has it when you wrote this you also had to deal with the aftereffects of Hurricane Helene. True?
Dani Pettrey: The hurricane took out most of our house and our belongings. We just got back in two weeks ago. It was a little bit crazy in writing this story because there was so much going on and we had to move out. My family felt like nomads since we had to move around to four different B & Bs because of availability dates. This was very distracting as I was writing, and it was a struggle to get the book done.
EC: The idea for the story?
DP: I had an idea for a fancy resort that had yoga and dancing. I thought about having someone go missing from there with two of my characters going undercover. The woman was tracking my main character who was her friend; my main character was tracking others; so, it took on a cat and mouse story.
EC: How would you describe Riley?
DP: She has guilt feelings after killing someone, stubborn, competitive, a risk-taker, someone who goes with her gut feelings, fearful, has PTSD, free-spirit, compassionate, and curious. She can be a little bit humorous and playful.
EC: How would you describe Greyson?
DP: Methodical, a planner, tender, former military, confident, logical, guarded, and witty.
EC: Why the military angle?
DP: When I thought of his background and struggles with life, I thought of those in the military, particularly as he tried, but failed, to help a friend who had gone through PTSD after the war. In my family there is a huge military history, six generations and my husband was military. I do enjoy putting in the military aspect. We had relatives in every war except Korea. They explained how there was those moments that they had to be killed, or they would be killed, which is why the quote in the book. They have some guilt even though they had no choice.
EC: What about the relationship between Greyson and Riley?
DP: She had a teenage crush on him. They like to tease each other. He thinks of her as a light in the darkness. He makes her feel safe. They are passionate. They had to overcome the boundaries since she was his friend’s kid sister. He thinks he is not really the right person for her since he has some baggage. They had to climb some walls to get together.
EC: What about the role of poker in the story?
DP: I have played but not in years. I watched a lot of poker on TV and went into a casino where they answered my questions. Originally it was going to be a heavier role. I had one of the characters winning a lot of money playing poker and suspects grew out of that.
EC: What about the role of cults?
DP: It explained why Riley’s friend was doing what she did. I set it in Las Vegas that has several cults. As I was doing research about Vegas I found out about some underground tunnels. I put that in the story.
EC: Why make Greyson having depression?
DP: I have depression. I wanted to show how he was getting help in a positive light. He was scared to put himself out there with Riley who was very supportive. I wanted to shed light how people with depression feel and how people can work through it together. I showed depression can be overcome. For me, now it is very level.
EC: Next books?
DP: The third book in the series will be coming out next June. The working title is Three Steps Behind. It will feature Riley’s brother Derek and someone he likes, Harper. They worked together in the first book.
I am also writing a novella collection with Lynette Easton out in February.
THANK YOU!!
***
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
As an undercover operative for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II, Evelyn Bishop routinely embarked on deadly missions. By contrast, civilian life should be simple. Yet Evelyn, now back in Los Angeles, struggles with the responsibility of being the new president of Bishop Aeronautics, when people see her as nothing more than a beautiful socialite.
With Nick Gallagher, at least, Evelyn can be entirely herself. Once a fellow spy, now her fiancé, Nick works as a private investigator. But the mission that first brought them together is not over. Evelyn receives a call from her former commanding officer, who is overseeing the Berlin Airlift. He is concerned that the Soviets are trying to recruit Kurt Vogel, a scientist Evelyn and Nick smuggled out of Nazi Germany. After six long years, there’s word his wife and daughter may have survived the war. Is this a chance for a long-promised reunion, or a Russian ploy to lure Vogel to their side?
Past and present collide again when a routine case offers Nick a reunion with a childhood friend who runs a high-class “gentleman’s club.” The clientele includes everyone from Hollywood royalty to mobsters—to a hidden enemy who will draw both Evelyn and Nick into a web as twisted and treacherous as any they have ever faced .
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Elise’s Thoughts
An Unquiet Peace by Shaina Steinberg brings back the partners Evelyn Bishop and Nick Gallagher, who are now engaged. Not only are readers treated to the cases Evelyn and Nick are working on but also see the role their wedding will play in the story.
The first book, Under the Paper Moon, shows how Nick and Evelyn fell in love during the war while working together as OSS partners, only to break up over a perceived betrayal. They were first drawn back together as they teamed up as private investigators to solve a murder. This second book has Evelyn and Nick engaged and planning their wedding. Unfortunately, they are not working together, as in the first story, but have separate cases. Nick is searching for a kidnapping victim who works for his long-lost childhood friend, and Evelyn is trying to track down the missing family of a German scientist.
Evelyn, now president of Bishop Aeronautics, is asked by her former boss General Henry Gibson to come back to Europe because Kurt Vogel, a scientist she and Nick spirited out of Germany during the war, has just received a postcard from the wife he thought was dead. The family had been split up, and two different teams were charged with extracting them from Germany, but Vogel’s Jewish wife and daughter never made it to safety. Now he is hoping Evelyn will find and reunite them as she travels back to Berlin during the Berlin Airlift.
Nick’s case reunites him with a childhood friend who runs a high-class “gentleman’s club” and is seeing her employees beaten with one kidnapped. The clientele includes everyone from Hollywood royalty to mobsters to a hidden enemy who is twisted and treacherous.
The supporting characters play an intricate role in the story. There is Hildy, a childhood friend of Nick’s who taught him how to survive on the streets and literally helped him lose his virginity. She now owns a “gentleman’s club,” where Julia, a bartender working for Hildy, has been kidnapped. Kurt, a German scientist, was brought to the allies by Evelyn and separated from his family. Taffy, Evelyn’s aunt, takes the place of her late mother and becomes the wedding planner.
The story has intrigue, plenty of twists, well-developed characters, and a fabulous mystery. The attention to historical detail immerses the reader in the era, making the story both engaging and informative.
***
Author Interview
Elise Cooper: The idea for the story?
Shaina Steinberg: I was fascinated by the idea that Russia and the USA were allies during WWII, with a very grudging acceptance of each other and partnership. But after the war they showed how they disliked each other, exemplified with the Berlin Blockade. It was such a giant game of chicken and lasted almost a year. I wanted to write the story showing how the city was devasted, suffering, and many people were raped. Yet, a part of me did not feel sorry for the people there because of what the Nazis did. There were many who just stood by and were complacent about the Jews.
EC: I went to UCLA, so “Go Bruins”. Why choose that school?
SS: I chose UCLA for the college because it was one of the only schools that accepted women for undergraduate studies. I put in how one woman was going there studying for an engineering degree and another woman for an economics degree with my main character graduating from there. I also put in this quote about UCLA, “It was beautiful with wide green lawns and neoclassical buildings.”
EC: Through two of the characters, Hannah and Sophie, you show how the Germans were antisemitic not only during but also after the war?
SS: Hitler came in 1933 and announced what he was going to do. The concentration camps did happen because people were complacent, a real lesson for now. In my research I found a lot of Germans after the war denied being Nazis and there was still a lot of antisemitism with the prevalent sentiment that the Jews caused their problems on their own.
EC: What about the women’s issues in the story?
SS: There were women who tried to make it in a man’s world. My main character Evelyn says the true scandal is how “there were not more ways for women to earn a good living.” I talked about how a lot of women in the OSS were relegated to being secretaries. During the war a third of the men left, resulting in open jobs. Many women went to work and saw how they could make a difference and gain independence. After men came back from the war it was expected for women to give up their jobs and the freedom that came with it. Women had that moment of empowerment, but it was taken away.
EC: What about the main character, Evelyn?
SS: She was a CEO of a major company and a pilot. I made her raised by her father who told her anything your brother could do, you can do. He encouraged her to go to school and follow her interests in mathematics and engineering. Her father looked at her as the natural successor. She learned the ins and outs of an aeronautics company so it made sense she would learn how to fly and know her way around airplanes. I love the idea that Evelyn could have existed.
EC: You also speak to the Jewish culture a bit where they talk about wanting to continue the culture?
SS: One of the characters, Gabe, is Jewish and he came here because the European country he lived in became untenable. I think readers can see the different experiences but there are also similarities with people who come to this country. Hannah and Sophie were Germans who tried to hide but because they were Jewish, they were turned over to the Nazis. They thought they could be protected but that was not true.
EC: How would you describe Evelyn’s Aunt Taffy?
SS: She is a society woman who focuses on a very specific world where etiquette is very important. It is so easy to look at her and write her off. She was very disappointed she could not have her own children and never got over losing her beloved husband. She knows Evelyn needs her because her tight knit family has disappeared. She wants to make Evelyn feel that she is not alone and has a deep love for Evelyn. Taffy was like a second mom to her, outspoken, direct, and intimidating.
EC: How would you describe Hildy, Nick’s good friend?
SS: She is practical, humorous, friendly, outgoing, not trusting, and owner of a brothel. She is a good listener but is closed off about herself.
EC: How about another secondary character, Julia?
SS: Responsible, caring, tough, adventurous, organized, independent, and a love for family.
EC: How would you describe the scientist, Kurt?
SS: Bitter, smart, worried, and angry. He is good at placing blame for being displaced from his family. He has an incredible amount of guilt for deciding to leave his family behind.
EC: How would you describe the LAPD officer Brian Caruso?
SS: Corrupt, mean, uncaring, self-centered, and smug. His main thought is what is in it for me?
EC: What about the relationship between Nick and Evelyn?
SS: Nick is enthralled with her, sometimes feels like an outsider. She questions the role of marriage because she wants her independence. They complement each other and are true partners. They feel that each other is family to them. They are truly in love and do bring out the best in each other.
EC: Is Evelyn hesitant because a wife is expected to be a mother and housekeeper?
SS: She does not want that for her life and Nick understands. This is a time of no-fault divorce, where wives don’t have much choice. Evelyn’s friend, Lily, was trapped in a very abusive marriage. If Nick would have left her, she would feel a deep hole inside of herself. I think she would always have the hole if he left her, but she would be able to continue because Evelyn feels she is worthy of love. Nick on the other hand would have a harder time existing without her. He would see Evelyn’s leaving, as confirming he was not loveable. With this said, I have no plans for them to break up.
EC: Why was this book different with the case load than the first book?
SS: They are building a life together. Living and working together can be challenge. In the first book it was about them finding their way back to each other. They have been through so much together. I wanted readers to see how they do their own thing yet have the support from each other at the end of the day. They can talk to each other about their cases even if it is just to listen.
EC: Next book?
SS: I am currently working on it so there is no release date or title. Taffy and Julia will be in it. Evelyn is working on the factory expansion with things going wrong. In this book Nick’s case more closely ties in with her work.
THANK YOU!!
***
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
After surviving a deadly prison break, ex-Detroit cop Kurt Argento is ready for some quiet. Still working through his grief over the passing of his wife, Argento finds himself house-sitting for a friend with his loyal companion, Hudson, a Chow Chow-Shepard mix. It’s a simple life, but it’s one that Argento is content to live. Then Kristin Reed shows up, begging Argento to find her missing husband and son.
Argento starts to notice that Fenton, Arizona is more than meets the eye. First there’s the large, overly equipped public safety team complete with specialized tactics and sophisticated weaponry. Then there’s the unusual financial boosting of failing small businesses by the U.S. government. Finally, there’s a man with no name with unprecedented control over the town. Argento finds himself unraveling not just the truth behind the disappearance of a family, but a conspiracy that’s taken a whole town to cover up.
Fenton, Arizona is going to push him further than he’s ever had to go. And along the way, he may just lose a part of himself. Because justice isn’t as black and white as Argento would like to believe.
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Elise’s Thoughts
Hard Town by Adam Plantinga blends action, humor, and moral dilemmas for the main character, Kurt Argento. Jack Reacher and Harry Bosch will move over for Kurt Argento, someone with a combination of their qualities. Argento emerges as a character where his reputation precedes him, with a desire to help others in dire straits.
Argento is a former Detroit beat copy and SWAT team member who served for over twenty years. In these first two books of the series readers see him as a wounded man, both physically and mentally. He has a stubborn, uncompromising sense of justice and formidable street-fighting skills, and is now grieving over the loss of his beloved wife to cancer.
Hard Town begins with Argento housesitting with his loyal companion, Hudson, A Chow-Chow Shepherd mix, for an old SWAT buddy in Fenton Arizona. At a diner he is approached by a woman, Kristin Reed, with her toddler who asks his help to find her missing husband. But after she fails to arrive for their appointment Argento decides to investigate the disappearance of the Reed family. Unfortunately, he is met with hostility and suspicion. Argento starts to notice that Fenton, Arizona is more than meets the eye.
He is up against government forces and ex-military special operators who have quietly taken over this small Arizona town, for the purpose, as they see it, of keeping America safe. There’s the large, overly equipped public safety team complete with specialized tactics and sophisticated weaponry. Then there’s the unusual financial boosting of failing small businesses by the U.S. government. Finally, there’s a man known only as “Silver Haired Man” with unprecedented control over the town. Argento finds himself needing to unravel, not just the truth behind the disappearance of a family, but a conspiracy that’s covered up by many in the town. He must contend with gangland assassins, mercenaries, and a mysterious psychopath with a huge intellect who is working on a secret project for the government.
There is quick witted dialogue, realistic scenes, and a great action plot, with well-written, detailed, and complex characterizations.
***
Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Did you use your personal experience to write these stories?
Adam Plantinga: I am a police sergeant in San Francisco. I can use my police training and tactics for my main character, who is a former cop. His outlook on life is like mine. I spend a fair amount of time around felons, so I get a sense of how they speak and act. Many times, when they say and do something I use it in the books.
EC: How are you like your main character, Kurt Argento?
AP: He is hard driving who does not have a lot of patience for disorder. He is relentless. I like to think I have these qualities as well when going after wanted felons. He is a straight shooter just like me. And we both had/have wonderful wives.
EC: What other qualities does Argento have?
AP: In the first book, The Ascent, there are a lot of flashbacks about his wife who he lost to cancer. He is caring, inquisitive, can read people, a problem solver, stubborn, former SWAT, can connect the dots, and is a hunter and fisher. He is a handy guy.
EC: What is the difference between The Ascent and this book?
AP: The first book took place indoors in a violent maximum-security prison and this second book was outdoors, with many scenes in the desert. In The Ascent, Argento operates in black and white regarding moral choices whereas in the second book there are shades of grey that include him blinded by rage.
EC: Why did you kill a child and a dog?
AP: I speak to it in the acknowledgement of the book. In a writing conference the moderator said the only rule that matters is that it can be done if it powers the story, and it works. The killing of the dog is the fuel for Argento throughout the rest of the book. The role of Hudson is to spur Argento because the bad guys crossed the red line in the sand.
EC: How would you describe the “Silver-Haired Man?”
AP: He is not a sympathetic character. He is diabolical. He uses his power and intellect for pure evil with no redeeming qualities. He is cold-blooded with tendencies to being a psychopath: narcissistic, without empathy.
EC: Why pit off the former Special Forces military against a former cop?
AP: I do work with a lot of those who are former military and are now in law enforcement. The plot has these former Special Forces people pretending to be cops. While in the military they saw and had to do bad things in the service of their country. When they were offered a million plus dollars for this assignment, they figured it was their just due. But they lost their way in the process with only one appearing to have a conscience, Redfinger. He cannot square what he did with who he is. The others have committed atrocities without guilt.
EC: Why the desert setting?
AP: I was able to put in how someone lost will get headaches, dehydration, pain, and thirst with the extreme heat. I did some research by speaking with a desert survivalist and a burn expert to
make it realistic. I also read a book, Death Watch, as a child that is a desert survival tale. There are passages from that book that are in my memory, and I wanted to recreate that setting. My wife and I love the desert setting.
EC: Next book?
AP: There are two more books in the series. The plot has Argento finding himself in a small South Dakota town. He decides to help a teenager who is in a lot of trouble. The working title is Run Through Walls, probably out in 2026.
THANK YOU!!
***
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
Victor is dead. But out of the chaos, a new dark power rises …
Only weeks ago, former Navy SEAL Jedidiah Johnson, head of Joshua Bravo team at the Shepherds, helped to defeat Victor, the leader of the devil’s Dark Ones. Now, his boss, Ben Morvant, has tasked him with an even harder mission: Take a vacation.
But before Jed has even managed to hit the beach in the Dominican Republic, he comes face-to-face with a new evil: Orphans are being abducted right off the streets of Santo Domingo. Are these disappearances just an unfortunate crime in an unfamiliar country, or do they hint at something bigger—a new threat emerging out of the power vacuum Victor left behind?
When Jed needs help after a violent encounter, he finds himself with an unexpected new ally: CIA liaison Gayle James. Together, the two of them must follow the trail of the missing orphans before it runs cold. Soon they find themselves immersed in a dangerous world of murder, betrayal, and voodoo. Jed will need Gayle, the Watchers Sarah Beth and Corbin, his old friend Ben Morvant, and the entire team of Shepherds at his side to expose the new threat—and to prevent a new dark power from rising …
***
Elise’s Thoughts
Dark Rising is the fourth book by Brian Andrews and Jeff Wilson in the Shepherds Series. Brian, a former submarine officer and Jeff, a former combat surgeon, use their experiences to write riveting novels, this one no different. Readers are never disappointed when they pick up one of their series, whether “Sons of Valor,” “Tier One”, “Four Minutes”, and the “Shepherds Series” along with the Tom Clancy series. What sets this series apart from the others is the spiritual component that has some supernatural components, supported by scripture.
The first book in the series, Dark Intercept, has Navy SEAL Jedidiah Johnson retiring. As he tries to figure out his next step he receives a frantic call from his estranged childhood best friend David Yarnell, now married to Jed’s high school sweetheart Rachel, that their daughter, Sarah Beth, has been kidnapped. Since the police have no suspects and no leads Jed reluctantly agrees to help. Dark memories and strange abilities he thought he’d put behind him resurface that include the ability to hear other people’s thoughts, and internal voices. Jed is helped by the Shepherds, a military organization of religious soldiers tasked with protecting the world from evil spiritual threats, and the Watchers, teenagers who provide intelligence and reconnaissance to the Shepherds.
Dark Angel, the next book, pits Jed, the Shepherds, and the Watchers, against Nicholas Woland, who betrayed the Shepherds and joined their enemies, the Dark Ones. He is tasked by the leader of the Dark Ones, Victor, to execute a sinister plot causing hundreds of deaths and inciting worldwide religious warfare.
Dark Fall, the third book, has Jed as the Shepherds team leader using his skills, his team, CIA liaison Gayle James, and the Watchers to track an energy-based weapon that Victor wants to control.
Dark Rising has Jed on a vacation. But his restfulness comes to an end after realizing that children are being abducted in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. He is immersed in a dangerous world of murder, betrayal, and Voudou with Zombies. Jed will need Gayle, the Watchers Sarah Beth and Corbin, the leader of the Shepherds, Ben Morvant, as well as the entire team of Shepherds at his side to expose the new threat.
This series has an interesting take on good versus evil. It has the elements that Andrews & Wilson have become known for: covert operations, intrigue, fast-paced action sequences, and nefarious plots with a spiritual component.
***
Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Since you both are writing four series, “Sons of Valor,” “Tier One”, “Four Minutes”, and the “Shepherds Series” which one came first?
Brian Andrews/Jeff Wilson: “Tier One” is the first series that began in 2016 with eight books. Usually, the first three books relate to an arc, a three-book trilogy.
EC: What is the difference between each series?
BA/JW: They have different universes. The “Shepherds Series” has the speculative element as faith based but is grounded in the present with normal human life that includes spirituality and religious elements. The “Four Minutes” series is a speculative near future thriller that has a technological breakthrough that affects people, the military, and the intelligence communities. The “Tier One,” “Sons of Valor,” and the Tom Clancy Series are military thrillers set in the present with no speculative element at all with real-life mirroring current geo-politics.
EC: The following questions will be based solely on the “Shepherds Series.” How did you get the idea for it?
BA/JW: We wanted to write something rooted in what could be feasible based on biblical interpretations. Our stories imagine that evil is actively sowing chaos, misery, and deception to bring about ruin to mankind. Evil does not fight fair and the forces of good must combat them.
EC: How would you describe the bad guys, the Dark Ones?
BA/JW: They are every day human beings that turned to evil and are the host for a demon. The demon inside them gives them superhuman strength, the glowing eyes, and the transforming of their body. Imagine injecting someone with adrenaline or drugs that allows the person to push themselves to a limit beyond what a normal person’s biology could do. They have no fear of death. After the Demons process them, the body develops certain “powers” that gives them superhuman strength and power where they feel no pain. They represent hate and evil.
EC: Can you explain this quote from the Shepherds books, “The nature of good and evil, and things we feel, deep in our bones, but can’t see with our rational eyes. The raw questions about the existence of God?” I thought immediately of October 7th and the Holocaust.
BA/JW: Anyone who has been in combat or has seen horrific things can’t help but ask that question. This is an important part of the Shepherds Series. We assume readers go on this journey. In our own lives and military service, we’ve had to deal with burning questions about the nature of God, His role in the world and our lives, good and evil, and supernatural, spiritual
warfare the Bible tells us rages around us every day. There are so many possibilities where some might walk away from God, or maybe some will come to the same conclusions Jeff, myself, and our character Jed believe that God must give people free will. Part of the journey is where does organize religion factor into the equation for individuals. God in the story provides guidance, inspiration, and a set of moral principles for the Shepherds.
EC: In this story there are the Shepherds, Watchers, and Keepers. What is the difference?
BA/JW: The Watchers are a spiritual, intelligence, reconnaissance group. They replaced the satellites, listening devices, and professional spies. They are young people that are gifted with second sight that will age out. They can get into someone’s mind, can communicate with each other silently over a distance, and they are the ears and the eyes of the Shepherds. They locate a target, and certain watchers have an extra ability to project their consciousness to a physical location, an out of body experience.
The Shepherds are not divine and can be killed. They are a multinational task force to combat evil forces, the Dark Ones. They use spiritual warfare. They are a covert operations organization.
The Keepers are mentors, advisors, and handlers to the Watchers.
EC: What about some of the characters?
BA/JW: Jed is the main character, a Shepherd. He has anger issues, resentful, bitter, empathetic, compassionate, honorable, courageous, lonely, regretful, and has a Spidey-sense. Some of these characteristics dissipate in the fourth book, Dark Rising. In the first book he is going through a professional and spiritual crisis, having run away from his demons, both figuratively and literally. He became a Navy SEAL, the ultimate warrior. He is aging out of this job. He is becoming adrift and regrets walking away from his true love, Rachel. His journey in these books is the second act of his life where he finds a new place for himself after becoming a Shepherd leader, the head of Joshua Bravo. In Dark Rising he is put through the wringer and develops a sense of vulnerability and humiliation. He is emotionally spent. In this book he is starting a new journey.
Ben is the head of the Shepherds who was a former Navy SEAL. He decides what and where the mission will be. He decides to have a SEAL Team 6 type of unit for the real tricky and toughest missions which Jed will oversee.
Victor is the main bad guy in the first three books who is possessed by a legion of demons. He is the head of the Dark Ones. He can get into people’s minds. He is malicious, very intimidating, calm, hateful, mission oriented, results driven with a lot of rage. He is a little bit of a Darth Vader metaphor where he at one time was a person with humanity who over time was very corrupted and transformed. Victor allowed himself to be taken over by the Devil as was Darth Vader taken over by the emperor.
Woland is another bad guy, a Dark One. He is Lucifer-like, a sadist, powerful, and arrogant. He is a fallen Shepherd who wanted to use his skills for his own benefit.
David is Sarah Beth’s father. He is Yen to Jed’s Yang. He, Rachel, and Jed were like the Three Musketeers in high school. He is jealous of Jed for his abilities. Their dynamic is the heart of the story. He works with the Shepherds providing guidance.
Rachel is Sarah Beth’s mother. She is a private person, secure, confident, independent, protective, bitter, angry, and has abandonment issues. She was once in love with Jed. She still has the ability in her daughter’s presence to use some of her former Watcher skills.
Sarah Beth is a Watcher. She is an intricate player of the books. Looks on Jed as her family and uncle. She feels different. She is inexperienced and has powerful skills. Her courage is the most impressive. Throughout the books readers see her navigating the world. She encapsulates for us, the father of daughters, that to change the world there is no hiding at home.
Corbin is also a Watcher. She is sister-like to Sarah Beth. She is loyal, a tactician, analytical, and older beyond her years. She is what Sarah Beth can be if she tries and fulfills her potential.
Maria Perez: In the first three books she filled the emotional void for Jed. She was a police detective. She tries to manipulate Jed. Readers will see her as an anti-hero, a redemption character.
Gayle is the CIA liaison to the Shepherds. She is trustworthy, honorable, straight-shooter, calm, self-assured, tenacious, and brave. She is a critical thinker.
EC: The rest of the questions apply to the fourth book, Dark Rising. What about the relationship between Jed and Gayle?
BA/JW: They have bonded and like each other’s company. They can talk easily to each other. Gayle wishes Jed would confide in her more. There are sparks flying between them. In the first three books Jed had a preconceived idea that Rachel was his only soul mate and there will never be anyone else.
EC: In the latest book, is Sani a lot like Sarah-Beth?
BA/JW: She is a leader, defiant, strong-willed, and fearless. She is living in poverty with her grandma.
EC: The first three books were military thrillers with some science fiction but then while reading this book that had Voudou and Zombies I thought fantasy. Please explain.
BA/JW: They are not literal Zombies. Gayle explained that Voudou was based on hallucinogenic and paralytic drugs. Peoples’ heart rates slowed down with the drugs, putting a person into a
near death state in a coffin, buried alive. Just before the effects wear off, they are brought out of their coma state, the Priest digs up the victim and brainwashes them into thinking they’ve died and were brought back as a Zombie. The book quote, “They would be completely paralyzed and unable to speak or move. Their pulse would be faint to the point of undetectable…They would look dead, but they would be fully aware and awake.” In this culture the fear is becoming a Zombie. The victims had gone under PTSD.
EC: Is the new bad person, Manbo, the next female Victor and her aide, Calypso the next Woland?
BA/JW: Yes. She is pure evil. She tried to move the chess pieces to make herself the next Victor or at least someone else she can control. Calypso is the similar character as in the Odyssey. She is twisted, malignant, and tried to use her powers to keep people trapped and subservient.
EC: Next books?
BA/JW: We will continue writing more books in each series. In July will be the next “Sons of Valor” book, False Flag. This will be a new plot arc that has the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia murdered, and the blame is pointed at Mossad, the Israeli Intelligence. The company goes to the Middle East to help figure out who killed the Crown Prince and obviously the title of the book sort of gives it away.
The next “Tier One” book comes out in November and the title is the Adversary. The plot continues where the last book, Ember, left off. A Chinese agent was helping the terrorist organization al Qaeda that was responsible for the bombing that killed President Warner and the Indian Prime Minister. Richard Wang of the task force is kidnapped so it’s about trying to figure who took him and how to thwart the Chinese and the terrorists.
THANK YOU!!
***
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
When Elizabeth Walker, the last heir of the Alexander Hamilton line, is tragically killed by a subway train in New York, foul play is immediately suspected. Elizabeth had been terrified, frantic, and manic during her last days, running mysterious errands, searching for a strange antique key, and sending cryptic messages to her best friend, Sarah Brockman.
The morning after Elizabeth’s death, a box of tattered documents lands on Sarah’s doorstep, confirming her suspicions about Elizabeth’s strange behavior and shocking death. She brings the box to Elizabeth’s grieving husband, Ralph. Working together, they are stunned to discover that Elizabeth was part of a secret society established by Hamilton himself to keep the United States just and free, its influence woven into every corner of the country’s history. As Sarah and Ralph race through the streets of New York to uncover the truth behind Elizabeth’s death, they must stop an ingenious and sinister plot before someone else catches up to them–and the secrets of Hamilton’s society are lost forever.
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Elise’s Thoughts
The Last Hamilton by Jenn Bregman intertwines history within a mystery. The conspiratorial plot involves a secret society established by Alexander Hamilton to protect U.S. gold reserves from foreign and domestic enemies. The question throughout the story is, “Did Alexander Hamilton hide enough gold to prevent anyone from cornering the market and ruining the US?”
The characters need to answer that question to find out what happened to the last heir of Alexander Hamilton, Elizabeth Walker. The police are wondering if she jumped in front of a subway train or was pushed to her death. Her husband, Ralph, and her best friend Sarah Brockman, know that she was terrified, frantic, and manic during her last days. Sarah received a cryptic message, and Ralph recalls her running mysterious errands to search for a strange antique key including in a piano at the Hamilton Grange (the house Hamilton built in New York City). Then, Sarah receives a box of tattered documents and shows them to Ralph.
Working together to find answers to Elizabeth’s death, they are stunned to discover that Elizabeth was part of a secret society established by Hamilton himself to keep America safe. Also investigating her death is Detective Deborah Schwartz who knows Sarah and Ralph are hiding something. To make matters worse, Sarah’s co-worker Pierce Burr shares sensitive intelligence about gold reserves with his devious friend Timothy who works for the Treasury Department and is trying to thwart her efforts to find the truth. Pierce and Timothy are trying to involve foreign interference in the international gold market.
The story has a great plot, intriguing characters, and a lot of suspense. Readers will feel they are back in time during revolutionary days and then jump forward to today where the twists add to a riveting storyline.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?
Jenn Bregman: My husband and I lived in New York for about 12 years. The city lives and breathes Revolutionary era history. I became immersed in it and have a fondness for revolutionary times. The inspiration for the story came at that point. I read the Ron Chernow book and fell in love with Alexander Hamilton. Plus, I always have been interested in legacy issues and how the past continues through generations. Then the story just grew. Most of the historical facts in this book are accurate.
EC: What about the financial aspect of the story?
JB: I went to law school at UCLA where I met my husband. Then I became a Big Law litigator who practiced in Los Angeles and New York. I worked on Wall Street for many years and in banking compliance and trading. This part of the story was my life, so I did not need to do any research.
EC: What was true?
JB: 48 Wall Street, the first bank of New York, does have a raised basement. It is possible the vaults are there. The part about Fort Knox is a basis in speculation. There has never been a full accounting of the gold depositories in the US because the government does not want it. One of the facts that is true. It took the US four years to give the German bank back their gold bars. And it is true there is no accounting. Also, the piano in the story that had a little matchbox draw underneath is still at the Hamilton Grange.
EC: What was the role of Alexander Hamilton, his daughter, Angelica, and the handkerchief?
JB: He has an active and passive role. He put in place the vision for America within a secret society. He set up a trove to set up this secret society. Angelica became mentally disabled through the grief of losing her brother. The only thing that would soothe her is to play the piano over and over. The piano that I speak about is at the Hamilton Grange. The clue was a picture of Angleica with the handkerchief and the piano.
EC: How would you describe Elizabeth?
JB: Charming, stressed, short tempered at a certain point in the story, and feels she has a legacy. She has great virtue, integrity, courage, and strength. Elizabeth always gave of her time to support the Hamilton legacy.
EC: How would you describe Sarah?
JB: Tough, fair, loyal, and courageous with a conscience. She is sometimes conflicted. She has more layers than Elizabeth.
EC: What about Ralph?
JB: Kind, gentle, resourceful, sweet, creative, trusting, and anxious during this point in the story.
EC: What about Pierce?
JB: He is anti-hero, manipulative, and self-centered. He was greedy, someone who wanted to gain money and prominence. He also wanted to save his family legacy. He allowed the greed to cloud his eyes.
EC: What role did Detective Schwartz play?
JB: She is inquisitive, analytical, wise, and suspicious. She is seasoned because she knew that both Sarah and Ralph were hiding something but let it run its course.
EC: Next book?
JB: I am working on it now. Some of the characters will continue including Sarah but not Hamilton. The next book takes place shortly after this book and will be a thriller.
THANK YOU!!
***
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
The Hunt for The Peggy C and Rescue Run by John Winn Miller has life and death decisions that lead to daring escapes. The stories display how the hero, Captain Jake Rogers and the heroine, Miriam Maduro, have both courage and resilience. Both books’ plots show how the hunter and the hunted navigate their way through the war zones of the North Sea, the Atlantic, Europe, and the Mediterranean.
The Hunt for The Peggy C has Captain Jake Rogers of the aging tramp steamer, The Peggy C, smuggling contraband merchandise, for money. While in Amsterdam he is paid by Miriam’s father, Mr. Maduro, to smuggle to Gibraltar his most perilous cargo, a Jewish family of six: Uncle Levy, a rabbi; his three young children; and two sisters, Miriam and Truus. But things do not go as planned when a U-Boat commander forces the ship to be boarded by three of its crew members in search of contraband. Unfortunately, they see too much, and the Peggy C crew is forced to take them prisoner. Out for revenge for being humiliated, the U-boat commander Viktor Brauer doggedly pursues the ship hoping to torpedo it to smithereens.
The sequel, Rescue Run, has Captain Jake Rogers returning to the North Atlantic as commander of a US Liberty ship with many of his crew. Unfortunately, it breaks down and they end up in Ireland. While there, Rogers learns from Dutch sailors that the Nazis have arrested the father of Miriam Maduro and have deported him to a concentration camp. In the first book Miriam and Rogers have become lovers and realize they care for each other. Rogers and crew sneak back into Holland aboard a gun-running ship from neutral Ireland and contact a resistance group to help them get Maduro to safety. While in Holland they learn that Miriam is in grave danger in a Nazi prison and has been tortured. Determined to rescue her they once again ask a resistance group to help in a daring rescue attempt. This is where the cat and mouse games begin, as a Nazi bounty hunter is in hot pursuit to get the reward put on Miriam’s head. Now the heroes must navigate informants, imposters, gangsters, and double agents to escape to safety by using disguises, fake documents, subterfuge, and guns.
These stories have nonstop adventure and intrigue that keep readers in a perpetual state of suspense. The nail-biting tension mixed with heartwarming moments makes for a page turner. A bonus are the true historical details about the war and the countries involved that lend to a powerful authenticity. If readers want to learn more about the characters at the end of the second book are additional reading materials, research notes, and blurbs about the historical figures and their fate.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?
John Winn Miller: Years ago, I watched a bad TV adventure movie with my family. I knew I could write a better story. The next day I woke up from a dream and knew the first scene, the last scene, and the name of the ship. Because I had no personal experiences with U-boats, Merchants ships, or the settings in the plot, I took several years to do the research and get the facts straight.
EC: What was the role of Peggy C in the first book?
JWM: It is the name for the cargo ship. A Jewish family was rescued by the ship’s captain, Jake Rogers. The ship is chased by a Nazi U-boat. It is thirty years old but did well in the cat and mouse game with the U-boat. I wanted to use a slow ship to make it hard to get away. The ship was like a character in the story.
EC: What was real in the story?
JWM: The drug Pervitin was used to give the Nazis a jolt of energy and euphoria. It made them confident, courageous, and fearless. It helped people stay awake for several days. Hitler’s pirates are real. Pirates originated from the idea of Winston Churchill during WWI. The Nazis decided to use that idea in WWII. The more bizarre, the more I made sure it was real.
EC: There is a powerful quote in the book that can also be used today after October 7th. Please explain
JWM: You are referring to, “You and your kind make evil leaders like Hitler possible and yet you pretend you are only fighting for country.” It was the typical defense of the Nazis; I was just following orders. There is no moral responsibility to stand up to evil whether soldiers in the German army or collaborators in the occupied countries, apart from Denmark.
EC: How would you describe the U-boat Commander Brauer?
JWM: He is based on three real U-boat captains. He is deranged and cruel. I took the worst traits of the worst U-boat captains. He is very much convinced of the righteousness of what he is doing. He is a war criminal and what he did is based on a true story. I based him on a real captain that had a troubled career. Brauer wanted revenge against Rogers after being humiliated.
EC: How would you describe the heroine, Miriam?
JWM: A reader, smart, impulsive, courageous, fighter, tough, optimist, and determined. She starts out to a damsel in distress but becomes a hero by the end of the story.
EC: Do you think Miriam changed in the second book after she was tortured by the Nazis?
JWM: Yes. She got a heavier heart, became more suspicious, not trusting, with feelings of gloom, anxiety, dread, and anger. She was a young medical student but now had to fight back and become tough to save her family. She grows more than anybody in these books. She realizes that those who told her not to fight back were wrong and thinks of them as fools, especially the Jewish Council in Amsterdam.
EC: How would you describe the hero, Rogers?
JWM: He is a cynic, loyal, a good navy man, clever, caring, with a bit of a temper. He is self-educated.
EC: What about the relationship?
JWM: Rogers and Miriam have a bond they share with the love of books. They care for each other but must navigate their differences because they come from entirely different cultures and religions.
EC: Why did you make a cat and mouse plot in both books?
JWM: I love the Bourne movies and realize that the tension is ratcheted up, especially as they get closer to each other in proximity. I enjoy the chase where they are trying to outrun and outsmart the enemy. Rogers realizes he is not as strong as the enemy, so he must use his brains to escape, many times getting ideas to think his way out from the books he read.
EC: Why the quote at the beginning of the second book, Rescue Run?
JWM: You mean this one, “To the brave heroes and heroines who gave their all, and often their lives, to defeat fascism’s heinous ideology of intolerance, racism, nationalism, and anti-Semitism.” There were soldiers and others who had the courage to stand up. Many of them are actual historical figures where I tried to remain true to who they were. For example, Miriam’s friend, Tineke Butcher, who hid them. She, her mother, and her grandmother, hid more than 100 Jewish refugees. The Gestapo raided her home eight times, arrested her nine times, and beat her; yet she never revealed any secrets. Even at great personal peril.
EC: Was the resistance leader, Miss 2000, real?
JWM: Yes. Very few did I make up. She was the only woman to create and lead a resistance movement during the war. She and her group sheltered more than 4,500 during the occupation, providing them with food, clothing, rations, and false identity papers, as I wrote about in the books. I hoped I highlighted her courage and her wanting to stand up for what was the right thing to do.
EC: What about Hitler’s bounty hunters like the character, Janssen?
JWM: I stumbled across this book, Hitler’s Bounty Hunters, about them and could not believe it. Janssen has no morals and no convictions. He was in it for the money and what made it more fun for him is that he did not like Jews. He has pure greed.
EC: What about your next book?
JWM: The title is Miriam in The Shadows and will be published March 2026. The plot has Miriam and Rogers sent to France on separate missions by the English Intelligence Agencies. There will be double crosses, double agents, and interjacencies that have dirty deals.
THANK YOU!!
***
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
