#militaryactionthriller – Avonna Loves Genres

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Insurgent by Brian Andrews & Jeffrey Wilson

Book Description

After rescuing a teammate from a covert detention facility in East Asia, it’s back to business as usual for John Dempsey and Task Force Ember: conducting counterterrorism operations in denied areas.

An opportunity to strike a master Houthi drone engineer sends the team to Yemen, but things start to go wrong almost as soon as their boots hit the ground. What is their local contact hiding, and why didn’t their CIA contact show up to the rendezvous? Meanwhile, First Lady Petra Jarvis’s job—juggling the roles of wife, first lady, and Ember liaison—is about to get a lot harder. The Presidential Election is only two weeks away, and President Kelso Jarvis’s SEAL instincts are failing him. Good in the heat of battle and in the situation room, Jarvis is floundering in debate prep, allowing his political rival to paint him as a caricature of the war mongering, hot-tempered SEAL.

What neither Petra nor Dempsey know is that they are both in the sights of a master spy operating right under their noses in DC—a spy with orders to sow chaos. As Election night nears, Dempsey and Petra are drawn further into his web, and soon it’s hard to tell who is manipulating whom.

A dangerous game is afoot, and to win Dempsey and Ember may well be forced into a bargain with the devil.

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Elise’s Thoughts

Insurgent by Andrews & Wilson has everything readers love about these stories including fast-paced action, suspense, and an intense plot with a level of realism that makes people think these authors have a crystal ball.

The plot has John Dempsey and the Ember task force having an opportunity to strike a master Houthi drone engineer in Yemen. It appears that Task Force Ember’s technology might have been infiltrated by foreign adversaries leading to a cat and mouse between Ember and a psychotic Chinese operative who has grandiose plans to strike massive blows to the United States and Dempsey personally. Meanwhile, First Lady Petra Jarvis’s job of juggling the roles of wife, first lady, and Ember liaison puts her in danger.

High stakes, geopolitically and personally, with life and death consequences has Petra and Dempsey intent on finding the Chinese agent and making sure he fails. Readers will be on the edge of their seats as the tension level builds.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: What is new on the television front?

Brian Andrews: We have a project over at Amblin Entertainment, which is Steven Spielberg’s company. We’re excited about that. It is based on one of the short stories that we have coming out later this year. We’ve had a little bit of musical chairs with the showrunners for the “Shepherd Series” and “Tier One.” We’re on the hunt for our third showrunner for the Shepherd series right now. Still hoping that that will get some movement. We’re interviewing a showrunner for another series called Strike Group that we’re developing, which is about an aircraft carrier, a mystery.

EC: How did you get the idea for this story?

BA: Insurgent is book ten in the “Tier One series” and felt like it is an important book. It was time to circle back almost like an anniversary. We circled back and revisited some of the themes that we introduced in the first book. I think the savvy reader will pick up on that right out of the gate. It opens in Yemen, where Operation Crusader went down with John Dempsey losing his team, which is when Jack Kemper became John Dempsey. He hasn’t been back to Yemen since the Jabouri base was blown up. And, so for him, this is a homecoming, an emotional one, because he’s coming back to this place where it all started. This is why we kicked off the book here.

EC: But the Chinese play a major role in the story?

BA: The world is now interconnected. The Yemenis aren’t just making their drones and their anti-aircraft systems and missiles by themselves. It is not happening in a vacuum. They’re getting help when they’re getting supplied by the Chinese and they’re receiving aid from the Iranians. We’re starting to see that the Chinese, especially over the last five years, are becoming a defense contracting hub. They’re building drones, missiles, and helicopters. They have a guidance system. They’re starting to export the types of products and weapon systems that were previously only in the purview of the United States. Soviets, and the European defense contractors. Now they’ve got a foot in that game.

EC: Does the title mean anything?

BA: It is the origin. We think of an insurgent as an assaulter or somebody who’s coming at you on your home turf with a gun. This title is sort of metaphorical. We’re dealing with a more complicated insurgent. We dealing with a Chinese effort to infiltrate American defense, industrial complex, and our politics on multiple levels.

EC: The structure of this book is different?

BA: We’ve never done this before. in any of our novels. And we were excited and curious to see if people recognize the flash forward open, and then what people think of it. The book is started at the end, and then we come back and bring you back up to that point. You see all the events that led up to the climax.

EC: How would you describe Ren, the Chinese agent?

BA: He is evil, a threat, a psychopath, manipulative, adaptable, sadistic, and loves chaos. This antagonist has got a screw loose. And so that’s something else that we haven’t really explored since Malik, the Russian Zeta, part of the secret Russian task force. He was a little bit sociopathic and on the edge. He went against Dempsey in Red Specter, that was book five.

EC: It’s like the story has a word of warning about the Chinese?

BA: Before, we could exert a certain element of control over bad actors, by depriving them of access to arms and technology. Iran, Pakistan, Yemen, along with terrorist organizations if they couldn’t develop them, their weapons in house, or buy them from the Russians, or get them off the black market, they couldn’t get them. And now the Chinese are happy to supply them with weapons, but not just weapons. It’s not just guns, it’s technology and guidance systems along with drones, engines, and components they couldn’t make themselves.

EC: There is a book quote that says it is hard to kill only with air strikes. Can you explain?

BA: There’s going to be people who are going to question the value of special operations, of teams like our fictional task force, Ember, and operators, like John Dempsey, who must go in on the ground to execute missions and deny areas. People question, why should we take the risk? We can just drop bombs. We can launch a missile, we can blow up their warehouse, or target the home where the guy lives. But just look at Iran. It’s clear the regime is still in control. We could bomb them into oblivion, and if they’re hiding underground, and we don’t have any boots on the ground, we don’t eliminate the regime, the regime will rise again. I think we’ll always have to have boots on the ground whether they’re overt or covert.

EC: Can you explain the book quote, “politicians were the easiest adversaries to manipulate because they lacked principles and acted only in their own self-interest.”

BA: Our goal was to be apolitical in these stories and not pick a side, but we live in a policy driven world, in the geopolitical world. I think it’s okay for characters to call out certain frustrations that we the authors are observing in real life. In American politics that’s driven by self-interest and power. The way that our politicians can change their opinion, and their votes on a dime should be concerning to people. You elect somebody based on what you perceive to be their platform and how they convey to you their belief systems and you’re doing that because you’re hoping that that person will represent you, the voter, and the constituency’s interest when it comes to making important decisions. And then they get in office, and you realize, oh, they don’t care. That was all just a bunch of gaslighting. They just said what they thought they needed to say, and what the voters need to hear to get elected. Then they get in there, and they do what they’re told, or what money buys, or whatever. And I think that this is something that we’re all seeing that politicians are maybe emboldened to even not hide it anymore, because there’s no consequences in their behaviors.

EC: Do you have wishful thinking when you put this quote in by President Jarvis? “I don’t make decisions based on the political climate polling. Whatever the pundits may or may not want or criticize me.”

BA: I think it’s very clear, and should be clear to anyone who reads this book, that President Jarvis is the president that we all want. And President Jarvis is the type of president that all presidents should aspire to. It should be an act of service to be President of the United States. It should be a burden. It should be difficult when you should have sleepless nights because you’re having to put the needs of the country ahead of your own. And as president, you should have to serve your entire constituency. that means people who don’t agree with you on everything that you say. In the Tier One series we want to entertain. But also, we want to present characters who represent a higher purpose. They should be models of heroism. People who do the right thing, do the hard thing, and put country, mission, and team before self.

EC: What’s the importance of First Lady Petra?

BA: She had a military, and an intelligence career. She was chief of staff to the DNI, who was Jarvis. She’s the president’s sounding board, confidant, knows national security, and a woman of action. What the US has never had is a First Lady who came from a background of military service or in the intelligence community. Because in her mind, she brings something different to the table. Jarvis needs her. He appreciates her counsel and her input. She is sort of a counterbalance to him, especially with his Parkinson’s now. Petra would say, ‘I’m going to do both. Why do I have to limit myself? You know, why can’t I be the first lady and continue to be Petra.’ So that’s kind of what we did in this book, her refusing to be put into a box and told that you must do this, because that’s what all the other first ladies did. And there’s this expectation, I hope we communicated in the text, in the story, there’s an expectation that she will behave and be quiet, and go off and do the things that other first ladies do.? But she is not going to do that. She’s supposed to function as the shadow firewall between Director Casey of Tier One, and the Office of the President, to provide a certain level of possible deniability and keep Jarvis at arm’s length from the operation of the task force. The exact role that he filled for President Warner. What we started to put into that subplot in this book is this idea that Jarvis is struggling to give up power and knowledge, the task force decision making. She calls him out on it saying, ‘This was your idea. So, you know, you can’t, you can’t have it both ways. You gotta pick.’ And he lets her be in charge and make the decision making.

EC: The next books?

BA: The next Tier One, book 11 we have not thought about yet. And have not written another Shepherd book.

The next Sons of Valor is what we’re writing right now, starting a new trilogy. It will take “Chunk” Redman, who leads a covert team of elite operators, and Whitney Watts, and the Gold Squadron south of the border, where they’re going to be up against Mexican cartels for the next 3 books. It is titled for now, Sons of Valor 5 and will be out sometime next year.

But we do have a book coming out in November titled Dark Horse. It is a standalone novel. It’s a sort of a modern retelling of Three days at the Condor. It’s about a secret program that the CIA runs where they have a think tank, and the members of the think tank come up with predictive scenarios about things that our adversaries could do. And they feed those scenarios into the analysis machinery of the CIA. And they get discovered and targeted by bad guys with everyone getting killed except one person. And that character is Eva Dasher, and Eva is on the run, being hunted, trying to figure out who’s responsible for this.

We are also writing a short story every month, for the entire year. The first short story was released last December, titled First Ranger. And then we did one a month since. Each of these stories was written to be a potential vehicle that Anderson/Wilson could develop for film and television. It gives our readers and listeners a preview of some non-Tier One and Sons of Valor projects that we’re trying to develop for TV and movies and features. They’re completely different. First Ranger is historical. fiction. It’s the story of Thomas Knowlton, who was America’s first army ranger. He’s a real guy, but we fictionalize the story about how he was recruited by General Washington to form America’s first special forces unit, which were known as Knowlton’s Rangers, covert operations in 1776. Another example is Sledgehammer, that has a retired ground branch operator, Matt Holland. This is a story about a guy who’s retired. He’s in his early 70s and realizes that his daughter who he thought died is still alive. He puts together a team from his past, and they go into Syria to rescue her.

THANK YOU!!

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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.

Friday Feature Author Interviews #1 with Elise Cooper: The Adversary and Tom Clancy Executive Power by Brian Andrews & Jeffrey Wilson

The Adversary and Executive Power by Brian Andrews and Jeff Wilson show why they are one of the best thriller authors today. They have realistic, gripping, and action-packed plots. With Black Friday approaching, these books will be great holiday gifts.

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Book Description

For John Dempsey, it’s a time of uncertainty.

As a new administration tries to piece together who was behind the assassination of an American president, Task Force Ember is a team without a target. Newly minted POTUS Kelso Jarvis is haunted by strange dreams of a house on fire, and Dempsey’s son, Jake—who has begun his own journey as a SEAL—can’t escape the ghost of the father he believes to be dead.

But when a routine intelligence-gathering mission in Taiwan goes horribly wrong and one of Ember’s own is captured, Dempsey’s frustration only grows. As Ember races to rescue their teammate before it’s too late, three of America’s strongest warriors—Dempsey, Jarvis, and Jake—must ask themselves if tomorrow’s adversary resides across the Taiwan Strait, or within themselves.

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Elise’s Thoughts

There are three subplots in The Adversary. Ember’s computer expert Richard Wang has been kidnapped by the Chinese in Taiwan. The whole team know they must rescue Wang, and their biggest enemy is time. They need to rescue him before it becomes impossible to find him. Another subplot is President Jarvis and the First Lady Petra deciding who will run in the next election. As if this is not enough, there is the story of Dempsey’s son Jake Kemper following in his footsteps to become a Navy SEAL. This is the book where Jake and John do have a reunion and are forced to work together to rescue Wang. There is also the emotions that are swelling up in both.

Per usual, the story has a villain everyone will hate, characters with emotional baggage, and lots of intense action. This Tier One world is exceptional and the only regret by readers is that they must wait for the next story to come out.

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Book Description

Luanda, Angola
An American intelligence team on a routine mission is wiped out. The sole survivor: Kyle Ryan, youngest son of President Jack Ryan.

But the massacre of his colleagues is just the prelude to an even more devastating conflict—a deadly military coup in the central African nation. The next step is a shocking escalation, the seizure of the American Embassy and the taking of numerous hostages including the ambassador and the younger Ryan.

As US forces fight insurgents street by street in the African capital city, Lieutenant Katie Ryan leads the effort to untangle the mystery behind the coup and the identity of the plotters. Is it the Chinese government? Is it a corrupt Angolan general? Or is there a darker force pulling the strings?

In the White House Situation Room, President Jack Ryan and his National Intelligence Team anxiously await the answers. He may have a full Marine Expeditionary Unit at his command, but the full executive power of the presidency is useless if they can’t find the target.

One thing’s for sure, Kyle and his fellow hostages sit at the center of the bullseye—human shields to deflect an American response. Jack Ryan has faced many challenges as President, but solving this problem is no one-man job. It’s going to take all three of them to get through this.

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Elise’s Thoughts

Tom Clancy’s Executive Power features the two youngest Ryan children, Katie and Kyle (a numbers person). A three-man Defense Intelligence Agency team in Angola is attacked where two are killed and the third, Kyle, survives and escapes to the US Embassy. Unfortunately, he is not safe because the embassy was seized and taken over by a terrorist group that has just overthrown the current government. Their leader, Victor Baptista, takes hostages including Kyle. Navy Lieutenant Commander Katie Ryan is asked to find a way to rescue the American hostages and find the identity of the kidnappers. This story has it all including kidnapping, torture, politics, covert intel work, and Marines sent in to help with the rescue.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Since you are writing so many series, do you divvy up or write together?

Brian Andrews and Jeff Wilson: We write together in everything we do. Everything has both of us on the page.

EC: How did you get the idea for the Tier One series latest book The Adversary?

BA & JW: This is book nine. The last Ember book focused on Dempsey being back from Russia. We want to feature a different member of the team with each book. In this one Richard Wang became a main character instead of a peripheral character. He might not get that much more page time, but people learn a lot more about him. This is the first time in the series he has a point of view. The readers over time can get to know the entire family of characters. We want readers to get to know them as we know them in our mind.

EC: How would you describe Wang?

BA & JW: He is not a warrior. After being kidnapped by the Chinese he feels helpless, has been tortured, fearful, he tries to play the game, and contemplates what will happen to him. He is in “direct support” and over the years has convinced himself he is a badass warrior. This is a very big slap in the face awakening where he realizes he is not John Dempsey. We flush it out by having him ask the question to himself several times, ‘what would John Dempsey do.’ He feels he must channel his relationship with Dempsey to help himself.

EC: What do you want to say about China in this book: adversary, enemy, or fren-enemy?

BA & JW: China is a nation state trying to undermine democracy, undermine the US military, and actively trying to exert influence in Pacific regions of the world, pinning their natural interests against our own. We are going to call a spade a spade. We refuse to pretend this is not happening. This is the equivalent for the modern generation to the 70s and 80s Cold War with Russia that was always talked about. The stakes are enormous encompassing business, economics, and who will be the superpower.

EC: Why do you put Grimes through the ringer?

BA & JW: Speaking as a reader, if there are too many character arcs it bogs the plot down to keep everything straight. To bring one of the other team characters forward, somebody else needed to fade into the background. We chose Lizzie Grimes in this one to fade into the background. There is a toll with the characters. We want people to see, understand, and appreciate the real human toll these people do in real life, which is why we gave Grimes a beating.

EC: What are Jake’s feelings for his dad, John?

BA & JW: Jake felt his dad chose team over family and did not balance his career and his family. He has mixed emotions towards his dad. The more Jake becomes part of the team the more he understands his dad’s feelings. Jake was a child when his dad disappeared from his life and now realizes he lied to him and his mother. Jake cannot believe that John allowed them to think he was dead and buried. Again, we wanted to make things as realistic as possible. John feels his new family is the Tier One family. This will be a complex relationship. There will be a couple of books dealing with this storyline.

EC: Both of you must have a crystal ball considering President Jarvis had a dream about burning up the East Wing of the White House. Please explain.

BA & JW: This was written before anything President Trump decided to do about the ballroom.

EC: Next book?

BA & JW: We had so much momentum with this book that we changed our publishing schedule around to write the next Tier One book. It comes out in July and is titled Insurgent. The reason we did this is because of the two questions readers will have regarding Jake and John as well as Petra and Jarvis. Those questions will be answered in the next book. Several of our characters will think overtly about where they came from and where are they going. It comes to the front in the next book.

EC: What about any TV/film from the books?

BA & JW: All the series we do will wind up in both venues of books and media. Many of our series are in development. There will be a give and take about which comes first the books or the media.

EC: What about the Tom Clancy book, Executive Power?

BA & JW: This is our last Tom Clancy book because we wanted to have all our books with one publisher. We wanted to show what nation will have economic, social, moral, and political influence in the improvised part of the world in Angola. The minerals could make them wealthy. The US needs to be the influencer, not China, in this area of the world because that partner will be not just economically but also politically and militarily. China could have a naval base there with easy access to the Atlantic that they never had before. There is a lot at play with these emerging nations. We tried very hard to reflect this complexity in the story.

EC: Did you want to show how the US is underestimated?

BA & JW: Impoverished nations don’t underestimate what we could do but do underestimate US resolve. Like right after 9/11, all the politics went out the window, and we were America against the enemy. People underestimate our will. This is what happens in the story, where Victor Baptista never imagined President Ryan would send in the Marines. We showed that if poked hard enough the US will not care about the politics and will do the right thing.

EC: The coup showed what?

BA & JW: The leaders are acting in their own self-interest and question what their priority is. The incumbent President in Angola thought it was better for him to make deals with China than to make deals with America because China gave a better deal. The coup showed how the new President wanted to leverage a better deal.

EC: What about Katie and Kyle’s personality versus the other two Ryan siblings?

BA & JW: They are sister and brother in the Ryan clan. They are kindred spirits, rely on each other, can read each other, and have an inseparable bond. With the Ryan family the oldest daughter followed mom and became a doctor, Jack Ryan Jr is a gunslinger trying to be everything his dad wasn’t. There is a wide number of years between Katie/Kyle and the older siblings.

EC: How would you describe Kyle?

BA & JW: Kyle’s personality is very different than his dads. He is not a warrior but is a negotiator. If he does his job well there is no need to send someone like John Dempsey for the violent action, which should be the last resort. We want to highlight characters like Kyle and Wang because of the important job they do.

EC: In The Adversary there was the AI sub and Carmen. What do you want to say about AI since it is used in your stories?

BA & JW: Since we write a modern military thriller reflecting the real-world technology there should be AI in the plots. We also put it in the Clancy books. All the AI in the books is based on real world technology that is being utilized currently by the military. The technological ability to gather information has increased where human analysts are faced with an impossible task of looking at billions of pieces of data. The ability to get information far exceeds the ability to analyze it. Without some form of AI that can categorize and point out to the human operators in real time, things will get missed. This shows the value of AI. We try to show in all our series the concern of AI. That is the need to make sure humans do not give away their decision making to AI. The military has said that at no point would anyone, but a human make a kill order. They will get information, advice, strategy from AI but AI will never decide to kill.

THANK YOU!!

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: False Flag by Brian Andrews & Jeffrey Wilson

Book Description

A murder in the Royal House of Saud, a secret alliance between two powerful rivals, and a race to upend the balance of power in the Middle East …

Lieutenant Keith “Chunk” Redman is no stranger to uncertainty. It’s what they train for in the Tier One. But when President Kelso Jarvis tells Gold Squadron the shocking news—that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia has been murdered, the King is missing, and the House of Saud has framed two Mossad agents—it’s clear the Middle East has become a powder keg just waiting to explode.

To get to the bottom of it, Gold Squadron must split up: Chunk leading a team of Israeli operatives; sniper Saw taking the helm of Gold; while intel analyst Whitney Watts heads into the belly of the beast itself, the Royal Palace in Saudi Arabia, where she must risk her life to uncover the truth about the Crown Prince’s murder.

Meanwhile, unseen by any of them, new alliances are forming orchestrated by a VEVAK operative who spent decades working in deep cover to unsettle the balance of power. Soon it’s a race against time to find the truth, and stop a false flag operation that threatens the very existence of Israel itself.

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Elise’s Thoughts

False Flag, Sons of Valor Book IV by Brian Andrews and Jeff Wilson deliver another riveting thriller. This one is ripped from the headlines. They use their professional experience to write modern military thrillers that portray modern warfare in realistic scenarios. Andrews is a US Navy veteran, nuclear engineer, and former submarine officer, while Wilson served numerous tours in Iraq and Afghanistan as a Navy combat surgeon, deploying with an east coast-based SEAL Team.

As with many of their books, readers see how high-stake missions use both military operatives and intelligence analysts to achieve successful missions. But the novels also show the loyalty, sacrifice, and bond that each Special Forces operators have for each other.

This plot takes off from page one when the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia is brutally murdered by his power-hungry brother, Faisal, with the Israeli government becoming the prime suspect. The three sub-plots show how all the pieces are in play when, to get to the bottom of it, Gold Squadron must split up. Lieutenant Keith “Chunk” Redman leads a team of Israeli operatives, sniper Nick “Saw” Sawyer is enlisted to stop the Iranian missiles and intel analyst Whitney Watts, heads into the belly of the beast itself, the Royal Palace in Saudi Arabia, where she must risk her life to uncover the truth about the Crown Prince’s murder. The team must quickly uncover the truth before Iran achieves its goal of eliminating Israel and plunging the world into WWIII.

This is another powerful installment where it appears that Andrews and Wilson can predict the future. Readers will hold their breath as they turn each page.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Idea for the story?

Brian Andrews & Jeff Wilson: This is the fourth book in the series. We tend to write in a 3-book arc to open and close the plot. It was driven by what we set up in book 3 with the character evolution. We want the characters to have to make critical decisions. For the number of books in this arc we will let the characters push us to where it needs to be. There is room to grow with the current antagonists.

EC: You had to have a crystal ball considering the plot of this book. Do you agree?

BA/JW: We work very hard to follow geo-politics, especially as military veterans we tend to keep up with what is happening. We have been fascinated by decades of Iran’s seemingly unchecked ability to have “false flag” operations. We wanted to play it out. It is terrifying that

Iran has the money and connections to possibly make the scenarios we put in the book happen. It is not uncommon for us to push the world to the brink of war in our books.

EC: For me, there were three major similarities to real-world events and what happened in your story: the Abraham Accords that blew up because of Iran and its proxies, the Gazan tunnels, and the Iranian nukes. Do you agree?

BA/JW: Yes, the plot mirrors the real world. I do believe people would have to bury their head in the sand on purpose to not see all the overt fingerprints showing the connection between what is happening in Gaza, what is happening with Hamas, what is happening with Hezbollah, and the role of Iran in all of that. Someone would have to be willfully ignorant to not see the players are funded by Iran. We did not know when we started to write this book what would happen on October 7th, but it should not be a shock. These are terrorist states that have as their mantra wiping out Israel. The primary antagonist in this story is Iran. I think Hamas and Hezbollah would basically not exist without Iran. They do not have other partners with the weight, might, and money that Iran has. Our writing procedure is ‘what if’ and in this story the ‘what if’ pertains to the regime change in Saudi Arabia manipulated by Iran.

EC: Were there three subplots in the book: Whitney and the Saudis, the missiles, and the nukes to eliminate Israel?

BA/JW: Yes, I agree these were the three subplots. Each of the subplots is linked to a character evolution. Whitney in the last couple of books was left in a fragile state because she has been through a lot. She is trying to get back in the groove to be the brilliant analyst that she is. We wanted readers to appreciate the inherent danger of that job. In Special Operations these types of professionals are in harm’s way, and we wanted readers to appreciate that through Whitney, including the sacrifices and emotional injuries. Yet, we also want readers to see her rally and get back up like a good Navy SEAL would and continue. The DEA guy who was in multiple previous books was brought back to partner with her because Chunk is not there. Readers can see this dark side versus the more direct-action side that Chunk must deal with the missiles and the nuke threat.

EC: How would you describe the Saudi, Khalid?

BA/JW: He uses wealth, influence, and privilege. He is considered a moderate who works with the West. He is pragmatic and forward thinking. He probably does not love the West but is smart enough to know what is best for his people: to have global relationships that serve his nation and help to grow it economically. He possibly would have put his ideological views aside to do what is best for this country.

EC: How would you describe his brother, Faisal?

BA/JW: He is smug, wants to be thought of as powerful, controlling, arrogant, a liar, has contempt for women, and evil. He is manipulated by someone from his college days. He is agnostic politically until the right demon started to whisper in his ear, ‘what if.’ He only cares what is best for him, to seek power and prestige. He has a puppet master behind the scenes, and he is a weak person. This is played out in the real-world history.

EC: What about the Iranian, Reza?

BA/JW: He is confident, cautious, deliberate, wants to be a power player, and manipulative. He underestimates the American will that they will not have the stomach to play the long game and make the sacrifices necessary for the world peace. They underestimate Israel’s ability to do whatever is necessary to protect their country. In this story we combined a joint special operation task force between Israel and America that was an unstoppable force that the Iranians cannot compete with.

EC: How would you describe the Saudi Ambassador to the US, Princess Ramia?

BA/JW: Idealist, moderate, realist, thoughtful, and helpful. She is pragmatic and what drives her is how she cares for her country. Her decisions are based on what she truly believes is best for her country. She is a fun character. She has a lot of goodness and soul.

EC: What do you want readers to get out of the book?

BA/JW: The problem with Iran is that there is leadership there that is not interested in growing the wealth of their nation or their people. They are interested in an ideology they serve. In general, the Iranians are a patriotic, loving people. Those here in the US now refer to the country as Persia, not Iran, because they remember how it could have been. In most countries most of the people are not what is seen on the news. They love their country and want what’s best for it.

EC: Where are you going with the relationship between Whitney and Chunk?

BA/JW: They both have regrets. He has built a wall. She feels he has gone overboard with his ‘professionalism.’ It is dangerous for them to have a personal relationship, something they both want. Since we have worked in those communities, we want people to understand what that step would have for the unit, the team, and the national security. There probably could be some paths in which a relationship could be maneuvered where readers can possibly see it in future books or maybe not.

EC: You have a Ben Franklin quote that made me think of President Reagan’s doctrine, ‘Trust but Verify,’ and President Trump’s, ‘Peace through Strength.’ Do you agree he seems to be the first to use this philosophy?

BA/JW: You are referring to, “Believe none of what you hear, and half of what you see.” This is easy to discern. He has one click bumper sticker quotes. This was not an endorsement of Ben Franklin but having this quote as a header into the storyline, don’t always believe your eyes. This book had a false flag operation, so the quote fit perfectly.

EC: There is another Ben Franklin quote that I assume was because one of the team members dies?

BA/JW: That quote was, “Fear not death for the sooner we die, the longer we shall be immortal.” All our books are about honoring the sacrifice made by our service members and their families. This is reminiscent of some who we served with. This was put in to give a shout out to the personal and family sacrifices made by our warriors.

EC: Will there be a TV series/movie?

BA/JW: “Tier One” will be optioned by Legendary Television. We have the producers, a show runner, and a writer. This one is just about done. “Shepherds” is still in development for TV. Four Minutes is in development for a feature film. We have multiple projects under development for film and television with major motion picture studios and producers including Legendary Entertainment, PictureStart, Walden Media, Imagine Television, Sony, Fifth Season/Endeavor Content, Hutch Parker Entertainment, and Marc Evans Productions.

EC: Next books?

BA/JW: This year four books will or have come out. The fourth book in the “Shepherds series” came out in April, titled Dark Rising. The plot has the leader of the Dark Forces finally taken out, but the power vacuum is filled by a dark nefarious force who is kidnapping children in Haiti.

The “Tier One” book will be out in late fall, titled Adversary. It will continue the arc including the relationship between John Dempsey and his son Jake. 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.

In December the third installment of the “Tom Clancy series” will be out titled Executive Power. Katie Ryan’s brother Kyle will be featured. Katie is an intelligence officer, Jack Ryan Jr is an operative, and Kyle is a Naval Academy graduate that does something technology driven. The plot setting is the West Coast of Africa where there is a coup and forces the President to make a choice between putting country first or family first. In this book the Marines are brought to front.

THANK YOU!!

***

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Tom Clancy: Line of Demarcation by M.P. Woodward, Tom Clancy

Book Description

It starts with the destruction of a US Coast Guard cutter and the loss of her entire crew. But the USCG Claiborne was on an innocuous mission to open a sea lane between an oil field off the coast of South America and the refineries of southern Louisiana. The destruction of the ship, tragic as it is, won’t stop that mission from continuing.

So who would sacrifice twenty-two men and women just to slow down the plan? That’s the question plaguing Jack Ryan Jr. He’s in Guyana to work a deal to get his company, Hendley Associates, in on the ground floor of this new discovery, but Russia’s Wagner Group and a pack of Venezuelan narco-terrorists have other ideas—and will risk war with the United States to see them through. It’s up to Jack to identify the killers before they draw a bead on him, but how can he do that when the line of demarcation between friend and foe is constantly shifting?

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Elise’s Thoughts

Tom Clancy Line of Demarcation by M. P. Woodward brings back Jack Ryan Jr. There is not just one plot, but three subplots that come together making for a riveting storyline.

The book opens with the destruction of a US Coast Guard cutter and the loss of her 22-member crew. The USCG Claiborne was on an innocuous mission to open a sea lane between an oil field off the coast of South America and the refineries of southern Louisiana. The question is who was responsible for the killings?

Meanwhile, Jack Ryan Jr. is in Guyana trying to get his export license for his oil company Hendley Associates, working undercover as the CEO of Athena Global Shipping Lines. That area of the world is already plagued with corruption and deceit, which proves to increase the burden on those conducting above board business. Jack is lunching with Guyana’s minister of the interior and attorney general when he’s caught in a sudden crossfire. He escapes, but the two officials are killed. The other plotlines are triggered after the attack where separate teams of the Campus, a covert government organization, is now tasked with fighting a Russia-backed Guyanese coup and rescuing Campus operator Domingo “Ding” Chavez, who’s deep undercover with a drug gang.

Per usual, in a Clancy novel, the action and ending are explosive. A bonus is that in the beginning of the book there was a list of characters broken up by American, Russian, Guyanese and Venezuelan along with a 1-to-2-line description.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: The idea for the story?

M. P. Woodward: In looking around the world at global flash points Russia uses energy as a source to yield power, leverage, and geopolitical tensions. I also saw that there is a real-world territorial dispute between Venezuela and Guyana with a region very rich in oil. I then thought of a plot line where the Russians and Venezuelans team up to snatch this area away much like the Russians did in Ukraine.

EC: I was wondering how you came to write about that scene early in the book where readers will root for characters, they know very little about?

MPW: It was a prologue which I consider mini novels. Readers are usually left with something that is going to happen. I visited a Coast Guard station and have a son in it where I realized they are the unsung heroes. I wanted to give a shout out to those who maintain waterways. I brought a crew like that into real danger and let it be the spark that lit the fire.

EC: What about crossover with Andrews and Wilson who write the other Clancy series?

MPW: The very nature of both series means they crossover. We have the same editor who makes sure we are on the same page. We do not really collaborate on the plots, but we are aware of each other’s storylines.

EC: What is real in the book?

MPW: Hydrocarbon reserves are what the Russians wanted and what makes Guyan strategically important. The Zircon missile is the Russian hypersonic missile. The SUDS Machine is based on service drones. There are initiatives out there for hydrogen service drones. In this book I had them as a hybrid with actual warriors on them, but they can also be remote control like a loyal dog and return to where they are supposed to be. They are a lot like a jet ski.

EC: What about Lisanne Robetson?

MPW: When I took over the series she had been recruited into the Campus. Jack Ryan Jr. and her fell in love and is now his fiancé. She has a job within the Campus as its logistic coordinator and manages some intelligence feeds, so there is a bridge between the emotions of the couple and the realities of the mission. She has quiet strength.

EC: What about Master Chief Kendrick Moore?

MPW: He was introduced in Shadow State. His backstory is still developing but he is damaged goods after getting a dishonorable discharge. He was angry and on a wayward path. Clark brought him into the Campus as a protege and is now formalized there. He is the foot in the door for Clark with the Naval Special Warfare Community. In this story he is a great part of it because much of the action takes place in the water.

EC: The next books?

MPW: The Clancy book is out in September, and it titled Terminal Velocity. It does not focus on the Russians. CRINK make up many bad guys, China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea with less formal enemies like drug cartels and terrorists. I enjoy writing where a national enemy uses more of a shadow enemy.

EC: Rumor has it that you had a crystal ball while writing Terminal Velocity?

MPW: The plot is about the flash point of India and Kashmir which has been in the news lately. The scenario is almost exactly what happened now. A terrorist unit hits the Indians who accuse Pakistan of sheltering them. Tensions climb.

EC: Any other books besides Clancy?

MPW: Another book coming out in September titled Red Tide. It is a military fiction where China blockades Taiwan with tensions on the high seas. There is a battle like Midway with real naval tactics.

THANK YOU!!

***

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Dark Rising by Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson

Book Description

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 …

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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!!

***

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Deception Point Series by Candace Irving

Elise’s Descriptions and Thoughts

This is part II of the Candace Irving Q/A talking about the “Deception Point Series.” (https://store.candaceirving.com/)

In part I Candace talked about her “Hidden Valor Series.” (https://avonnalovesgenres.com/friday-feature-author-interview-with-elise-cooper-hidden-valor-military-veteran-k-9-series-by-candace-irving/)

There are similarities between both series in that each has great characters, very unlikeable antagonists, an intense plot, some romance, and a riveting story that readers will not want to put down. The author allows readers to connect emotionally with the characters. The differences are that the “Hidden Valor Series” takes place mainly in Arkansas, with the heroine, Kate, a retired CID officer, now working with the State law enforcement, while in the other series the heroines move around the globe and are active duty, having a partner both romantically and professionally: Kate with Arash, Regan with John, and Mira with Riyad.

With both series, books should be read in order. The Deception Point Series should be read in this order: Aimpoint, Blind Edge, Back Blast, and Chokepoint. These books involve an active-duty Army investigator, Regan, and an active-duty Navy investigator, Mira, both who are women. It is obvious that Irving has done her due diligence, with the research put in making the stories realistic and believable.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Which series came first?

Candace Irving: I wrote Blind Edge of the “Deception Point Series” before the Kate “Hidden Valor series.” Also plotted a few chapters to the next books in the Deception Point Series, Back Blast and Chokepoint. All these books were thought out. Then I was told that many people want plots set inside the US. As I was riding my bike in Arkansas and saw this seat deserted in a field, a brown bag filled with body parts popped into my head. I went home and The Garbage Man was born featuring Kate Holland. This was published first even though I wanted Blind Edge published before the pull out of Afghanistan.

Originally, I was going to write one book in this series and then another book in the other series, but it did not turn out that way. Those reading the Kate series realized that there is another series, “Deception Point,” and began to read it and love it.

EC: What is the big difference between the two series?

CI: Hidden Valor has an overriding arc about the characters’ backstory, but each book has a different plot. Deception Point has a continuing arc throughout the books that is the plot line. Both these series must be read in order.

EC: Do you agree that the similarity between each series refers to the characters’ backstory?

CI: Every character has a bad fathers and a Mother MIA.

EC: How would you classify the “Deception Point Series?”

CI: They involve the military but for me they are really crime thrillers. They are not like Tom Clancy’s books. Some people thought they are like the Jack Reacher series, but they are not. They are women and active duty.

EC: The Hidden Valor series has more PTSD references than the Deception Point Series?

CI: Yes, because Kate was very debilitated at the beginning of the series. She could no longer function in the military. Regan and John do not really have PTSD.

EC: Would you ever write a third series with just Mira, the featured character in Chokepoint?

CI: No, she will remain in the “Deception Point Series.” I consider this the active-duty series with Mira featured in a Navy plotline, any Army story will have Regan featured, and a veteran story will feature Kate from the “Hidden Valor Series.” I will give a heads up that there will be a crossover between Regan and Kate in the “Hidden Valor series.” Regan is undercover as herself and is investigating a case in Arkansas. Remember in the book, In the Name Of, there were a couple of phone calls between Regan and Kate. But in the crossover book, Regan and Kate will be together since Regan is Kate’s protege.

EC: Why did you have Regan get pregnant?

CI: At first, I was going back and forth if I should take it out. But then I decided to keep it. I know some people ask why she would have sex without protection, but she really thought she could never get pregnant.

EC: How would you compare your three female heroines: Kate, Regan, and Mira?

CI: Regan can mask her feelings: reading facial expressions, while only to a certain extent, Kate and Mira can, because they were taught that as part of their jobs. Regan can lie and people cannot tell, including pretending she likes someone when she really doesn’t, while Mira cannot quite mask her feelings.

Kate has more compassion because of what happened to her and is more forgiving of others’ mistakes than Mira and Regan. Mira has a chip on her shoulder because she was charged with a crime yet was innocent.

All of them feel guilt. Kate because her best friend was beheaded, and she is determined to prove to her father’s ghost that she is a good investigator. Regan because her dad was a dirty cop; and Mira feels guilty because she never had to deal with the emotional abuse inflicted on her brother by her dad.

All are confident and self-assured. Mira has a temper, especially when people get in her face she gets right back in that person’s face. All are gutsy, if knocked down they all will get back up. They are all loners but are not lonely because they have friends and good support systems.

EC: Why was Kate retired and Mira/Regan active duty?

CI: I took some real elements that are common to those who served and combined them together so a lot of veterans can relate to part of her having PTSD. Because she had so much trauma, she knew she could no longer serve. I also want to differentiate between each series, so she is not active-duty, and the others are. Regan has her arm problems that when stressed she does not have a lot of control over, but it would not force her out of the Army. She did have to learn how to make her left hand her dominant hand.

EC: How would you compare your three male heroes: Arash, John, and Riyad?

CI: I wanted them all to be different although parts of Arash and John are my husband. Many readers think Riyad is a jerk, but it is because of his background. He takes no prisoners and makes no excuses. John is willing to own up to his mistakes. Riyad and John are active-duty Special Forces where they know how to be confrontational, while Arash was in military intelligence, knowing how to get what he wants without getting in someone’s face. Riyad does not consider any other opinions and expects people to do it his way, the SEAL mentality. To a certain extent Riyad has tunnel vision because of what happened to him when he was a SEAL commander. In their own way each are stubborn, sarcastic, but stoic.

EC: How would you compare all three relationships: Kate/Arash, Regan/John, and Mira/Riyad?

CI: Each hero gets under the heroines’ skin. Kate and to some degree Regan will cut Arash and John slack, while there is no way Mira allows Riyad any slack. Riyad would get in Mira’s face and say no and John would do the same things with Regan. Arash is clever on how he approaches his disagreements with Kate. All are driven. John and Riyad blame first and then questioned later regarding Regan and Mira, although John is willing to realize he was wrong, and say he is sorry, for his assumptions. Riyad gets upset with himself for calling Mira ‘woman’ because he cares for her, while she is starting to understand him after knowing his background. All the heroes are chauvinistic. All the heroes and heroines are caring, intense, compassionate, persistent, and protective.

John/Regan and Arash/Kate feel secure in their relationships. I would say that John is on one end of the spectrum of their feelings and reactions, Arash is in the middle, and Riyad is on the other end.

EC: Next Book(s)?

CI: With both series I know what will happen in the current book I am writing, maybe with the next book, but not with other books in the future. I am a linear writer in that I start at the beginning and plot every single chapter in succession. In the next Regan book, Pitch Black, which will come out in January 2026, Mira will be kidnapped after she and Riyad travel to Saudi Arabia for an investigation. Mira and John end up in Yemen with Regan and Riyad working together to find them.

The next Kate book, Blood on the Wire, will be published in August of this year. The relationship with Arash will progress. Also, her former partner Seth’s story will be a part of this story. The case involves a psychologist at a Little Rock VA hospital who was found brutally stabbed to death. In the victim’s house, Kate is stunned to discover a cache of military-grade explosives. Plus, the psychologist was conducting a private investigation into a heinous crime that occurred more than two years ago in an active war zone. Bodies have begun to multiply.

THANK YOU!!

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