Tag: #militarythriller

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Defense Protocol (Tom Clancy) by Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson

Book Description

For decades, Taiwan has been a thorn in the side of the Chinese government. An independent nation to the rest of the world, it is considered a rogue province by the PRC. Previous governments have tried to conquer the island using economic force and diplomatic pressure, but new Chinese President Li Jian Jun is done fooling around. He’s devised a secret military operation to take the island. Only one man knows how to stop Li’s mad and bloody plan for reunification and that’s Minister of Defense Qin Haiyu. Fearing for his life and the safety of his family, Qin covertly makes contact with the CIA in Beijing and signals his desire to defect to the West.
 
To get Qin out, John Clark creates an international task force reminiscent of Rainbow Six and goes undercover in mainland China. Meanwhile, Lt. Commander Katie Ryan is deployed to the tip of the spear on the destroyer USS Jason Dunham to defend Taiwan. Threatened by an encircling Chinese armada, she’s under pressure to find a flaw in the invaders’ plan for her father to exploit.
 
For his part, President Jack Ryan may have the power of the entire US military at his disposal, but what he really needs are Li’s secret plans from Defense Minister Qin so he can stave off a war. Because America’s Defense Protocol could lead to a game of mutual destruction that could cost the lives of thousands of young soldiers, sailors, special operators as well as his daughter.

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Elise’s Thoughts

Tom Clancy’s Defense Protocol by Andrews and Wilson brings to life the whole Clancy Universe.

The new Chinese President Li Jian Jun has devised a secret military operation to conquer Taiwan. Only one man knows how to stop Li’s mad and bloody plan for reunification and that’s Minister of Defense Qin Haiyu. Fearing for his life and the safety of his family, Qin covertly contacts the CIA in Beijing and signals his desire to defect to the West. To get Qin out, John Clark creates an international task force reminiscent of Rainbow Six and goes undercover in mainland China. Meanwhile, Lt. Commander Katie Ryan is deployed to the tip of the spear on the destroyer USS Jason Dunham to defend Taiwan. Threatened by an encircling Chinese armada, she’s under pressure to find a flaw in the invaders’ plan for her father to exploit. Both she, her dad, President Ryan, and the rest of the task force must come up with a plan to prevent WWIII.

This was as good as if Tom Clancy had written it himself with an intense plot and a lot of action.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?

Brian Andrews and Jeff Wilson: After writing the last book, Act of Defiance, which was a submarine book with Russia as the antagonist, we decided to look somewhere else geopolitically. The biggest global geopolitical flashpoints that could turn into war or could shift the balance of global power was with Taiwan, one of those places that’s very high on the list. China has made no secret about their plans to take over Taiwan and have been talking about this for almost two decades. It’s not a matter of if they want to reunify Taiwan, it’s just a matter of when, and how they do it. We thought it would be right for fiction.

EC:  Does Chang have a major role in the book even though he died early in the story?

BA and JW: He was the Foreign Minister. In real life I kept seeing these articles about how these high-ranking important Chinese people would just disappear including billionaire civilians who maybe got a little too big for their britches and the Chinese would have them disappear. They would be off the radar with nobody knowing where they were. Those that do return have gone to reeducation camps. I just thought it’s amazing that this happens even with high-profile individuals. People that are known in politics, known on the world stage, and the Chinese are still doing it. We opened with it, which is basically if you want to play in the game and are not on board with what the Chinese President wants to do then you’re an enemy, and he’s going to get rid of you.

 EC: I’m wondering if you could explain that it seems China, more than Russia are devious, violent, they’re on the brink of wanting World War III?

 BA and JW: They’re always kind of challenging the United States and we wanted to get that point across in the book. The Chinese have what they call their 10-year plan which is part of their fifty-year plan so there’s five 10-year plans that make up their fifty-year plan. What we wanted to convey is that that the Chinese don’t think in terms of election cycles like the United States, and I think you’re spot on when you say that they’re more calculating and more disciplined than Russia because the Chinese think in terms of dynasties. Remember that’s their history: Chinese dynasties ruled the world until British naval power came on to the scene. We did a lot of research for this book just about Chinese history and mentality. They’re on the path to reclaim their destiny as the rightful rulers of the world and America is just in the way. They have been very methodical starting with commerce and manufacturing to get their toe in the door. First, making things for U.S. companies and then once U.S. companies started investing there, they develop trust. Now companies can’t own more than 49% of any business in China and if you want to do anything here you have to surrender your intellectual property. Then they send their people over to the US under the guise of researchers, students, and workers but most of them are spies to pillage intellectual property. They then use that to build up their military using all the money that American consumers spend on Chinese products. Now they have more ships in their Navy than we do. They clone our fighter jets, ships, submarines, and missiles because they’ve stolen all our technology. We wanted to show how they are the most formidable adversary that we face, willing to do one thing and say another because they’re very good at propaganda. Plus, they’re very good at managing their money and buy American T-bills so they can influence our currency.

EC:  Everyone seems to be speaking of Russian, but it seems that China is our real enemy-something you point out in this book.

BA and JW: They’re much more sophisticated than Russia, and much less impulsive than Russia. For the Chinese it’s an entire machine really devoted to unseating the US as the world power.

EC: How would you describe the US asset, the Spider?

BA and JW: She is a support asset for the CIA that uses only women to help and has a web of contacts. She gets political dissidents out and can appear cold and cruel.  But she’s a survivor and she’s like a spider. Her name is metaphorical but also accurate because she’s built a web in Beijing that allows her to use Cold War tactics and non-technology-based means and methods to do her job, moving information and people safely. It meant that she’s had to sacrifice certain things like having a family, so I think there probably is an element of stoicism to her. As part of her cover she runs a taxi company, hiring only women. Even though China is dominated by men she’s not going to get pushed around by being industrious and having survived the purge after so many other assets and spies were rounded up and murdered by the ministry of state security. She is stealthy, clever, and hard to catch.

EC:  You also point out the importance of Taiwan-why?

 BA and JW: Taiwan is 100 miles away from their coast. China has multiple bases along the eastern edge right across the Taiwan Strait from Taiwan. It would take minutes for their missiles to fly and hit Taiwan and take them over. Everyone knows that Taiwan alone cannot mount an effective defense against a full-scale invasion by the Chinese. I think because 90% of the world’s complex semiconductors are manufactured in Taiwan with so much global commerce running in, around, and through Taiwan that the world would balk. So, what we imagined is that Chinese president would say “to diminish the political damage from taking over Taiwan what we need to do is spin this so that our actions are justified, claiming that it wasn’t us being the aggressor.” Basically, using a false flag operation to provide the justification for the invasion of Taiwan.

EC:  Was the role of Katie more of a supporting character?

BA and JW: We did have her anticipate the adversary response and how she helped get the Spider and Defense Minister by out maneuvering President Li. She didn’t wilt under pressure, and she was confident. We wrote her to be the primary protagonist, but this is a Jack Ryan series. Due to the complexity of this book and all the moving chess pieces that we wanted to show on the board, everybody got a little less airtime. There’s lots of other players in the Jack Ryan universe and we wanted to have the whole crew.

EC: You never write her as a superhero, agree?

BA and JW: We want to be authentic, so we don’t want Katie Ryan to be like a marvel superhero where she shows up as the smartest and fastest, able to do flips, beat people up, and knows how to fly planes, basically a one-woman wrecking crew when she’s an analyst who works for the office of naval intelligence. Although she did take a lot of initiative, putting a lot of effort into trying to do as much as she could to figure out what was going on and helping to deescalate the situation by finding a solution.

EC: Why the Battleship game?

BA and JW: The Battleship game is a metaphor for the story itself. Katie and her dad both are analysts, both strategic, playing this game of ships where they can’t see what the other side is doing, can’t see where their ships are. It really was a metaphor for the book, not just the game but also father and daughter playing together, having quality time. One of the things we had happened is that Katie won to foreshadow this idea that she’s the next generation of Ryan, who my gosh maybe she’s just as smart as her dad and or maybe she’s even smarter and she can do the same type of job that he does. Also just giving them some father daughter time to show that they have a very healthy and close relationship.

EC:  Next books?

BA and JW: Out in April is the fourth book in our Shepherds Series, titled Dark Rising. There’s been a bit of a hiatus on Shepherds because we changed publishers and because we started writing the Clancy series, so we had to take a little break. It will now be published by Blackstone. Plus, the showrunner for the Shepherds is developing it for television. It has a faith-based component The plot has these kids called the watchers who have a spiritual gift that allows them basically to sort of predict and maybe see through visions like when bad stuff is going to happen and so they get an idea of something going to happen and tell the shepherds which are a bunch of former military special OPS guys. There is an interesting alliance between adolescents and operators where the operators can’t do their job without the watchers but the watchers can’t protect themselves without the shepherds and so you have this interesting alliance of kids and adults trying to stop evil in the world. The specific plot of the next book has terrorists dealing with the Chinese and Russians surrounding a sex trafficking ring. The hero iJedediah Johnson goes on vacation to the Dominican Republic and when he’s there he stops a kidnapping. What he starts to realize is that all these kids are being kidnapped there and taken to other places.

The book Four Minutes has the task force getting intel from technology and the Shepherd Series is getting intel from the spiritual. It is under development with a producer named Mark Evans. Netflix is developing this for film and so we sort of feel like we should wait and see where it goes. We’d like the movie and book to sort of be compatible and if the film goes off like in a big different direction, we need to be able to kind of know that before we write the sequel. 100% we’re going to write the sequel, but we’d like to get at least the first screenplay finished so we know what’s going to happen and then we can start on the next book.

In July will be the next Sons of Valor book, False Flag. The plot 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 away it away.

In October the next Tier One book comes out. It doesn’t have a title yet, but 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.

The next Clancy book comes out December, maybe a little less Kate because her brother Kyle is going to make his appearance in the series. She’s got this twin brother Kyle. We’re working on it now.

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 Interview with Elise Cooper: Ember by Brian Andrews and Jeff Wilson

Book Description

After surviving the most dangerous mission of his career, John Dempsey is back at Ember. But Ember has changed—and so has he. Meanwhile, a new adversary sees an opportunity to rise. As Dempsey and Vice President Jarvis soon discover, the world stage is about to get deadlier than ever …

To survive the notorious prison IK-2 and assassinate Russian President Vladimir Petrov, John Dempsey had to become rosomakha, the wolverine. Now, back home in America, he’s trying to put the pieces of his life at Ember back together. But which man returned from Russia—Dempsey, or the wolverine? From the way his teammates look at him, it’s obvious they’re not sure, and neither is he.

Meanwhile, Vice President Kelso Jarvis has barely had time to mourn the death of his mentor before a devastating attack reveals a new threat. Because of Dempsey’s mission in Russia, the rules of the game have changed—only now it’s not clear who the players are. As Dempsey leads Ember on a mission to protect and avenge a shocking attack on America, Jarvis’s oath to his nation is tested in ways he never imagined. Together, they must determine who is behind this rising threat and stop the mastermind before it’s too late.

And just as Dempsey begins to feel like himself again, an old ally resurfaces—someone he thought he’d left for dead long ago …

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Elise’s Thoughts

Ember by Brian Andrews and Jeff Wilson has Dempsey returning home to the US. After Dempsey’s mission in Russia, the rules of the game have changed. He leads Ember on a mission to protect and avenge a shocking attack on Americans, where Jarvis’s oath to his nation is tested in ways he never imagined. Together, they must determine who is behind this rising threat and stop the mastermind before it’s too late. There will also be a return of a character long thought dead, one who has a complicated past with Dempsey.

If readers want to understand what is going on in the world with nation versus nation, more like a chess game with a lot of action this is the series to read. The characters are acting on their own values and are principled based. 

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: What about a movie/TV/streaming deal?

Brian Andrews and Jeff Wilson: There are half dozen projects under development and hopefully announcements will be forth coming in the next six months. The “Tier One series” and “The Four Minutes series” are being developed along with a faith-based series we write and some short stories. “Sons of Valor” is not being developed because it slightly competes with the “Tier One series.”

EC: Is this book the first in the arc, setting up future books?

BA & JW: Yes. What the Chinese have done to the US have been damaging: hacking the infrastructure, stealing secrets, and interfering with trade/monetary policies. We want to show how they are more of a complicated enemy. Our first trilogy had Iran as the enemy, the second trilogy-plus had Russia as the enemy, and now this third trilogy will have China, Ember’s most difficult challenge they have faced.

EC:  What is the Dempsey factor you talk about in this book?

BA & JW:  It is mission before self. The idea that adding Dempsey to the team has the success rate go up disproportionally. He is so good at his job that he is worth two or three operators on the team. His philosophy is about the enemy trying to take another chess piece off the board.

EC:  Can you discuss the different ethos in the book?

BA & JW:  Dempsey has a SEAL’s heart and a warriors’ mind. The politician’s ethos is not the warrior’s ethos that says team before self. Jarvis is conflicted about the warrior ethos versus the politician ethos.

EC:  Why did you put in that first scene in the book?

BA & JW:  The opening scene of Ember was pulled directly from Crusader One. The scene in the Iranian Bazaar was from Dempsey’s point of view in Crusader one.  Now readers get to see it through Elinor’s eyes. He has a lot of guilt about leaving her behind for 2.5 years.

EC:  Did Dempsey have PTSD in this book with his nightmares?

BA & JW:  I think it is impossible for a warrior to do the type of jobs he does without having emotional repercussions. The nightmares signals to the readers he is still grappling with his morals and humanity. We give mixed signals because there is a scene in the book where he focuses on his job.  His team is not sure if he is suffering from PTS or is he OK?

EC:  Why did you highlight Jake, Dempsey’s son, in the story?

BA & JW:  He is following in his dad’s footsteps to become a SEAL. We have big plans for him.  Someday he will be reunited with his dad.  I will not say how and when it will happen.

EC:  Why a new female, Wallace, on the team?

BA & JW:  We changed the chemistry of the Ember team. Grimes is jealous of her since she was accepted outright and a completely different personality: upbeat and cool. Grimes worked so hard to be accepted and now she sees Wallace is easily accepted by the guys.  She feels, ‘are you kidding me, come on.’ Grimes broke the glass ceiling and Wallace comes in to clean it all up.  It is so unfair for her.

EC:  Where are you going with the Grimes/Munn relationship?

BA & JW:  Munn and Grimes have feelings for each other and are drawn together. It could happen.  But they must be wary of temptation, because what happens if it does not work out? Will it affect the team and the professionalism?  How they handle it will be a part of the series going forward.

EC: What about your next books?

BA & JW:  The second book in the “Tier One” next trilogy will continue with the Chinese operative as the villain. No title yet. It will probably come out fall 2025. Lieutenant Commander Keith “Chunk” Redman will make an appearance.

Sons of Valor IV will be a transitional book to the next trilogy in the series. We do not want to ignore the recent everts of October 7th so we will be writing a story with Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. It will be out next summer. There will be a lot of Petra and Jarvis.

The Clancy book has Katie Ryan back.  The setting is the South China Sea with high stakes involving Taiwan and China. The title is Defense Protocol coming out in early December.

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.

Special Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Tier One Series Books #1 – #7 by Brian Andrews and Jeff Wilson

Elise’s Thoughts

The “Tier One” series plots written by Brian Andrews and Jeff Wilson will remind readers of the late Vince Flynn. They are better than the books written after various authors took over the writing when Vince Flynn died.  Thriller fans get an explosive thrill ride that starts with page one of book one and doesn’t let up for the duration.  But readers will get much more, including relevant geo-political issues that make it appear these authors have a crystal ball. Below is an interview with Brian Andrews and Jeff Wilson about their first seven books. They use their vast experience to write engrossing thrillers with enemies from Iran to Russia to China. Andrews worked as a nuclear engineer on naval submarines, while Wilson was a trauma surgeon embedded with the East Coast Navy SEALS. Book eight, Ember, will appear in a separate Q & A.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper:  What would you say is the style of this series?

Brian Andrews & Jeff Wilson: There are three book arcs where each book has its own bad guy, but the main bad guy gets their due in the third book. Because the antagonist narrative is extended over the course of the trilogy, readers get to know them. In reality this series everything has shades of grey concerning policy, morality, Special Operations, and how the characters emotionally handle their actions.

EC: How would you describe each of the following characters over the course of all the books in the series?

BA & JW: EMBER, the organization, is autonomous with analysts, field operatives, surveillance, and collecting intelligence.  They are deep cover with speed, stealth, and efficiency.

John DEMPSEY: A former SEAL, believes in serving his country, and is adaptable. He is a mission before self-type of guy who puts his country first.  He can be quite emotional, which defines his humanity. He is always questioning if he is doing the right thing for the right reason instead of just following orders. He is the Operations Director.

Kelso JARVIS: He heads the Ember team. He is the most complicated character. He has always been a chameleon to get the job done. He is a little bit Machiavellian where the ends justify the means. He is driven by a recognition of his own mortality because of his disease and being married to Petra. Sometimes overconfident, observant, clever, and a man of action. At times he expected members of the team to betray their peers and teammates. He is willing to make judgements about what his team can or cannot handle. He makes decisions for the team. He withholds because it is in the best interest of their operational effectiveness, the end goal. He has evolved the most of all the characters, because he is more introspective and empathetic.

PETRA FELSK: She is Jarvis’s right-hand person, a former intelligence expert.  Someone he can confide in and trust completely. She can read Jarvis’ mind and complements him. She admires his qualities. She is not afraid to challenge him and call him out.

Elizabeth GRIMES: Sniper operator. In the beginning she had trust issues and feels isolated.  Lizzie is perceptive, loyal, questioning, connects the dots, needs to be in control, and sarcastic. She is our devil’s advocate character, someone not afraid to argue the other side, an outside the box thinker. She now sees Dempsey as brother-like and he sees her as sister-like. But she sometimes becomes the big sister to him.

Dan MUNN: He is the SEAL medic who now works for Ember but is also an operator.  Dan was a teammate of Dempsey when a SEAL.  He is his good friend and knows how to push his buttons. 

Levi HAREL:  The Mossad chief.  He is perceptive, wise, and a true ally of the US. He looks beyond politics, a pragmatist and a tactician. He is a mentor to Jarvis.

Richard WANG:  He is the team’s cyber guy in the field. Insecure, egotistical, and a genius. He wants the team’s respect, defaulting to humor and self-deprecation.

Ian BALDWIN:  He is the head of Ember’s signals division: electronic, communications, and intelligence. He handles the different ways data is intercepted, collected, and interpreted. He is an enigma.  He is like the AI of the team. Ian is the eccentric uncle no one knows how to talk to.  

BAD GUYS:  They match Dempsey in skill, tactical, and survival.  They are formidable foes.

EC:  In the first book, TIER ONE, Navy SEAL Jack Kemper had to give up everything including his family to take on the persona of John Dempsey, working for a covert organization that operates without any bureaucratic red tape and operates in the shadows. Did the Tier One book set up the premise for the rest of the books in the series?

BA & JW: Back in 2015 when we started to write this series, we realized that America’s enemies were being constantly defeated by the Navy SEALS because they are so good at what they do. We thought about the ‘what if’ the enemies tried to neuter the Special Operations arm of the US military service, wiping out the entire Tier One Navy SEALs. We fictionalized it by making Tier One smaller than in real life and had all the squads on the same mission to get the high-value terrorist targets, which we did in the first book. For us, the premise was quite intriguing as the enemy upped their game in covert actions.

EC: It seems you always have a relevant piece to your plot.  Were you influenced by what happened in Afghanistan when a military helicopter was shot down, killing 31 U.S. special operation troops, most of them from the elite Navy SEALs unit that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden?

BA & JW: This is a perfect example of what we tried to show in this first book.  The Taliban knew how the SEALs moved. In the first book, Tier One, we tried to show how the enemy is gaining in sophistication and should not be underestimated.

EC: In book two, WAR SHADOWS, there is a very relevant quote, “Making decisions requires courage.  Without courage leadership cannot exist. Without leadership the bad guys win every time.” Please explain.

BA & JW: This is a theme throughout all our series.  Leadership matters. Look at the leadership in this country and there are serious problems.  I was taught people need to lead by example, having integrity and accountability. They should own mistakes and tell how they will fix it. Instead, they gaslight. We are trying to imagine a world of military leaders and politicians that we want to see in real life, making decisions based on principles. They should not be self-serving and go along with the political winds. Dempsey and Jarvis stand up for what they think is morally right.

EC: In book three, CRUSADER ONE, there is a terrorist attack where Israel is caught off guard and people question the readiness, security, and how to protect.  Even though this was written way before October 7th, it exemplifies it. Please explain.

BA & JW: We employed Iran, Iron Dome, and multiple groups attacking at the same time. Hamas and Hezbollah were amassing weapons and digging tunnels, so we put it in the story.

EC:  Elinor Jordan is introduced.  Can you describe her?

BA & JW: She is like a female Dempsey and are kindred spirits.  They have feelings for each other, sometimes trusting each other and sometimes they don’t. She has a schizophrenic existence, sensitive, caring, courageous, conflicted, and wants to make the world a better place. We wrote her as a Persian Jew working for Mossad.  Yet, in the research we found that this community of Persian Jews are not considered by the Iranians as mortal enemies.

EC: The focus of book four, AMERICAN OPERATOR, has Dempsey rescuing an American hostage being held by the Jihadists terrorists. Please explain.

BA & JW: Dempsey rescues US State Department aid Amanda Allen and is willing to do anything to get her out because he has so much guilt over leaving Elinor behind. We wanted to represent the hostage mindset with Amanda: fearful, tough, capable, courageous, observer, and wondering if she should fight.  She tried to figure out how she was going to survive but not betray her countrymen. She was tortured and was in a no-win situation trying to maintain her dignity, wits, and hope.

EC: In book five, RED SPECTER, did you focus on the Russian covert organization, Zeta?

BA & JW: It is the Russian version of Ember. Arkady is the Russian Jarvis who is brilliant, cunning, devious, a spymaster, strategic, powerful, and likes to play the long game. Both Arkday and Jarvis are willing to sacrifice their people for what they perceive of the greater good.  Jarvis sacrificed Grimes emotionally and had Dempsey go on what was perceived as a suicide mission. This book is a reckoning of the escalation.

EC:  Book six, COLLATERAL, has the rubber meeting the road.  Do you agree?

BA & JW: We intended to end the Russian arc with this book but did not because there is a lot more story to tell. We had the US President designate Ember to go after every Zeta operative and eliminate them. We wanted to write it as the new Cold War including Russia infiltrating the Ukraine.

EC:  Is book seven, DEMPSEY, a vengeance book?

BA & JW: The mission is more complicated than that.  The book has a Russian contracting an American to kill his own leader. Enemies make strange bed fellows, and the enemy of my enemy is my friend until dead.  We wanted Dempsey to deep dive into understanding his Russian enemy by living among them. This will change his entire approach to how he sees the world. Truth is relative and strength is what is important. The Russian President, Petrov, is a war criminal, murderer, psychopath, malicious, and paranoid, the ultimate dictator based on Putin.

EC:  Why the two Russian words for truth istina versus pravda?

BA & JW: One means relative truth and one absolute truth.  Americans believed there is one truth, and it is verifiable. In Russia the absolute truth is like mathematics and is provable.  Now in America truth is what someone believes, which is relative truth. The question we want readers to ponder, is foreign assassination acceptable if that leader does really bad things, like Hitler? The question we pose is assassination of a foreign leader sometimes necessary for our own well-being, security, safety, and the existential threat? We are not suggesting that assassination is OK but just posing the questions.

EC: Readers that want adrenaline-fueled thrillers with a lot of action, deception and vengeance should read these books, preferably in order.

For book eight, EMBER, the one coming out this month, see the new Q & A.

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.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Four Minutes and Act of Defiance (Tom Clancy) by Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson

Book Descriptions and Elise’s Thoughts

Four Minutes by Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson is a new techno-thriller series.  It is different than most futuristic novels in that it does not alter the timeline completely as in the first Superman movie when Lois Lane lived instead of died.

The premise allows for intelligence gathering in the future to be used in the present to prevent an event from happening. Pat Moody leads a new elite squad, Task Force Omega to jump into the future for a short period of time, four minutes.

Another of their books is a Tom Clancy novel, Act of Defiance, to be published in May. It is a sequel of sorts to The Hunt for Red October. Instead of Jack Ryan trying to stop a Russian rogue submarine, it is daughter Katie who must put the pieces together. 

As with all their series, Andrews and Wilson never seem to disappoint their readers.  The plots are riveting and action-packed with premises that are mind boggling. Suspense is ratcheted up and the characters are compelling.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for Four Minutes?

Brian Andrews/Jeffrey Wilson: It will probably be a limited series but is open ended right now. We like our stories to start with these ‘what if’ questions. Both of us have backgrounds with the military and other government services. What if someone had a crystal ball to look into the future that can say what can happen?  For example, what if days beforehand people knew about 9/11?  Then we tied it to the cover Special Forces grounded in real math and physics. We did not want it to be a sci-fi book but rather a techno-thriller.

EC:  What about the premise?

BA/JW: If someone could look forward and anticipate consequences then in the present it is possible to act. It is about gaining intelligence and coming back to the present to stop the event. They do not get a do over and do not know if the mission will really work. This technology could be invented soon. The questions we want to ask: can there be technology that goes into the near future; if so, how could someone manipulate it; what would the limits be?  We put these limits where the team could go into the future 28 days and only stay for four minutes. They must use that information in the present to solve the problem.

EC:  What did you mean by the book quote, “everyone wants to see us fail?”

BA/JW: It was not meant to target a real-world administration or political organization. Yet, the powers external to the US: China, Russia, and Iran, want to see us fail.  They want to tear us down piece by piece, trying to destroy us from within, and trying to destroy us from outside. America needs to be united because when we are divided, we are weak, and our enemies realize it. They cannot beat us in the Cold War, economically, and militarily so they are trying philosophically and politically.

EC:  How would you describe Moody?

BA/JW:  Confident, charming, smooth, secretive, and the rest of the team do not trust him. When we first started writing him, we were not sure if he was a bad guy or good guy. He is apologetic for lying to his team, but not when it will help them complete the mission, safeguarding the country. He sees the need to make compromises and hard choices.

EC:  Is this where your personal experiences come in?

BA/JW:  Yes.  This is what it is like when in command.  Some people must put themselves in danger. Brian says, for instance, as a submarine officer, I had to wear a radiation monitor. This team is making a big physical sacrifice. Our combined military service is what drives the engine of a lot of our work including the missions.

EC: Can you describe each member of the team starting with Tyler?

BA/JW: Man of action, direct, and intuitive. He embodies the Special Operations officer being dedicated and committed. He is a natural leader and motivator. He is like Dempsey in our “Tier One series.”  He has courage, honor, and integrity.

EC:  Zee?

BA/JW: She is a perfectionist and takes her intelligence analyst role very seriously. She feels as an outsider.  Moody wants her to be a “spy.”  She immediately tells Tyler because she wants to be a part of the team, not considered an outsider.  Zee is the moral compass, the emotional glue, to keep the team grounded and not dysfunctional.

EC:  Ben, Martin, Stan, and Adela?

BA/JW:  We wanted to create a colorful cast. They are all dynamic.  Stan is the fact checker and the researcher. Ben is the optimist.  Adela is the Devil’s Advocate.

EC:  Not harping on the math and physics but what is Spooky Time?

BA/JW:  Conservation of time. When the team jumps the present is still moving by four minutes.  When they return from their jump, they will always return to the present four minutes after they left. But what if they jumped two minutes into the future?  The present would have moved by four minutes. We put in the Einstein quote, “The past, present, and future is an illusion.”  There is a diagram in the book that explains it.    

EC:  You are now writing Tom Clancy novels so can you talk a little about your premise in Act of Defiance? This book was “Clancyesque.”

BA/JW: This, our first installment in the Clancy Universe come on the 40th Anniversary of The Hunt for Red October. We feel Tom Clancy invented the techno-thriller genre with that book. We are updating this story with the new technology and the new warriors.

EC: Were you able to use “real life” military technology?

BA/JW: The navy gave us unprecedented access to the modern submarine force. We were able to go on the USS Indiana, a Virginia class submarine, and toured the Black Fish. We were able to see what a day is like for this current submarine officer. We are indebted to the navy and the admiral in charge of the submarine force. The US Navy should have been listed as a co-author since they supported this project.

EC: Do you agree that the Russian submarine captain, Ramius, would not have been able to disappear today considering social media and drones?

BA/JW: We agree completely.  This is why we went in another direction.  Konstantin, the new Russian submarine captain, has motivations completely different and far more dangerous.

EC:  You included that very famous scene, getting Jack Ryan on the submarine, only this time it was his daughter Katie. Please explain.

BA/JW: This scene was not in the book but was in the movie. We wanted to play homage to the book and the movie by picking out some key, super cool incidents that we wanted to replicate in this story. This was an iconic scene in the film. We used a tightrope to put just enough of the nostalgia without alienating people who never read the book or saw the movie.

EC:  How would you describe Katie, the female Jack Ryan?

BA/JW: This series has two dozen books.  She is an original character, but readers do not know much about her.  We can build up her character. Katie is sensitive, confident, thoughtful, analytical, and she has studied Konstantin just as her father studied Ramius in the first book.  She is literally Jack Ryan’s DNA because she is his daughter, very similar to her dad.  Yet, she does not see it. Just like the hilarious commercial that says, ‘you turned into your parents.’

EC:  How would you describe Konstantin?

BA/JW: A warrior, stoic, unyielding, motivated, tenacious, and is a Russian patriot who hates America. He is also an angry guy and bitter about his father’s past, his wife’s illness, and his own disease. He is seeking vengeance and is self-destructive.

EC:  Next book?

BA/JW:  The next Four Minutes Book is dependent on the screenplay because it is optioned for television or the movies. Since the first book is left with a cliffhanger our intention is to figure out what happens to Moody and some of the other characters.     

The next Clancy book is titled, Defense Protocol, coming out in November/December of this year. The plot has a what if with China making moves on Taiwan.  Katie is trying to prevent having American and China in a shooting war.

The next “Tier One” book is titled Ember, coming out in July of next year.  John Dempsey is back with his team. But the team must handle another new threat.  There will be more of the team dynamics.

Sons Of Valor IV will come out in summer of 2025.  It has not been written yet.

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.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: The Deepest Kill by Lisa Black

Book Description

For software pioneer Martin Post, the third richest man in America, his private compound on the Florida coast is a sunny no-man’s-land separating his family from the rest of the world. Now, expert forensic analysts Ellie Carr and Rachael Davies of the renowned Locard Institute have been summoned to its dark side.

Martin’s pregnant daughter, Ashley, had ventured on a day trip in her motorboat into the Gulf, only to wash up dead on a nearby shore. Although the local coroner determined her death was an accident, Ellie and Rachael soon confirm Martin’s gravest fear: His daughter was murdered. Was it a kidnapping gone wrong? Or something even more brutal? Ashley and her husband, Greg, had been working working with Martin on a revolutionary new defense initiative for the US military – could espionage have played a part in her death?  Martin believes Greg is behind the murder, and the spoiled charmer does set off Rachel’s deception radar.  If the widower didn’t kill Ashley himself, why isn’t he more upset that she’s dead?

Drawn into the Posts’ increasingly dangerous family dynamic, Ellie and Rachael must work hard and fast to discover what secrets are buried at the heart of the crime. Because the churning waters of the Gulf are getting rougher. And soon, Ellie and Rachael  themselves will be in danger of getting crushed in their depths.

***

Elise’s Thoughts

The Deepest Kill by Lisa Black brings back forensic investigators Dr Ellie Carr and Dr Rachael Davies of the Locard Institute.  Once again readers get a glimpse into the forensic world as Black uses her own experiences as a forensic scientist to intertwine information within the riveting plot and readers will not be disappointed.

Carr and Davies are asked by billionaire Martin Post to investigate his pregnant daughter’s death.  Ashley had taken out her boat into the Florida Gulf, and just disappeared until her body washed ashore.  Both scientists determine that her death was not accidental but murder. Her husband, Greg, is considered the number one suspect. But because Greg, Ashley, and Post were working on a revolutionary defense initiative for the US military, some think that foreign agents might be involved. Thus, FBI agents Michael Tyler and Luis Alvarez are brought into the investigation.

Also adding to the storyline is the coast setting and the weather that appear as a character. Not to mention that Black gives more details of Ellie’s backstory whose mother died under suspicious circumstances and her death was also ruled drowning.

***

Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?

Lisa Black: Throughout the series readers will discover more of Ellie’s history that is relevant to what is happening. This story popped into my head as I was thinking about defense contracting and the Laci Peterson case. I describe it as the Laci Peterson case if her father was Bill Gates, although I never worked on it.  I did watch a documentary about it.

EC:  Do you like switching off from featuring as the main character, Ellie, and Rachel?

LB:  I want both in the story.  It depends on what needs to be done because their expertise is in different areas. It depends on what they are investigating.  If it deals with pathology and anatomy Rachel will be featured more, but if it is about fingerprints then Ellie will be featured. It depends on what is called for with the investigation.

EC: Deception, detection, and body language are mentioned.  Does it play a role in forensic analysis?

LB:  Not really, it was what a detective does.  But a class was offered for the police officers in detection and deception.  I was allowed to attend it. It was a two-day class which I found interesting.  I got a lot of ideas for this story. For example, what was told about people’s feet.  I put a scene in about it.  People know that they should cover their faces, but a person’s feet can betray them. There must be a baseline that should be interpreted.

EC:  Did the setting play a role in the story? I laughed when I read what you said about your husband and moving to Florida.

LB: I live in Florida now. I have accepted the move he wanted to make, but still would rather have stayed where I was because I loved Cleveland where my job and family are.  I wanted to present how I felt when I first came here.  It was a shock. I hoped to have a little fun presenting an outsider’s view of Florida.  There are hurricanes, and in summer it is hotter than heck and very humid.  Florida has two seasons, raining season and not raining season.

EC: What about the boat scenes?

LB: When I was a child in Lake Erie, we had a boat, so I am comfortable around boats. I love boats. This was also inspired by the Laci Peterson case because they think the husband dumped her body in the water.

EC:  You put in the forensics about the water?

LB: Yes, being in the water changes a body. The way it decomposes and what happens to it after death. A body is affected greatly after being submerged.  This helped me to keep the mystery going.

EC:  Was the father’s dead wife presented like a hologram?

LB: No.  I was basing it on smart phones, Alexa, and Siri, all the artificial types.  He just gave it his wife’s name so when he asked a question he referred to her name.

EC:  How would you describe Ellie?

LB:  Someone who wants to fit in, committed, athletic, and does not handle change very well. She does have insomnia.  Having to move around a lot as a child has made her a little insecure. Having her adjust to new living situations made her crave stability. She was always raised by aunts, uncles, and cousins.

EC:  How would you describe the husband, Greg?

LB:  Energetic, amiable, rich, shallow, and arrogant. Picture a spoiled frat boy. He is used to women giving him what he wants because he is cute and the rest of the world giving him what he wants because he is rich. He was born rich.

EC:  What about your next book?

LB:  It is titled Not Who We Expected. The plot has this aging rock star trying to make a comeback.  He calls the Locard Institute because of his missing daughter and is very worried after the boyfriend turns up dead.

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.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: War Machine by Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson

Book Description

After a shootout in Dubai left Hamza al Saud dead and elevated brilliant aeronautical engineer Qasim Nadar to hero status in England, everyone assumes the terrorist threat from al Qadar has been eliminated. Everyone except JSOC counter-terrorism analyst Whitney Watts. But when she decides to help MI6 penetrate Nadar’s secret network, Watts she gets a little too close to the truth and finds herself in a deadly situation not even her teammates from Tier One can save her from.

As Lieutenant Commander Keith “Chunk” Redman and the rest of Tier One fan out across London in search of Watts, Nadar prepares to unleash his most dangerous weapon yet—an advanced drone with artificial intelligence and stealth technology. To stop a horrifying attack on London, Chunk and his Navy SEAL brethren must seek help from an unexpected ally and find a way to stop a war machine that was designed to be unstoppable.

***

Elise’s Thoughts

Sons of Valor, War Machine, the third book in the series, by Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson finishes the overarching story of terrorist Qasim Nadar. They use their vast experience to write engrossing thrillers.  Andrews worked as a nuclear engineer on naval submarines, while Wilson was a trauma surgeon embedded with the East Coast Navy SEALS.

In the stories, Nadar fools everyone and is considered a hero in England.  Everyone that is except counter-terrorism analyst Whitney Watts.  After getting a call from her MI6 counterpart Lucy Kim she flies to England to work with Lucy to try to out Nadar as a terrorist.  Unfortunately, their investigation turns upside down and they are kidnapped by the terrorists. As Lieutenant Commander Keith “Chunk” Redman and the rest of Tier One travel across London in search of Watts, Nadar prepares to unleash his most dangerous weapon yet, an advanced drone with artificial intelligence and stealth technology.

The authors know how to keep the tension high with the suspense growing on each page.  Readers will not want to put this epilogue down.

***

Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the series?

Jeffrey Wilson: We hope to continue the series as long as people continue to read them.  This is a spin-off, a shared universe with the “Tier One Series.” The eighth book comes out next year. There was a minor character in the previous series, Chuck Redman, who was widely popular with the readers.

EC:  What is the premise of the “Tier One Series?”

JW:  The entire SEAL team gets wiped out because of leaked intelligence.  The sole survivor gets a new identity, John Dempsey, and now is part of a covert operation task force.

Brian Andrews: The first book of that series came out in 2016. John Dempsey, the main character of that series, is not in the “Sons of Valor Series.”  Although in the second book there are a lot of references. But there are other cross-over characters.

Elise Cooper:  Did you base Chuck Redman on the real retired SEAL Jay Redman?

JW:  He is a good friend of ours and we wanted to honor him.  We do it a lot where we put those who we had a professional and personal relationship in our books. Chuck does not represent Jay, but we did it to honor our friendship.

EC:  How did you get the idea for the current book, Sons of Valor III: War Machine?

BA:  We tend to write our military thrillers as trilogies. The Qasim Nadar thread wraps up in this book. In the real world we like to give the antagonist characters some leeway to flush out their motives and organization. There is a great line, “Every villain is the hero of their own story.” We embrace this in our writing. It is not our point of view, but the character’s thoughts and actions.. 

JW: We do not like our bad guys to be two-dimensional cookie cutters unlike Dr. Evil.  The risk is do readers have sympathy for a terrorist. We wanted to explore will Qasim do the right thing or take the path of evil. People will see his evolution through the books on becoming a Jihadi.  In book 2 there was a clear path for him to take, but the one he takes should cause someone to hate him.

EC:  Book 1 has this quote, “It is a shame that it takes personal losses and suffering for most men to find their courage.” This seems so relevant for those families that brutally lost loved ones in Israel on October 7th.  Do you want to comment?

JW:  This is a timely quote referencing how someone’s tragedy is tested under fire. It would be great if no one had to discover this about themselves. Think about the stories that came out of 9/11 and how heroic actions were displayed. I read amazing stories of how people were so incredibly brave on October 7th. A young female army officer went out in her PJs with her gun, joined up with someone else, and held off the terrorists, protecting their little village.  There is such inspiration in these stories.

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

JW:  This is why we write these books, hoping people will have a new appreciation for the toll it takes on the operator: the relationship with one another and their families. We feel there is a higher reason we wrote the books, to honor the men/women we served with and to share that world.

EC:  How would you describe Qasim?

BA: Qasim is cold-hearted, diabolical, and evil. He cares about his cause. He cemented himself as a person of significance in the local culture. In book 3, he has drunk the Kool-Aid, taking a leadership role in a terrorist organization. He must deal with personal problems, money, motivation, logistics, and must keep secrets. He wants a Caliphate where there must be a shift of power and take control.

JW: We want to show how the technology and information is different now.  There is an information war going on the same time as a covert war.  The operators are new but also the terrorists are more sophisticated. This is a different dynamic post 9/11.  We wanted to explore what a new generation of terrorists looks like. They are multi-educated, bi-lingual, and tech savvy. It is also an infiltration of culture and society that is no longer just in the Middle East. This is a change in the real world which we wanted to write about. These are the battlefields of the 21st century.

EC:  How would you describe Chuck Redman?

JW:  Highly intelligent, tenacious, intuitive, mission and team before self.

EC:  How would you describe Lucy?

BA: Whitney saw her as sad, intense, brave, focused, loyal, and cared about others concerns. When she faces mortal danger, she stands her ground.

EC:  How would you describe Whitney?

BA: She takes initiative in this book. She found a lot of strength from Lucy. Her goal is to be part of the team.

JW:  Both Lucy and Whitney are tenacious. We did not want to write Whitney as a one-woman killing machine taking out the bad guys single handedly or a mousey analyst who fades in the background. We pushed her out of her comfort zone, which she hated, but realized it made her tougher. She is someone who never quits. She is one of my favorite characters.

EC:  What about the relationship between Whitney and Redman?

BA:  They are both mirrors of the other. They recognize in the other characteristics they admire.  Both are confident. There is a scene in the book where she is on the verge of physical collapse and starts to think about who the person would be she could rely on to get her out of this situation.  Her subconscious understands it is Chuck because she does not realize her own inner strength.  Over the first two books she grasps how much she admires and respects him. Chuck also tries to think what she would do when trying to rescue her.  They both try to do what the other person would do when the other person is not there.

EC:  Is the piece of equipment, Valkyrie, true?

JW:  It is a drone and manned from the ground. There is technology in development that has the capability. We wanted to explore how much autonomy should AI have:  should it include a kill decision?

BA: There are drones that can fly along fighter jets that augment pilots on missions.  It is a stealth drone, with a vertical takeoff from anywhere. We had in the book what safeguards would the military program?

EC:  Next books?

JW and BA: 

         The next Sons of Valor book does not have a date yet but there will be one.

         There is a techno-thriller coming out in April, titled Four Minutes. A task force collects  

         Intelligence from the future to stop attacks in the present.  They use this information to

         try to stop the bad guys.

         We will be writing the next Tom Clancy book titled Act of Defiance, coming out on the 40th 

         anniversary of the book Red October. A Russian super weapon is deployed at sea

        and it’s up to Jack Ryan to find a countermove.

         The next Tier 1 book comes out in July titled Ember, the name of the taskforce. The

          taskforce does covert operations.

          The fourth book in the Shepherds series comes out next fall. We explore combat and faith 

          with a speculative element.  There is a supernatural spiritual warfare element that

          blended into a covert ops’ thriller. This includes using scriptures of the Bible. It has  

          demons possess bad guys.

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.