Tag: #politicalthriller

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: The Maze by Nelson Demille

Book Description

#1 New York Times bestselling author Nelson DeMille returns with a blistering thriller featuring his most popular series character, former NYPD homicide detective John Corey, called out of retirement to investigate a string of grisly murders much too close to home.

In his dazzling #1 bestseller, Plum Island, Nelson DeMille introduced readers to NYPD Homicide Detective John Corey, who we first meet sitting on the back porch of his uncle’s waterfront estate on Long Island, convalescing from wounds incurred in the line of duty. A visit from the local Chief of Police results in the legendary Detective Corey becoming involved in the investigation of the murders of a married couple who were scientists at the top-secret biological research facility on Plum Island.

Fast forward through six more bestselling John Corey novels and The Maze opens with Corey on the same porch, but now in forced retirement from his last job as a Federal Agent with the Diplomatic Surveillance Group. Corey is restless and looking for action, so when his former lover, Detective Beth Penrose, appears with a job offer, Corey has to once again make some decisions about his career—and about reuniting with Beth Penrose.

Inspired by, and based on the actual and still unsolved Gilgo Beach murders, The Maze takes the reader on a dangerous hunt for an apparent serial killer who has murdered nine—and maybe more—prostitutes and hidden their bodies in the thick undergrowth on a lonely stretch of beach.

As Corey digs deeper into this case, which has made national news, he comes to suspect that the failure of the local police to solve this sensational case may not be a result of their inexperience and incompetence—it may be something else. Something more sinister.

The Maze features John Corey’s politically incorrect humor, matched by his brilliant and unorthodox investigative skills along with the surprising and shocking plot twists that are the trademark of the #1 New York Times bestselling author, Nelson DeMille.

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Elise’s Thoughts

The Maze by Nelson DeMille brings back the wonderful hero John Corey.  It’s been too long between DeMille books.  But the good news is that this story is typical John Corey with plenty of action and non-political correctness.  It also has John hooking up with Detective Beth Penrose both figuratively and literally as a partner.  It was a pleasure interviewing Nelson DeMille.

Now once again, Corey is in Long Island, since his forced retirement from his last job as a Federal Agent with the Diplomatic Surveillance Group. Corey is restless and looking for action, so when his former girlfriend, Detective Beth Penrose, appears with a job offer, Corey decides to become a confidential informant for her, by investigating a private investigation firm, Security Solutions. They are suspicious that corruptness at the highest levels has been covering up the murders of nine prostitutes, a reporter, and a former police detective. With Beth’s help John goes undercover to unravel the maze of crimes from corruptness to bribery to murder.

As with all Nelson DeMille books readers get a fantastic murder plot filled with action. But they also get the bonus of great banter between the characters that is not politically correct. When not laughing at John’s jokes readers will be spell-bound with all the twists and turns.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Did you get any push back on writing John’s humor and statements?

Nelson DeMille:  The Maze is my last John Corey book because of the politically correct crowd at the publishing house. There was some pushback on the John Corey character.  They wanted me to make changes, which I would not make except for a few. Even though I moved publishers and had another editor who seems to be better with the John Corey character, there was still push back.  I am not going to go through this again, a lot of nonsense. In fact, a book club of sixteen ladies, read the book and had no problem with John Corey. They are not easily offended. This is my audience and what they wanted to read. 

EC:  You always play on words?

ND:  You are referring to these examples, Is Amy Lang a “receptionist in distress? Or a deceptionist out to entrap me?”  And the other, “E and E meant escape and evasion, not encounter and engage.” The latter is from my Army days.  Some guys in training tried to take down the guys who were after them.  The former quote is having Amy as a wild card.

EC:  Has Beth changed over the years since the first book, Plum Island, came out in 1997?

ND:  Yes, Beth has changed.  In the first book she was a goody-two-shoes, doing everything by the book.  Now she is more like John, breaking and bending some rules. She, like John, wants to get at the truth and wants justice. Beth is pushing the envelope to get that, something she would not have done in Plum Island. She is more ruthless, goes rogue, and has lost faith in the system because the higher-ups are corrupt and somehow involved.

EC:  Has John changed since Plum Island?

ND:  Ninety percent of what I wrote about him is there. He is still a bullshit artist, a smart aleck, who likes to buck the system and authority.  He does really follow rules and regulations. He has good instincts and is a danger junkie. He is not ready to go out to pasture. He seeks to become relevant again. If I ever wrote another John Corey, he would end up working for a private security firm to keep an American diplomat or businessperson in another country safe.

EC:  What about the relationship between Beth and John?

ND:  Emotionally they are lovers who are realizing they were made for each other. In many of my books, I enjoy superimposing a romance with the action.  Maybe in my next life I will be a romance writer. Beth is more comfortable in her own skin in this book, more willing to stand up to John. I had her in a more powerful position than John, a Detective Sergeant, second in command at the Suffolk Homicide Police. The roles have reversed since the first book. 

EC:  The plot is based on the real Gilgo Beach murders?

ND:  About ten bodies were dumped on the beach in Long Island., not far from the Hamptons.  This happened eleven years ago. The grisly murders, all sex workers, believed to be the work of a serial killer or killers. It has captivated the public, stumped local police, and frustrated victims’ family members still waiting for an arrest. The Suffolk County Police have not even come up with a person of interest. They are stymied. It is a very active case with the Police Chief refusing to cooperate with the FBI.  There have been a couple of documentaries about it.  I fictionalized it and made it the Fire Island murders with a lot of the elements of the Gilgo Beach murders. I wanted to show how throughout America there is corruption at the highest level, and illuminate the society that it originated in.  What I tried to do in the book is highlight how there is something wrong with the culture and society through the investigation of the murder.

EC:  The real-life police chief is somehow involved?

ND: Then-Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke was busted for the 2012 assault of a handcuffed suspect who swiped a bag of sex toys and porn from Burke’s trunk. The sordid incident was covered up by then District Attorney, but the chief eventually went to jail. The murders have not been resolved, and there are questions if the DA and Burke are involved personally.

EC:  What about your bad guy, Steve Landowski?

ND:  He is a control freak, a liar, cunning, and arrogant. He volunteered to be working for the Vice-Squad while working as a cop. Steve is a rough guy who lives by his wit.  He enjoys the power to corrupt the people around him. He sexually harassed women, which shows how he does not think much of women.

EC:  The role of the Maze?

ND:  It was a figurative way to explain the case with multilayers of interlocking crimes and suspects. I put in this book quote, “a maze of twists and turns…crimes that ranged from simple prostitution to the corruption of public officials and law enforcement people to murder.” I also physically had a maze of hedges for the final scene of a shoot-out.  All Corey books have one. It reminded me of the scene in the movie “The Shining.” The maze can be a creepy place. I know because I have been in one.

EC:  What about your next books?

ND:  The next book, Blood Lines, I am writing with my son. It will be out October of next year. It has the same main characters as the first book, The Deserter. Two members of the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) will be back: Scott Brodie, a former infantry soldier in Iraq, now a top CID investigator is teamed with Maggie Taylor a former Civil Affairs E-5 in Afghanistan, who is working for CID. While Brodie is wise-cracking, arrogant, and someone who has trouble following orders, Taylor is a by the books person who tries to rein in Brodie. The plot has the murder of a CID in Berlin. My third book in this contract might be my last book, October 2024, titled The Explorer’s Club. It is a combination of “Indiana Jones,” “James Bond,” and “Around the World In Eighty Days” where the hero is trying to find an American woman possibly kidnapped.

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: Lethal Game by John Gilstrap

Book Description

Hostage rescue expert Jonathan Grave and his fellow special-ops veteran, Boxers, are hunting in Montana when shots ring out, and they realize they’ve become the prey for assassins. In the crosshairs of unseen shooters, cut off from all communication, with the wind at a blood-freezing chill, the nightmare is just beginning. Because Jonathan and Boxers aren’t the only ones under fire.

Back in Fisherman’s Cove, Virginia, Jonathan’s Security Solutions team is fighting for their lives too. A vicious onslaught is clearing the way for a much bigger game by eliminating anyone in the way. If Jonathan and Boxers can make it out of the wilderness alive, the real war will begin.

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Elise’s Thoughts

Lethal Game by John Gilstrap will remind readers of another thriller writer.  Gilstrap has a lot in common with Vince Flynn besides a fantastic, formidable character named Irene.  They both have great suspenseful plots with plenty of action, emotion, and gun fights, as well as very well-developed characters who make up the team.  This is Part I and Part II will delve into the books that introduced the characters.

This plot turns the usual story on its head with the hunters becoming the hunted and the team needing to rescue themselves. The crew of Gail Bonneville, Venice Alexander, Jonathan Grave, Brian Van Muelebroecke (Boxers), and Irene Rivers, must find out who is sending assassins. Usually, the team of covert hostage rescuers finds the kidnapped victim with the bad guys having their demise. But in this case Jonathan and Boxers, while hunting in Montana, are the targets.  That attack is coordinated with attacks home in Fisherman’s Cove, Virginia where Gail and Venice are also fired upon. The enemy is unknown but it’s clear they want revenge and will go to great lengths to destroy everyone on the team. The four, while investigating, know they must transition from defense to offense and take the fight right to the enemy. Readers are able to get into the minds of the characters, feeling as if they are being spoken to themselves.

In this series, readers should not expect innocents to escape the violence.  Elderly characters and children are put in harm’s way and do not escape with their lives.  The bad guys are cartel members and just as in real life Gilstrap shows the intensity of violence where they have feelings of anger, disgust, and contempt.

This plot is fast-paced, engrossing, and intriguing.  If this book is someone’s first introduction into the series, they will realize what they have been missing and want to read the earlier novels.  It is written as a stand-alone so no one will have any trouble keeping up. 

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Author Interview

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

John Gilstrap:  This is the 14th book in the series with the same characters, and it will not end anytime soon.  The idea for the series came from a non-fiction book I wrote, Six Minutes to Freedom back in 2006.  I had extraordinary access and did a lot of research about the Special Forces Delta Force group. I then decided to write a fictional book with a group that does the hostage rescue domestically. I stay in the Western Hemisphere for the team, with the cartels as the bad guys.

EC:  Can you tell us a little something about the non-fiction book?

JG:  Kurt Muse in the late 1980s did a clandestine radio campaign urging the people of Panama to rise for freedom. He was subsequently arrested, imprisoned, and rescued by the elite Delta Force. After the US invaded Panama, they rescued him from the prison where Manuel Noriega held him as a political prisoner.

EC:  Did your professional experience help you to write the series?

JG:  For fifteen years I was a firefighter and EMT. We had a very good sense of camaraderie and mission.  We wanted to make sure the mission was accomplished quickly, efficiently, safely, with as many lives saved. This focus was built into me, which I gave my characters.  I want to show in the books how violence is real and happens with blistering speed that has devastating consequences, which is why there are civilian collateral damage.

EC:  Are you a hunter considering there are details about hunting?

JG:  I am recently a hunter, having moved to West Virginia. I hunt deers and hogs.  The look and feel for hunting is from personal experience.

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

JQ: It occurred to me on a hunting trip. I was in a shed waiting for a hog to come by.  I sat for a long time and just was thinking. I realized how vulnerable I was if someone wanted to hunt me while I was hunting an animal. This was the beginning of the plot where someone was hunting for Jonathan and the team, with the rest of the book solving the question, who and why were they hunting the group? In the previous book, Stealth Attack, I opened the door for why they were being hunted.

EC:  How would you describe the team?

JG:  Gail is the adult in the room. Boxer is the violent one. Jonathan is the thinker. Venice is the computer hacker with many skills.  They share a very strong ethical and moral standard that centers around justice. Good and bad for them is not defined as legal and illegal. They have a passion for the mission. They are all gutsy, loyal, intelligent, feisty, adrenaline junkies, and risk-takers.

EC:  You have a quote in the book which explains their thinking and mission.  Please explain.

JG:  You are referring to this one, “While Feebs and local Swat teams were consumed by cumbersome procedures designed to cover their asses and rights of the bad guys, Jonathan and his team did what had to be done and left with the hostages that they rescued.” I have many good friends that are on hostage rescue teams and Swat teams.  In the US when someone is kidnapped their primary mission is not to rescue the hostage.  Their mission is to make sure the bad guy does not legally get away. But of course, they want the hostages rescued.  The regulations require that warrants are issued before they can crash a door or listen in. If they violate those rights, then the case gets thrown out in court. Jonathan and his team does not have that burden. I also put this quote in the book, which was told to me by a friend, “A hostage situation is a homicide in slow motion.”

EC: How would you describe Irene?

JG:  When the team utilizes FBI Director Irene Rivers it must be off the record. They operate in the place of justice, not in the place of legality. Her name came from my mothers-in-law first name. She was first introduced in 1998 in my second book, At All Costs.  She is a single mom and used to be a badass field agent. In the story, Soft Targets is where Jonathan meets Irene after her children were kidnapped.  She is much more politically aware and savvy than the rest of the team.

EC:  In your book world there are no term limits for the US President?

JG: President Tony Darmond is very corrupt without any moral standing.  He has been President for fifteen years because I do not advance time. Irene must work behind the scenes to make sure nothing goes back to Darmond. Her and Jonathan’s team realize politicians do not want to solve problems. I think these books are very timely because of Fentanyl coming across the border plus how the Cartels are involved with the human trafficking trade.

EC:  Why compare the team to Batman?

JG:  My son who is now 36 has always been fascinated with everything Batman.  I brought Batman in because it is an Easter Egg for me and the family. Every book has a reference to Batman. The team and Batman are similar in that they are the strangers who sets things straight, wants justice, and works outside the lines. 

EC:  Your next books?

JG:  My next book is not a Grave book.  It is titled White Smoke, the third book of a trilogy coming out next March.  It features Victoria Emerson, a former Congresswoman.  She is the leader of a society after a nuclear holocaust that is trying to put the world back together.

The book I am writing now, the next Grave book, will probably take place in Venezuela but will also bring in some Russian activity. It is called Harm’s Way where missionaries are kidnapped. It comes out in June of next year.

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: Armored by Mark Greaney

Book Description

Joshua Duffy is a Close Protection Agent – a professional bodyguard, and he’s one of the world’s elite operatives. That is he was until his last mission in Lebanon. Against all odds, Josh got his primary out alive, but the cost was high. Josh lost his lower left leg.

There’s not much call for an elite bodyguard with such an injury. So, Josh has to support his family working as a mall cop in Jersey. For a man like Josh this is purgatory on earth, but even in Paramus miracles occur.

A lucky run in with an old comrade promises to get Josh back in the field for one last job. The UN is sending a peace mission into the Sierra Madre Mountains in Mexico, an area so dangerous it’s known as Espinazo del Diablo (The Devil’s Spine). Only a fool would think they could broker peace between the homicidal drug cartels in the region and only a madman would sign on to keep those fools alive.

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Elise’s Thoughts

Armored by Mark Greaney shows why he is currently one of the best thriller writers. Although written first as an Audible Original, the book is much more enjoyable.  Once again Greaney does not disappoint.  There is plenty of action, but also some important issues covered including those still able to serve after losing a limb as well as how contractor companies treat their employees.

Best known for his “Gray Man series,” there were times in the story that readers wished for Court Gentry to come out and help the main character, Joshua “Duff” Duffy.  But the badass in the novel was not Gentry, but Duffy’s wife Nichole, a former helicopter pilot. 

Duffy, a former military Infantry soldier who became a private military contractor, shows his tenacity after losing part of his leg.  Down on his luck and struggling to financially support his family, Duffy has an old comrade set up an interview with the contracting company, Armored Saints, that has a checkered reputation.  He is hired as part of a private protection squad to guard a team of UN representatives.  They are going to meet with warring drug lords deep into cartel country in Mexico, hoping to negotiate a peace between them. It soon becomes obvious that Duffy and his teammates must deal with hidden agendas, double crosses, and warfare. 

Not only are the guys front and center but so are the women.  Dr. Gabrielle Flores, a regional analyst for the area of Sierra Madres, in Mexico, informs Duffy’s team how dangerous the area is. She is also very valuable in helping them escape, knowing the area, the cartels, and the locals. The other woman in the story is Duffy’s wife Nichole who goes on a fact-finding mission to save her husband and refuses to take “no” as an answer. 

This military thriller will leave readers on the edge of their seats.  The plot will remind readers of “The Dirty Dozen.” The novel has everything Greaney is known for including intense action, great dialogue, and team of heroes that are very likeable, while enemies that are very unlikeable. This is a book that should not be put down, but unfortunately, people will have to wait for book 2 to come out.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper:  Can you tell us something about the “The Gray Man” movie on Netflix?

Mark Greaney: It stars Ryan Gosling as The Gray Man, Court Gentry, and will be released on July 22. I read the script when they started filming.  I have also seen it and really liked it.  They did change some things.  With so many people involved in making the movie, there is always creative influences. Characters who were not in the first book but did come along later in the book series are introduced in the movie. It is true to the spirit of the longer story of the first book. The dialogue was clever for the story.

EC: How did you get the idea for Armored, your latest book and will it be a series?

MG:  Yes, it will be a series. The idea came about when I was training in a school with firearms. This school trained a lot of civilian contractors.  There, I took a lot of classes that were designed for executive protection. It had a lot of running and gunning with team tactics.  I thought in 2009 about writing a story about these contractors. First it was an audio play, and now the novel has come out.

EC:  You put a different take on contracting firms?

MG:  Some are not loyal or supportive to their employees.  The one I created in this book, Armored Saint, is corrupt and dirty. Overall, the contractors themselves are awesome. Some of these companies have a reputation, which I wanted to dance around a bit. In the 2000s it was the heyday for these companies and now things have dried up.

EC:  How did you come up with the scene where Duffy saved the wife?

MG: Duffy had a mission that went wrong but did his job. I decided to do it in Beirut because there was an assassination of a presidential candidate fifteen years ago.  With that in the back of my mind I orchestrated the different roads and tactics.  I did not go over there but mapped it out.

EC:  How would you describe Duffy?

MG:  Very much a blue-collar worker.  Not at all like The Gray Man, not a secret spy, a Superhero, or Special Forces. But he was not a mercenary because he seeks justice. In the beginning of the story, he is not a leader, but a helper. When he lost his limb, he was depressed at the inability to financially support his family. But as a strong family man he was responsible and caring.  He has the desire and guts to get back out there even with the loss of a limb. Very courageous.

EC:  How would you describe Nichole, Duffy’s wife?

MG:  She was a Captain in the Army, flying helicopters. I wanted to write her as an alpha female. She is very assertive, someone who takes charge.  She is the opposite of Duffy who is very easy going. I think she wants to go back to the world where she was a leader, her natural habitat.  Overall, she is straight forward, no nonsense, and detailed.

EC:  The Cartels are like the Mafia?

MG:  I wrote a Gray Man book, Ballistic, where Court faced off with the Cartels. I found out through the research how much torture and violence there is. I could not put that in the books. It is a civil war in Mexico, the Mexican Marines versus the Cartels who are brutal to the townspeople. There are rivalries between the different Cartels and actual maps show what territory is held by which Cartel.

EC: What role did Dr. Gabrielle (Gabby) Flores play?

MG:  I spent some time in the Archeological Museum in Mexico City where Gabby works.  As I was writing the story, I realized that many of the contractors were American, French, British, and in a world they did not understand. Gabby became the character, the heart and soul of the story, that allowed me through her, to tell the story of the setting and the hardships the people face. She preached to the contractors the danger in the area and how desperate the people living there are.

EC: How would you describe Dr. Gabrielle (Gabby) Flores versus UN representative Michelle La Rue?

I contrasted Gabby with Michelle La Rue. Gabby is a realist, caring, honest, and direct. La Rue is a UN bureaucrat who overestimates her abilities and influence. She is an allegory for the UN going into places and doing things, trying to be peacekeepers.  Through La Rue I was able to put in my own personal bias.  La Rue has a naiveté and a jadedness at the same time, especially when she wanted the contractors to disarm in a very dangerous setting.

EC:  Next books?

MG:  I have written two books a year since 2009, the “Clancy series,” “Red Metal,” of course “The Gray Man,” and now this series “Armored,” where I will probably start to write the next book in August. Armored has been optioned by Sony with Michael Bay producing it.  The second Armored book will have a strong dynamic between Duffy and Nichole, co-leads.

The next Gray Man book is titled Murder, the twelfth in the series, out in February next year.  Zoya will be back with Zack probably in the latter part of the book.

Red Metal II written with Lt. Col. Hunter Ripley Rawlings will be out before the next Armored book. 

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 Handler by M.P. Woodward

Book Description

A disgraced former CIA operative must go back in the field with only his ex-wife as his handler in this electrifying thriller from a former intelligence officer.

Meredith Morris-Dale is a CIA agent and a damn good one…even if this last mission did go terribly wrong. Now she has been summoned back to Langley where she expects to be fired. Instead, she is met by the Deputy Director with stunning news.

A single well-placed CIA mole in Iran’s uranium enrichment program has kept the terrorist nation from building a bomb by sabotaging their centrifuge’s performance. But after losing his daughter in an airliner shootdown, the mole wants out–leaving the world on the brink. His one demand: a reunion with the only handler he ever trusted, John Dale–Meredith’s disgraced, fired, wayward ex-husband. As Meredith and John struggle through their fraught relationship, a craven CIA political hierarchy, Russian interference, and the rogue spy’s manipulation, they must reach deep within their shared connection to maintain, recover, or kill the asset.

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Elise’s Thoughts

The Handler by M. P. Woodward allows readers to gain knowledge of the intelligence world with a story all too real, delving into the return of the Cold War days. If readers are looking for a Vince Flynn like author that has the same action, characters to root for, and national security concerns, Woodward is the author to read.

In this debut story disgraced CIA operative John Dale is coaxed out of retirement by his ex-wife Meredith, the head of the CIA’s Counterproliferation Division.  John is asked to extract Iranian asset Cerberus, a scientist working on the Iranian nuclear program. The CIA mole has kept this terrorist nation from building a bomb through sabotage. But now the mole wants out and will only deal with his trusted former handler, Dale. 

Both John, and his handler, Meredith, must work together to bring the scientist to safety. Together they face very dangerous obstacles including the CIA’s political hierarchy, Iran’s military, and Russian spies. There are Russian agents leading an SVR team anxious to take out John and Meredith, a lieutenant colonel with the Quds branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard who wants Cerberus just as badly as the CIA, and Meredith’s corrupt supervisor, Rance.

Woodward, a former naval intelligence officer, uses his experience to write a very believable story full of suspense and twists. There is plenty of drama, tension, and conflict. Readers will not want to put this book down.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: The idea for the story?

M. P. Woodward: I have been a naval intelligence officer and like to keep up with what is happening in the world. In January 2020 on the airport TV was the coverage of a civilian Ukrainian airliner shot down by Iran. I started to think about how and why it happened. The people on that plane were largely Iranian students going back to school in Canada. I thought it could be a plot for a novel. I wanted to write a story with authenticity and realism.

EC:  How did your professional experience help in writing the book?

MPW:  I divide it into two halves. The first is being in the military for several years. The other is working at Amazon doing distribution deals. With the former, I used to write war game scenarios. I knew a lot about how various agencies on both sides would react to certain escalations. This helped with some character development, setting, and timing. The business side helped me to capture working at a bureaucracy that has inertia and people with political motivations.

EC: You talk about the countries of evil toward the US which seems to be the same ones as of today?

MPW:  We were in a period of history, post-Cold War that had a rule based on international order. Now we are in Cold War 2.0 with three imperialist powers who challenge the status quo to expand their sphere of influence. As I discuss in the book, China is the senior partner with Russia and Iran the junior partners, all working together. Russia is helping the Iranians with a nuclear reactor in exchange for oil drilling rights.  The Chinese try to build client satellite states. Whereas the western democracies are a little slow to this threat.  I am worried because they have failed to deter.

EC:  The Iran nuclear threat?

MPW: Many countries in that area have nuclear weapons. A lot of them are modern societies, while Iran has different ideas. There are those in Iran who believe that the 12th Iman will come back once Armageddon is achieved. A facility was built, spending 500 million dollars, to welcome back the 12th Iman.  These are the people in power.  The idea they will have nuclear weapons is very scary. The Iranians are hiding their secret nuclear facilities which for me shows they do not want a deal with the US.

EC:  Besides writing about the geo-political threat, you have well developed characters. How would you describe John?

MPW:  He believes in honor, duty, and commitment, but lacks the patience of working within large organizations. He would rather work alone to get the mission accomplished.  His heart is in the right place. He is frustrated with working within the system. He and I are landscape painters, a loner profession.  The cabin he lives in is like the one I have, up on a mountain. He can be charming and unpredictable.

EC:  How would you describe Meredith?

MPW: She is the opposite of John. She accepts the rules and works within the organization. She also has a sense of honor, duty, and mission. She goes about doing things in different ways than John and becomes frustrated with him.  She can read people and at times is intense. Meredith is attracted to someone like John but has a hard time in making peace with his actions. She and John have a bond.

EC:  You show how intelligence works?

MPW:  Yes.  I wanted to show how a lot of times the handler and the operative sometimes have incomplete information.  Since they were married with an adult child, she feels her first duty is to John. Meredith is an advocate for him. I put in this quote, “Good assets are in it for ideology, or even better, their vision of morality.” They want to do the right thing because they want change.

EC:  How would you describe Rance, Meredith’s CIA boss who is a political animal?

MPW:  He is fallible and cautious.  He is not decisive versus Meredith who thinks quickly. He does put his career first. He is arrogant, selfish, calculating, uncaring, and tries to throw Meredith and John under the bus. He thinks he can get away with things, which is his undoing.

EC: Please explain this book quote, “Intelligence failures were infamous for overlooked, seemingly innocuous assumptions.”

MPW:  I worked with Special Forces who must know the smallest details.  Remember during the raid on OBL when the helicopter crashed.  It did so because the rehearsals during the mission had a chain linked fence.  But the actual fence was a masonry wall. People like John in this story must know does the door open in or out, are the hinges on the left or right side of the door.

EC:  The next book?

MPW:  It will come out this time next year, titled Scorched Earth.  The plot is the shadow war between Israel and Iran. The question should the Americans appease Iran and get a deal done, angering Israel. The overriding arguments, containment versus appeasement of Iran? Meredith and John are on Israel’s side.  I used many real-world references. I wanted to portray the existential threat to Israel if Iran gets a nuclear weapon and highlight Israel’s military.

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: Sierra Six by Mark Greaney

Book Description

It’s been years since the Gray Man’s first mission, but the trouble’s just getting started in the latest entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.

Before he was the Gray Man, Court Gentry was Sierra Six, the junior member of a CIA action team.

In their first mission they took out a terrorist leader, but at a terrible price–the life of a woman Court cared for. Years have passed and now The Gray Man is on a simple mission when he sees a ghost: the long-dead terrorist, but he’s remarkably energetic for a dead man.

A decade may have gone by but the Gray Man hasn’t changed. He isn’t one to leave a job unfinished or a blood debt unpaid.

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Elise’s Thoughts

Sierra Six by Mark Greaney is not one story but two stories in one book.  Readers are treated to a double helping of the Gray Man, told from a dual point of view, today and 12 years ago. Both stories per usual are compelling and dramatic where readers are treated to a rollercoaster ride of vivid action, a lot of intrigue, and fantastic dialogue.

Twelve years ago, after the Special Activities Division of the CIA loses a man on an assignment, Court Gentry (The Gray Man) is called in as a replacement and given the designation Gulf Sierra Six. Because he had no military background and always worked alone, the members of the team resented him at first.  But overtime he proved himself and gained the respect of the team and its leader, Zach Hightower.

Twelve years later Court is hired as a freelance intelligence operator to infiltrate the Turkish embassy property in Algiers and plant a listening device. There he comes face to face with Murad Khan, the head of KRF who is responsible for death and destruction years earlier. This terrorist had been reported killed at the time. Now Court is once again on the hunt to stop Khan as he plans another major attack involving dirty bombs in India.

The story and ending are typical Gray Man, a lot of action, suspense, and tension. As with all his books there are scenes that put the reader in the middle of the intense fight. This book shows why Greaney is one of the best thriller writers today.

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Elise’s Author Interview

Elise Cooper:  Netflix series?

Mark Greaney: What I hear is that it’s coming out in July.  They already have done a test screening in LA, last week.  They bring in those who sign up for it and have them fill out a questionnaire of what they liked and did not like.  I have only seen fifteen seconds of footage, but I did read the script.  I thought it was terrific.  It is based on the first book, The Gray Man, but bring in elements that were in later books. 

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

MG: I had talked to my editor for years about writing an origin story where readers could see Court Gentry as he develops.  I decided to write something that relates in the past and present. Readers can see Court as a younger man and then twelve years later.  The stories have two different timelines, two different objectives for the hero, and two different ticking clocks.

EC:  How would you describe the young Court versus the older Court?

MG:  The young Court is 25 years old. He has been trained his entire life to operate firearms and move tactically, without any other skills.  He has no people skills and is not James Bond with the ladies. At this stage of his life, he does not have a lot of world experience, yet comes across cocky and sure of himself. He gets brought down a few pegs in this story. He does missions he is told to do by the CIA. He is a soldier and a spy.

In the present Court is older, wiser, a little laid back, but not as sure of himself.  He seeks justice.  Now he will go against the wishes of his bosses.  He will break away if necessary, playing to his own tune. He has expanded his skill levels with a lot more years and tradecraft behind him. He is much better at what he does.

EC:  Zach was in the past story, but not the present story?

MG:  I do not want to ever be tied to having to bring all the secondary characters into every story.  There are some books that will not have Zoya, and some not to have Zach.  In the present Court is very much on a solo mission although he does call Hanley and Brewer for some help. I do not want to get into a trap into designing my story surrounded by a cast of characters.  Instead, I want to pick and choose.

EC:  How would you describe Julie Martinez, part of Court’s team as a CIA analyst?

MG:  Chatty, nerdlike, direct, attentive, persistent, has integrity.  She feels like an outsider. She is focused and has attention to detail.  Like Court, she does what she feels is right.

EC: Julie, his first love versus Zoya, his recent love?

MG:  I think these two characters are so different. Julie is a young CIA officer analyst who is incredibly intelligent.  She is also on the Autism spectrum.  She and Court become friends and then more than friends throughout the course of the novel.  His naivety and her directness were interesting aspects to put together.  Zoya on the other hand is in the same profession as Court, an operative. She is older and a rougher personality.  Because he has changed in the past twelve years Julie and present-day Court would not have worked out so well. Both women and Court feel like outsiders. Zoya has integrity but gets there only at the end.  She and Court both live lives where they must be distrustful, paranoid.  She is a different version of Court, but both are attracted to one another.

EC:  Why the War on Terror returning?

MG: I wanted to showcase how different things are today than twelve years ago.  Many Gray Man books did not deal with Middle East terrorism.  This was a conscious decision because almost all other thriller writers wrote about the ticking timebomb.  Now I feel we are removed from it. I wanted to take a recent pass and see how my hero deals with it.

EC:  How would you describe the bad guy, Murad Khan?

MG: He is a Kashmirian who went against his own country. He is a member of their intelligence agency but has also created his own organization to fight. Now he is fighting India, his true passion. When I write a villain I must get into their head.  He is against humanity and very cruel, a terrible person.

EC:  The setting also dealt with CIA bases in Khost and Chapman?

MG:  I did some research on where we were twelve years ago regarding the War on Terror. The geography was important.  Camp Chapman was a place where very terrible things happened.  The other bases including Bagram, Jalalabad, and Salerno are all close to the Pakistani border. I wanted to show how Pakistan is not a real ally of the US. 

EC:  The Indian Mafia?

MG:  The biggest one is D company, which I changed to B company.  The real head lives in Pakistan, not India.  He has a real chip on his shoulders, bombing government buildings and airlines.  They did most of their stuff twenty years ago. I thought that my mafia would form an alliance with a Muslim group. I saw the movie “Hotel Mumbai” and read some books about the terrorist attack there. It played into my story, where a terrorist attack happens at a shopping mall in India.

EC:  How would you describe Priya Bandari?

MG:  She is someone Court teams up with, out of necessity. She is very wet behind the ears as an intelligence specialist and reconnaissance technician on Court’s freelance job.  She is directly out of college.  She is motivated for personal reasons to stay in the fight. I hope readers begin to understand her and see her point of view.  I hope to use her character in other books. She is brave, somewhat defiant, and daring.  None of this comes naturally to her but Priya does rise to the occasion.

EC:  Next book?

MG:  I am currently plotting out the story. It will come out this time next year.  Court, Zoya, Zach, and Brewer will be back along with Hanley to some degree. In July I have another book coming out based on an audio play that was released in December. It is titled Armored. It is about military contractors in Mexico fighting the drug cartel. Josh Duffy is a wounded veteran whose job is to protect a UN delegation that is trying to negotiate a peace deal with a drug lord. There will be a second book, but I do not know what happens after that.  Duffy’s wife, Nicole, is a former army officer and a helicopter pilot.  I could see Duffy and Nicole taking a lead in another book.

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.

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Margaret Truman’s Murder at the CDC by Jon Land

Murder at the CDC

by Jon Land

February 14 – March 11, 2022 Virtual Book Tour

Hi, everyone!

Today is my turn on the Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour and I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for Margaret Truman’s MURDER AT THE CDC (A Capital Crimes Novel Book #32) by Jon Land.

Below you will find a book description, my book review an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links and a Rafflecopter giveaway. Enjoy!

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Book Description

2017: A military transport on a secret run to dispose of its deadly contents vanishes without a trace.

The present: A mass shooting on the steps of the Capitol nearly claims the life of Robert Brixton’s grandson.

No stranger to high-stakes investigations, Brixton embarks on a trail to uncover the motive behind the shooting. On the way he finds himself probing the attempted murder of the daughter his best friend, who works at the Washington offices of the CDC. The connection between the mass shooting and Alexandra’s poisoning lies in that long-lost military transport that has been recovered by forces determined to change America forever. Those forces are led by radical separatist leader Deacon Frank Wilhyte, whose goal is nothing short of bringing on a second Civil War.

Brixton joins forces with Kelly Lofton, a former Baltimore homicide detective. She has her own reasons for wanting to find the truth behind the shooting on the Capitol steps, and is the only person with the direct knowledge Brixton needs. But chasing the truth places them in the cross-hairs of both Wilhyte’s legions and his Washington enablers.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57693174-murder-at-the-cdc?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=65KXT5tqqv&rank=1

Murder at the CDC

Genre: Political Thriller
Published by: Forge
Publication Date: February 15, 2022
Number of Pages: 304
ISBN: 978-1250238894
Series: Margaret Truman’s Capital Crimes, #32 | Each is a stand alone work.

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

MURDER AT THE CDC (A Capital Crimes Novel Book #32) by Jon Land is the latest political/crime thriller in this long running series started by Margaret Truman. This is the second book in the series that Jon Land has written, and he does a great job of giving the reader continuity with the previous books. It is an exciting crime/political thriller filled with “what-ifs” extrapolated from today’s headlines. These books can all be easily read as standalone novels.

Robert Brixton comes close once again to losing a loved one when his grandson in caught up in a mass shooting incident on the Capital’s steps. As he begins to investigate the motive for the shooting, he is also asked by his long-time friend to meet with his daughter who works for the CDC in their Washington office who he believes is in trouble. She ends up in the hospital fighting for her life from an unknown poison.

Brixton joins forces with Kelly Lofton who works for the Capital police and the two discover a scheme to change America forever with a bioweapon believed lost on a long-ago military transport.

I love these types of thrillers when they are well written as this one is. They are just plausible enough to be scarily believable and thank goodness there is always someone of principle to stand in the way of all the evil doers. Fast paced, action packed and full of twists, I could not put the book down. All the characters, good and bad, were well drawn. There are a very few times the pace slows down a bit, but the information given at these times is interesting and adds to the escalating consequences of the protagonists not saving the day.

I really enjoy reading Mr. Land’s additions to this series, and I am looking forward to reading many more in the future.

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Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

“The hand of God is upon You! He is my shepherd and I shall not want!”

Those were the last words high school sophomore Ben McDonald heard before the shooting started. He and the other students clustered around him from the Gilman School in Maryland were on a school field trip to the Capitol Building from their Baltimore prep school, the first such trip taken since academic life returned to a degree of normalcy following the endless coronavirus nightmare. Everyone had shown up in their school uniforms, the buses had left on schedule, and the students felt like pioneers, explorers blazing a trail back into the world beyond shutdowns and social distancing.

The reduction in Capitol tour group size was still in force and had necessitated the two bus-loads of students to be divided into five groups of fifteen, give or take, three chaperones allotted to each. Ben and his twin brother Robbie’s group had gone first and they had found themselves lingering on the Capitol steps, taking pictures and chatting away with their local congressman and senator who’d come out to greet and mingle with the students on the steps at the building’s east front.

“Why are you still wearing a mask?” one of them had asked the congressman, but Ben had already forgotten the answer.

He remembered checking the time on his phone just before he heard the first shots. Ben thought they were firecrackers at first, realizing the truth a breath later when the screams began and bodies started flying.

“I am doing the Lord’s work! I am a sacrifice to his word!”

Somehow Ben gleaned those words through the screams and incessant hail of fire. The shots were coming so fast he wasn’t sure if the shooter was firing on semi or full auto. The boy never actually saw him as more than a shape amid the blur before him, enveloping his vision like a dull haze. The thin sheer curtain drawn over his eyes didn’t keep him from recording bodies crumpling, keeling over, tumbling down the steps. The force of a bullet’s momentum slammed a classmate into him, sparing Ben the ensuing fusillade that turned the other boy’s back into a pin cushion.

My brother!

The panic and shock of those initial seconds had stolen thought of Robbie from him. He wheeled about, covered in the blood of boy who had dropped off the scene.

“Robbie!”

Did he cry out his name or only think it? The steps around him looked blanketed in khaki and blue, pants and blazers that made up his Gilman uniform. The sound of gunfire continued to resound in his ears, but he wasn’t sure the shooter was still firing because no more bodies seemed to be falling. People were running in all directions, crying and screaming, Ben remaining frozen out of fear for his brother.

“Robbie!”

He saw his brother’s sandy blond hair draped down from one of the marble steps onto another. Nothing else at first, just the hair. Maybe he had dove atop a friend who’d been wounded to spare that kid more fire—that was Robbie. But there was no one beneath Him, and . . . And . . .

He wasn’t moving, his arms stretched to the sides on angles that looked all wrong. Ben dropped to his knees next to Robbie, his pants sinking into pooling patches of blood which merged and thickened beneath him. He felt something pinching him along right side of his ribcage and saw his blue shirt darkening with a spreading wave of red in the last moment before he collapsed next to his brother.

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Author Bio

JON LAND is the USA Today bestselling author of fifty-eight books, including eleven in the critically acclaimed Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong series, the most recent of which, Strong from the Heart, won the 2020 American Fiction Award for Best Thriller and the 2020 American Book Fest Award for Best Mystery/Suspense Novel. Additionally, he has teamed up with Heather Graham for a science fiction series that began with THE RISING (winner of the 2017 International Book Award for best Sci-fi Novel) and continues with BLOOD MOON, to be published in November of 2022. He has also written six books in the Murder, She Wrote series of mysteries and has more recently taken over Margaret Truman’s Capital Crimes series, with his second effort, MURDER AT THE CDC, to be published in February of 2022. Jon is known as well for writing the film DIRTY DEEDS, a teen comedy starring Milo Ventimiglia and Zoe Saldana, which was released in 2005. A graduate of Brown University, he received the 2019 Rhode Island Authors Legacy Award for his lifetime of literary achievements.

Purchase Links

Amazon  

Barnes & Noble 

Goodreads

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RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY

https://kingsumo.com/g/isv9i5/murder-at-the-cdc-by-jon-land