New York Minute and the reason for writing

Finally! A fixed publication date for New York Minute, 24 June, and the pre-order is live on all eBook platforms. Print will be live prior to pub date and the audio is being done this week and will be also be ready before pub date.

I’m more excited about this title than anything in years. I wrote and rewrote this book from the heart. The characters are real to me — and that’s what this book is about: character.

I was thinking about what I wanted to write in terms of thriller over a year ago as I’m going back to that genre after years in science fiction. I thought about a Jack Reacher type of character and story; especially given the parallels in Reacher’s fictional life and my real one: Reacher was West Point ’82, I was ’81. Reacher was in Lebanon during the bombing while my unit, 10thSpecial Forces was running the MTT there when that tragedy occurred. Reacher’s mother is French from Strasbourg; my wife’s mother is French from Strasbourg.

I love Lee Child’s books, but as he says in the new opening to Killing Floor (a must read), Jack Reacher is a mythical character. A modern knight. I realized I couldn’t write such a character, perhaps because of my own flaws. I wanted to write someone like the special ops people I’ve known, warts and all, but with a deep moral code, who is forced, against his will, into making a…