Who or what influenced your writing over the years? My wife. She’s a “story-whisperer” for me and several other NY Times Bestselling authors. I call her a walking font of useless information—until I need that information. She’s the only person I’ve ever met who can keep the entirety of a book in her head and recall every detail instantly. Thus, each evening when we watch TV in bed with our two dogs, she always has the remote and I watch whatever she puts on and she finds the greatest shows and movies.
What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general? Developing real characters. I’m not a fan of thrillers where the hero is a black belt, an expert shot, speaks 14 languages, is a gourmet cook, a perfect lover, etc. etc. etc and they never work out or practice. I like my characters to be real. Horace Chase in this book and the previous one, Chasing the Ghost, is a deeply flawed man, a soldier with PTSD, and even deeper issues.
Did writing this book teach you anything and what was it? To trust my wife even more when she tells me to do something.
Do you intend to make writing a career? I’ve been writing for a living since 1991, other than some active duty tours in Special Forces as needed.
What is your greatest strength as a writer?
Story. I can plot anything. Since that’s my greatest strength, I focus a lot of my energy on character development and also get my wife’s help with that.
Can you share a little of your current work with us? I’m working on the third book in my Nightstalkers series and a possible serial called Burners. The latter is the best “big” concept my wife and I have ever had and we’re very excited about it.
How did you come up with the title? Good question. I didn’t realize title was critical early in my writing career and no one made me the wiser. So I had titles that didn’t say much sense like Eyes of the Hammer, Dragon Sim-13 and others. The worst was Z. That’s it. Just a single letter. A title has to invite readers into the book. We added The Green Berets to those first six books but kept the titles since we didn’t want to confuse readers and have them buy the same book again. So we have The Green Berets: Chasing the Lost. The Chasing part comes from the character’s last name: Horace Chase. The first book was Chasing the Ghost and all the rest in this series will be chasing something.
Who designed the cover? My business partner, Jen Talty. We do all our own covers and we’ve learned a lot over the years. I love the image, the color and the boat that you can see through the letters.
Who is your publisher? Cool Gus Publishing, my own company. We view ourselves as publishing partners, where the author comes first. Publishing has got to change from the distribution model to the discoverability model, and we’re leading the way on that.
NY Times Bestselling Author, former Green Beret and West Point Graduate, Bob Mayer.
“A pulsing technothriller. A nailbiter in the best tradition of adventure fiction.” Publishers Weekly ref Bob Mayer
Horace Chase arrives on Hilton Head Island to pay his last respects at the Intracoastal Waterway where his late mother’s ashes were spread and to inspect the home his mother left him in her will. He’s been recently forced into retirement, his divorce is officially final, and now he’s standing in the middle of the front yard of his ‘new’ house where a tree has crashed right through the center of it.
What could possibly go wrong?
Within six hours of arriving on Hilton Head, Chase is exchanging gunfire with men who’ve kidnapped a young boy and tried to grab the boy’s mother, Sarah Briggs. Soon he’s waist deep in an extortion plot to funnel a hundred million dollars of Superbowl on-line gambling money into an offshore bank account or else the boy dies.
Dave Riley has long retired from the military and living peacefully on sleepy Dafuskie Island off the coast of South Carolina. Sort of. Actually he’s bored, feeling old, and just a bit cranky running his deceased uncle’s small-time bookie operation.
Horace Chase, meet Dave Riley. Riley-Chase.
Chase and Riley assemble a team of misfits and eccentrics as they take on the powerful Russian mob in the lawless tidal lands of the Low Country to get the boy back.
Meet Erin: Chase’s long-ago summer fling, now a veterinarian and not interested in men any more, at least that way. But her suturing skills and her knowledge of the island bring assets the team needs. Especially after Chase’s first visit with the Russian requires a bit of the former.
Meet Gator: an ex-Ranger, iron-pumping, fire-breathing hulk of a redneck, with a soft spot in his heart for Erin, and steroids burning in his muscles to hurt people. As long as Riley and Chase point him in the right direction, the rest of the populace should be all right.
Meet Kono: a Gullah, descendant of the free slaves who fled to the barrier islands in the 19th century and developed their own culture. He nurses his own pain and secrets, but heeds Chase’s call to renew their childhood friendship. Especially when he learns the target is the Russians.
It adds up to a fiery confrontation to rescue the young boy, and settle some old scores.
But Riley and Chase need to remember a basic tenet from their days in covert operations: Nothing is ever as it appears.
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Genre – Thriller
Rating – PG
More details about the author
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Website http://www.bobmayer.org/
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