Full Circle follows a counterterrorist organization that becomes the target of someone they thought was dead, who now has to find and eliminate the threat. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

I spent 22 years in the CIA, primarily in the field of counterterrorism. I spent considerable time in the Philippines where we had to take on the New People’s Army (NPA) which was the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines. This fight inspired me to write this book. 

How did you come up with the idea for the antagonist in this story, and how did it change as you wrote?

I wanted the antagonist to be an opponent that had not been seen before in novels. Having an NPA Sparrow (assassination) unit gunman as the killer felt to me to be a novel and different idea for a bad guy. It changed as I wrote as I decided to have a back story explaining how he ended up in the NPA when he started off as a good kid. He was still bad and had to be stopped by my protagonist, Jack Trench and his team, but I wanted to make the bad guy more than a one-dimensional character. 

How did you balance the action scenes with the story elements and still keep a fast pace in the story?

I wanted the action scenes to grab the reader from the first chapter. But having too many action scenes makes a book too cartoonish. So, I made sure the story carried the day while the action sequences provided the necessary support to the story. I also made sure  the action sequences were realistic based on my background in the CIA and as a police officer in Oakland, CA. 

Where do you see your characters after the book ends?

I have written two more books in the Jack Trench series and in each one, the characters are drawn back into the world of covert action. But you also see more information revealed about them as the books progress. I want the readers to really feel like they know the characters and what makes them tick. 

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