Solitaire follows a journalist and a ghostlike operator as they dive headfirst into the murder investigation of the deputy mayor and uncover layers of city corruption. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

Having served as a New York City Police Officer for twenty years, and later as a New York City mayoral candidate in 2020, I’ve had a unique view from both sides of the system: the complex, often polarizing world of law enforcement in the nation’s largest city, and the backroom deals and money-driven machinery of big-city politics. In Solitaire, those two worlds collide, as they often do in real life. Our struggling cities are searching for someone who can rise above the corruption and chaos, and that’s where Solitaire comes in.

How close do you think fiction like this comes to real-world possibilities?

In the rapidly expanding world of AI, I think the possibilities are endless—and not all of them are good. The idea of a system that can not only predict outcomes, but potentially shape or control them, no longer feels far-fetched. That possibility was one of the driving forces behind Solitaire.

The story moves at a fast, cinematic pace—how do you maintain momentum without losing depth?

For me, every chapter has to move the story forward. Whether it’s an action sequence or a quiet conversation between two characters, the reader has to understand what is driving the people on the page. If the characters’ motivations stay clear, the momentum stays strong because the reader remains invested in what happens next.

Can we look forward to more work from you soon? What are you currently working on?

I’m currently working on the follow-up to Solitaire. Sloane’s story is far from over, and Book Two raises the stakes significantly. I’m targeting a 2027 release, and I think readers will be very excited about where the story goes next.

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