Devil’s Tango follows a veteran operative who discovers his friend’s death may be connected to a hidden network that influences governments and controls people through money, leverage, and carefully placed agents. Where did the idea behind this novel come from?

The idea grew from a question that has always fascinated me: Who truly holds power?

We see elected officials, military leaders, corporations, and public institutions making decisions, but I wanted to explore the possibility that another layer exists beneath them. What if a private organization did not need to control governments openly because it had already placed the right people inside the right rooms?

That question became the foundation for the Third Estate. The organization operates through influence, information, money, and leverage. Its members rarely need to issue direct orders. They manipulate circumstances until people believe they are making their own choices.

I combined that premise with my interest in military operations, medicine, secret organizations, and morally complicated characters. The result became a story about conspiracy, but also about trust, loyalty, identity, and what happens when capable people discover that the systems they believed in may have been compromised.

What makes Lovac different from other covert operatives in the thriller genre?

Lovac is not searching for his identity or trying to escape what he has done. He knows exactly who he is, what he is capable of, and how the shadow world operates.

What makes him different is the conflict between his discipline and his personal loyalties. He approaches every room as a tactical problem. He studies exits, weapons, posture, timing, and possible threats before anyone else realizes danger exists. He is controlled, precise, and lethal, but he is not emotionless.

His greatest vulnerability is not fear. It is loyalty.

The people he cares about have begun paying for decisions he made years earlier, and asking for help does not come naturally to him. His partnership with Sophie forces him into unfamiliar territory. He can calculate angles and eliminate threats, but trust cannot be solved with the same precision.

That tension between professional control and personal responsibility makes him more than a traditional assassin or covert operative.

The Third Estate operates through influence rather than open power. What interested you about that type of control?

Open power attracts attention. Influence can remain invisible.

I was interested in creating an organization that does not need to overthrow governments, command armies, or announce its existence. The Third Estate recruits or manipulates people who already occupy useful positions. Its members understand that one carefully placed official, adviser, executive, scientist, or military officer can accomplish more than an army if no one realizes who shaped the decision.

That kind of control is frightening because it can appear ordinary. A policy changes. Evidence disappears. A contract is issued. A person receives a promotion, reassignment, or accusation. Each event may look unrelated, but together they form a system designed by people who remain hidden.

The Third Estate also believes its actions are justified. Its members do not consider themselves villains. They believe they are creating stability and protecting society from people who cannot be trusted to govern themselves. That moral certainty makes the organization more dangerous.

Can we look forward to a third installment in The Third Estate series? Where will it take readers?

Yes. The third installment is already planned, and it continues the story two years after the events of Devil’s Tango.

The consequences of Sophie and Lovac’s discoveries have not disappeared. Their actions exposed parts of the Third Estate, but the organization is larger, older, and more deeply embedded than either of them realized. New threats emerge, old loyalties are tested, and secrets connected to Grand Lake Manor begin to surface. The lines between ally, enemy, and family grow increasingly difficult to distinguish.

The danger expands, but the emotional stakes do as well. The third book will continue the mystery, suspense, tactical action, and morally complicated alliances of the series while revealing that some of the most dangerous secrets have been hiding much closer to home.

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