Codename: Warlock Book 2: No Limits follows an extraordinary man with the ability to read minds and use telekinesis who, despite trying to have a normal life and raise his daughter, gets pulled back into the world of crime, espionage, and deadly secrets. What inspired you to continue Tom Newell’s story in No Limits?

Tom doesn’t really have telepathy. He can’t read minds. He can sense emotions, intent, and deception. He can find you if he’s acquired your mental fingerprint. In No Limits, I wanted to explore more of the consequences of what Tom can do. For example, he can detect deception, but he can’t control what people do with the truth. He can help people, but he can’t create fairy tale endings. And I wanted to bring the story back to local incidents, not just government operations. Tom is still sought out by governments – ours and the USSR. But the Warlock infrastructure has deteriorated. And I wanted to focus on Tom, Gail, and their daughter Sue.

How does Tom’s family give him a different sense of purpose from the one he once received through Warlock, and how does becoming a father change his understanding of risk?

Tom is going to discover in No Limits that family is great – but comes with costs of its own. Especially when his abilities get involved. And Gail still has her rule – come home at any cost. Only it’s twice as important now. Tom has to make a difficult and legally murky decision to protect his family.

Tom struggles to balance his unique powers with the ordinary responsibilities of being a husband, father, and human being. What moral boundaries does Tom set for himself when using his abilities against people?

Tom doesn’t take advantage of people. Well, except for used-car dealers. But he slips a few times, sometimes in humorous ways. Sensing emotions can be tricky; it helps him navigate relationships, but it also causes him to sometimes navigate relationships with that ability when he should just do it the way everyone else does.

Can you tell us more about what’s in store for Tom Newell and the direction of the third book?

In book three, No Horizon, Tom has to make a life-altering decision with consequences that he can’t avoid. He’ll find one of his abilities comes with a cost he never anticipated. And his life is going to change when he is reminded that he can’t save everyone, with tragic personal consequences. But, spoiler alert, there is a hilarious Halloween party.

In a typical thriller series, the protagonist is in danger – that’s part of the excitement. But readers know in the back of their mind that the author is unlikely to kill off the protagonist – that would end the series. The real tension is how the protagonist survives whatever danger he’s facing. In the Warlock series, I lean into that. Tom is very hard to kill. The tension is how he solves the problem and then what the downstream effects are on Tom and everyone around him. Book four is going to extend that, with Tom having to navigate a difficult and painful personal crisis while still being Warlock. Sometimes survival isn’t about whether you live but how you continue to live. And the government is going to push the boundaries of what they expect Tom to do. To find out more, well, wait until book four comes out.

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