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Doing the Right Thing
Clifford’s War: Redivivus follows a seasoned private investigator pulled into a snowbound search for a missing young girl, only to find that this case goes far deeper than just a kidnapping. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The inspiration came from two ideas that simply worked well together. I knew I wanted to bring back the family he helped in Bluegrass Battleground. I felt that there was still meat on that bone. Without giving too much away, I will just say I also wanted to introduce someone from the past that no one, not even Clifford Dee, would see coming. They’re first mentioned in Bluegrass Battleground, and I wrote a callback to it in Redivivus for the hardcore fans to gasp at.
Clifford has that classic investigator steadiness but also feels observant and human. What kind of detective did you want him to be?
Clifford Dee is the kind of detective who values humanity and doing the right thing. He’s resourceful and treats everyone like they matter. There’s not enough of that trope in today’s “Thriller Hero,” and I wanted to really champion that type of character, the flawed moral compass that is Clifford Dee. He doesn’t need or want to be praised for the work he does. He elevates those around him to be better people and fights for them to be recognized.
The story grows to include tech, networks, conspiracies, and layered alliances. How did you keep the plot from collapsing under its own weight?
I believe that character development, dialogue, and action sequences help with the heavy-lifting. There was an immense amount of polishing to get it just right, but I think my editor, Elliot, and I nailed it.
I hope the series continues in other books. If so, where will the story take readers?
There will be more to the Clifford’s War Universe. Without End and Redivivus left us with a lot of story still needing to be told. Additionally, my co-author for Tye, Elliot J. Emerson, has begun writing her own series set in the same universe, which highlights some of the side characters introduced in Bluegrass Battleground. She is helping craft this world, and it’s shaping up to be something for the ages. We are both very excited for the future of Clifford Dee, his friends, and this continuing “War.”
Clifford’s War: Redivivus
Clifford’s War: Redivivus begins as a missing-person thriller and quickly widens into something knottier: after Grace Dillenger’s ex-husband Raymond takes their daughter Hadley on a long-promised trip and both vanish en route to a mountain lodge, Grace calls in private investigator Clifford Dee, a man tied to her past through an earlier criminal entanglement. What follows is part family crisis, part snowbound investigation, part conspiracy story, with Clifford tracing wreckage, half-truths, burner phones, compromised allies, and a threat that proves larger and stranger than the original disappearance.
Grace isn’t written as a decorative victim; she’s wealthy, sharp, culpable, frightened, and often difficult in ways that feel earned rather than schematic. Clifford, meanwhile, has the reassuring ballast of an old-school thriller lead, but he’s not a granite slab. He notices people, reads rooms, leans on his team, and carries his own fatigue. I especially liked how the novel keeps widening its aperture: what starts as a desperate maternal summons becomes a procedural hunt with digital sleuthing, fieldwork, improvised alliances, and an undercurrent of old violence that never quite stays buried. The ensemble gives the book a welcome elasticity; Bailey in particular adds both warmth and voltage.
The book likes gadgets, backstory, operational detail, hidden networks, Latin tags, near-cinematic reveals, and that plot expansion makes the book feel propulsive. I found myself carried along more often than not. Reed has a sincere feel for place and comfort objects, coffee, snow, warm cars, lodges, weapons, maps, phones, files, and those tactile details give the suspense a lived-in grain. The prose is generally direct, but it occasionally swerves into melodrama or over-explanation; even so, I preferred that earnestness to the bloodless polish of many contemporary thrillers. Redivivus has a pulpy heartbeat that I thoroughly enjoyed.
I’d hand this to readers of mystery, suspense, crime fiction, conspiracy thriller, and investigative adventure who like capable teams, personal stakes, and a story willing to sprawl beyond its initial premise. It feels closer in spirit to Brad Thor or early David Baldacci than to the cooler, more austere end of crime fiction, though some readers may also catch the found-family teamwork and momentum that make Harlan Coben so readable. This is a missing-girl thriller with a conspiratorial afterburn that’s hard to set down.
Pages: 295 | ASIN : B0FXY6RH92
Trauma Shapes Us
TYE follows two brothers who were failed by a system meant to protect them from abuse and neglect and turn to a life of crime and working for a mafia family. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
TYE is a prequel to Clifford’s War: The Bluegrass Battleground. After I wrote that book, I was focused on a sequel but felt like I left a lot of unanswered questions about the TYE brothers and how they became who they were. There was so much more story left untold.
I needed to go back and tell their story so that the fans of the first book could better understand the brothers and their story.
-JDR
The first book in the series, Clifford’s War: The Bluegrass Battleground, started with the main character, Clifford Dee, in the middle of a situation that changes the trajectory of his life. The Tye Brothers were pivotal but treated as throw-away characters, initially. J. Denison Reed started to wonder out loud what made these men who they were? Why were brothers committing these atrocities? The conversation got our imagination going and we knew it had to be childhood trauma.
-EJE
What are some things that you find interesting about the human condition that you think make for great fiction?
I believe everything that happens to you, shapes you. Good or bad. We are faced with decisions every day, and there were options for the Tye brothers. This story is about compounding events, mistakes, and bad decisions that let the Tye brothers down their destructive path. It could happen to anyone if they let it. We are all impressionable based on our experiences and how we process them. That’s what makes it so tragic.
-JDR
I find that sometimes, it doesn’t matter if someone has a good heart, is intelligent, and/or simply knows right from wrong. If they aren’t loved or have a solid support system, they will do what they have to do to survive. Survival mode looks different for everyone.
-EJE
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
We needed to show how destructive the Tye brothers were, and could be. We also wanted to show that they were human, they could love, they could care, but also, they could hate and destroy without one. This is why their brotherly relationship was important. It’s all they had that was solid. Everything else around them crumbled.
-JDR
Trauma shapes us and when it happens in childhood without a healthy resolution, bad things happen and it will have a domino effect.
-EJE
What is the next book that you are working on and when can your fans expect it to be out?
I am working on the Third Sequel of Clifford’s War. If you are familiar with the last book, the protagonist, Clifford Dee, heads out of state on a solo mission. This one will be a doozy! I also have other stories outside the Clifford’s War universe planned, but for a later date. EJ is working on some side stories that are still inside the universe but will be their own stand-alone books.
-JDR
There are two books in the works, currently. One follows Sara and a case she encounters while visiting family and friends in Kentucky.
The other book has Clifford Dee leaving his team behind to help an old acquaintance in Colorado. They happen simultaneously and one feeds into the other.
-EJE
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Darius and Marcus Tye, traumatized by their father, found it difficult to cope with the tragic loss of their mother at his hands Despite efforts to find solace in group homes and foster care, the brothers could not escape the shadows of their troubled past, which led them to a life of crime, employment from a sinister mafia family, and hunted by the authorities for the nefarious bloodshed they left in their wake.
** Advisory: Contains scenes of domestic violence, sexual assault, and extreme violence. **
TYE
TYE by J. Denison Reed and Elliott J. Emerson presents a grim and intense narrative that delves deep into the troubled lives of Marcus and Darius. From the start, it is clear that the brothers have endured a lifetime of hardship. Their home was a battleground of family dysfunction, and the foster care system offered no respite. Scarred by years of trauma, Marcus and Darius are left bitter and resentful, with emotional wounds that run deep.
This book is strikingly dark, evoking a sense of tragedy reminiscent of Shakespearean drama. Like the works of the famed playwright, TYE weaves together elements of deep emotional pain and high-stakes intensity. The drama is palpable, building with each chapter as the characters’ destructive paths become more apparent. The story is also intensely character-driven. Marcus and Darius, the two central figures, are disturbing to read about, violent, cold, and utterly devoid of empathy. Their transformation into ruthless killers is unsettling, yet the narrative succeeds in making their darkness comprehensible. The emotional weight of their childhood, marked by neglect and abuse at the hands of a mentally ill father, leaves the reader with a complicated sense of empathy for them despite their actions. I found TYE to be haunting, disturbing, and deeply tragic. Its darkness is relentless, yet the authors manage to stir feelings of sympathy for Marcus and Darius, who never received the care and love they needed as children. The trauma they endured permeates the story, highlighting the cyclical nature of abuse and the devastating toll it takes on the human spirit.
While this fast-paced, gripping read is not for the faint of heart, the scenes are often graphic and disturbing, painting a bleak portrait of the brothers’ painful and dysfunctional lives. Despite its brevity, TYE leaves a lasting impact. I recommend it to readers who enjoy intense thrillers that explore the darker side of the human condition, but be warned: This story lingers long after the final page is turned.
Pages: 244 | ASIN : B0D5WP4VCW
