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Reality is More Interesting Than Fantasy
Fade In follows a paralyzed ex-CIA operative who is reawakening into a web of moral decay, elite manipulation, and the creeping dread of power unbound by conscience. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Basically, the things I see around me every day. The world has become increasingly unpredictable, and the actions of people and nations seem increasingly self-destructive. On top of that, we have a ruling elite that, through technology, have power over the masses that’s unprecedented. They know everything about us—where we go, who our friends are, what we buy, what we watch on television, what news outlets we subscribe to. And with the rise of AI, they can use that information to control us.
Were there any real-world events or technologies that directly influenced the book’s depiction of surveillance and AI warfare?
All of the technologies in my books are real-world. It’s possible that they’re put together in ways that haven’t happened yet or they’re larger in scale, but I tend not to make things up. Frankly, there’s no reason to. In the current era, reality is more interesting than fantasy.
You balance gritty action with moments of quiet, existential dread. How do you approach pacing to keep that tension alive without exhausting the reader?
I’ve always liked the roller coaster feel of action books and movies. My gold standard is Raiders of the Lost Ark. It was the perfect mix of crazy action, character development, intrigue, and humor.
With Fade In, I add to that interesting technologies and commentary about the possibility that human society is headed for disaster. It’s a matter of carefully choosing where to insert those components with respect to one another.
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Instead, he wakes in a hospital. As one of the deadliest operatives in U.S. history, he’s now incapable of even standing without assistance. Alone and wanted by authorities, he’s destined to spend the rest of his life lying in a prison infirmary.
So when a shadowy organization offers him a new identity and next-generation medical care, he has no choice but to agree. Nothing’s free, though. After a grueling rehabilitation, he’s drafted into an elite paramilitary unit. But who’s in charge?
When a dire threat—a highly contagious pathogen—explodes out of China, his question is quickly answered: A select group of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful people has decided that governments are no longer capable of controlling the chaos erupting around the globe. It’s a power grab by billionaires who’ve decided that it’s their time to rule.
With panic rising, the leaders of both democracies and dictatorships prove equally willing to destroy anything and anyone to save themselves. Forced into action before he’s fully ready, Fade finds himself at the sharp end of a mission to stop a menace unlike any he’s faced before. If he fails, the consequences will be unimaginable. But what if he succeeds?
No one elected the people he’s working for. And God sure as hell didn’t ordain them. Has he signed on to save the human race . . . or to help quietly enslave it?
Fade In
The novel is a taut, often brutal exploration of personal trauma, moral ambiguity, and the slippery ethics of modern power structures. It begins with Salam al-Fayed, a paralyzed ex-SEAL and disgraced CIA operative, executing a violent defense of his crumbling life before collapsing into a coma. The story then spirals outward to include Matt Egan, his estranged ex-colleague turned security director for a shadowy nonprofit led by billionaire Jon Lowe. As Fade (al-Fayed’s nickname) awakens, the book knits together an intricate web of past regrets, technological threats, and creeping philosophical dread about who really holds the levers of power and what they’re willing to do to keep them.
I genuinely admired Mills’s writing here. The prose snaps and hums. It’s not showy, but it carries a dry wit and emotional weight that catches you off guard. Dialogue flows naturally. Action scenes are chaotic in the right way. Characters are drawn with surprising depth, even the morally gray ones. Especially them. Salam al-Fayed is one of the more complex leads I’ve read in a while. He’s part burned-out killer, part philosopher, and all broken glass. Mills doesn’t sanitize his flaws. He’s cruel and tired and numb. But somehow, you keep rooting for him. And that says something about the strength of the storytelling.
What stuck with me more than the plot, which is entertaining, don’t get me wrong, was the unease that seeps in around the edges. The way Mills writes about elite power brokers like Lowe, who believe they can save the world by controlling it, chilled me. Their boardroom meetings are colder than most war zones. There’s an arrogance to their attempts to reshape the world, and the novel doesn’t flinch from showing how that kind of thinking breeds both innovation and disaster. Mills is asking big questions here: What happens when people with good intentions also have godlike tools? Can morality exist in a world built on surveillance, drone strikes, and AI weapons? I didn’t always like the answers, but I couldn’t stop thinking about them.
Fade In is a gripping, violent, and often heartbreaking book. It’s for readers who like their thrillers with a sharp philosophical bite. If you’re into authors like Don Winslow, Greg Hurwitz, or even the darker seasons of Homeland, this one’s probably up your alley. If you’re looking for a novel that’s tense, angry, thoughtful, and undeniably timely, this is it. I didn’t walk away comforted, but I walked away wide awake.
Pages: 331 | ASIN: B0DKPHWLB6
LITERARY TITAN 