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Exploring the Dark Side of Human Nature
Passport to Terror follows a woman that runs a time-traveling travel group that accidentally brings Jack the Ripper back to the year 2032. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
I gave a lot of thought to what a young person who held the worlds only time travel technology might be inspired to do with it. I would want to see historical moments. The proverbial fly on the wall concept. Then I wondered who would book a trip like that? Hollywood came to mind immediately, and the concept of method-actor immersion took form.
Did you create an outline for the characters in the story before you started writing or did the characters personalities grow organically as you were writing?
I never outline my characters. I allow them to grow as I write. I had an idea of their basic personalities, but nothing beyond that. I find it more believable when I write them in the moment. My first series continues to receive fan mail regarding the characters, so I hope I am able to recreate that magic in this series!
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Friendship and tolerance were one areas I knew the book would address. The protagonist finds herself stuck with someone she seemingly has nothing in common with. But they forge a friendship despite that. I also wanted to explore the dark side of human nature. Writing Jack the Ripper was way out of my comfort zone, but I decided to challenge myself and see if I could pull it off. I wanted to write a story with believable emotions and characters, but still maintain enough warmth and emotion in the other characters to balance the storyline.
What do you have in store for readers in the next book in the series going to be about and when will it be available?
I’ve just started writing book two of the series. I hinted at the next adventure at the end of Passport to Terror. Madison and her new friends plan to go to 1920s Paris on vacation. Unfortunately, things don’t go exactly as planned. They find themselves in Germany right before Hilter’s reign, helping a family of orphaned children across the border.
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They always say, “Be careful what you wish for.”
I wish I had been careful.
I could’ve easily sold my time travel machine for billions and walked away. Instead, I opened The Taylor Travel Group where I take the elite on vacations into history, to a time and place of their choice.
But when a big-time movie studio hired my company, I sold my soul.
What was supposed to be a few days of method-actor immersion in nineteenth-century London went horribly awry. Now America’s hottest starlet is dead, and Jack the Ripper is on the loose in modern-day Los Angeles. And it’s all my fault.
I was careless enough to let history’s most ruthless serial killer slip out of the past. Am I smart enough to match wits with him and send him packing before he vanishes forever?
Sometimes Truth and Justice Can Seem Irrelevant
The Dark Web Murders follows a detective who is chasing down a serial killer that thinks he is performing social justice on those above the law. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
Rather strangely, the man who cleans my car said one day, “Why don’t you write a book about a killer who writes about his murders?” I was immediately drawn to the idea and spent a time pondering the type of killer who would do this. I figured he’d have to be a narcissistic psychopath. It was an easy step from there to writing the book.
Did you create an outline for the characters in the story before you started writing or did the character’s personalities grow organically as you were writing?
This is the fourth book in a series, so the key characters have all been around for a while. I have been living a long time and have always been a keen observer of people and their idiosyncrasies. When I need a new character, he or she pops into my head, already fully developed with their own general personality. For some reason I immediately know them intimately. I don’t know why. It has always been like that for me since I started writing fiction.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
I have often been struck by the extent to which trial outcomes can depend on the skills of barristers. Sometimes truth and justice can seem irrelevant. Insane as my killer is, I allowed him to play around with that theme in his blogs.
I have also been constantly conscious of the arrogance of people with money and power, how they can be impervious to the needs of others, and indeed, how corrosive to the spirit power can be. The ‘Club’ allowed me to explore that theme as well.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
The next book in The Inspector Sheehan Mysteries series is called The Trafficking Murders. It has recently been published and is currently available from Amazon and other outlets.
This is a theme running through a number of blogs on the Dark Web, written by a serial killer. He is highly intelligent and employs philosophical argument to justify a series of gruesome murders. However, he describes the killings in lurid detail, and with such gloating relish, that he utterly negates his delusion of detachment and reveals himself to be a cold-blooded, narcissistic psychopath.
Sheehan and his team rush headlong down a series of blind alleys in the pursuit of the psychopath, who continues to murder his victims with impunity. He is fiendishly clever, utterly ruthless, and tests Sheehan’s famed intuition to the limit. Indeed, Sheehan only learns the truth during a horrific climax when some members of his team experience a most harrowing ‘laceration of the soul’ that they will never be able to forget. It is unlikely that the reader will either.
Passport to Terror
Passport to Terror by Christy Cooper-Burnett starts with Jim Taylor discovering how to travel through time. He builds a time machine in his basement. Madison Taylor, his daughter, becomes the owner of the patent when her parents die under suspicious circumstances. Madison deliberates for some time before setting up the Taylor Travel Group in 2032 Los Angeles for time-traveling holidays.
When movie director Derek Porter and his team sign on for a research trip to 1888 London, the famous actress Alysha Beck insists on joining the team. She has an air of entitlement that results in several misfortunes and, ultimately, her death in the year 1888. For the Taylor Travel Group, things go from bad to worse. On top of having a client die in the past, a dangerous villain has escaped from his own timeline. Jack the Ripper is now loose in Los Angeles in the year 2032.
Passport to Terror presents an engaging story without getting too wrapped up in high-level science. However, this doesn’t mean that it’s flippant about the potential risks associated with time travel. The author has given a lot of thought to the rules under which a time-traveling company would have to operate to preserve the timeline. It does mean that, although time travel allows the plot to unfold, the plot is not about the time travel itself; rather, time travel is secondary to the human story being told.
The dramatic story combines the science fiction and murder mystery genres, expertly utilizing some tropes from both. However, I feel it would have benefited from a more pronounced mystery. Still, the drama and adventure are exciting and engaging and keeps the reader captivated as they hunt down Jack the Ripper.
Passport to Terror is a suspenseful science fiction novel with a unique sense of adventure and an enthralling murder mystery at its core. This gripping story mixes historical and futuristic elements in a way that gives a refreshing feel to the ‘serial killer on the loose’ trope. Readers will not be disappointed in this action-filled drama.
Pages: 244 | ASIN : B09ZVQRMQL
The Dark Web Murders
As Judge Neeson holds a party with well-established millionaires, other judges, and famous revelers, his judge’s judicial assistant is said to have been tasked with meeting someone claiming to carry incriminating files on him. The following day the assistant finds the judge’s house vacant with only Neeson’s dead body left on the floor. Head bashed in and body assaulted beyond belief, Detective Chief Inspector Sheehan is put to the task of solving the murder of Judge Neeson.
Over the following weeks, Sheehan discovers that they are dealing with a provenly deranged serial killer as more bodies are uncovered. And as fate would have it, each murder is documented and justified by the killer on a blog posted to the Dark Web called “Niemen,” which launched the same day Judge Neeson was discovered. Each post proceeds with decoding the meaning of old philosophies surrounding vigilante work and justice of the people and the fate of the victim the author decided to unleash these philosophies on.
Author Brian O’Hare’s gripping book The Dark Web Murders is filled with impressive realism and has been well researched. Rarely seen these days in a lot of fictional crime, the attention to detail truly makes this enthralling book stand out against the crowd. Using a slow-burn approach, the author introduces small details about the setting and crime scenes to the reader. This attention to detail continues throughout, creating a complex plotline. In the style of a hard-boiled mystery, O’Hare gives extensive and often gruesome details to his murder scenes. This reminded me of Dan Brown’s works, which would leave readers with no doubt about the suffering the victims endured.
One characteristic that makes this unique novel stand out is the character development. Each character is distinct and memorable. The side characters are lovable and realistic, giving readers someone to relate to as they progress through some of the darker moments. The crimes have a poetic justice feel to them with the killer’s use of philosophical ideas that presents a calculated series of killings.
The Dark Web Murders is a riveting crime thriller that will have readers on edge till the end. The mystery behind the murders is engrossing as clues will lead readers down false trails and keep them guessing until the reveal.
Pages: 322 | ASIN : B07NYH1FK4
Terrifying and Frustrating
Dawn Brotherton Author Interview
The Obsession is a thrilling crime novel that follows Jackie as she finds that she’s being stalked by a serial killer. What were some ideas that drove the development of this story?
Many of the stalker scenes really happened to me. It seems surreal at this point in my life, but it was terrifying and frustrating at the time. Thankfully, the murders were not true.
Jackie is a missilier in the Air Force. Why did you choose this profession as Jackie’s career?
I was one of the first female missiliers. At the time, it was the only combat role a woman could hold. The Air Force has come a long way since then. Many writers start by writing what they know. This experience was very close to home.
There is a lot of good red herrings in the book and it makes you see everyone as a suspect. Was this planned or did this happen organically while writing?
A little of both. In real life, figuring out the stalker did take a while. There were many options, and technology simply wasn’t as it is today. A phone trace was extremely complicated. There was no caller id. Some of the red herrings were added in after I got the initial draft on paper.
This is book one in the Jackie Austin Mysteries series. Where will book two find Jackie and when will it be available?
Wind the Clock is out now. In it, Jackie goes to Germany where she is working for the inspector general’s office. There is a plane crash, and the situation looks very similar to a scenario she wrote for an exercise so she gets blamed for it. She has to figure out the real culprit to get OSI off her back. (The books do not have to be read in order.)
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At first, Jackie Austin tried ignoring the phone calls in the dead of the night. Fresh out of Air Force missile training and no stranger to harassment, she shrugged them off as a prank. But when the calls didn’t stop, unsigned love letters started arriving, and things in her house seemed out of place, Jackie started to worry. Were the men on base playing a trick on her or did they not realize that she wasn’t interested? And just how far would this harasser go?
In the neighboring town of Sedalia, a more ominous situation was brewing. Yet another young, single woman had been mysteriously killed in an ongoing series of grim murders. With the police on alert but without any leads, it was only a matter of time before the killer found his next victim.
Could Jackie be his next target?
Obsessive Quest
Russ Melrose Author Interview
Finding AJ follows FBI Agent Jules as she searches for a serial killer through a zombie apocalypse. What were some themes you wanted to carry over from book 1 and what was a new direction you wanted to take in book 2?
The themes were quite different in Jacob’s Odyssey and Finding AJ. While the main theme in Jacob’s Odyssey was centered around Jake’s internal journey, the main theme in Finding AJ was Jules’ obsessive quest to find the serial killer known as the Calligrapher. However there is a common theme that runs through both novels, and that has to do with the incredible beauty of nature that surrounds us, yet the human race seems bent on self-destruction. At one point in Jacob’s Odyssey, Jake comments on how he’s always thought of the mountains surrounding the Salt Lake Valley as being as “eden-like” as any place on earth. There are beautiful descriptions of nature in both novels.
The town of Gideon is one of the last remaining towns in the apocalypse. How did you imagine a town would come together and survive in a time like this?
The only way the people of Gideon, or any other post-apocalyptic setting, could survive is by working together to solve any problems that came up. “Working together” is the key. Gideon had good leaders and the people there were willing to do their part in order to survive.
Jules is a determined FBI agent, but faces some tough decisions. What were some obstacles that you felt were important to her characters development?
The personal obstacles Jules needed to overcome had to do with her tendency toward being a self-reliant lone wolf. She generally doesn’t connect with or open herself up to others. She has difficulty giving her trust. She doesn’t let anyone in. It isn’t easy for her, but eventually she opens herself up and begins to connect with others. And she has to “trust” someone if she’s going to find the serial killer, and toward the end she finally does.
Will there be a book 3 in the Apocalypse Journeys series and where will that take readers?
There may be a 3rd novel. I’m not sure yet. It depends on how well Finding AJ does. Simple as that. If there is a third novel, it will combine characters from the first two novels. They will be at the underground government complex that is mentioned in Jacob’s Odyssey. This is the same complex where the virus was developed, and there are still experiments going on there. The conspiracy will be revealed, and virtually everyone (Jake, Sarah, Becky, Jules, Caleb, and others) will be in danger. Lukas Melzer will, of course, be there, as well as the new president of the United States. And deep in the complex are a host of grays (zombies), including the alpha called Eve. And don’t be terribly surprised if the Swimmer from Jacob’s Odyssey makes a return. He’s the baddest alpha around. Can’t leave him out.
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![Finding AJ (Apocalypse Journeys Book 2) by [Melrose, Russ]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51f%2BfWrkdPL.jpg)
The world has fallen apart, the FBI gone, but former Agent Jules Vandevelde won’t stop. She can’t. She’s driven to find the psychopathic serial killer known as the Calligrapher.
Her search leads her to Gideon, Utah, a small town in the southern part of the state. There, amongst the 116 survivors, a serial killer hides in plain sight. There’s only one clue to his identity. Using a scalpel, he inscribes the letters AJ into the abdominal area of his victims–postmortem–in an ancient Chinese text called Tsao, the lettering precise and artistic.
Jules knows the key to finding the Calligrapher lies in discovering the identity of AJ. If she can find AJ, she can find the Calligrapher. But the Calligrapher knows who Jules is. Jules must survive the infected and find the Calligrapher before she becomes his latest victim.
Yellow River Pledge Book Trailer
Dr. Jordan Chamberlain is a successful, beautiful, young medical examiner with the perfect husband, the perfect life, and perfect friends. Somewhat of a whiz, kid, she’s younger than most Medical Examiners and enjoys a bit of glamour whenever her forensic data is sent to trial. To an outside observer, Jordan has it all, until that is, her husband, Jason, announces without warning that he doesn’t want to be married anymore and Jordan’s perfect life crashes and burns around her.
Jordan buries herself even deeper in her work, temporarily embarking on a career consulting with the FBI’s Violet Crimes Division under the careful eye of college friends turned colleagues, who support her during her as she tries to rebuild her life.
Her future, however, is about to be compromised once more when she becomes the target of the serial killer she’s been pursuing.
Finding AJ: Apocalypse Journeys 2
We meet the protagonist of Russ Melrose’s Finding A.J.: Apocalypse Journeys 2 as she sits on the side of a gravel road in the Mojave Desert, head in her hands. Jules is not the crying kind, but that’s exactly what she’s doing. The tough FBI agent pulls it together despite the crumbling world around her to work on a case that she can’t let go. A tough case for this tough agent is made tougher by the apocalyptic state the world is now in. The dead, also known as “grays” or the “infected”, walk the streets hunting for their next meal while Jules goes from town to town hunting for a serial killer whose case she hasn’t been able to solve.
Finding A.J. stands alone as a book even though it is part of a series. You do not need to know anything more than this book provides to understand the plot of this book. (But, I’d like to go back and read part 1 now!)
Jules is an independent, no-nonsense kind of girl. She is more than self-sufficient. She seems like she could be a loner and wouldn’t mind keeping it that way. However, she doesn’t stay alone for long. She finds a teenage girl in desperate need of her help and rescues her from her captor. Addy, the girl she rescues, then becomes sort of a foster daughter to Jules despite Jules’s objections. Addy would likely have been a loner too, but with the world falling apart and her recent captivity and abuse she needs to cling to someone. She needs someone to trust. That someone will be Jules.
Jules and Addy make an eventful trek to the town of Gideon. That is where most of the story plays out. Gideon is a town that is still hanging on, even if by a thread. There is still a mayor and policemen, which is more than can be said for many post-apocalyptic towns. A large chunk of the population has been infected and died, but anarchy hasn’t quite reached Gideon yet. The townspeople cling to any semblance of normalcy they can even while they are uprooted. Readers will get to know many of the people in the town. They will also be suspicious of everyone they meet. The townspeople all have jobs and duties to perform for the sake of self-preservation. The dead are walking, there is a killer among them, and all they have is each other.
Parts of the book reminded me of scenes from The Walking Dead. Tasks as simple as grocery shopping become major undertakings with the “grays” wandering around. Supply runs put many characters in danger. Every seemingly menial task becomes exceedingly difficult. You will breathe sighs of relief as plans come together, and hold your breath when they don’t.
The book is very well written. It is not hard to follow, and the plot flows well. Characters are well developed and enough backstory is given to assist with that development. As the events of the story play out, you will question each character. No one can be trusted. You will hang onto the edge of your seat waiting to find out who the serial killer is and if Jules can catch them.
Pages: 336 | ASIN: B07CZ4VS2R
LITERARY TITAN 