About The Author
If you’re gonna write a thriller, it helps to live a thrilling life.
I don’t know if I would call being attacked by a full-size, adult, male baboon exactly thrilling. It seems that some other descriptor would be more appropriate. Perhaps a string of four-letter words ending in a sentence with three exclamation points.
I was in Kenya when it happened. I had taken my family on a safari to the Massai Mara. My daughter,14 at the time, and I had become separated from our group when, from out of nowhere, the biggest baboon I had ever seen - about four-feet tall with huge orange eyes and barred teeth as big as bowling alley pins - leaped in front of us. I immediately recalled that a baboon’s teeth are longer than a lion’s. And their fierceness rivals even the blood-thirsty hyena. My daughter, understandably, shrank behind me. I struggled to force my eyes away to avoid making eye contact with the beast as my hands slowly moved in front of me to shield the most vulnerable parts of my body.
Fortunately, even after all the adventures and close calls I’ve had over the years, I can say that all my parts are still intact. Remarkable considering the fact that I have had black panthers piss on my feet, been charged by a bull elephant, shared a room with a large mountain lion, swam with circling sharks, chased alligators, collected hundreds of snakes, flew my own plane across the country a half-dozen times, eaten barracuda in a thatched hut in the jungles of Colombia, paddled a dugout canoe to a native stilt village in Venezuela, scuba dived to 110 feet to enter a sunken ship, ridden a camel in Egypt, photographed Princess Diana in London, played guitar in a backup band for famous rock & roll singers, collected and rebuilt antique British sports cars, and traveled the world making TV commercials as an award-winning advertising writer and creative director for some of the biggest New York agencies.
Now, I’m fortunate to combine the thrills of a lifetime with the thrills of imagination. I feel blessed to have ‘met’ the stars of my stories - Chance, Nikki, Cha-ley and Addie Mae… even the villains, the murderers and the terrorists…all the people we love to love and the people we love to hate. They all have a role in thrilling my readers on the pages of my novels.
When I stop to think about it, even with all the thrills I’ve had in my life, bringing these characters and stories to life is my greatest thrill of all.
I was in Kenya when it happened. I had taken my family on a safari to the Massai Mara. My daughter,14 at the time, and I had become separated from our group when, from out of nowhere, the biggest baboon I had ever seen - about four-feet tall with huge orange eyes and barred teeth as big as bowling alley pins - leaped in front of us. I immediately recalled that a baboon’s teeth are longer than a lion’s. And their fierceness rivals even the blood-thirsty hyena. My daughter, understandably, shrank behind me. I struggled to force my eyes away to avoid making eye contact with the beast as my hands slowly moved in front of me to shield the most vulnerable parts of my body.
Fortunately, even after all the adventures and close calls I’ve had over the years, I can say that all my parts are still intact. Remarkable considering the fact that I have had black panthers piss on my feet, been charged by a bull elephant, shared a room with a large mountain lion, swam with circling sharks, chased alligators, collected hundreds of snakes flew my own plane across the country a half-dozen times, eaten barracuda in a thatched hut…
in the jungles of Colombia, paddled a dugout canoe to a native stilt village in Venezuela, scuba dived to 110 feet to enter a sunken ship, ridden a camel in Egypt, photographed Princess Diana in London, played guitar in a backup band for famous rock & roll singers, collected and rebuilt antique British sports cars, and traveled the world making TV commercials as an award-winning advertising writer and creative director for some of the biggest New York agencies.
Now, I’m fortunate to combine the thrills of a lifetime with the thrills of imagination. I feel blessed to have ‘met’ the stars of my stories - Chance, Nikki, Cha-ley and Addie Mae… even the villains, the murderers and the terrorists…all the people we love to love and the people we love to hate. They all have a role in thrilling my readers on the pages of my novels.
When I stop to think about it, even with all the thrills I’ve had in my life, bringing these characters and stories to life is my greatest thrill of all.