crime thrillers Archives - All That Chazz: Your Brain Tickle Destination

August 26, 2025August 27, 2025

A Taste of My Next Crime Novel

New Novel Excerpt!

Here’s the opening to my newest work in progress:

With trembling hands, I held a manila envelope, thick and battered from some abuse it had suffered in transit. The return address told me this was more mail forwarded through my publisher. I stood frozen on the side of the road beside my battered old mailbox. I muttered a few choice curses as if words were spells that could ease my fears.

A thick blanket of white drifts reached up to my knees. Snow quieted the world: No wind nor even birdsong, only the hard thud of my beating heart. It was as if all of nature held its breath, waiting and watching.

To my left, my neighbor’s long driveway was unplowed. Their farmhouse appeared deserted and lonely. I strained to listen for any hint of company. Nothing. No car on the road, and not another soul in sight. Mercury County, Montana, was as silent as a tomb. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching, gauging my reactions. A dangerous stranger could be watching me through a rifle scope.

Stay tuned!

July 16, 2025July 16, 2025

Sometimes, you can ignore the best writing advice.

Everybody’s best writing advice was, “Never kill a dog in your story.” Then along came John Wick, and even that tried-and-true nugget was thrown out the window. To tremendous success, I might add. This reinforces (for the umptimillionth time) that William Goldman was right. “Nobody knows anything.”

Solid writing advice was passed on to me from a film producer:

“If it plays, it plays.”

Some things will work, and some things won’t. When it comes to fiction, often we don’t find out what works best until it’s tested in the marketplace. In The Night Man, truth be told, I killed off some dogs, but I hedged my bets. I saved a couple who became integral to the story.

But what’s the story?

In The Night Man, Easy Jack is a wounded veteran with a bum knee and a bad dad. When he returns home to Orion, Michigan, he plans to go back to training guard dogs. Unfortunately, he discovers the town has a long memory of his past deeds and his high school sweetheart is in deep trouble. Worse, dirty cops pull him into a billionaire’s bomb plot.

But how do you make the hard turn acceptable to animal lovers?

I love dogs. I get the aversion, but I did a few things in this thriller to make the conflict more palatable.

It’s not gratuitous. I don’t care for gore, so the worst stuff happens out of the hero’s (and the reader’s) view.
It makes sense for the plot. I didn’t throw it in there for shock value alone.
This loss ups the stakes and steels the protagonist’s spine.
There is revenge and redemption to be had following the hero’s loss.
Two treasured dogs survive and are an ongoing presence through the thriller’s twists and turns.

So, you love dogs. I love dogs. Trust me, you’re in good hands when you decide to try The Night Man.

FIND OUT MORE AFTER THE JUMP:

Your universal Amazon link: https://books2read.com/u/3RMPDx

The bad guys have money, power, and a jet packed with explosives. To make his stand, our hero is armed with quick wit and a Smith and Wesson. Easy Jack also has a loyal German Shepherd named Sophie by his side. To combat the shady side of small-town America, this wounded Army Ranger will have to enter the darkness he hoped to leave behind.

From the author of the Hit Man Series comes a killer thriller. The Night Man won first prize in the genre category at the Hollywood Book Festival!

“You’re guaranteed a mighty fine read.” ~ Claude Bouchard, USA Today Bestselling author of the Vigilante Series.

Easy Jack isn’t a bad guy, but to survive, he will have to act like one.

Returning home after serving his country, Ernest “Easy” Jack hoped his family’s reputation had been forgotten. No such luck in Lake Orion. Small towns have long memories. Grudges run deep. Worse, his high school sweetheart is trapped in an abusive marriage. Family bonds, love, and loyalty will be tested when a sociopathic billionaire and a dirty cop conspire to use Easy in a deadly bomb plot.

Escape is unlikely. Easy’s odds are not even.

March 26, 2025March 26, 2025

How do you forgive and forget?

Hint: You don’t.

Forgiveness versus Vengeance is one of the central themes of my next vigilante justice thriller. From Luigi Mangione’s actions to burning Teslas, this is a timely topic. Many turn away from these highly publicized acts of violence with little more than a shrug. There are good reasons for this. In the battle between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala, fear wins. Fear is the emotion poorly hidden beneath anger. It’s a neurological response, and schadenfreude is baked into our brain’s wiring.

“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.” ~ Yoda

Yoda is quotable. It’s a good line (and you heard the Yoda voice, right?) However, I think he’s got it backward (which fits his typical grammar). Fear is a protective mechanism. Wariness of dangers increases our odds of survival. Frustration and fear lead to anger and resistance. The Jedi weren’t a bunch of pacifists. Hence, all the cool lightsaber duels. Those Jedi knights were down and out for quite a while but rose again to fight the Empire. I agree, don’t succumb to evil, but don’t be a chump, either.

For Mere Mortals, Forgiveness Isn’t So Easy.

Sixty-seven percent of people surveyed say they believe in forgiveness. Sounds good and upright, doesn’t it? Dig deeper. Fifty-six percent admit they don’t practice that virtue. I don’t blame them. Most would agree that forgiveness is healthy for the person doing the forgiving. However, no one instructs us how to forgive and forget. Instead., we get guilt-ridden platitudes that deny our humanity and our reality.

To err is human, to forgive divine, but we’re no angels.

I have an excellent memory, so how am I to forget? Frontal lobotomy? And if I forgive you your trespasses, do either of us learn anything? By refusing to forgive, I deny the offender the opportunity to trespass against me again. Sounds to me like carrying grudges is a safer course.

I asked my psychologist if she believes in forgive and forget. (When I say “My psychologist,” I refer to She Who Must Be Obeyed, AKA my wife.) She holds a doctorate in psychology and is the most sane person I know. That’s why I was so surprised when she did not hesitate to answer, “No.”

She acknowledges that forgiveness is difficult. In many cases, it’s an unreasonable expectation set by out-of-touch purists. The good doctor offered hope, though. She suggested, “Maybe the best you can do is to get to a place and time where you just don’t care anymore.”

“Or,” I countered, “write a massive hit thriller that’s packed with clever revenge fantasies to plague your real-life enemies!”

She’s going to start charging me for these sessions, isn’t she?

November 29, 2024November 29, 2024

It’s beginning to look a lot like Book Christmas

Looks like we’ll get our first real snow here tomorrow. The malls are packed with shoppers, but people don’t go into panic-shopping mode until the weather turns and it really looks like Christmas is coming. Now that December 25 is just a few weeks away, it’s time to order your Christmas books.