Mystery Lovers! discussion

Dear Mystery Lovers (myself included):

I recently released a new thriller/mystery novel and it's getting some great reviews:
"Never Go Alone is an explosive return for both Denison Hatch and his hero." - BestThrillers

NEVER GO ALONE is a heist mystery about a group of cat burglars who may or may not be targeting the skyscraper penthouses of the uber rich--and the detective on their trail.

Anyway, I think it's the type of book and story that readers of this group love to experience, and I hope you do!

The Amazon link is here: http://amzn.to/2h89CFV
And the Goodreads page here:

THANKS!


Denison Hatch
denisonhatch.com

'Unorthodox' detective? Realistically unorthodox or fictionally unorthodox? :)
Is this character based on a real individual?

I can tell you, the NYPD and DOI detectives I've met, are mostly short, pudgy, slouchy guys with out-of-date walrus sideburns and handlebar mustaches; wearing rumpled shirts; squeaky shoes; baggy-ass synthetic trousers; and mustard stains on their ties. Big pinkie rings and thick Brooklyn accents. Usually balding (even if young men) and with glasses. Archie Bunker style bigotry. Always talking about their pensions and benefits; their recent medical operations. Also: 911 tie-clasps and cufflinks.

Very few 'heists' in New York these days; its really draconian and heavy-handed like a police state. The NYPD concerns itself with the anarchist threat posed by citizens engaging in mass recreational bicycle riding in city parks. And heavy surveillance on any local mosque or hookah bar.

On the other hand, the FBI agents I've met do indeed look like they just stepped out of a prime-time tv series. Total fashion plates. Tall, clean-cut, slim and athletic; like mormons. 'Genetically superior super-beings'. Go figure.

Haha, Feliks! I would definitely say "fictionally unorthodox." But my detective actually doesn't fit either of those molds. Jake Rivett wears leather, has longish blonde hair, and moonlights in a Screamo band when he's not solving cases.

Well that sounds fine (sidelining in a metal band). It may not be common in the PD but at least its surreal enough to match all the other surreality going on both in that agency and in this city.

Its so berserk in this metropolis, that I am not sure 'the way things really are' would work in any novel, now that I'm musing on it...

*see my recent ranting in the 'Underground Knowledge' readers group if you want more

p.s. here's an example of what I can see any morning of the week, on my way into my workplace

One morning, I board my usual subway car as I always do--and stand in an innocuous corner spot, since there's no seats available. No big deal, most of us are used to standing all the way of the ride. Several other commuters are standing as well.

Okay so I slowly take a brief scan of the people around me (before relaxing or daydreaming). I give some brief attention to the dude standing right next to me, because something makes my spidey-sense alert. I scope him out via my peripheral vision.

First, of all he seems in a daze. Like, stupefied. Drugged? He's swaying on his feet. Befuddled and disoriented.

I look him over more closely. He's an older guy with really nasty, black, disgusting, messy hair. Its mostly curly, but on the back/crown of his skull its all matted down flat. Not just bad hair; 'crazy' hair.

And why is it all matted down? I'll tell ya, its because there's an enormous, bloody contusion, combination of dried blood and still-oozing blood, extending halfway across the crown of his skull. As if he was smashed in the head with a baseball bat. Maybe only ninety minutes prior.

What else. His shirt. Well...its a green hospital shirt. Sure, jeans and sneakers underneath (but he could have picked these up anyplace).

So what can I conclude? That I was riding the train next to an escapee from a State Institution for the Criminally Insane. Something like that.

Nothing to do about it though. Nothing at all. It's just New York. After all, you don't want to embarrass the guy.