Dan Decker Books

My Legal Thriller Influences

Here is a partial transcript of the show, for a full transcript, go to DanDeckerBooks.com!
Welcome to the Dan Decker Books Podcast. I'm Dan Decker, the author of The Good Client, Max Damage, and a bunch of other thrillers and legal thrillers, as well as a little bit of science fiction and fantasy. Thank you for joining me today.
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On this podcast, I give a writing update and usually share a thought or two about something else. This week's thought is about my legal thriller influences. Hello and welcome back. I hope everybody is having a great week out there. It's been a great week for me over here at Grim Archer Media.
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I've been accomplishing a lot of things. The first thing is I finally submitted the Killers Club over to ACX for review. Part of the reason why I'm late at getting to do that is because I have been heads down working on Mitch Turner number six.
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It's really important for me to be able to have momentum and this is why I have not been able to get the killer's club audio book submitted until now, but good news. I finally submitted it. It's in review. I saw earlier that it was done with the first step of the review.
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Hopefully it will be done here pretty quickly and I will be able to get it out for everybody to check out. Anyhow, Mitch Turner six is going really well. I finished with the third draft and now I'm starting on the fourth draft and At this stage, I usually do a number of quick drafts. For me,
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it's really helpful to get into the story and see the whole story at once or as close to as once as possible. When you're working on a novel, oftentimes you'll write a piece and then you won't come back to it for days or maybe even weeks. Not for months for me usually in my circumstances,
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but there are some authors who won't return to a piece of writing for months. And so it can be difficult to Make sure that you're keeping all of that in your mind. And for me, I like to try to work on the story cohesively as a whole.
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And by doing that, I hope that it turns out to a better story. So Mitch Turner's number six is just coming along great. I still don't have a title. I've been thinking about it. I've written down a couple of potential titles. I'm not crazy about any of them, but certainly my juices are flowing there.
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It's funny to me that sometimes the titles will just come to me and I'll know them right away. And other times I won't know the title for a long time. So just kind of interesting how that works. The other project that I'm working on, and this is just a side project,
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is I have a little fantasy project I work on every day, usually in the morning, right as I get in. And sometimes throughout and I try to work on it as a break throughout the rest of the day. But basically, I just work on that to keep me writing in general,
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because a lot of times I'll get stuck in revisions and revisions can go on for a very long time. And I like to be writing something new every day. And so writing on a side project really helps me do that. And I've mentioned that before on this podcast that I have some of these other side
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projects that I've put out that I've put down to paper that are probably never going to be seen anywhere just because I don't have the time to go back and work on them and make them any more polished than they already are.

Updates on The Killer's Club Audiobook, Mitch Turner #6, and more!

On this week’s show: The Killers Club audiobook is now done and other updates!
Show Transcript:
Welcome to the Dan Decker Books Podcast. Hello and welcome back to the Dan Decker Books Podcast. I'm Dan Decker, the author of The Good Client, Max Damage, and a bunch of other thrillers and legal thrillers, as well as a little bit of science fiction and fantasy. Thank you for joining me today.
0:24
On this podcast, I pretty much just give a writing update and maybe share a The Killers Club audiobook is now done. I just need to get it submitted to Audible. After I have submitted it to Audible, they take a day or two, sometimes a week or two,
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to review an audiobook before they go ahead and publish it and get it all put out there. So that is coming forward here pretty quickly. I will make sure to notify everybody once the audiobook is finally available. For anybody out there who's been waiting for... The audiobook now is your opportunity.
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I'm so glad that it's turned out so well. Eric G. Dove has done a great job with the narration, and I really couldn't be happier with how the whole thing has gone and how the project has come to fruition here. Eric G. Dove is just a great narrator, and it's a pleasure to work with him.
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Once the audio book is officially published, I will make sure to get it out there and get word out there so everybody can go ahead and download it. It did make me think this last couple of weeks going through the Killer Club, a little bit about Audrey Spencer and how she came to be.
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I came up with her as a character after I'd done a number of legal thrillers with Mitch Turner because I wanted to write another legal thriller, but I wanted a break. I like to take breaks in my writing and work on other different projects.
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So that way I feel like I'm staying fresh and trying new things and trying to keep it fun, et cetera, things like that. Anyhow, I knew for sure I'd be writing from the prosecution's perspective. And I just sat down and I started writing it.
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I am generally speaking a pantser, which means I just write my story as I go, making it up as I go. The times I've tried to do outlines, it usually doesn't work very well for me because I never follow the outline.
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And so what I try to do is I try to make an outline as I go or after the fact and then try to look at it and then analyze the story from there. So The Killer's Club is one of the longest books that I've actually written and published.
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I've probably written longer books, but I never ended up publishing them. The first book I ever wrote was War of the Fathers and The first draft of that was almost 200,000 words. Put that in perspective, Audrey Spencer's novel is 145,000 words finished, out the door and ready to go.
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And most Mitch Turner books are somewhere between 90 to 120,000 words. The Audrey Spencer novel ended up being a little bit longer than some of my other novels. But I really had a good time writing that one. It was fun writing that from the prosecution's perspective and to just get in there
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and look at it from that side of things. The other great character in that book is Gregory Pope. And I feel like it's his daughter who's killed and starts the story off. And so... It gives him a lot of interesting scenes where he is trying to come to terms with
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his grief as well as trying to let Audrey Spencer handle the prosecution. And it's not an easy thing for him to do by any stretch. And Audrey is coming from a perspective of having really not had a full-time regular job. She's been working full-time hours, but she's also been trying to maintain and balance her family.
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And she's finally getting back into the workforce. And it's been her dream to be a prosecuting attorney for many years. And now it's finally her opportunity. And she feels like Gregory Pope has selected her to do this because he probably thinks that she's going to bow to his will and let him backseat drive the case, which,
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of course, she has to set him straight on himself. numerous times. So yeah, The Killers Club is one of my favorite books. Of course, all my books are my favorite books, but I had a really good time writing that. The other big character in The Killers Club is Barry Michaels, and I really like Barry Michaels.
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He definitely is OCD. I think you get that sense as you read through the book. I think that's going to be a theme for him as he tries to deal with that and how to figure out how to live his life with obsessive compulsive disorder. I think he recognizes it on some conscious level,
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but he isn't yet willing to fully acknowledge it and deal with. So those are the three main characters. We also have Mary Ramirez. We don't see a lot from her in this book. I do have plans to develop and further flush her character out in other books. So we'll see how that goes. But yeah,
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the story just starts off with in the middle of what she thinks is plea negotiation with a very unsavory defendant and an attorney who's just an attorney who is hassled and just trying to do his job and doesn't know exactly where things are going to go and things like that.
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So yeah, The Killers Club, it's going to be out soon as an audio book. You can obviously get it as an e-book or I believe a paperback or even a hardback at this point. But yeah, go ahead and check that out. Mitch Turner No. 6 is moving forward. It's going pretty dang well.
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I've been pretty pleased with the story. At this point, the manuscript is a little bit longer than my other Mitch Turner manuscripts tend to be. I usually turn those in at about 100,000 words. The fixer... Not, sorry, not The Fixer. That's a different book. The Last Smile, the most recent Mitch Turner book,
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I believe was about 105,000 words, something like that. It wasn't 120 or 130. I believe the longest book in the Mitch Turner series was The Presumption, which was 120,000 words. Anyhow, Mitch Turner is going along very well. I've been very pleased with the story. As I've mentioned in other places,
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Frank Ward is the defendant and he has a situation where he loses consciousness. He wakes up, he's on the floor of the file room at the state's attorney's office where he works. and there's a dead body several rows down, and everybody thinks he did it because he's there. And so he goes to Mitch Turner,
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and of course Mitch isn't happy about taking the case, considering his ill will from other things Frank Ward has done in the past, but eventually Mitch overcomes it and takes him on as a client. It's really turning out to be a very fun and thrilling story.
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I can't wait to get it all out there for everybody to read. I just think it's going pretty well. I'm pretty comfortable with how it's going. I think it's going to be worthy of the predecessors and the other Mitch Turner thrillers in the series. I want to be very careful to not say too much more about it.
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I feel like I've already looked the lid a little bit on what the story's about and how it's going to go. I like for people to be surprised and it's always a dance. There was part of me that didn't want to even say what the story was about just
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because it's shocking that Frank Ward is going to be Mitch Turner's client for this next book. but I obviously have to tell people what it's about to some degree. So anybody that's listening to the podcast is getting the inside scoop on what's
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going to be coming down here as I get that story ready and get it out to get it published. So the fixer is grinding away towards publication. And it's getting really close. I've been letting this story move a little slower. The process for this story move a little slower for a variety of reasons.
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One, I wanted to get the Last Mile audiobook out. Two, I wanted to get the Killers Club audiobook out. And also... Releasing new books in the fall is a thing, and last year I released Only the Guilty and The Last Mile within a month of each other, even though they were written further apart than that for sure.
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But anyhow, the fixture is getting very close towards publication. The last step for me is to go through a few revisions, get those revisions put into the the story, and then I actually print it out and I read it through one final time myself just to make sure I'm happy with it,
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try to catch any of the last typos and things like that. So that will be coming out here hopefully within the next month or so. We'll have to see. The other big issue is the fact that it's a presidential election and people's attention are turned more towards politics than reading books at this point. But
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I think I'm just going to publish it regardless of what's going on with the presidential election and just get it out there so it's available for anybody who wants a distraction from politics. Okay. So that's pretty much the big writing updates. We have The Killers Club. I mentioned that. We have Mitch Turner. I talked about that.
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I have The Fixer and I talked about that. I do have the Jason Maxfield book four kind of sitting on the floor at the moment. I was working on that over the summer and then hit pause on that to go work on Mitch Turner.
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I'd set myself a deadline for, regardless of where the book was at, I was going to make sure that I Went and started working on Mitch Turner because I like to get him out towards the end of the year. We'll see how it goes.
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The fact the story is going long might mean that I have to take an extra couple months on this. We'll see how it goes. My instincts tell me I can probably get it out in the timeframe I want, but we'll have to see. But I was reminded this week about... Kind of how I started writing.
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I've been writing now for many years. But when I started writing, it was just me sitting at my parents' computer. It was in the kitchen at the desk, in the kitchen. And I was just trying to write, pound out stories. And I remember that ever since, as long as I can remember, I've wanted to be a writer.
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And so I was always sitting down and pounding out these stories. Most of them obviously didn't go anywhere. I do remember a story I had to write for an English class. I believe it was in junior high. I think that was when I was at Taylorview Junior High, actually, in Idaho Falls.
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And yeah, I'm from Idaho, grew up in Idaho. That's why the Only the Guilty story is based in Idaho Falls. I wanted to base something in my hometown. It's fun doing that, by the way. I'll have to talk about Only the Guilty some other time. But anyhow,
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I remember writing the story for an English class where I was talking about, or the story was basically, the city that was on a mountain and there was a dragon that lived underneath it that was keeping them safe or something. I don't remember much more about the story other than I think there was an
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altercation with another dragon or something cheesy like that. It's fun to look back and think about that story. And I was thinking also about another story that I was writing. I think it was in high school, my first year of college. And I have pages for this somewhere. It's out there.
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I'm never going to see the light of day, and I probably never would turn it into a story. Probably just too derivative, more fan fiction kind of writing at that time. But yeah, another story back from the day. for me to stop and think about where I started and how it's come and where I'm at today.
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It's fun to be a professional author publishing legal thrillers and thrillers. And I do have science fiction and fantasy, other stories I will try to be putting out at some point as well. Anyhow, I think that's all for this week. That's the writing update. I hope you all have a great week.
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One last thing I want to mention, if you are new to me or new to my work, and even if you aren't, you can go to my website and sign up for my newsletter where you can get a free ebook short story of The Arraignment or get a free audio book of The Arraignment narrated by Eric G.
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Dove. This is something provided to everybody who signs up for my email news list. So go ahead and go over there, go sign up. It's dandeckerbooks.com. And if you go right there, you'll see it right there, or you can go to dandeckerbooks.com slash newsletter.
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The text, audio, and music for this show are all copyrighted by Dan Decker, all rights reserved.

The Dan Decker Books Podcast is back, featuring a sneak peek at The Fixer!

On today's show: a writing update, an inspirational thought, and a first look at The Fixer!

Blood Games - Episode 25

This week’s episode features a chapter from Blood Games, Jake Ramsey Book #3, the first book Black Brick is available as a free ebook from most ebook vendors. Here is an excerpt from the show: 
THE REST OF THE drive passed slowly, with Kris making several more attempts to talk me out of my plan.
“You don’t have to come,” I said on the third try. “It’s better if you don’t.”
I wished I would have thought to look through Gary’s wallet when I’d searched him and the woman back in the alley. If I’d have known about his keycard, I would have gagged the two of them and made sure they wouldn’t be found for hours.
It was too little too late now, but I had an opportunity I could not afford to pass up, if we hurried and made it to the DataRader headquarters before they were found.
“You can’t do this alone and I’m all the help you have right now,” Kris said. “Unless you think Shannon is going to help.” There was something strange in her voice when she mentioned Shannon, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.
Her words rubbed me raw, so I took several seconds to calm down before responding. She didn’t know Shannon was the last person I wanted to think about right now, it wasn’t her fault.
“I can handle myself,” I said through clenched teeth.
“That’s part of the problem. You’re out of control. How many people died at Reed’s place? Or was all that blood from men who walked away?” She took my silence as an affirmation that her guess was close to the mark. “You need to stop before you do something you won’t be able to live with. I know you, Jake. This isn’t you.”
I thought of how I’d almost killed Gary Walker back at the alley. I’d been prepared to do it. It was because the woman had caved that he still had his life. Kris’ words were having more of an effect on me than I would have liked. She must have taken my lack of response as evidence she was getting through to me because she continued talking. 
“All the people you killed, they deserved it, right? That’s what you’re telling yourself. Are you certain they’re part of Reed’s supposed criminal enterprise? How do you know they weren’t just his security guards?”
“You’ve seen the videos--” I began, but she cut me off.
 

Blood Games - Episode 24

This week’s episode features a chapter from Blood Games, Jake Ramsey Book #3, the first book Black Brick is available as a free ebook from most ebook vendors. Here is an excerpt from the show: 
I ALMOST DROVE RIGHT past the mall and kept going. It would have been better for Kris if I did. She was way too involved as it was. But I thought of the kids, and that was what kept me going forward. 
I needed additional resources if I was going to track them down. Besides, I needed to ditch the car anyway because the drone had recorded everything that had happened and was following me. I’d turned my driver’s side mirror up to spot it but so far hadn’t had any luck.
I drove around the mall one time before I pulled into a parking garage. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to Kris. But I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t rescue the children. It was simple math, two lives against one.
My burner phone beeped as I pulled into the underground parking. Once I had parked, I saw I’d received a text from a number I didn’t recognize. It just said one word. Sorry.
I assumed it was Shannon texting me from a phone Diggon knew nothing about. Even though she’d made it obvious what she was doing, I didn’t know what to make of her apology.
The wound was too fresh. I supposed I should have been grateful she’d warned me but I wasn’t in the mood to think that way. Maybe once things had calmed down, I’d feel differently, but I was still trying to work my way out of the mess that she’d created for me.
Not bothering to respond, I left my car window unrolled and placed the keys on the dashboard. With a little luck, somebody would swipe the vehicle and throw DataRader off my scent for a few hours.

Blood Games - Episode 23

  
This week’s episode features a chapter from Blood Games, Jake Ramsey Book #3, the first book Black Brick is available as a free ebook from most ebook vendors. Here is an excerpt from the show: 
I CAME TO A halt as soon as I turned. It was a dead end. Muttering a curse, I flipped around and saw the car had pulled up right outside the alleyway and that the front doors were opening. 
Rushing towards the driver I grabbed him by the arm, yanking him all the way out and ramming him up against the car while putting my pistol to the side of his head.
“Back away if you want him to live,” I said to the woman getting out of the other side of the car. 
Because it was Diggon chasing me, I had expected to recognize them from my time with Black Brick, but I did not.
The man I held at gunpoint looked familiar, but I was having a difficult time placing him. He hadn’t worked at Black Brick, I was certain of that, but I couldn’t say how I knew him.
“Back off,” the man said to the woman with a frown on his face that didn’t show much fear. He looked me in the eyes. “It doesn’t have to go this way.”
“Who are you? What do you want?”
“Easy,” said the dark-haired woman as she moved to come around from the other side of the car, thinking she was gaining something by getting closer to me. She had her hand at her side as if it rested on a holstered pistol. “Just calm down.” Her voice sounded familiar, so I took a closer look while jabbing my gun into the man’s neck.
“You’re the woman who almost chased me down.” She’d had blonde hair back then. The darker color suited her far better. The blonde had looked fake, and while she’d been attractive before, she was now stunning. It was a struggle to take my eyes off her even while she glared at me.

Blood Games - Episode 22

 
This week’s episode features a chapter from Blood Games, Jake Ramsey Book #3, the first book Black Brick is available as a free ebook from most ebook vendors. Here is an excerpt from the show: 
IT WASN’T UNTIL AFTER I’d walked several blocks that I realized I’d never done anything about the wound on my arm. I hadn’t even thought about the possibility I might have left blood in the Suburban.
Cursing, I punched the brick wall of a store I was passing, which of course made things worse. After examining my hand, I determined I was lucky to not have broken any fingers. Several of my knuckles were bleeding, but that was a small price to pay for such a loss of control.
I was on edge and I knew it.
I wasn’t prone to such outbursts, but this was the second time in just a few minutes. Perhaps it was a good thing I hadn’t returned to Reed’s place, who knows what other mistakes I might have made? The pain helped cut through the thickness I felt in my mind.
Maybe I had at least slowed down the police by wiping away my fingerprints, but the possibility of leaving behind DNA was a serious oversight.
Growling to myself I put it from my mind as I ducked into a McDonald's bathroom. My makeup was almost gone, so I washed off what little was left and went into a stall so I could work on my new disguise without interruption.
My smartphone rang. It was Kris, but I didn’t answer. Perhaps I would never take a call from her again. That would be for the best. She and Maxine might think they have things together, but when Maxine had split from her former partner, any degree of operational competence had gone with him.
It would be reckless for me to allow them to be part of this. Without me pushing they would remain on the outside of the action. And that was where they belonged.

Blood Games - Episode 21

 
This week’s episode features a chapter from Blood Games, Jake Ramsey Book #3, the first book Black Brick is available as a free ebook from most ebook vendors. Here is an excerpt from the show:  
MY HEART BEAT IN my ears and my head hurt as the final image of the man I’d shot hung in front of my eyes, threatening to distract me from the road. My hands would have been shaking if it hadn't been for the way I clung to the steering wheel.
His hand had moved for his pistol while he begged. He’d been about to kill me, hadn’t he?
I replayed the event in my mind, wondering if there’d been another way out of the situation. His face had changed right before I’d fired, when he’d brought up his gun and thought that he’d had the upper hand. He’d thought he’d played on my emotions.
But I couldn’t get the image of what the bullet had done to him from my mind. It was a struggle to keep my focus on the road. Each breath was a battle.
He’d meant to kill me. I’d known it and had shot first. It had been my only option.
When I reached an intersection, I took the corner faster than I should have. The wheels on one side left the ground and I was afraid the vehicle was about to roll. In my hurry to leave I hadn’t put on my seatbelt, so I gripped the steering wheel even harder and jammed my feet up under the pedals, hoping I would survive.
When the tires slammed back onto the road, I exhaled. I pushed my foot onto the gas pedal, making the tires squeal. The potential accident had distracted me from my thoughts, but now that it was over, they came swirling back like a hurricane, threatening to uproot my sense of self and reality.
It had been him or me. I knew it. He had known it. If he’d put his hands in the air and surrendered he would still be alive. But knowing that didn’t make it any better.