⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘An amazing, hold-on-to-your-seat five-star read! The twists and turns don’t stop in this one. Who is telling the truth and who is lying? You won’t know until the end.’ Amanda R.
DARK WEB NOW AN AUDIOBOOK
From legendary audiobook producer Blackstone Audio and narrated by Liam DiCosimo:
On a freezing winter night, the body of a teenager is found in the snow.
Mike and Callie Simpkins moved north to restart their lives and get their finances back on track. Their son Braxton immerses himself in an online game-world of crime and gangs. When he decides to meet some of the players in the real world, tragedy strikes …
Detective John Swift must untangle a web of virtual and real crimes in order to solve this complex mystery. And as the family copes with unimaginable grief, even Braxton’s stepfather, Mike, comes under suspicion.
Set in upstate New York, the author brings the area to life with compelling detail and realistic descriptions of family life and police work. The North Country series can be listened to in any order and is perfect for fans of Jeffery Deaver, Linwood Barclay, Lisa Unger, James Patterson, Ian Rankin, and Michael Connelly.
New Psychological Thriller!
A GRIPPING PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF HER PERFECT SECRET.
Callie has a great life, living in a ten-acre home in the Adirondacks with her husband, Abel. Their son is away at college and Callie, a writer, is content living a relatively secluded life.
Then Abel skids off the road into an icy lake. No one heard anything. No one saw anything.
But Abel is left in a coma in a Vermont hospital.
Things seem bad but they’re about to get even worse.
Now Callie is getting calls from a woman who claims to know more about the accident.
Callie is skeptical, though a few things do line up, and she’s always wondered why her husband was where he was at the time of the accident.
Then every spouse’s worst nightmare: police tell Callie her husband is a suspect in the disappearance of two teenage girls.
Callie will do whatever it takes to clear his name. But is she really ready for the truth about her husband . . . ?
OUT ON DECEMBER 15, 2022
JOIN MY MAILING LIST:
FREE Short Story Collection!
I’m honored and thrilled that my story, World’s Best PA, was selected for this collection by Joffe Books!
WORLD’S BEST PA by T.J. Brearton
A regular day filming in Central Park turns into a deadly nightmare for movie star Joseph Timmel and his adoring personal assistant, Carver Dillon. Can they both make it out alive?
DISCOVER FIVE AMAZING SHORT STORIES BY FIVE BESTSELLING AUTHORS.
Together these authors have sold over a million books. Now you can read a selection of their short stories packed with mystery, suspense and action.
Fall 2022 Newsletter
I made a decision. A few months ago, I initiated a newsletter I said would be weekly, but it turns out there’s no way on this green earth I could sustain that. Not even monthly!
So, I’m going to try for a seasonal one. And I’m not even going to email it, but leave it here on my blog. I just got to thinking about how many emails I have in my inbox, and probably you do, too. So I figured, you know where to find me!
Here goes.
Hi everybody,
How are you? How was your summer? We got in a couple of good canoe-camping trips here in the ADKS, first on Lower Saranac then on Middle. The Lower Saranac trip was way too short for the amount of work, I tore my scalp on a branch and nearly wrecked my back, lol. But even for the short duration, coming back into civilization felt surreal. Pressing down on the gas pedal of my truck was so easy! I spent at least an hour post-camping boggling at how convenient our world is here in the industrialized west.
Anyway, if you want to see what it’s like to take a family of five canoe-camping, I made a video.
Otherwise, the summer was full of family visits, gardening, and a fair bit of writing. I’ve been working on a story about a washed-up actor making his big comeback. He’s shooting a film on an island off the coast of Maine, and a crew member is found dead. A police detective arrives just in time before a terrible storm cuts off the island. And everyone is trapped there with — you guessed it — a depraved murderer on the loose!
All right, I have three things to talk about, then I’ll get out of your hair.
My wife and older daughter, Middle Saranac, NY
ONE: Pseudo-Empty Nest
Our son went off to college. My wife and I did a fair bit of crying at his departure. Then we rallied, cleaned his room (okay, deep-cleaned) and semi-converted it into a guest space. It’s still his room, 100%, but now it can accommodate family staying with us.
After a couple of weeks, we realized we weren’t done. Even though we have two more kids — daughters ten and seven — our son’s absence was really felt. His humor, his help with the girls, just his general comforting presence. It also made us think a lot about our lives at this point, and in some ways, provoked a bit of a mid-life crisis in me. I started thinking about how, in just twelve more years, our youngest will fledge the nest, and how I’ll be almost sixty years old at that point. Sixty!
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with being sixty. It’s just that when you’re forty-seven, you still tell yourself a story of being relatively young, with lots ahead of you. Sixty is a wonderful age, no doubt, but let’s face it, it’s just not forty-seven. Not only that, but we’ve now lived almost a decade in a house we bought for a temporary fix. Are we moving? Maybe not to just a different house but to a different town? What else might we do? We have friends who’ve decided to pull up stakes and just live on the road with their kids, and we’ve fantasized before about living abroad. But is any of that going to happen?
We’ve settled on rearranging some of the rooms in the house.
Anyway, the whole thing informed my next book, which is coming out this December: Her Darkest Fear. In it, Callie Anderson, a novelist (imagine that!) loses her husband to a vehicle accident. He winds up comatose, and the cops inform her that he’s a person of interest in the cases of two missing girls! While she tries to figure things out, she’s basically alone: their only child is off to college and the family pets have long expired.
Does any of that sound like it might be me working out my pseudo-empty nest / mid-life crisis issues??
Maybe. :)
If you want, you can watch me struggle to explain the plot here.
Our son, now 18
TWO: Hurricane Ian
My father lives in Bonita Springs, Florida. Yeah. He lives just miles from where the Category 4 hurricane made landfall on September 28th.
He’s okay and his home is intact. Many people can’t say the same, as Ian was the fifth-biggest hurricane ever to make landfall in the contiguous United States.
I’ll spare you all the talk about climate change, suffice it to say this: I’m reading David Wallace-Wells book The Uninhabitable Earth for the second time. It ought to be required reading for every man woman and child. Plus, a new paper from the University of Exeter in London came out this year, talking about the likelihood that we will be hitting five distinct climate tipping points at any moment, tipping points being those events that radically change climate behavior after they occur.
Living with the specter of climate change is its own adjustment. Sometimes it can feel difficult to know how to live. Should I change everything about my life, given what I know? If nothing I do is really apt to make a difference, should I still do anything at all? There certainly seem to be no perfect solutions, nothing on which we all agree, from who to blame (consumers? producers?), to whether wind and solar or nuclear is best, to how we can curb carbon emissions without creating too many knock-on problems.
Anyway, I sometimes write about all of that on Medium. And, yes, I’ve become something of a prepper, and am doing long-term food storage in my basement, plus learning to grow everything I can.
If none of this is your cup of tea, I totally understand. If you’re interested in more, click here.
God speed to the millions of Floridians recovering from the devastation.
The Naples Pier, before the camera went out and the pier was lost
THREE: Getting older
Didn’t we already cover this? Sort of. I recently listened to a podcast on Sam Harris’s Making Sense with Aurthur C. Brooks called “Where is Happiness?” Brooks is a Harvard professor, author, and lecturer who knows a lot about love and happiness. What’s especially interesting about Brooks, though, is that he was a classical musician phenom as a kid, only to have his ability plateau, he says, in his late twenties, earlier than expected. He ended up turning to other things, and has spent a lot of his career focusing on ambition, and how the brain changes with time.
According to Brooks’s research, in roughly the first half of our lives, we use a more “fluid intelligence,” meaning we’re able to juggle lots of concept and complexity as we do very creative things — like write a novel, maybe, deftly keeping all those characters and plot strands in our heads.
As we age, though, we transition to “crystallized intelligence”, which is more about what we know. We’ve learned all of these things in the first half of our lives, done a lot of this good work, and now we have some wisdom to offer.
Brooks suggests, and has research and evidence to support, that people who try to persist with fluid intelligence in their later years, that is, people who have ambitions to do those same things they could do when they were younger, are less likely to find happiness.
While those people who embrace their crystallized intelligence and turn outward, more toward their fellow humans, sharing what they know, helping people, teaching — these types tend to be happier.
It’s worth a listen, for sure.
Okay that’s it! I can’t believe I’ve written this and it’s just now turning nine a.m. Normally, I’d be driving the girls to school, but we decided to instead put them on the bus. I love my mornings with them, and our talks on the way to school, and it kind of kills me not to do it, but it’s an hour of my morning and I have a lot of energy that time of day I could be channeling into work. Like now.
But don’t worry, I pick them up every afternoon and we still manage to drive each other bonkers all evening long! Just kidding, I have amazing girls I’m so grateful for an a wife that’s beyond belief. I’m a very fortunate man. I hope to start paying all of that back in my life now, so please, never hesitate to reach out if there’s anything I can do for you.
~T.J. (aka Tim)
I got new glasses
P.S.
I just want to say a few shout-outs — hi to Meygan Barstow in Australia, a wonderful reader and supporter who checks in with me from time to time; Veronika Jordan, who’s previewed a couple of my recent books as a beta reader and provided invaluable feedback; Michelle Greene, who’s been corresponding with me about books and life for several years now (time flies!) And two Bobs — Bob Sirrine and Bob Guth, both super-fast readers and amazing supporters. Also, thanks to the author Charlie Gallagher for being there to help me with my latest projects, and to stay sane as a working writer in today’s market. Thanks to all of you and every one else for reading and writing in and doing all that you do in life.
P.p.s These days, the wife and I are watching some amazing shows, Dopesick (Hulu) and The North Sea (Amazon). She is reading The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd and I’ve been bouncing back and forth between City Dark, The Uninhabitable Earth, and The Alchemist.
ROUGH COUNTRY AUDIOBOOK NOW AVAILABLE
SMALL TOWN.
BIG SECRETS.
A young girl, Kasey, is murdered in the woods of northern New York, a strange symbol carved into her stomach.
Investigator Reed Raleigh, Major Crimes, is tasked with finding the killer.
Reed has his own troubles. He’s in therapy, divorced, estranged from his son. But he desperately needs to solve this case — his own stepdaughter vanished when she was a teenager and Reed knows all about the agony of having no closure. No way is he letting Kasey’s mother go through that.
But as Reed begins to dig, the case grows ever more complex. Why is Kasey’s boyfriend acting so strangely? And why is her mother lying to the police?
As evidence of Kasey’s bizarre secret life starts to emerge, Reed realizes this case isn’t just about a dead girl. There’s something much bigger at play in this small rural town, a decades-old secret that needs to be protected. At any cost.
“Captivating and compulsive … Brearton is undoubtedly one of the best and most accomplished American crime writers working today.” —The Book Doctor
NO WAY BACK AUDIO VERSION
Exciting news! NO WAY BACK, book five in my acclaimed SHANNON AMES series, is now on audio and will be released in just a few short weeks! Pre-order your copy now and have it the moment it’s available!
August Camping!
We did a recent canoe camping trip for five days. Beautiful weather and lots of fun!
Audiobooks available for Her Perfect Secret and The Husbands
I’m thrilled to share that two of my best selling thrillers, Her Perfect Secret and The Husbands, are now available as audiobooks!
Get them on CD, or as a digital Audible download.
Happy listening!
This is my dog.
His name is Breezy. He is a Cavapoo. (Thats half Cavalier, half Poodle.) He is 4 months old in this picture. Did I mention he is a good boy? He is the best boy, the cuddliest, fluffiest best boy. (Even though he still sometimes has accidents in the house.)
I just thought you should know.
Hi, Breezy!
So I'm, like, an award-winning author now!
I’m told there are lots of awards programs out there. This one, The Indie Book Awards, is “the biggest international awards program for indie authors and independent publishers” on the planet! And my book won for Best Suspense!
I’m delighted and honored to have won. I’m grateful to Emma, Nina, and Hanna at Joffe Books for submitting the book, and to the judges who selected it!
Cheers!
See The Book on Amazon
〰️
See The Book on Amazon 〰️
My Top Ten Books by Rating
Do ratings matter? If they matter to you, then yes! Here are my top ten books according to how readers scored them on Amazon and Goodreads.
#10
Dead Gone (Tom Lange book 1)
Amazon 4.4 Goodreads 4.09 (avg 4.25)
The Gulf Coast of Florida. A young woman is found floating in the bay, no ID, no apparent cause of death. Rookie cop Tom Lange is given his first big assignment, one that will take him through the seedy underworld of southwest Florida and destroy everything he has left.
#9
Her Perfect Secret
Amazon 4.3 Goodreads 4.27 (avg 4.285)
Joni’s fiance Michael looks just like the boy Dr. Emily Lindman treated years ago — a boy who’d experienced horrific tragedy. Is he back now? Does he want revenge for what happened fifteen years ago? LEARN MORE>>
#8
Rough Country
Amazon 4.3 Goodreads 4.31 (avg 4.30)
Military veteran Reed Raleigh has a tragic past but dogged determination as an investigator. Can he find a missing girl in a small town with dark secrets? FIND OUT>>
#7
Gone Missing
Amazon 4.6 Goodreads 4.08
Katie Calumet must survive alone in the rugged wilderness after escaping her kidnappers… but has she really escaped them? SEE MORE>>
#6
Daybreak (Titan book 3)
Amazon 4.6 Goodreads 4.18
Special Prosecutor Jennifer Aiken closes in on a hacker group while disgraced cop Brendan Healy gets out of jail to find a missing girl who holds the key to one of the governments biggest conspiracies in this stunning conclusion to the best-selling Titan trilogy.
“It may just change the way you see the world.” – Ann Abrams, author of Mobius
#5
Hide and Seek (Shannon Ames book 2)
[formerly Road to Mercy]
Amazon 4.5 Goodreads 4.46 (avg 4.48)
Special Agent Ames pursues a dangerous figitive across the US to solve the murder of his wife and save his two young children in this fast-paced cat and mouse thriller. JOIN SHANNON>>
#4
The Killing Time (Shannon Ames book 1)
[formerly Into Darkness]
Amazon 4.6 Goodreads 4.36 (avg 4.48)
The book that started it all: Rookie FBI agent Shannon Ames monitors the case of a New York City serial killer, but soon gets drawn in deeper as the body count rises… SEE MORE>>
#3
No Way Back (Shannon Ames book 5)
Amazon 4.6 Goodreads 4.46
A US senator’s aide goes missing and Special Agent Ames resorts to extrajudicial measures to save her, only to find herself with no way back. LEARN MORE>>
#2
In Too Deep (Shannon Ames book 3)
[formerly Sign of Evil]
Amazon 4.6 Goodreads 4.5
In this critically-acclaimed thriller, Special Agent Shannon Ames goes undercover to stop a serial killer targeting johns in New York’s South Bronx district. GO UNDERCOVER WITH SHANNON>>
And now for my number one book !
Drum Roll Please
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Drum Roll Please 〰️
#1
Nowhere to Hide (Shannon Ames book 4)
Amazon 4.6 Goodreads 4.54
FBI Special Agent Shannon Ames has her holiday cut short when she becomes trapped in a small rural town with two killers on the loose.
Joffe Books shortlisted for Independent Publisher of the Year
I am very proud — or as the British would say, “chuffed” — that my publisher, Joffe Books, has been shortlisted for Independent Publisher of the Year by the British Book Awards.
The awards take place Monday , May 23.
Good luck, Joffe Books!
NO WAY BACK PRE-ORDER TODAY!
Shannon Ames Series gets rebranded!
Back in December I wrote about the “makeover” my FBI thriller series starring Special Agent Shannon Ames would undergo. The publisher, Inkubator Books, agreed with me that the books could reach even more readers if they looked and sounded more like comparable titles in the genre. Behold — the makeover!
To see what each cover looked like before the makeover, keep scrolling!
As you can see, with book four, we were already starting to dial it in, so the title stayed the same. And inside the books you’ll find the same great stories starring Shannon Ames.
What do you think of the makeover? Write me and let me know!
And don’t miss book five, NO WAY BACK, coming March 20! Want to be an advanced reader and get a free copy ahead of publication? CLICK HERE. Otherwise I’ll let you know when the book is available to buy!
Out March 20, 2022!
Florida Trip 2022
It was a crazy time of year to visit Southwest Florida — lots of traffic! And the Gulf temp was 62 degrees. That didn’t stop us from going in, of course — we’re polar bears.
We also enjoyed:
Reading and relaxing…
Building sand castles…
Playing beach games…
Sightseeing…
Visiting the zoo…
Browsing at a bookstore…
Catching up with old friends, such as author Geoffrey Pierce…
With plenty of eating…
…And more reading!
See you next year, Florida!
Winter Fun
Hope everyone is enjoying some time outside this winter — get that vitamin D, eat that snow!
Left to right: yours truly, youngest daughter Sabine, middle child Tatum, son Jude, wife Dava
the garden in January
Happy 2022!
NOWHERE TO HIDE NOW ON AUDIO
Nowhere to Hide, Book 4 in the Shannon Ames FBI Thriller series, is now available from Audible thanks to Inkubator Books, Podium Audio and narrator Bailey Carr.
Special Agent Shannon Ames is headed home for the holidays when she becomes trapped in a desolate mountain village during a devastating ice storm. But she’s not alone. Two cold blooded killers are stranded there with her, and they’ll do anything, hurt anyone, to escape.
Not on Shannon’s watch.
Here’s a sample:
ALSO AVAILABLE IN EBOOK AND PAPERBACK, OF COURSE!
Her Perfect Secret is #1 New Release
Just one week into its release, HER PERFECT SECRET hits the #1 spot for new releases in Psychological Fiction for Amazon Kindle in the US!
Santa has come early!
Tom Lange Books Now Available on Audio!
I’m thrilled to announce that the Tom Lange books — Dead Gone, Truth or Dead, and Dead or Alive — are now available as audiobooks. Narrator Joe Hempel tells the stories of Special Agent Tom Lange with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement as Tom squares off against drug traffickers, serial killers, and organized criminals.
Click on any of the books below to visit its page on Authors Direct!
TOM LANGE #1
TOM LANGE #2
TOM LANGE #3