with Tom Fitzgerald
We are delighted to welcome novelist Tom Fitzgerald to Omnimystery News today.
Tom's debut thriller is Defector In Our Midst (Mascot Books; August 2014 hardcover and ebook formats) and we recently had the chance to catch up with him to talk a little more about the book.
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Omnimystery News: Defector In Our Midst is your first novel. How did you go about researching the plot points of the story? Any particularly challenging or exciting topics?
Photo provided courtesy of
Tom Fitzgerald
Tom Fitzgerald: Many of the facts in my books are found through Internet research, while some facts were found through various books on the subject. It has also been extremely helpful for me to consult experts to make sure the facts pass the litmus test.
The most challenging topic for Defector In Our Midst was the connection between the Nazis and Islamic Extremists because it was so disturbing to find so much hate still amongst us.
So far the most exciting topic has been Electromagnetic Pulse technology because it was so new for me.
OMN: How true are you to the settings of the book?
TF: Most of the time I stay true to the real places described in the book. However, in certain settings I have taken creative liberty to enhance the environment to match with what I am writing.
OMN: If you could go anywhere in the world, all expenses paid, to research the setting for a book, where would it be?
TF: I would be thrilled to visit Prague someday. In my research for Defector In Our Midst I became fascinated with the city, its history and beauty. I also understand that Prague was not damaged very much by the war. The characters have roots back to Prague.
OMN: Tell us more about how the book came to be titled. And were you involved with the cover design?
TF: I was extremely happy with the concept of the book cover and title. Some of the key elements of the plot take place in Washington D.C and I thought it was really important to capture look on the cover in order to give the reader a visual glimpse into the heart of the story. I wanted the title to be intriguing and get the reader guessing before they even turned the first page so that was part of my reasoning for the title Defector In Our Midst; is the "Defector" the protagonist or the antagonist?
OMN: Suppose Defector In Our Midst were to be adapted for television or film. Who do you see playing the key roles?
TF: I love the Lee Child books on the Jack Reacher series, and I was one of many who were disappointed to see Tom Cruise trying to pull off a 6'4” character! When Defector In Our Midst goes to the big screen there's one actor who would be perfect to play Myk McGrath … and that is Chris Pratt. He is 6'2", good looking and a talented actor. He played the role of a Navy Seal in Zero Dark Thirty. He would be my first pick.
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After graduating from Arizona State University with a degree in accounting (though his favorite classes were Shakespeare!), Tom Fitzgerald started his career at a large accounting firm in downtown Phoenix. It didn't take long, however, before he realized that a lifetime career in accounting was no place for his creative mind to flourish.
He left Phoenix with his young family in tow and took a job for an international construction management firm based out of San Francisco. Still yearning to find an outlet for his creativity, Tom then turned to the thriving homebuilding industry in Phoenix. He soaked up everything he could from the architects and designers he associated with on a daily basis and started his own luxury home building company in 1999. For more than a decade Tom's company crafted exquisite homes scattered across the hillsides and golf courses of sunny Arizona.
Even with the success of his company, a creative pining within him remained unfulfilled. Throughout his career, he had been encouraged by his peers to put his enthusiasm and artistic mind to use in storytelling.
For more information about the author, please visit his website at TomFitzgeraldBooks.com or find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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Defector In Our Midst
Tom Fitzgerald
A Thriller
When Hitler ordered the total annihilation of the small village of Lidice, Czechoslovakia on June 10, 1942, a pair of newborn twin girls was secretly hidden from the Nazis while their parents and the rest of the village were massacred. The son of one of the infant girls, CIA Agent Myk McGrath, has become the world's most prolific agent. Now he's on a frenetic search to catch a cunning group that has outsmarted the country's highest intelligence agency and vanished from their watchful eye. In the midst of Myk's hunt, a defector arises whose allegiance is unknown, a defector with ties to Lidice.
China's top physicist is snatched from his beach vacation and forced to replicate his breakthrough discovery in electromagnetic technology. New York City awakes to a terrifying phenomenon: seventy percent of its electricity has been permanently wiped off the power grid. Myk is in a race against time to find who's behind the attack and prevent an already fragile U.S. economy from turning into a calamity.
In his pursuit, Myk begins to piece together a lifelong enigma: why his mother and her twin sister abruptly ended their relationship at the time of his birth, and why his mother developed within him the skills that would make him the most prodigious agent the CIA has ever known. The deeper he digs into exposing a devious conspiracy against the U.S., the more he uncovers the stunning truth about the secret lives of the twins from Lidice.
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