Mike Angley, author of Child Finder: Revelation

Marilyn: Hi, Michael, I am thrilled you have a new book in this series. Will you tell me a little about it?

Mike: Thanks, Marilyn! I appreciate the opportunity to guest-blog with you today, as always. Child Finder: Revelation concludes my trilogy series, and once again it’s a tale that challenges my protagonist, Air Force Special Agent Patrick O’Donnell. Here’s my short synopsis:

North Korean terrorists stage a brazen attack on the U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, stealing his twin daughters in the assault. The eight-year-old girls are powerful psychics with amazing extrasensory gifts, and it is clear that the North Koreans abducted them because of these abilities. Only one man can rescue them. Air Force Special Agent Patrick O’Donnell is the government’s top agent with his own psychic abilities…skills crucial to finding the Ambassador’s daughters deep inside North Korea.

But there’s more. There’s a mystery about the twins that has the President of the United States and the Pope rattled, and no one is telling O’Donnell what that is. One thing is made clear to him in abundance: he must rescue the girls and bring them back to America with an urgency he has never experienced before.

Will Agent O’Donnell be successful in rescuing the Ambassador’s daughters? Will he be able to unravel the intrigue between the Oval Office and the Vatican? Perhaps O’Donnell will receive a revelation that will explain it all…and if he does, it may be something he wishes he never knew.

Maybe some secrets are best kept hidden.

Marilyn: Where did the inspiration from this one come from?

Mike: From the same place as the first two books in the series: my work as an Air Force Special Agent over a 25-year career. I conducted several investigations involving children who were the victims of crime, and each one affected me deeply. In this particular book, I wanted to explore more political and international intrigue, so I used a North Korean terrorist attack to set the stage for O’Donnell’s toughest mission yet. Since the Koreans abduct the U.S. Ambassador’s daughters, who better to rescue them than the ultimate Child Finder?

Marilyn: You have a great hero in this series, how much of you is like him?

Mike: Quite a bit. I am a deeply faithful Catholic, like O’Donnell, as well as a committed husband and father. My family values and morals became his when I developed his character. We were both Air Force OSI Special Agents, and I once worked in the Pentagon for the Inspector General, like O’Donnell does in the first book of the trilogy. Sadly, I do not have psychic powers (I would probably live in Las Vegas if I did!).

Marilyn: How much of your former life appears in this particular book?

Mike: Just a smidgen. I used South Korea as a major setting for the story, and during my USAF career I served two assignments in the country. I am familiar with the places I describe in the book, as well as the food, customs, culture, and even the language – yes, I speak Korean, but it’s very rusty these days. I also slipped into North Korea once, but that’s not something I talk about.

Marilyn: When did you know you wanted to write?

Mike: Since I was a child! I have a good concentration of Irish blood flowing through my veins, so storytelling is in my DNA (just ask my mom about some of the whoppers I’d tell as a kid!). I dabbled in poetry during middle and high school, but that was mostly to impress girls. I wrote several short stories in school, too, and these received some great kudos from my literature teachers. This early feedback encouraged me to pursue a lifelong passion to write novel-length fiction. I put off my plans throughout my USAF career because I never had the time to devote to it. Once I retired, I looked back over my time as a government agent and realized I had the best teacher possible: practical experience. I have always enjoyed the thriller genre, so between this passion and my experience, writing thrillers became a natural convergence for me.

Marilyn: What do you like to do for fun—besides writing?

Mike: I enjoy spending time with my family. My wife and I have been able to travel together more now that I am retired from the USAF, and we enjoy getting away, even if it’s just for a weekend. I love spending time with my kids, but they are growing up! Our oldest is 21 and a senior in college; our middle child is 18 and a sophomore in college, and our youngest is 17 and still in high school. We (wife and I) are always looking for reasons to corral them together and do things like we used to do when they were smaller.

Marilyn: Who is your favorite writer?

Mike: That’s a toss-up between Tom Clancy and James Patterson. I like Clancy’s military and political story angles and plots. I love James Patterson’s short-cropped, fast-paced, easy-to-read thrillers. I usually finish a Patterson book in one day, and a Clancy novel in just under a week.

Marilyn: What advice would you give to a new writer?

Mike: Perfect your craft and learn the business end of writing. Craft is essential to writing a great story, but knowing how the business of publishing works is essential to seeing it in print. By the business end, I mean everything from how to secure a literary agent to landing a publishing contract to knowing how to market your book.

Marilyn: Anything else you would like to tell my readers?

Mike: I sure hope your readers get a chance to read and enjoy my stories. Pat O’Donnell was a fun character for me to create, and I’ve gotten some great fan feedback about him and the stories. This third book is a blockbuster of sorts, and it has received some great reviews and blurbs from noted thriller writers like Karna Small Bodman and Rick Robinson. Major General Paul E. Vallely, a Fox News contributor and author, really enjoyed it and said: “Mike Angley has written a must read winner. This is an insider’s view of a frightening and inspiring scenario filled with action and drama. Riveting! A Spellbinder!”

www.mikeangley.com

Twitter: @MikeAngley

FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/mike.angley

Bio:

MICHAEL “Mike” ANGLEY is the award-winning author of the thriller series, the Child Finder Trilogy, which features USAF Special Agent protagonist, Patrick S. O’Donnell.

His debut novel, Child Finder, received the Silver Medal for fiction in the 2009 Military Writers Society of America’s (MWSA) Annual Awards program, and when the book launched in June 2009, the Library Journal placed it on its Summer Reads list and called it a “compelling debut novel” and “a real find.” His second novel, Child Finder: Resurrection, received a fiction award in the 2010 Awards Contest of the Public Safety Writers Association as well as a Silver Medal from MWSA in its 2010 awards program.

Mike retired from the U.S. Air Force in September 2007 in the rank of Colonel, following an exciting and dangerous 25-year career as a Special Agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI). He held thirteen different assignments throughout the world, among which were five tours as a Commander of different units, to include two Air Force Squadrons and a Wing. Michael Angley is a seasoned criminal investigator and a counterintelligence and counterterrorism specialist. In his last assignment he was the Commander of OSI Region 8 at Air Force Space Command. One of his major responsibilities was to execute counterintelligence operations impacting space. As he’s fond of saying about those days, “If it entered or exited the Earth’s atmosphere, I had a dog in the fight!”

He has an M.A. in National Security Affairs from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, and a B.A. in Criminal Justice and Psychology from King’s College, Wilkes-Barre, PA. In 2001, he served as a National Defense Fellow and Adjunct Professor of International Relations at Florida International University, Miami, FL. Mike and Evelyn, his wife of 25 years, make their home in Colorado Springs, CO. They have three children, and they usually can be found chasing after their rambunctious beagle named Brynn.