Marilyn's Musings

Viper by John Desjarlais 978-1933184-80-7 2011 trade paper release from Sophia Institute Press 238 pages. Set in rural Illinois, the novel follows disgraced DEA agent Selena De La Cruz as she tries to re-order her life into some semblance of normality after a drug raid gone bad results in a tragic aftermath. Leaving that life turns out to be more than just difficult. It is impossible. And so Selena leaves her insurance company and re-enters the dangerous world of undercover drug enforcement among a Latino population that is turbulent, ever-changing and marked with friends who become enemies and family members short on   understanding. The author cleverly establishes Selena as an independent capable woman beset on all sides by the chauvinism of her bosses and the cultural disapproval of her family. Good Latina women do not carry guns and arrest drug dealers. There is an invasive Latin Catholic presence throughout the book. The basic theme of the story is a list of names...

Marilyn: Please tell me a bit about your background. John: I was a Radio/TV/Film major at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked in radio and video production for nearly twenty years. When I was let go by Wisconsin Public Radio in the recession of 1993, I returned to grad school for a master’s degree in English/Writing so that I could teach at the college level and continue to write. Marilyn: When and why did you start writing? John: I wrote spy novels in junior high and high school for my entertainment and perhaps because I fancied myself becoming a TV scriptwriter someday. I worked on the high school newspaper and literary magazine. In college, my attention turned to radio and TV. After graduation, I worked for a small media company writing scripts for training videos and fundraising material for non-profit groups.  My serious fiction writing came in my 30s, after a documentary I produced on the history of Western Christianity got me interested ...