Thriller author Russell Brooks joins me today to chat about his new crime thriller, Jam Run.
Bio:
Russell Brooks is the author of five suspense thrillers—Pandora’s Succession, Unsavory Delicacies, Chill Run, The Demeter Code, and Jam Run.
It’s been said that his writing can draw the reader in with a powerful and poetic attention to detail, with heart-pounding scenes of devastating hand-to-hand encounters which project fear and fury right in front of the readers’ eyes.
If you enjoy hard-boiled suspense thrillers with conspiracies, martial arts, sex, betrayal, and revenge, you don’t need to look any further.
Please tell us about your current release.
Jam Run is the sequel to Chill Run. Eddie Barrow—an established author—and his best friend, Corey, are in Jamaica for a book signing. After witnessing a savage murder of a trans teenager at a neighbourhood party, Barrow soon learns that the killing is part of a much larger conspiracy.
What inspired you to write this book?
Jam Run was inspired by the savage murder of Dwayne Jones. He was a teenager who attended a neighbourhood party disguised as a woman. No one knew he was a young man until he made the fatal error of confiding in a young girl he knew from his church. She then outed him to her male friends—who confronted Dwayne in the parking lot. He tried to escape, but to no avail. His body was found the next day. He had been beaten, stabbed, shot, and run over with a vehicle.
Excerpt from Jam Run:
From Chapter 1
Citrusville Bar, Pegga Road, Irwin, Jamaica
Eddie Barrow thrust a Jamaican five-hundred-dollar bill across the counter to the bartender before the other patron could utter a syllable. There was no way in hell Eddie was going to let someone else cut in front of him tonight.
This time it was a wire-thin sista, dressed in a crop-top, Harley Quinn shorts, and a Mary J Blige weave. To him, she looked like she must be thinking, “He ain’t much of a man,” but Eddie couldn’t give a rat’s ass what she thought. He may not have been born in Barbados like his parents, but he knew the rules of the Caribbean—that cut-ins were a way of life down here.
At five foot eight and a little over one hundred and seventy pounds, Barrow wasn’t the most physically imposing brotha around, but it didn’t mean that he didn’t know how to stand his ground when he needed to.
“Two waters please,” Eddie yelled as he competed with the heavy bass in the background that shook his internal organs, while keeping his hand on his money.
The bartender leaned closer. “What you say?”
“I said water.” He held up two fingers. “Two.”
Eddie loosened his grip on the bill as the bartender pulled it away and slipped it in the cash register. He reached below the counter, then placed two bottles in front of Eddie before moving on to the sista who’d tried to budge him.
With a bottle in each hand, Eddie navigated through the crowd. It was no different than trying to exit a packed subway car—especially getting elbowed and poked. He kept looking down, worried someone was going to step on his toes and dirty up his pristine pair of Air Max runners.
This was exactly the reason Eddie outgrew the club scene a year after he came into it, roughly seven years before. It didn’t take him long before he realized that he wasn’t missing anything. As for Corey Stephenson, his “brotha from anotha motha” from way back, clubbing and going out was more his thing. Eddie was the quiet one who always wanted to stay home with his head buried in a book or, up until recently, writing one to keep up with deadlines. If he went out, it was because Corey had dragged him.
The funny thing was that Eddie had always been told that Barbadians—Bajans—were the loudest, more so than Trinidadians. Corey was born in Trinidad and moved to Montreal when he was around eleven or twelve, not too long before he saved Eddie’s ass from a bunch of skinheads who’d ambushed him in the park. At a solid six foot two with his Trini charm, he was always able to talk his way into a woman’s panties, unlike Eddie.
But he’d since settled down a bit. Getting his girlfriend pregnant and then marrying her had changed Corey for the better. He’d once had an alcohol problem too. Those were moments that Eddie wanted to forget. One of those memories involved the two of them and Corey’s then-girlfriend, Jordyn, being on the run from the police for a murder Eddie had been framed for.
Eddie didn’t even wait to get back to Corey before he took a drink of his water to cool off in this sweltering Jamaican heat. Even though this section of the bar was outdoors, a bunch of brothas and sistas crowded together like sardines still made the mercury rise, especially since they weren’t close enough to the ocean to catch the breeze.
They’d only arrived from Montreal earlier that afternoon. As expected, Corey had to drag Eddie out of the Airbnb to find the nearest party.
It was their first time in Jamaica. It was business for Eddie. Pleasure for Corey. In less than twelve hours Eddie would be signing copies of his latest thriller, which was why he didn’t want to be out too late or drink anything alcoholic. Eddie was a lightweight. The last thing he needed was to be hungover during the book signing.
“Come on, it’ll only be for a few hours. You’ll have plenty of time to sleep,” Corey had said earlier. Which only made Eddie sigh. He didn’t have much of a track record in saying no to his friend.
Of all the areas Corey chose to drag him to, why did it have to be a ghetto on top of a hill? The only light aside from the headlights of their rental car came from the car graveyard to their left. Beyond that was pure blackness, as they drove on the two-laned road through an area of thick forest on either side. Even worse, the road was so neglected that they were forced to drive at a speed slower than one found in a school zone. Had they been ambushed by a street gang they’d have better luck escaping on foot.
What exciting project are you working on next?
My next book will be in the Ridley Fox/Nita Parris series, where I pick-up from where The Demeter Code left off.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I began writing while in high school. I took it more seriously after I graduated from university.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I have a bad habit of editing while I write.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I was split between practicing medicine versus being a lawyer. My short-term goal was to represent Canada at the Olympics and the World Track and Field Championships.
Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
When I’m not writing, I play the violin, and I’ve participated in local protests. The last one being the Driving While Black, Proud and Free convoy. It was a peaceful protest against racial profiling by the police and the Quebec Government’s indifference in acknowledging its existence and systemic racism.