Please help me welcome today’s guest, Steve Rush…
Please tell us a little about yourself, where are you from? Where do you live now? Family? Pets?
My wife and I live in a place one person claimed got hotter after sunset than in the middle of the sunny afternoon—Metro Atlanta, Georgia. Georgian since birth. Family scattered in Georgia, Florida and Minnesota. I enjoy the outdoors and beg for winter, which seems to avoid us most years.
Where did you get the idea for Lethal Impulse?
The idea came from my background of growing up in a minister’s home and tenure investigating homicides and employment in a medical examiner’s office, which led to a forensic consulting job with national travel and investigations and plethora of ideas for novels, including Lethal Impulse.
Why did you choose this genre (is it something you’ve written in before)?
I love crime fiction and suspense/thriller novels and movies. I enjoy writing in this genre for the challenge it offers in adding suspense, red herrings, and unexpected twists.
Was there anything unusual, any anecdote about this book, the characters, title, process, etc., you’d like to share?
The main character, Neil Caldera, comes from a diverse family, completed forensics and theology majors in college and sought a career at NYPD. Lethal Impulse opens with his officer-involved shooting in which a bullet from Neil’s pistol kills a New York crime boss’s daughter. Fallout led to his move to a small town once named, “The Best Place to Live in Georgia,” and an encounter with a vengeful killer.
What is the most difficult thing about writing a book? What was the most difficult thing about this one in particular?
I am a pantser. I outlined my first novel and changed much of what I had written in the process. I felt it best to let creativity take over. When I reach a sticking point, I ask, What if? I had written about 2,000 words of Lethal Impulse when our consulting business shut down. I wrote 10,000 words a month for seven months. For the effort, I had a finished novel, and carpal tunnel syndrome.
What do you want readers to come away with after they read Lethal Impulse?
I want them to experience the characters’ highs and lows the way I did while writing their story and hope they approve of the way I fulfilled my promises to them. My objective is to transform readers into fans. I’ll do my best to live up to their expectations.
What book have you read that you wish you had written?
The Husband, Dean Koontz.
What is your favorite quote?
“I have a perfect cure for a sore throat: cut it.” ― Alfred Hitchcock
Have you written any other books that are not published?
I have three manuscripts ready for submission. One is the first book one of a planned three-book series. My thriller, After Her Deceit, the sequel in a two-book series is scheduled for release on October 1st. The same publisher has another two-book crime-thriller series planned for release in 2025.
What is the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the best compliment?
Toughest: did not resonate with the characters. Best: great dialogue.
Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination?
I give life to characters and place them in true-to-life situations and watch their reactions and responses. A few I will create based on a person’s unique name. I always ask permission and portray those characters as good people.
How much of the book is realistic?
I’m all-in when it comes to offering readers an impression of reality and adhere to self-imposed standards of authenticity, believability and credibility based on my experience as a forensic investigator. I research settings for accuracy in real towns or ones based on real places.
Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?
Dean Koontz, a master wordsmith.
Thank you for the interesting interview. Crime Thriller is my favorite genre, and I also love Dean Koontz. And I love that quote from Hitchcock. 😀 Now, please tell us about your book…
Blurb:
He’s riddled with guilt. She’s annoyed with the status quo.
The death of a crime boss’s daughter forces Detective Neil Caldera to leave NYC. He seeks refuge in the tranquil embrace of a small town, where he finds himself entangled in the labyrinth of a teenage girl’s murder.
Tess Fleishman’s pale skin and extreme weight loss portrays a disease she wants others to see. While inside, a compulsion for Neil fuels her passion to have him, or destroy him.
Excerpt:
Neil had observed enough crime scenes to identify the familiar sight and smell of blood. Light revealed blood on three of the four walls and on a few boards overhead.
He strode to the rear space amidst various farm implements. The flashlight beam revealed nothing unanticipated to the right. The light revealed more to him than he foresaw. Happenstance played no role in the display now before him. The artist’s rendition displayed evidence of a warped mind. Malevolence flaunted in the form of a portrait painted with blood.
Neil widened the beam of light with a left twist of the flashlight’s head. Shock jolted him. The likeness on the barn wall stared back at him with remarkable resemblance.
“Holy mother of Moses. I understand why you didn’t want to come back.”
Neil looked at the front and rear doors. Light from an approaching vehicle rose on the front of the barn. Gaps around the door allowed enough streaks of light through to make shadows look as if the light infused them with life. The vehicle continued onward. Every shadow around Neil returned to stationary ominous forms. He half-turned toward the front and listened. The whine of tires on pavement diminished. Silence again filled the barn.
The hinges squawked against Neil’s shove on the right-side door. Chad turned his head in Neil’s direction. He was sitting on the ground with his back to the weathered wood. Knees drawn up, arms wrapped around them and his right hand clamped on his left wrist.
“It’s you.” Chad shuddered, tilted his head toward the barn. “In there. The picture on the wall looks like you.”
Neil glanced inside. The image renewed in his mind. “Is that the reason you called me? To have me look at someone’s depravity smeared on a barn wall?”
Chad shook his head. “No, sir.”
“Then why?”
“I know what you did.”
Buy links:
amazon.com/dp/B0DCC8KC8Y/thewildrosepr-20
Lethal Impulse – The Wild Rose Press Inc
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Lethal%20Impulse-
http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/isbn9781509258130
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?query=9781509258130
https://www.booksamillion.com/p/9781509258123
https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=9781509258123
https://www.target.com/s?searchTerm=9781509258123
About the Author:
Steve Rush is an award-winning author whose experience includes tenure as homicide detective and chief forensic investigator for a national consulting firm. He worked with the late Joseph L. Burton, M.D, under whom he mastered his skills, and investigated many deaths alongside Dr. Jan Garavaglia of Dr. G: Medical Examiner fame.
Steve’s book Kill Your Characters; Crime Scene Tips for Writers was named finalist in the 2023 Silver Falchion Award for Best Nonfiction and Honorable Mention in the 2023 Readers’ Favorite Awards. Lethal Impulse won the 2022 Public Safety Writing Association’s Writing Competition for an unpublished novel, longlisted in the 2022 Page Turner Awards and joint first prize in the 2020 Chillzee KiMo T-E-N Contest.
He lives in Metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife Sharon.
Visit his website: https://www.steverush.org
Author Alicia Dean 