Adult Fiction Week: Author Clint Morey

Today is the first day of Adult Fiction Week here on my blog!

Author Clint Morey is here to share a bit about himself and his exciting, suspense thriller

Jaidee : Out of the Ashes

Born and raised in L.A., it didn’t take much to convince my wife and I to leave the smog, traffic and dead bolts of Southern California and head for a new life in The Big Sky Country — Montana.                                                         Montana has been and continues to be a great adventure for us. God has blessed us in many ways — six beautiful children and many wonderful friends. It’s also a great place to be a writer.

Q: Tell us an unusual fact about you!

A: Back in my teaching days, I set up and ran an internet high school that had hundreds of students in a dozen countries around the world.  It was exciting to come to work and interact with students in China getting ready to go to bed and then work with students in the Middle East who were just getting started for the day.  It was also challenging to learn a language of “safe” words when chatting with students in the more restrictive countries.

Q: What gave you your start as a writer?

A: Reading, Jill.  I read everything I could get my hands on and enjoyed the worlds authors created within their pages.  I also enjoyed watching TV and going to the movies (double features!!!).  There was even a radio station that played old radio dramas late at night that I used to listen to when I went to bed.  I was a story-consumption machine.

I’ve always written and enjoyed telling stories.  I sold articles to several national magazines years ago and it was fun to think that tens of thousands of people were reading words that I wrote.  It was also fun to get paid to write those words

After leaving teaching and taking up writing as a profession, my screenplays began to get awards and three of them were optioned.  Then I began getting “writing for hire” jobs which helped pay the bills.  Novels and short stories were a logical medium for many of the stories I wanted to tell and I’ve enjoyed creating them.

Q: What has been the greatest inspiration behind your writing?

A: Stories matter.  At least they always have to me, Jill.  Stories encourage us to dream.  They challenge us to overcome obstacles.  They teach us to recognize the difficulties others experience.  They help us learn how to live in this world.  I want to write stories that captivate people but I would also like those stories to make a difference for good in the lives of the readers.

Q: Where did the concept for Josh’s character come from?

A: I wanted to break away from the “traditional” private eye character.  I liked the idea of a “family man” as a detective.  He focuses on catching the “cheaters” who are destroying their families even as he wishes he could have his family back .  Plus I had a friend who wanted to be a cop and joined the Air Force to get Military Police experience.  He was trained as an MP then spent three and one-half years guarding a missile silo in North Dakota.  Not exactly the job resume police departments were looking for.  I wanted my hero to have had similar experiences with bureaucracies and a commitment to pursue his own dreams without the boss peering over his shoulder.

Q: Have you always been a fan of mysteries and thrillers?

A: As far back as I can remember, I have enjoyed mysteries and thrillers.  As a kid, they were books like the Hardy Boys series.  Then it was the spy novels fostered by the Cold War.  More recently it has been police procedurals, legal thrillers, and stories set against the background of international terrorism.

Q: What had been your greatest challenge while writing?

A: With JAIDEE, the biggest challenge was the subject matter – child prostitution.  I wanted  the story to reveal a world that exists without having the story focus on sex.  I wanted the story to be about people who were struggling to make better lives for themselves in difficult situations.

In general, the greatest challenge for me is the business side of this storytelling career.  You have to market your “products” to readers, producers, and agents.  I just want to tell stories but unless I am content to tell them to no one, I have to learn how to sell those stories.  That takes time away from writing and creating new stories.

Q: What is your most memorable moment in your writing career?

A: The most recent moment was optioning my script, PREACHER MAN, to an independent producer.  You always have hope that the movie will get made.  Well, the movie didn’t get made, but it came close.

Q: Where is your favorite place to write and what do you snack on?

A: The local Barnes & Noble is just a few blocks from my house and has a coffee shop that is a guaranteed writing hot spot for me.  If I’m stuck on a scene or falling behind on my word count for the day, I head to Barnes & Noble.   I order a hot chocolate, sit at one of their little tables, and write.  It always works.  I don’t know why it works but it’s nice to have that place in my back pocket.

Q: Do you have a favorite book/author?

A: My favorite book is TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee.  I have several favorite authors and tend to read and re-read their works if I’m developing a story in a similar genre.  John Grisham, Michael Connelly, Michael Crichton, and Vince Flynn are a few of the authors who are on that list.

Q: What can you tell us about your works in progress?

A: I have a sci-fi novel, THE HARVEST, that is undergoing editing right now.  I have another sci-fi novel, THE HEALING PLANET, that is almost complete.  It’s a first draft so I know a lot of work is still in front of me on that one.  I consider them both thrillers that just happen to be set in a different time (the future). 

 I’m also working on the second novel in the Lyons Investigations series, the follow up to JAIDEE.  It is in a rough draft at the moment.  Now I have to make it beautiful.

And I’m working on a thriller script with a writing partner.

"A cynical detective working through his own demons must decide if he will

 fight evil or let it win the day uncontested. "

Josh Lyons is doing what he loves -- proving what happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas. 

Josh heads a small detective agency that documents the indiscretions of unfaithful spouses for use in divorce and custody proceedings.

During a routine job, Josh rescues a young Asian girl from a prostitution ring and gives the girl to a friend of his on Metro's Vice Squad. When he hears a contract has been put out on the girl and someone in Metro is involved, he steals her from the "safe" house and hides her from the people who want to kill her.

Accused of being a kidnapper and child molester, Josh is pursued by the cops, the mob, and the media. Friends who will help him are hard to find and difficult to keep alive. The girl wants to get back to her pimp. His computer guy is not into violence. And the ex-missionary who speaks the girl's language doesn't approve of Josh's lifestyle.

Josh doesn't know who he can trust but when his office is blown up, he realizes he's going to have to take down some rich and powerful people if there's any hope for them to survive.

~MY REVIEW~

Wow! It has been awhile since I have read a good adult fiction novel, and Clint Morey certainly has produced just that. Jaidee is a non-stop, action packed thrill ride of a book. I could easily see this novel being the basis for a movie. I have always loved suspense novels that keep you on your toes. Jaidee did not disappoint one bit. I was hooked from chapter one.

Clint has a great writing style that keeps the story moving. It is clear he has a passion for what he writes.

I loved Josh's character! He is not your run of the mill detective. As Clint mentioned in his interview with me, he wanted Josh to be non-traditional but also a 'family man'. He definitely succeeded. Josh is a well developed and strong main character. I liked the family aspect about him and that he sticks to what he knows is right. He has an exceptional, yet quirky crew, that really added to his story. 

Writing about the ugliness of the world is not an easy task. The author has given us a window into the world of child prostitution. The reader gets to experience the horrific struggle of humans trying to survive. Jaidee, despite being forced into a life of prostitution, is a sweet girl with a great deal of inner strength. She has a good heart, just like her name entails. I enjoyed her relationship with Josh and their amusing banter. 

The ending to Jaidee was ripe with tension and of course filled with great action scenes. Everything wraps up nicely, yet leaves you with an opening for the second book. I can't wait to see where the author takes us next. I am definitely recommending Jaidee to any reader who loves suspense and a whole lot of action!

If you want to know more about Clint Morey and his work,

Visit him on

Goodreads / Website / Twitter

Jaidee is available for purchase on Amazon in paperback and kindle format!