Dear Rivetters:
Taking a quick break from the third novel to say hello!
1) First of all, a special note about Flash Crash. The kindle version of Flash Crash is COMPLETELY FREE this whole weekend (starting right now)!
Free on Kindle for the weekend, starting now!
You can go to Amazon to pick it up for ZERO BUCKS and go down the (very) unique path of a certain man named Jake Rivett (He’s an NYPD detective who’s about as different from any NYPD detective you’ve ever met before).
2) Second, a progress update on book three and some writing musings:
The title of my third Jake Rivett novel is HIS NAME IS RIVETT. As you may have witnessed in the first two books, there’s an evolution occurring with both the character and the series. In Flash Crash, Jake shares the glory with programmer David Belov. By Never Go Alone, Jake is the full-on lead character and we delve much more into his worldview and personal goals—while he solves a series of insane skyscraper heists in Manhattan.
But the stakes in His Name Is Rivett are raised even higher. Amongst other things, His Name Is Rivett is a full-on hunt for an active terror cell on U.S. soil. But when I say “amongst other things,” there’s tons of other elements to this story—Rock shows in the dark catacomb basements of New York, debunked experimental technology that may actually be operable, international intelligence agencies floating around every turn, family dramas… the list goes on.
Although I’m super excited for you to read the third book, I’m not ready to provide a release date yet. I refuse to shotgun novels out into the world (as the expression goes, to “throw something against a wall and see what sticks”)—no matter how financially rewarding it might be. I’ve noticed that many authors in the Kindle and online ecosystem pump out two, three, four or more books a year. They’re usually basic whodunits, a draft and a polish, forty thousand words, done and done. While I understand the model, these aren’t the types of books I’m interested in reading… or writing. As usual, His Name Is Rivett is going to be big, long, deep, fully stand alone, and (always) extremely entertaining. It is a grand adventure filled with awesome action, neck-breaking twists, and complex stories. Clancy, Crichton, and Connelly… these are the types of books I’m aspiring to write. (A shame my last name doesn’t start with a C! “Catch”?) Can’t wait for you to read His Name Is Rivett—but only when it’s ready, or as Rivett might say, fully ace!
3) Third, some fun stuff I found. It’s always been important to me that the novels expose interesting technologies, subcultures, and modern-but-obscure realities of the world. Here’s some cool real-life technologies and locations which relate directly to the first two books.
Ever Heard of a Stingray Machine?
Until recently, no one knew what a Stingray was. It’s one of the most top-secret intelligence technologies that the Feds (and large local police departments) use to conduct cell phone surveillance. Slowly, like a trickle, more and more information about Stingray devices has filtered out into the public. But it’s still all very hush-hush and almost impossible to get official information about this device. Stingray devices (also called “ISMI-catchers”) spoof cell phone towers so that suspects or individuals under surveillance believe they are connected to their regular cell phone company—but in actuality, all of their phone’s information (location, calls, texts, data, etc.) is first being filtered to law enforcement. Of course, Jake Rivett and his colleagues use a Stingray machine in Flash Crash for one very important turn…
A real-life Stingray.
Here’s a great article (“The Dragnet”) about one case in which the public first began to learn specific details about the Stingray machine.
A Secret Subway Station
In Never Go Alone, Jake quickly finds himself banding up with a team of urban explorers (who may or may not be thieves). Deep underneath the city, they discover an old, abandoned subway station underneath the Waldorf-Astoria. Astonishingly, this is a completely real location. Although long decommissioned (interestingly because curved station walls wouldn’t allow newer, longer subway cars to make the turns), it was used for visits from President Franklin D. Roosevelt and other VIPs from the late 1920’s until at least 1944. Truly incredible.
Underneath the Waldorf…
You can check out more information and pictures of the station here.
The Tunnel Plug
The final bank heist in Flash Crash relies on an ingenious device called a tunnel plug. I won’t go into many more details (to keep the surprise alive), but suffice to say this thing is completely real and has had working tests!
An actual prototype being tested… Is that Vlad’s warehouse?
Check out the REAL tunnel plug here (but maybe read Flash Crash first?!):
I hope to check in again soon about His Name Is Rivett. And don’t forget, the Kindle version of Flash Crash is FREE this weekend on Amazon! Thanks for being a reader and a very special thanks to anyone who has posted a review of The Jake Rivett Series!
Until next time,