Interview with J. Lee, author of The Reluctant Reckoner

 

Today it gives the Indie Crime Scene great pleasure to interview J. Lee, author of The Reluctant Reckoner, which had its debut on October 8th 2024.

What can you tell us about Mark Richter, the protagonist of The Reluctant Reckoner? Is he an everyman?

He’s definitely a lot “cleaner” (so to speak) than my previous protagonists. For example, in The Hubley Case and The Silent Cardinal, the protagonist Ben Siebert was a former Marine specially trained to handle such situations who had some egg on his face leading back to his military days. But Mark…Mark’s truly the lovable “everyman” type guy who doesn’t deserve what is happening to him in The Reluctant Reckoner.

Mark has made mistakes and has his flaws, we all have and do, but they are tied to his personal relationships and family. In the eyes of the law, he’s squeaky clean. I made him that way because to me, it would make him that much more of an obvious target for the antagonists to go after. It felt very realistic to me that they would hone in on a guy like Mark…far more than any other protagonist of mine.

Mark is an accountant, a widower with an eight-year-old daughter. His life is turned upside down when he receives a mysterious email. Can you give us any hints about the contents of the email?

The e-mail is Mark’s first introduction to the antagonists, and it highlights to both him and the reader just how outmatched he is. The specific content of the e-mail isn’t necessarily all that relevant to the plot, but who sent it, and what they are capable of, is central to it.

The protagonist of your last novel, the award-winning medical thriller The Deadly Deal, was a professional in the FDA. How does his story differ from Mark’s?

David Centrelli, the protagonist in The Deadly Deal, had no military training like Ben Siebert, but he did have an ugly past that made him especially susceptible to blackmail. And, he wasn’t contacted by the antagonists. In fact, he spends the better part of the novel trying to find them to uncover a mystery and becomes a target along the way.

Mark is different. He’s minding his own business one day when they contact him and then resort to blackmail, extortion, and threats on his family to get what they want. Unlike David, the things Mark is being told to do are highly illegal, so that makes it even more difficult when the FBI contacts him. In that regard there are similarities between the two, but the fundamental role each has is completely different.

Mark suffers from OCD and has worked in the same job for 23 years. How important is his condition to the plot?

It’s important because it speaks to a) who Mark is and b) why he is the perfect target for the antagonists. They know, and he knows, this is as far from his comfort zone as he can possibly be, and that makes him the perfect target for such a scheme.

What have you learned from writing The Deadly Deal and has it affected the way you write?

What a great question. The Deadly Deal was my third book, and when I wrote it, I made a very conscious effort to focus on character development. It’s not that the plot suffered, but my first two books are way more centered around plot than they are the people, and I learned with The Deadly Deal how to better bring along that aspect of my writing in the story, and readers have definitely told me they felt more connected as a result. My hope is that that carried over to The Reluctant Reckoner, and that that readers will identify with Mark even more as they try to imagine being him.

What’s the significance of the title, The Reluctant Reckoner?

I struggle with titles in general and go through a series of options in almost all cases. Most people don’t think of this meaning when they hear the word, but “reckoner” is defined as “a table or device designed to assist with calculation.” That’s my main character, Mark…and when you toss in the very appropriate adjective “reluctant” and get the alliteration to boot, I knew it was a winner.

How much can you tell us about the other characters in the book, Mark’s friends and colleagues?

Mark certainly needs help, and he leans on two critical side characters: his estranged sister, who lives a few states away and gets sucked into helping primarily because of Mark’s daughter; and his best friend, Brad. Brad is one of those rare lifelong friends who will always be there, but he’s also got a very interesting backstory that puts Mark further at odds with the FBI…

Without wanting to give too much away, it turns out that Mark is being threatened by some very dangerous people. Can you drop any hints about why they choose him, an ordinary accountant with an impeccable record, and what they want him to do?

I first conceived of the idea that an innocent accountant might get sucked into a dangerous game of fraud many years ago. If you think about it, there is an expertise in technical professions (e.g. accounting, engineering, computer programming, etc.) that could make people a target. They can be an unwilling gatekeeper to something dangerous and illegal, and since they are not typically very combative people (at least in my experience), they wouldn’t necessarily know how or even want to fight back. And Mark is just that: an innocent accountant. They want him for his access to certain accounts and knowledge of an accounting system they plan to exploit, but they like him because they think he’ll be easy to control.

How did you set out to research The Reluctant Reckoner and how important is thorough research?

I conducted a fair amount of “big picture” and “nitty gritty” research that I have recently broken down for Writer’s Digest in a guest article.  I try hard to drive authenticity into the scenes, settings, plot, and characters for all my books, and The Reluctant Reckoner was certainly no different. Lots of in-person and web-based research went into this one…

There was one big surprise. I was the victim of identity theft years ago, so I knew that a) people are always trying to steal our information and b) to a degree they are succeeding, resulting in the infamous “year of free credit monitoring” that all the large organizations offer up when there’s a data breach that may compromise your information (as if that is equitable). What surprised me, however, as I researched this book, was just how far behind the bad guys perpetrating these crimes it seems the good guys trying to stop it will always be. It made me pause.

In our last interview, you mentioned the importance of starting with an outline for your novels, while leaving wiggle room for surprises. To what extent has that changed, or is it still an important part of your process?

I sometimes wish I had the ability to start with a blank page and churn out a full novel. It feels liberating and boundless, but the truth is I need the outline way more than the outline needs me. My books tend to have a lot of foreshadowing, hint dropping, red herrings, etc. I need the outline to keep me grounded. And somewhat to my surprise, I have found that the outline actually allows me to be more creative than just starting with that blank page.

Mark is a father, a sole parent who has lost his wife. How important is his situation as a single parent and how he relates to his daughter? 

It’s central to who he is, how he decides to respond to his situation, and what he feels he must do. Katherine is Mark’s world and has been ever since he lost his wife. So, when he is faced with the dilemma of either helping the terrorists, supporting the FBI, both, or neither, she’s the first and last thing on his mind.

What would you do if you were able to write full time?

What a kind question! I like what I do, and I know that if I ever wrote full time, some of the pure joy of writing might fade (it’s proven that doing anything for a job is somewhat less fun than doing it as a hobby), but in full disclosure: I believe that is going to happen and I look forward to the possibility.

What is your daily writing routine?

During the year I wrote, edited, and worked towards the publication of The Reluctant Reckoner, I awoke at 4:28 each morning and “wrote” – a loose term my wife and I use for anything related to the book – until around six-thirty.  From then until seven, I played with my kids. I keep my day job completely separate from my writing and would usually get home around six, have dinner and put little ones to bed, and then revisit the writing I did that morning at around 8:00 that night. Come 9:30, my wife and I would relax with a sitcom for a half-hour or so before bed. Then rinse and repeat. It can at times feel like life is “too scheduled,” but it’s the only way I can ensure the important stuff gets done…

What are you working on now?

Thanks for asking! While I don’t want to give away too much too soon – and it’s all subject to change anyway as I plow ahead – I have two stories in the works that are very exciting to me. One is another standalone novel set some thirty years ago in a small Southern Illinois town, and the other is a return to Ben Siebert where we get to learn about all the fun stuff he’s been up to. They’re both mystery/suspense novels and they’re both a lot of fun to mess around with when I get the time to do so.

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About J.Lee: 

J. Lee is the author of The Hubley Case, The Silent Cardinal, and The Deadly Deal. He graduated from Duke University with degrees in Engineering and Sociology, and lives in the western suburbs of Chicago with his family.

J. Lee’s debut novel, The Hubley Case, won the New York City Big Book Award® and The Best Book Award for Best Thriller. His third book, The Deadly Deal, won Winner, Medical Thriller of The Year Best Thriller and finalist in 2023 Thriller of The Year for Chanticleer Book Reviews®.

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