If not for an injury, I never would have become a novelist.
This is the backstory of “Riptide.”
In
1986, I rented a condo on Maui for the summer, intent on polishing my
skills as a competitive windsurfer. Strong trade winds, gorgeous waves
for jumping, and warm water. What could go wrong?
My
second day at Hookipa Beach, bouncing over the lip of a roller, the
board exploded out of the water and smashed my femur. The E.R.
physician told me nothing was broken and recommended smoking a little
Maui Wowie for the pain. (No, it was not Dr. House).
No
more windsurfing, so I sat on the beach with a yellow pad and, without
knowing what I was doing, started handwriting a novel featuring a
character that popped into my mind: linebacker-turned-lawyer Jake
Lassiter. Here’s the first sentence of fiction I ever wrote, (not
counting certain statements in my appellate briefs). “The old man loved
gadgets, money, and large-breasted women, and at the moment, he had all
three.” 
When I returned home to Miami, I put the novel aside and wrote “To Speak for the Dead,”
which became my first published book. I kept re-writing “Riptide,”
which appeared as a William Morrow hardcover under the title
“Slashback.” And that line about gadgets, money, and breasts? It’s now
the first sentence of chapter two. Here’s what the Tampa Tribune had
to say:
“A thriller as fast as the wind…a bracing rush, as breathtaking as hitting the Gulf waters on a chill December morning.”
“Riptide”
is the only one of the Lassiter thrillers based on one of my cases.
Yes, I really had an octogenarian client who kept $2 million in
negotiable bonds in a desk drawer. And yes, his secretary, a woman
“somewhere between forty and hell,” ripped him off. Though I was a
lawyer, I really acted as a P.I., tracking down the bonds without
killing anyone or getting shot at myself. Is Jake Lassiter as lucky in
“Riptide?” Aw, it’ll cost you $2.99 to find out.
All
I’ll say now is that the trail of clues leads to a sinister
professional windsurfer and his companion, Lila Summers, a champion
athlete and a lethal femme fatale. Jake chases the missing bonds and
the mysterious woman from Miami to Bimini to Maui where, in an explosive
finale, he learns lessons never taught on the football field or in the
courtroom.
There’s more about the Jake Lassiter series on my website, including info about “Riptide,” and of course you can buy the e-book from Amazon Kindle.
