Political Thriller
Date Published: August 13, 2026
Run Time: 10 hours 17 minutes
U.S. Senator Rick Taylor has been warning anyone who'll listen: the national debt is no longer a spreadsheet problem-it's a ticking bomb. But in Washington, truth is toxic. Colleagues dismiss him, constituents scream about "cuts to my benefits," and the media paints him as the villain who wants to gut Social Security.
Then the blackmail begins.
A shadowy network led by a ruthless operator making huge profits from unchecked government spending will stop at nothing to silence anyone who threatens the status quo. After Taylor's wife is targeted in a terrifying swatting attack and a sniper's bullet nearly ends Taylor's life, the message is clear. Shut up... or die.
JM: I grew up in Colorado Springs. At eighteen I left for college in Daytona Beach, and the business years took us to Memphis, Phoenix, Fort Lauderdale, and Maple Grove, Minnesota. We came back to Colorado Springs in 2011. I retired in 2021, and my wife and I still split the year—summers here, winters in Tucson.
Colorado is home. Arizona is how we dodge the snow.
JM: I just finished Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. It’s not the kind of book I usually pick up, but a friend recommended it and my wife encouraged it. She was right.
Our world seems filled with division and animosity, so it was a pleasure to read something built around kindness and moral goodness. I also like reading an author’s first novel. Levi wrote this later in life and self-published it. It later found a much bigger audience. That’s encouraging for every author still pounding out the next book.
JM: My favorite thing about Colorado is the mountains. Almost anywhere I go in town, the view of Pikes Peak changes with the perspective. I also like the dry climate and the scarcity of mosquitoes and other flying pests.
Tucson gives me the same gifts. The city is ringed by mountains, and the Catalinas change with the light as the sun moves across the sky. We can leave the screen door open for the dog without inviting half the insect world inside. The bonus is no snow in the winter.
JM: I’m a pantser, with a twist: I start with a topic.
I take something from the headlines—usually an emerging technology or a challenge facing the country—study it, and look for a story that puts a main character inside that problem. Once I have that, I write a hook and go.
I never create an outline. I pause when I need to decide what happens next. If the path is getting too obvious, I add a twist. Sometimes I know how the book will end before I start, but not always.
The issue I started with stays in the background. The character’s experience is what carries the pages. Usually my characters are way out of their element with the life-and-death challenges they face. I like my readers to be able to relate with the character and think, “What would I do if faced with that situation?”
JM: In November of 2000 I watched the Florida recount and it struck me that a manipulated national election would make a strong thriller.
The idea stayed with me for twenty years. When I was getting ready to retire from business, I thought maybe I’ll write that book and l wondered whether readers would connect with a story about an election that could be compromised. After 2020, that question answered itself so I began writing.
That book became Wayward Patriot: Preserving the Vote. I found I enjoyed writing so I approached the next one the same way. AI and drones were in the news so I spun a tale that included those.
The “Wayward Patriot” is the person who wants to do the right thing for the country and then steps over a moral or legal line, telling themselves it’s for the greater good. That became the thread that holds the series together.
writing? What advice would you give to a writer working on their first book? What’s your
writing software of choice?
JM: I would tell a new writer to go ahead and write the book. An author can take a story anywhere—let people thrive, survive, or not make it off the page. Tell a story you would enjoy reading.
I write in Scrivener. It’s flexible: I can move chapters, keep track of characters, and keep research nearby. The real bonus comes at the end. From the same project I can generate a print-ready PDF or an ePub. The compile settings take some learning, but there are plenty of YouTube walkthroughs, and you can come out with a professional file.
The last thing I would tell them is to hire an editor. You get too close to your own sentences. They all make sense to you. An editor reads the book the way a stranger will. A good one makes the manuscript better. Skipping that step is how a lot of first books stay first drafts.
JM: I’ve been blessed with a lot of people who support my work.
My friend and golfing buddy Chuck is my first reader. He lives in Arkansas. I send him chapters as I go; he marks what doesn’t land and does a light cleanup before the manuscript reaches my editor, Carrie Cannella. Having Chuck waiting for chapters is motivational and he’s very encouraging.
My wife, Barbara, and my siblings read the finished draft after it has been edited. On Debt Reckoning, I added a chapter because my sister Nancy didn’t like the ending.
I also ask for volunteers from my newsletter list to be beta readers and tell me how the story plays with them.
JM: I’m retired from business, so the writing is part-time by choice.
I like the mornings—two or three hours at the desk. If the story is coming fast, I stay with it until I’m spent. Some days it isn’t there. Then I’ll play golf or take a five-mile hike. That’s when I listen to an audiobook or let the next stretch of the book sort itself out.
I’ve also started posting on TikTok. I write short scripts and record clips to put the books in front of people who don’t already know them. It isn’t the same work as drafting a chapter, but it’s part of the week now.
Jack was introduced to thrillers when Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October was published. However, for most of his life, he was a reader rather than an author. During the 2000 Presidential election as he watched TV coverage of the Florida recount with 'dimpled chads' and 'hanging chads,' he thought an election conspiracy would be a great basis for a thriller. It wasn't until 2020 when he retired from his career, which included management positions in corporate America and small business ownership as well as a brief stint in ministry, that he sat down to write Wayward Patriot: Preserving the Vote.
His unique approach to political thrillers rips headlines from the news and weaves them through a thrilling tale of patriotism, political corruption and crisis. He says, "when I see some major new issue or technology in the news I want to learn more about it. I enjoy sharing what I learn with others by wrapping a story around it that will engage and entertain readers."
He and his wife, Barbara, have three grown children and seven grandchildren and divide their time between Colorado Springs and Tucson.
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