📚 A Bookish Chat with 'Jesse's Girl' Gary Morgenstein #AuthorInterview

Today we welcome Gary Morgenstein to The Writer's Life e-Magazine! Gary is the author of the new thriller novel, Jesse's Girl, and this interview is part of his Blog Tour by Pump Up Your Book. Enjoy!

The novels and plays of the award-winning writer Gary Morgenstein have been featured in national media from the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, New York Post and Sports Illustrated to NPR and Fox News.

Including Jesse’s Girl, Morgenstein’s seven novels include the critically acclaimed trilogy The Dark Depths comprised of A Mound Over Hell, A Fastball for Freedom and A Dugout to Peace, which begins in 2098 after America and the West have lost World War Three to the Islamic Empire and baseball begins its final season at Amazon Stadium.

Morgenstein’s stage dramas, which have been performed all over the country, include A Black and White Cookie, A Tomato Can’t Grow in the Bronx, Dancing on Glass, Walking Charlie, The Silence of Our Friends and the bi-partisan political satire AOC and the Untold Story of the 2028 Election.

Connect with him on social media at:

╰┈➤ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/gary.morgenstein/

╰┈➤ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/garymorgenstein

Jesse’s Girl is an emotional thriller, combining the fast pace of a thriller with the heart of a family drama, about Teddy Mentor, a single father searching for his adopted son Jesse who has run away from a substance abuse program. How did you come up with this idea?

My emotional thriller Jesse’s Girl was originally published in 2009. My son, my only child, was battling substance abuse. I wrote Jesse’s Girl, fictionalizing his story by putting the emotions into a creative food processor. I asked him to read the book, hoping that by seeing what he was doing to his family and especially to himself, it would motivate him to get clean. It didn’t work. He never read the novel. A few years later, he passed from substance abuse at 22. I put Jesse’s Girl in an emotional vault until a friend whose opinion I respect read Jesse’s Girl. She insisted I revisit the novel and do something with it because “these characters are more real than most of the people I know.” I took some deep breaths and did numerous drafts, digging deeper into the characters and plot, polishing and updating to bring out this new edition which I hope will touch and perhaps help people struggling with those they love.

Can you describe the father, Teddy, for us?

Teddy’s at the crossroads of his life. His wife Molly left him. He’s estranged from his only child. His job is in jeopardy. He’s a good and decent person, who simply has no road map for his life anymore.

And what kind of a person was his adopted son, Jesse?

Jesse’s smart and handsome, but plagued by demons in the shadows. Adoption is a beautiful thing, taking an unwanted child and giving them a home. But there’s a flip side. Someone didn’t want the child and the adoptee must deal with that rejection.

What was the reason Jesse’s father dropped everything and ran out looking for him?

Very simply, Jesse is all he has left.

Which specific scene or chapter gave you the most difficulty to write, and why?

The scenes between Teddy and Jesse because this father and son, who don’t like each other, dance on the precipice of either finding each other or not. And if they don’t find each other, they surely won’t find themselves.

What do you think sets Jesse’s Girl apart from other thrillers in your opinion?

The reason it’s called an emotional thriller is that while it has the fast pace of a thriller, it has the heart of a family drama.

Do you think writing thrillers is more complex than writing books of other genres?

I guess that depends on whether you write a plot driven or character driven novel. For me, the plot is always advanced by the characters, otherwise it doesn’t ring true.

What’s next for you?

Soon as I finish this interview I’m going back to my new novel, a contemporary love story with lots of twists.

Teddy Mentor finally thought his troubled teenage son was safe. No more drugs. No more police. No more fear. Only guilt. Then came the midnight call from the wilderness program. Jesse had run away.

But what can Teddy do? Risk his shaky job and head to Montana to search for Jesse? Let the authorities handle this. They know what they’re doing. That’s why Teddy sent Jesse away. Because he already failed. No. Teddy can’t jeopardize what little he has left for the adopted son who said Teddy wasn’t his real father. But Teddy is a parent. A single parent. And Jesse is all he has left.

The novel asks the question how much should a parent sacrifice for their child? In Jesse’s Girl, the answer is: Everything.

╰┈➤Book Details

● Title: Jesse’s Girl
● Author: Gary Morgenstein
● Genre: Thriller
● Sub-genre: Crime Action/Adventure
● Language:English
● Pages: 318
● Paperback ISBN: 978-1441492241
● Publisher: Amazon
● Price: Paperback $17, Kindle $3.99, FREE on Kindle Unlimited
● Amazon: https://a.co/d/03JVVL7e
● Barnes&Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/jesses-girl-gary-morgenstein/1018257163