I love a good crime novel but what's even better is one that's based on a true story, so I was thrilled when author J. David Bethel got in touch with me to do a feature about his book Blood Moon here on The Hippo. After reading the blurb (which you can find later in this post) I was intrigued, but first things first, let me introduce you to the man behind the words.
 |
| Photo courtesy of J. David Bethel |
J. David Bethel is a writer of fiction and
non-fiction. He has been published in
popular consumer magazines and respected political journals. He is the author of Evil Town, a novel of political intrigue, and Blood Moon, a psychological crime thriller inspired by a true story
of kidnapping, torture, extortion and murder.
Mr. Bethel spent 35 years in politics and
government. He served in the Senior
Executive Service as a political appointee where he was Senior Adviser/Director
of Speechwriting for the Secretary of Commerce; directed speechwriting offices
for other Cabinet officials, serving as Chief Speechwriter to the Secretary of
Education; and lead speechwriter in the Department of Transportation's Office
of Policy and International Affairs. He
also served as press secretary/speechwriter to members of U.S. Congress.
Mr. Bethel works as a media consultant for a
number of prominent communications management firms. He writes speeches, opinion editorials and
Congressional testimony for CEOs of the nation’s largest corporations,
including the Hilton Hotels Corporation, and Royal Caribbean Lines. His op-ed pieces have appeared in The Washington Post and other prominent
newspapers around the country.
J. David Bethel graduated with Phi Beta Kappa
honors from Tulane University and lives in Miami, Florida.
10 things you didn't know about BLOOD MOON
Blood Moon
was inspired by a true crime of kidnapping, torture, extortion and murder. That’s first on the list of things many do
not know about the novel. The balance of
“things you didn’t know” flows from there.
The details of this compelling
tale of survival in the face of human depravity came to me from Ed DuBois. Ed
runs a security firm, Investigators, Inc., in Miami, Florida, and had been
brought into the case by a mutual friend of Marc Schiller, the victim. Ed read
my novel Evil Town and enjoyed it, and when he wanted to
explore the possibilities of having a book written about the crime, he
contacted me.
Ed introduced
the story by telling me that Marc came from a very humble start in life. His parents
were Argentinian immigrants who came to the United States to improve their lot
in life. They did, but it was their son
who changed the course of the family’s fortunes. He took full advantage of the
opportunities offered, and through entrepreneurial talent and very hard work he
built a very successful life for himself and his family.
Then came the
nightmare.
Marc was
grabbed off the streets of Miami and dragged into a van, winding up in a
stifling, empty warehouse. Initially unaware of why he was being held captive,
he soon learned that the goal was to extort everything he had built. He further
discovered that one of the people who was involved in the kidnapping was a
business associate – a man he had mentored – who thought Marc had made some financial
decisions that cost him a lot of money.
The original
plan was to kidnap Marc and hold him for a $250,000 ransom, which was the
amount of money Marc’s associate thought he was owed. As it developed, the
others involved in the kidnapping were not satisfied with this plan. Knowing
that Marc was highly successful, they decided to keep him prisoner and force
him to turn over his entire estate. They needed information on his various
holdings and forced these details from him through various acts of torture, and
by depriving him of food and the other basic necessities. They kept him captive
in the hot, dirty warehouse for 30 days, where he was chained to a pipe,
blindfolded with duct tape – causing his skin to rot – and was forced to live
in his own filth.
Initially, Ed wanted a true
crime book written about Marc’s ordeal to counter the direction the story was
taking in a movie being made of the crime: “Pain and Gain.” Ed was serving as a
consultant on the movie and grew disenchanted with the “black comedy” slant
being applied to the script. I wrote a treatment of the book but when it became
apparent a true crime book could not be written and published in time to
provide a balance to the movie, that project was abandoned.
I had become intrigued by the
crime, especially by Marc’s courage and the ruthlessness of the psychopaths who
had kidnapped him. Bottom line is Blood Moon is a tale of good versus
evil. There is evil in this world; evil that most of us will never have to deal
with and cannot possibly imagine. There are also people like Marc and Ed who
are courageous enough and good enough to stand against it and defeat it. At any
time Marc could have succumbed and said “to hell with all this pain and
indignity” and laid down and died. That, believe it or not, would have been the
easy way out for him. Ed could have given up when the authorities wouldn’t work
with him to find the psychopaths. He
could have gone on to another case, but he refused. He put himself at risk by
dealing directly with the kidnappers and stayed on it until his efforts forced
the police to do their job.
My wheelhouse is fiction so I asked
Marc and Ed if they would be okay with my writing a novel about the case,
hewing closely to the events as they happened.
Both men gave me their blessings.
An extensive amount of research was
required in order to tell the story faithfully.
I studied hundreds of pages of trial transcripts to fully understand
details of the crime and to get a “feel” for the perpetrators and their
victims. I also studied police crime reports. The depositions
conducted by attorneys for the defense and prosecution were another source of information.
Most helpful were hours of discussions with the Ed and Marc.
Developing the characters of the
antagonists was the greatest challenge since I had no experience with such sick
individuals. I had to go to some pretty dark places to successfully “imagine” their
thoughts and describe how they operated in committing the atrocities they did.
It forced me to hone some skills I had not used before and it served to polish
my craft. But it wasn’t a lot of fun.
What was fun was deviating from the
true story in the second half of the novel and putting control of the fate of
the kidnappers and torturers in the hands of Marc’s wife. That’s all I can say without spoiling this plot
line, but both Marc and Ed agree, the ending of Blood Moon was very
satisfying for them.
The final and perhaps most important
contribution made by Marc and Ed was their agreement to write a Foreword and
Afterword, respectively, to the novel. I
am very grateful for their support throughout the writing of the novel, and in
recognition not only for their help with the novel, but to recognize their
courage and determination, I dedicated Blood Moon to both men.
* * * *
Blurb
On
a hot, steamy afternoon in Miami, Cuban-American businessman Recidio Suarez is
brutally beaten and abducted. Handcuffed, shackled and blindfolded, he has no
idea why he has been targeted. What he discovers is heart-stopping. What he
endures during almost a month of captivity compares only to the most horrendous
stories of prisoners of war. He is tortured, and under the threat of death, and
worse – the rape of his wife and torture of his children – Suarez is forced to
hand over his multi-million dollar holdings to his captors.
Suarez survives and then spends the next few months staying one step ahead of the murderous pack. During this time, he and his lawyer, Nolan Stevens – a former Special Agent in Charge of the Miami Office of the FBI – are having difficulties convincing the Miami-Dade Police Department that a crime has been committed. Their efforts are complicated by Steven’s difficult history with the head of the MDPD Special Investigations Division, who is not interested in pursuing the case.
Suarez survives and then spends the next few months staying one step ahead of the murderous pack. During this time, he and his lawyer, Nolan Stevens – a former Special Agent in Charge of the Miami Office of the FBI – are having difficulties convincing the Miami-Dade Police Department that a crime has been committed. Their efforts are complicated by Steven’s difficult history with the head of the MDPD Special Investigations Division, who is not interested in pursuing the case.
* * * *
After reading that I'm sure you can see just why I was eager to find out more and hopefully now you are too!
If you'd like to find out more about David Bethel and his books or connect with him you can use the links below:
Facebook (Author page)
Facebook (Blood Moon)
I'd like to thank David for stopping by today and for writing such a great post. I'm looking forward to reading Blood Moon very soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment