In the first episode, Pia Sabel, heroine of The Geneva Decision, is hot on the trail of abducted children when a powerful bureaucrat steps in, threatening to slow her down. But she was there—she saw the heinous crimes—and will let nothing stop her.
A few months earlier, she took the helm of her father’s security company and nearly lost her life. She spent the summer improving her skills and learning the business. But when a shadowy group tries to setup her murder, she senses an international conspiracy and begins mapping out the players.
Her adversaries think she’s just a spoiled rich kid, a washed up soccer star who’s in over her head. She uses their mistake to her advantage, but who is she really up against—child traffickers or governments?
What prompted this serial?
Trench Coats is a serialized thriller that addresses a real-life question: If enhanced interrogation is an acceptable practice, what else could be used in the pursuit of information? Rape, pedophilia, drugs, murder?
I was alarmed by the casual portrayal of torture in the movie, Zero Dark Thirty, the fictional account of the hunt for Osama bin Laden. For years I’d read articles by JAG attorneys, respected conservative veterans, and those involved in actual terrorist interrogations stating that waterboarding was indeed torture and that the useful information gleaned from detainees came only from traditional, legal methods.
And yet, a decade after the fact, Hollywood portrayed our nation’s use of torture as an effective and acceptable means to justify an end. This is not a Republican versus Democrat debate, nor a liberal versus conservative debate — this is a right versus wrong debate. A good versus evil debate. Should we, a democratic nation allow our elected officials to engage in criminal acts because they assert it’s expedient?
We will examine that question over the coming months in Trench Coats.
Trench Coats, a Pia Sabel thriller in six episodes, begins today with the release of Episode I: The Meeting. I hope you’ll buy it, read it, and discuss it online. The first fifty people to write honest and positive* reviews will get the remaining episodes for free. Be sure to join my mailing list (see box on the right) to receive notices of the subsequent releases.
Peace, Seeley
* I will assume that a review of three stars or less means the reviewer is not interested in reading the rest, so I’ll spare him/her (I’ll also send an exorcist to remove the demons that obviously infest them). Anyone wishing to suck up to the author will be perennially encouraged and rewarded.
