What does a day in the life of Jack Emery look like? That’s like asking how mercury likes to spend its time. Jack is a lightning rod. He’s a nice guy, but trouble finds him like a football finds Tom Brady. He has no right to survive half the trouble he gets himself into, yet he finds his way through it all.

I can’t illustrate it any better than the first few paragraphs he spends in my first book – The Foundation:

Jack Emery woke with a groan, face down in a pool of vomit. The sickly soup had matted his hair and dried on his face. He dry retched, one more protest from a body familiar with this type of abuse. He had the worst hangover of all time, or at least this side of the crucifixion. He rolled out of the puddle and onto his back. As he moved, his head felt like it was a tumble dryer. Once he was still, he took a minute to do a physical stocktake. He moved his fingers and toes, then his limbs, pleased that everything seemed to be in working order—more or less.

While Jack’s position in life improves from there, this passage gives an adequate understanding of his world view. He’s an elite reporter, but one who has had more than his share of bad luck. Worse for him, through my series of political thrillers – The Foundation, State of Emergency and Nations Divided – Jack faces far more bad luck than he really deserves.

Honestly, I’ve blown him up, tortured him, stabbed him, shot at him and generally made his life pretty miserable. If he was a real person, he’d have sued me long ago. Instead, when I’m writing I get to picture him, staring at me, daring me to put him through even more of a hellish time than I have already. Scarily enough, this is more of a handbrake than my own imagination.

If Jack had his way, he’d sleep in until midday. His hangover would be gone by then, by which time he’d be free to work on his latest story for the New York Standard. Treated like the Pulitzer Prize winning god he is, that would be about enough, and Jack could retire with his plaudits and prize money for the rest of his life.

Instead, through three books and one prequel novella, I’ve done my best to torment Jack. It’s reached the point where I’m genuinely not surprised when he bounces back or otherwise foils my plan. He’s a modern day James Bond, without the nice suits and the ability to solve every problem with a martini and the wink of an eye. If nothing else, he’s still fighting the good fight.

Nations Divided is the third book in the Jack Emery political thriller series, published by Momentum, December 2015.

Meet the author
Steve P. Vincent lives with his wife in a pokey apartment in Melbourne, Australia, where he’s forced to write on the couch in front of an obnoxiously large television.

When he’s not writing, Steve keeps food and flat whites on the table working for the man. He enjoys beer, whisky, sports and dreaming up ever more elaborate conspiracy theories to write about.

He has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Political Science and History. His honors thesis was on the topic of global terrorism. He has traveled extensively through Europe, the United States and Asia.

Twitter: @stevepvincent
Facebook: stevepvincentwriter
Web: stevepvincent.com