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Steve Hadden

Goodreads Author

Born

The United States

Website

http://stevehadden.com

Genre

Mystery & Thrillers, Suspense, Thriller

Influences

Clive Cussler, Greg Iles, john Grisham, Michael Connelly, Lee Child, M ...more

Member Since

December 2011

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About Steve

Steve Hadden is the author of the thrillers, The Sunset Conspiracy, Genetic Imperfections, The Swimming Monkeys Trilogy, The Victim of the System, The Dark Side of Angels, and The Secret That Killed You. A pre-med student turned chemical engineer who’s worked at the top of some of the largest companies in the world, Steve believes powerful thrillers lie at the intersection of intriguing stories and intelligent characters in search of dramatic revelations with global human impact.

He attended Penn State, where he studied pre-med and graduated with a degree in chemical engineering. He began a career in the oil and gas business and traveled to intriguing places around the world and met some fascinating characters. An early fan of a ...more

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Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Steve Hadden How far would you go to save your family? That’s a question that’s at the center of my new book, The Victim of the System. The book’s elevator speech …moreHow far would you go to save your family? That’s a question that’s at the center of my new book, The Victim of the System. The book’s elevator speech goes like this: A hometown sports hero turned investigator races against time and the most powerful family in Pittsburgh to solve a series of cryptic clues and save a ten-year-old genius on trial for murder.

The Victim of the System is a thriller about the abyss between the justice system and closure told with the story of three families that have each experienced a devasting trauma that’s rocked the core of their family unit. Both the protagonist and antagonists in the story face the question: How far would you go to save your family?

The book’s roots are set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And I must say here and now that it’s a great city with great people. The characters and the story are entirely fictitious. I’d had the idea for the story years ago. The most visceral part of the plot came from a painful experience I had with the court system years ago. That experience confirmed what a lawyer friend of mine had said. Rarely did someone get exactly what they wanted and very few ever got closure from the court system. Then, when I learned that Pennsylvania was only one of two states in the nation that automatically charged children as adults if they were charged with murder, the story began to take shape.

The protagonist, Ike Rossi, is a forty-one-year-old hometown sports hero who’s haunted by the murder of his parents twenty-two years ago. When his parents were murdered, he gave up his football scholarship and came home to raise his nine-year-old sister and find his parents’ killer. Now, he owns the bar and restaurant where his mother worked. He specializes in private security and investigative services in the oil and gas business. When he decides to help Jack, the ten-year-old genius on trial for murder, he’s pulled into an abyss filled with the painful sticky emotions of his parents’ unsolved murder twenty-two years ago.

The image on the cover is of the Bridge of Sighs at the Allegheny County Courthouse in downtown Pittsburgh. The bridge connects the courthouse to the old jail, and prisoners would be taken across the bridge to the court to determine their fate. It was the bridge between the abyss of prison and the closure of their case. Today, the bridge is still used to temporarily hold prisoners during court appearances, but the prison now houses the Family Law Court. The courthouse is a magnificent building with beautiful murals inside, including the Mural of Justice. The courthouse figures prominently both early and late in the book and Ike’s view of the courthouse and justice changes dramatically from the beginning of the story to its end.

I believe powerful thrillers lie at the intersection of great stories, interesting characters, dramatic human conflict and the edge of science, and each of those elements are incorporated into this intriguing story. The book was just released, so if you like powerful thrillers, pick up your copy of The Victim of the System today.

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Steve Hadden’s books

Average rating: 4.27 · 1,938 ratings · 277 reviews · 10 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Victim of the System 4.26 avg rating — 781 ratings — published 2018 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Swimming Monkeys: Genesis 4.04 avg rating — 260 ratings — published 2012 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Dark Side of Angels 4.32 avg rating — 219 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Genetic Imperfections 4.14 avg rating — 201 ratings — published 2012 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Secret That Killed You (Ike Rossi, #2) 4.41 avg rating — 184 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Swimming Monkeys: Exodus 4.66 avg rating — 97 ratings — published 2015 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Swimming Monkeys: Revelation 4.68 avg rating — 91 ratings — published 2013 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Sunset Conspiracy 4.14 avg rating — 102 ratings — published 2011 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Swimming Monkeys Boxed Set it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 3 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	[(Revelation (the Second Book in the Swimming Monkeys Trilogy))] [By (author) Steve Hadden] published on (July, 2013) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Swimming Monkeys (3 books)
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Steve is Currently Reading

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Tough Love for Indie Authors: An Honest Look at What it Takes to Win in Self-Publishing

by Keri-Rae Barnum

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Feb 17, 2026 03:18AM

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The Widow

by John Grisham (Goodreads Author)

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Feb 02, 2026 08:01PM

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Watchers

by Dean Koontz (Goodreads Author)

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Jan 21, 2026 07:19PM

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Steve Hadden is currently reading Tough Love for Indie Authors: An Honest Look at What it Takes to Win in Self-Publishing by Keri-Rae Barnum	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Steve Hadden is currently reading The Widow by John Grisham (Goodreads Author) Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee in Readers' Favorite Mystery & Thriller	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Feb 02, 2026 08:01PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Widow by John Grisham. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Widow by John Grisham <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Steve Hadden is currently reading Watchers by Dean Koontz (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 21, 2026 07:19PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Watchers by Dean Koontz. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Watchers by Dean Koontz <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Steve Hadden is currently reading The Big Dark Sky by Dean Koontz (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Steve Hadden is currently reading 11/22/63: A Novel by Stephen King (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Steve Hadden is currently reading Nightshade (Catalina, #1) by Michael Connelly (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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