My first foray into crime fiction: “Red Warning”

I’ve always been uncomfortable with genres as a writer, which has led me to be pigeonholed into the very broad category of “literary fiction.” That suits me fine on a certain level, but it’s not a great fit when people pick up my books expecting a cozy book club read. But I’ve been inspired by writers such as James Ellroy and David Peace, whose work fits comfortably within the crime fiction genre, while also incorporating all of the social critique and other elements of literature that I love. And so, we have my latest novel, Red Warning.

Set in Afghanistan in 1978, it follows a dirty cop as he tries to navigate the explosive politics of the day, please his many masters, and come out ahead. And like my earlier works, I provide a sympathetic view of otherwise unsympathetic characters. I see corruption as a slippery slope, and as my characters slide downwards away from pursuing justice or the truth, they lose the guiding lights that might otherwise lead them to redemption. And once the truth is no longer the beacon guiding law enforcement, the line between right and wrong and the police and criminals becomes erased. This is the world in which my characters live and try to survive.

The first in a planned trilogy, Red Warning will show you Afghanistan like you’ve never seen it, a country both strange and alien and intimately familiar to anyone who has plumbed the depths of the human heart and found its dark corners.

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