The Pyramid Code: A Debut Thriller

The Pyramid Code, A Marc O’Hara Thriller by Richard Bradley

Author Interview + Book & Author Info + Author Pet Corner!Don’t miss any ITW Debut Author interviews! Click the link here.The Pyramid Code

An ancient secret. A terrorist cell. The truth will change everything.

Former soldier Marc O’Hara is acting as a reader for an intelligence service in London when the call comes in. He’s to be re-activated as a field agent and assigned to solve a 13th century alchemical riddle.

A terrorist cell called the Red Death has the same goal. If the terrorists solve the clues first, they will unleash an ancient flesh-eating toxin. Even more alarming, they will possess the key to the most shrouded secret in history.

O’Hara and his partner, Kim Shahrokh, must follow obscure clues from Paris, to Egypt and Syria. Along the way, they discover hidden chambers full of lost ancient books, medieval automatons and moldering creatures, some not as dead as they should be.

The more they uncover, the more O’Hara isn’t sure who to trust in this quest. Is history a myth? Or has he simply ventured into a world populated by murderous madmen and fanatics.

Join agent O’Hara in this exhilarating Archeological Thriller from debut author Richard Bradley, where the past, present, and future all collide in a web of intrigue and deception.

Purchase your copy of The Pyramid Code at Amazon.Interview with The Pyramid Code Author Richard Bradley

 

The Pyramid Code follows Marc O’Hara from Paris to Egypt to Syria.  You love to travel.  How much did you rely on your own experiences and how much did you research for all the exotic locations in your debut? 

 While young, I visited England frequently and spent many summer vacations traveling throughout Europe and the Middle East.  Of course, for the novel, I still had to research specific locations even if I had traveled there.  I immersed myself in travel blogs, photographs and Google Maps to get the feel of the locations.  I even purchased scale models of some of the buildings.

I had many adventures during my travels, kidnapped briefly by a radical Turkish group, detained by the Spanish police for suspicion of running guns to Basque separatists and I once had to sneak past two border posts because of a passport mishap.  All good fodder for a future espionage thriller writer.   

 

The Pyramid Code is an archaeological thriller, tell us what that subgenre means to you:

The genre obviously has architecture as a central feature, best if ancient and spooky.  Missing relics or artifacts or manuscripts must be found to answer an historic puzzle. 

The thriller genre conventions apply.  The stakes are high with an evil antagonist racing  to beat the hero to the ultimate goal. 

The pace is fast with chases, fights and flying body parts, all leavened with pathos and dark humor. The story culminates in a dynamite dénouement (often using real dynamite).

 

The Pyramid Code includes both Marc O’Hara and his partner Kim Shahrokh.  Tell us about their dynamic. 

Marc is an agent for a private intelligence service and Kim works for an even more secret organization that retains Marc to find a stolen book.  He is a Brit, ex-military, ex-priest, deeply troubled by his past yet adept at solving puzzles.  Kim is a brilliant Iranian American academic, with an encyclopedic knowledge of history.  She is athletic and fearless. 

They are assigned to work together, which they do very well until Marc is forced to make Hobson’s Choice, changing everything.  Does their working partnership turn into romance?  Perhaps.

 

Tell us about the road to publishing your debut novel, The Pyramid Code:

I enthusiastically (and innocently) wrote my first version of this novel several years ago and started sending it to agents.  I received a ton of rejections along with a few helpful comments and realized I needed guidance. 

I contracted with a London based editor to review the novel for structure and content.  I was lucky to have picked an amazing editor and she introduced me to show not tell, pinch points, character/story arcs and a many other esoteric and mystical literati concepts.  Despite knowing she was 100% correct in all her suggestions,  I resisted rewriting (killing my darlings) and procrastinated by joining writer groups, reading advice books, blogs, etc.  Criticism by others was sometimes helpful, sometimes crushing.  I gave up the struggle and put the book aside for several more years. 

But then I forced myself to do a rewrite, cutting a 120,000-word draft to 80,000 words and I realized that editing, polishing and revising had its own delights.  I also realized that out of all that study, criticism and advice that I had endured, I had absorbed what really worked for me by osmosis and I had discovered that elusive quality, my own unique voice. 

When I arrived at the point when I was genuinely satisfied with my MS, I started resubmitting it to agents and legitimate publishers.  I was accepted by Aethon Books for their Aethon Thrills imprint and they have been great to work with.

 

What can we find you doing when you aren’t reading and penning twisty thrillers?  

My wife and I purchased a vintage, 4,000 sq. ft. Italian Villa style home.  It requires extensive repairs.  I always carry a hammer in one hand and a pen in the other, sometimes confusing the two.  I also have long been a genealogy enthusiast and I weave that pursuit into the novels.

 

What are you working on now? 

I am working on the second book in the series which takes place in France, Italy and various islands in the Mediterranean.  It concerns a search for ancient Roman lost gold financed by a mysterious billionaire.  What is he really searching for? 

The terrorist group in the first book have regrouped and grown even stronger.  We find out more about Marc’s ancestor who was an agent for the assassinated Czar Paul of Russia.  Ancient secrets and modern intrigue await to be uncovered by Marc and Kim.   

 

Words of Wisdom for Aspiring Writers:

I believe everyone’s journey is different, but for me, learning how to write a thriller novel was a lengthy process as I described in my earlier answer.  

So, my advice would be, don’t give up.  Give yourself time to absorb the craft and learn what works for you.  Consider the opinions and criticism of others but don’t be dictated by them.  Find your own way.

One piece of advice, especially pertinent to thrillers, came from Donald Maas’ book, The Breakout Novel, and it really resonated with me.  It was that you need to go big.  The plot needs to be big, the hero big, etc.  It was advice that emboldened me to stretch the scope and themes and even the genre of my novel.  The novel has some gothic, supernatural and even medieval science fiction elements.

Great Advice!

 

Author Pet Corner!Mena!

We adopted Mena, a stray, when she was about two months old. 

She is a mix of Boxer, Chihuahua, Pit Bull, Weimaraner and Chow Chow (yes, we had her DNA tested).  We call her a “Pit Chihuahua.”  She is now ten years old. 

Her unique traits are hopping like a rabbit and sitting very still in a Sphynx like pose, while she calmly surveys her realm with a “sneer of cold command.” 

We had a scare a few months ago when she started having trouble walking.  We went to a veterinarian specialist who initially suspected she had a spinal injury or cancer.  But, after extensive tests, she was found to have an autoimmune meningitis-like disease. 

It was treated with medicine and she has made a full recovery, much to our relief.

Wonderful to know she’s doing well! Such an adorable dog.Author of The Pyramid Code Richard Bradley

Author Richard Bradley crafts dark and twisty international thrillers, incorporating his love of exotic locales and historic puzzles.

Richard read Classics in college. Upon graduation, he traveled the globe, working under the table jobs, while studying art, architecture and archeology.

Afterwards, he worked in California as an executive in the real estate industry.

A member of ITW (International Thriller Writers), Richard lives in Georgia with his wife Candelaria and stoic dog Mena.

Follow Richard on his author journey by visiting him at his website and on Facebook. Elena Hartwell/Elena Taylor

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