Goodreads asked Chris Beakey:

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

Chris Beakey While I'm a happy person living a great life, I spend a lot of time worrying about bad things happening to good people. I'm also mindful of the value in cherishing your life when it's good, and as it's happening, because so much about that life can change in an instant.

As I describe it in the foreword to FATAL OPTION, I experienced one of these "what-if" moments about 10 years ago as I drove through freezing January rain on a narrow road that twisted its way through the forest. I tapped the brake, which immediately sent my Jeep into a sideways slide . . . in that moment there was nothing but the sight of the car spinning toward giant old growth trees and the certainty that my life was going to end in a smash-up of glass and steel.

Fortunately, Ronnie, the guardian angel I've been acquainted with since the age of 17 (speaking truthfully here) once again reached down, this time with a hand that brought me to a stop across that road. for several seconds I couldn't move. I just stared out at the darkness, thinking of the two teenage kids I would have had in a parallel life, and a good man who might do a very bad thing, for the best of all possible reasons.

I couldn't get it out of my mind. I still can't. Because in my mind this is exactly how it happened.

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