Thursday, March 27, 2025 - See Previous Newsletters

My first psychological thriller, The Drive-By Wife, had an interesting beginning.  It started as a sprout—an idea I clipped from another book and replanted to flourish on its own.

Here's how it happened. 

My very first full-length novel, called The Founder's Medal, was about a disgruntled Silicon Valley engineer named Allen who snaps and steals a few million dollars' worth of the new computer chips he designed. He and his wife, Cynthia, go on the run with the intention of selling the chips on the black market.

When he buys a Beretta so they can protect themselves, Cynthia insists he teach her how to use it. They drive to an outdoor shooting range outside of Oakland, which is deserted. While Allen tries to show his wife how to load and fire the weapon, hardly knowing anything about guns himself, a huge tractor-trailer truck cab pulls a near their lane. It has a Grateful Dead logo emblazoned on the side, with the gibbering skull and crown of thorns. 

The cab door opens, and huge man steps down—he's clad in denim, with a cowboy hat, snakeskin boots, and a big, bushy beard.  He proceeds to unload a veritable arsenal of handguns and rifles and starts target practice, making a helluva lot of noise.

Allen feels uneasy and intimidated. While he tries to refocus on teaching his wife how to shoot the relatively small pistol, the man steps over and interferes.  Billy is friendly enough, speaking with a thick Southern accent, but there's something scary about him. The letters D, E, A, D are tattooed on his fingers. 

He starts giving Cynthia instructions about how to shoot the Beretta, and when he stands close behind her and puts his big paws on hers to show her how to aim, Allen can no longer stand it and says, "Get your hands off my wife."

It's a tense scene. It really didn't have much to do with the story, and didn't go anywhere, but it stuck with me, especially the Billy character. Honestly, being my first real novel, The Founder's Medal was quite a mess, never found a literary agent, and ended up in a bottom drawer.

But that scene with Billy persisted in my mind.  

Finally, I decided that it was too delicious to leave on the cutting room floor, so to speak, so I decided to write a whole story around that scene just so I could have it in a book.  

That story grew into The Drive-By Wife.

Billy is what gives the book its punch—his dark, dangerous vibe that makes the whole story thrum with tension. Billy is not your typical villain. He’s massive, rough, and domineering—but also deeply human. He’s wounded, lonely, and even loyal in his own twisted way.

There's old pain behind his steel-blue eyes and a quiet sadness that almost makes you root for him, even when he’s holding a rifle across his lap and calmly delivering threats.

Readers often tell me they feel conflicted about him. I do too. Maybe that’s why he stuck in my head so long. He’s scary, yes—but also kind of tragic.

For me, that makes him unforgettable.

And I honestly don't know where he came from.  I didn't "think him up." He just popped into my head, almost fully developed, when I was writing The Founder's Medal. Sometimes I think the characters that authors create exist in some parallel reality—Billy, for example, could be who I became if I had been born dirt-poor in the Appalachian Mountains.

In any case, I just finished giving The Drive-By Wife book cover a makeover, as you may have noticed.

Some good news: if you haven't yet read it, the full book is free for the next few days on Amazon—grab it while you have the chance.  If you use the USA Amazon store (.com), click here. Otherwise click the book cover and you'll be taken to the proper Amazon store for your location:

Also:  here's a 30-second advertisement that I had a lot of fun making yesterday:

Watch on Youtube

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Want New Books?

A Personal Appeal for Your Help

You may or may not know that I don't make a full-time living writing novels, whatever "successful" impression I may manage to make. I'm forced to spend time doing other things to supplement our family income, which pulls me away from my writing. The more readers I have, the higher my book sales and the more time I can spend cranking out new novels for you.

The best and surest way you can help is by sharing my books with friends and family. All you have to do is say, "Hey, you might like this book" and share the free download link for Lust, Money & Murder (Books 1, 2 & 3).  Who doesn't like freebies?  Some will be hooked into the series and become my loyal readers, too.

Here is the link to copy and paste into an email or social media post:

https://mikewellsblog.blogspot.com/2019/02/grab-your-free-mike-wells-starter.html

You can also share The Drive-By Wife free download page if you wish (it will work only until Sunday):

https://mikewellsblog.blogspot.com/2025/03/todays-free-book.html

Thanks in advance for your help!  I wish you a great weekend!

Mike

P.S. Have you read all my books?

Catch Up on the Lust, Money & Murder Series With

These Discounted Trilogy Boxed Sets

More 'Unputdownable' Books by Mike Wells
(Click on the photos for full synopses)

International Crime Thriller - Lust, Money & Murder (Series)
The deeper she goes, the more she risks becoming a criminal herself.

International Crime Thriller - Outback Diamonds
In the Outback, trust is the most valuable gem of all.

International Crime Thriller - Marilyn's Secret Lipstick
The past never stays buried.

Crime/Psychological Thriller
If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Crime Thriller - The Drive-By Wife
Takes "home invasion" to an entirely new level.

Crime Thriller - Renata's Revenge
They. Picked. The. Wrong. Girl.

Crime Thriller/Serial Murders - With Mother's Approval
A mother's love is eternal. For some, it's lethal.

Romantic Suspense - Forbidden (Series)
Temptation has its price.

New Adult Sci-Fi Adventure - Wild Child (Series)
You don't choose the green water...the green water chooses you.

Horror/Black Comedy
Babies always know...and they don't forget.

Technothriller - The Tesla Secret
Unlocking Tesla’s free energy secret could power the world...or end their lives.

Technothriller - Blind Scorpion
He could walk away a hero...but for which country?

YA Sci-Fi Romance - The Mysterious Disappearance of Kurt Kramer 
Lost in between worlds, will his heart lead him home?

Romantic Comedy - Secrets of the Elusive Lover
He plays the field, but she changes the game.

Coming of Age Suspense - The Wrong Side of the Tracks
First love in the teenage hell known as high school.

Book-Related Merchandise

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