Clare London holds on for a Hero

When I started writing Freeman, I knew I wanted a hero in the old-fashioned sense – discreet but tough, quiet but determined *sigh happily* – and I wanted my other protagonist to shake him up in more ways than professionally. But it proves to be a serious challenge! Freeman is withdrawn, often taciturn, confident but self-contained. He cares about people but doesn’t wear that on his sleeve. He admires honesty, understands pride, seeks truth and fairness, feels hurt and happiness. And passion, too. Just keeps it all close to his chest :).

He’s an investigator of sorts, but I didn’t want to write about a cop or a private investigator. I wasn’t looking for guns or gore! So I wrote about white-collar crime, about corporate fraud and personal greed – sometimes just as ugly. That was where I pitched Freeman’s nemesis, George – and set the scene for Freeman to bring him down.

And then Freeman meets Kit and the romantic challenge is on! Kit keeps things close to his chest, too, but not his emotions. Nor his fierce attraction to Freeman. His life’s in a mess and he’s tangled up with the worst parts of George’s world. He’s provocative and confrontational, but he wants passionately to be what Freeman admires and needs. It’ll be them against the world – if Kit can just break down Freeman’s defences.

I originally wrote this in instalment chapters, leading myself from one cliffhanger to another LOL. And if I’m honest, I think it may have been inspired by my love of Lee Child’s hero Jack Reacher. Also Lee Child’s “shrinking-sentences” style. I wondered if I could write well in that same spare, slightly obscure way, with an unreliable narrator, where the reader is the last to know, but everything does come to a satisfactory conclusion regardless.

Only the readers can tell me that, eh? 🙂

FREEMAN – read an excerpt and buy at MLR Press in ebook or paperback, and at Amazon Kindle.

Freeman’s return to the city is quiet, without fuss — the way he likes things. But, he’s missed by more people than he thought: his ex-wife, his ex-lover, and his ex-business partner. One wants friendship, another one intimacy. The third just wants him the hell gone again. Freeman — private, controlled — hasn’t time or appetite for trouble. But, when he strikes up an unusual, ill-advised friendship with young, lively, amoral Kit, it seems trouble’s come looking for both men, ready to expose secrets that can destroy the fragile trust they’ve built. Freeman’s more ready for the challenge than anyone realizes when the choice comes down to peace or Kit’s life.

Clare’s email: clarelondon11@yahoo.co.uk
Blog: http://clarelondon.livejournal.com
Website: http://www.clarelondon.co.uk/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/clarelondon
Twitter: @clare_london