Amy Dawson Robertson's debut Miles to Go introduces a brand new heroine for thriller fanatics to soak up and cheer on. Rennie Vogel is an FBI counterterrorism operative that HALO jumps without a second thought and holds her own against the men in her unit and the adversity and challenges of her mission.
All Rennie Vogel wants is to serve her country...
Rennie has devoted her life and body to training as an FBI counterterrorism operative. The brutal pace has slowly stripped away her private life. When her ambition of being the first woman ever considered to join CT3 is finally realized, she pushes herself to the limit to earn the position.
When one disaster after another befalls her, Rennie finds herself alone. Only then does she begin to unravel the misdirection and deceit that surrounds their first assignment, and to wonder if her failure, not her success, was part of the plan. Ultimately, with miles through an inhospitable landscape and an ambiguous enemy between her and safety, Rennie must decide if she can trust the one thing she never has before: another woman.
Amy Dawson Robertson writes with a conviction that immediately draws the reader in and has them holding their breath until the very end of the book. I had the opportunity to spend a few moments with Amy and asked her to share a few of her secrets.
Tell us a little bit about the motivation behind Miles to Go and the creation of such a strong and formidable heroine?
I wanted to create a true hero who happens to be a woman. Rennie Vogel is brave and honorable and sometimes afraid but she always rises to the occasion. If she is informed by anyone, it is by, in my estimation, the two greatest heroines of film and fiction: Ripley from Alien and Clarice Starling from Silence of the Lambs.
I am also using the series as a platform to ask some hard questions: What does it mean to be an American? What does it mean to be patriotic and how can you best serve your country when government isn't transparent?
Do you have any background in the FBI or specific knowledge of counterterrorism? If not, what type of research did you have to do to bring everything to life - because whatever you did, it worked!
Thanks! I haven't jumped out of any planes lately... I conducted my research both the traditional way and the modern way - lots of reading and lots of googling. I read great thriller writers, too, like Gayle Lynds and Vince Flynn - the importance of reading the best of the genre should never be minimized. And I did practice with an MP5, the standard submachine gun of special operations. That was fun!
What does the future hold for Rennie?
Rennie is going to go after a homegrown militia in the second book. But let's just say that it is, of course, going to be complicated and will have an international slant. And I will be bringing back Martin Garrison, the wily ex-CIA Cold War spy, who will continue to butt heads with Rennie.
I encourage everyone to pick up a copy of Miles to Go and introduce themselves to Rennie Vogel. You won't be disappointed.
Julie Korzenko is a senior paralegal at a boutique domestic law firm in Atlanta. Her first book DEVIL'S GOLD hit the shelves in March of 2009. Publisher's Weekly stated that "Fans of Alex Kava, Shannon, McKenna, and Suzanne Brockmann will hope to see more of Cassidy and Jake." She is currently wrapping up its sequel ANGEL FALLS.
