Author Michele I. Khoury joins me today for a
conversation about her new suspense novel, Busted.
Bio:
Michele I. Khoury, an
award-winning entrepreneur in the technology industry, lives in Orange County,
California with her husband and two dogs, Bubbles and Thriller. While attending
the University of California Irvine's Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced
Novel Writing program, she created Busted.
Welcome, Michele. Please tell us about
your current release.
Busted
is about three people who collide over cocaine.
Impacted by the
recession, twenty-four-year-old artist Gina McKenna is down to her last few
dollars and days away from living in her car when a successful businessman buys
a painting and commissions another. As their relationship evolves, she’s
seduced by his charm and mesmerized by his luxurious lifestyle until she
discovers he’s a drug kingpin. Her world turns upside down, and she struggles
to survive vicious brutality.
Miguel Lopez is
a cocaine supplier with a weightlifter’s physique and “the rules do not apply
to me” attitude. Maniacal and ruthless, he has no qualms about killing anyone
who interferes with his distribution network, including Gina.
Dedicated to
eradicating illegal drugs, DEA Special Agent Bobby Garcia spent months and
hundreds of thousands of dollars working undercover to buy his way up the
dealer chain to identify the moneyman. When his fourteen-year-old daughter
overdoses on cocaine, he traces the blow to Lopez. As Bobby's mission becomes
personal, he makes emotional decisions, which negatively impact civilians and
his job. Unable to let go, he risks his career to orchestrate the biggest drug
sting in Southern California. What happens isn’t what he expected.
When a deputy
district attorney meets Gina at a party, he is smitten. As his attraction
grows, so does Gina’s involvement with the DEA’s case, of which he is the
designated prosecutor. Mindful of his professional ethics, he tries to stifle
his feelings.
Sex and
violence permeate the twists and turns of this cautionary tale about choosing
one’s friends well.
What inspired you to write this book?
Ten years ago,
I took a Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced Writing Course from the
University of California at Irvine’s Extension Program. One of the first
assignments was to plot a novel. While driving home from class, the idea came
to me. The following week I presented my outline, and my professor said, “This
is fascinating. You have to write this book.”
Excerpt from Busted:
Chapter 1
Gina
Movie-Star Smile
The Laguna Beach Soup Kitchen
leased a renovated warehouse where twenty-four-year-old Gina McKenna served
dinner. She volunteered two nights a week along with a dozen others, and as she
watched the bedraggled men, women, and children file through the food line in
the onion-and-Lysol-smelling room, a walnut-sized lump formed in her throat.
The kids, displaying dirt-smudged
skin and clothes, yanked Gina’s heartstrings the most. Every few months, she
collected her stepbrothers’ and stepsister’s old garments and toys and offered
them to the homeless children. Their reactions ranged from wariness to cautious
acceptance to joyful appreciation.
Timmy, a skinny twelve-year-old
boy, approached and bounced up and down as if he were on a trampoline.
High
on cocaine. Having witnessed such manic behavior many times, she
glanced at his parents, whose expressions reflected resignation. She didn’t
know if they’d surrendered to their son’s drug usage, their circumstances,
their fate, or all three. As she scooped mashed potatoes onto their plates, she
felt powerless to help. Sorrow filled her.
Five years ago, when she began
helping at the soup kitchen, she discovered the homeless were starved for more
than food: they craved contact and connection. Often she was the first person
who’d acknowledged them all day. If she had a little extra cash, she’d slip
someone ten or twenty bucks. The money wasn’t much, but their gratitude was
hugely rewarding.
A stoop-shouldered man shuffled
over. He was in his midforties and wore multiple layers of grimy clothing.
“Hi, Sam,” Gina said, giving him a
warm smile. The broken and enlarged blood vessels covering his cheeks and nose
from alcohol abuse made him look seventy. Knowing he liked mashed potatoes, she
added an extra spoonful. “Here you go.”
“Thanks,” he muttered and ambled
along.
The empathetic soup kitchen
director, conducting a fund-raising tour, escorted a gray-haired woman dressed
in a chic black pantsuit and carrying a Louis Vuitton purse.
“Sixty percent of the homeless in
Orange County are children,” he said.
The woman held her hand over her
mouth, and her large diamond ring sparkled. “I had no idea.”
He nodded. “The OC is one of the
wealthiest counties in the country, which makes real estate extremely
expensive. The lack of affordable housing is a major problem.”
Gina glanced around the cavernous
area, observing people standing on the perimeter holding their trays and
waiting for a seat at one of the long tables. She hoped the wealthy woman
became a patron, because more families kept showing up. For many, this meal was
their only food of the day, and the sound of silverware scraping plates
dominated the room.
The director pointed to the line.
“Most people lived paycheck to paycheck, and when the recession claimed their
jobs, they couldn’t pay their mortgage or rent. Eviction followed. People come
here feeling ashamed, humbled, and hungry.”
Even though Gina had heard the
spiel numerous times, she cringed. The director could be talking about her. She
hadn’t sold a painting in the last two months; she'd depleted her savings; her
six-hundred-dollar rent was due in ten days; and she had hardly any money left.
The crushing anxiety over her looming homelessness haunted her. Needing to
devote all her time and energy to her art, she’d decided tonight was her last time
serving. As she secretly said good-bye and wished each person well, her heart
was breaking.
The last in line was a forlorn
ten-year-old girl, who waited patiently. Gina ladled the potatoes onto her
plate, and when the child moved on, Gina couldn’t contain her tears any longer.
She’d helped feed the less
fortunate, but they’d nourished her soul.
What exciting story are you working on
next?
My next book, The Sheriff’s Wife, is about domestic
violence and abuse and is loosely based on ex-Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca. The book is fiction.
Sheila McKay is
married to the Los Angeles County Sheriff, who blames the stress and pressures
on his job for his abusive behavior. After one particularly brutal experience,
she wondered who she could call for help? Known throughout the law enforcement
community, her husband is one of the most powerful and popular cops in
California. No one will believe her.
Where can she
go? If she escapes to a friend’s or a family member’s home, he knows where they
live, and that places everyone—including the children—in danger. If she seeks
refuge in a shelter, chances are he’s been there, and if he hasn’t, he has easy
access to addresses.
Should she have
him arrested? Most police—out of fear of losing their job or retaliation—will
invoke the code of silence and not charge a fellow officer. (This is what
happened to Sheriff Baca’s wife.)
If Sheila was
successful in filing charges then dropped them, she’d lose future credibility
and protection.
Will she take
him to court? As an expert witness, he’s testified many times and knows the
system. It would be her word against his. Should she seek a conviction? If she
won, he’d lose his job and would retaliate against her.
How
she manages to escape, survive, and protect her three children is her story.
When did you first consider yourself a
writer?
This is an
interesting question. I didn’t consider myself a writer until I received
positive professional reviews on Busted,
and the book was published. I equated “writer” with “author.” The writing class
I attended consisted of many talented writers, and I remember being in awe and
intimidated by their skills. Then, I stopped comparing myself and started
observing their styles and studied what made their work effective.
Do you write full-time? If so, what's
your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find
time to write?
I wish I
could focus on writing my novel full-time. Every morning I walk our dogs for
1.2 miles, and workout three days a week. On Mondays and Fridays, my husband
and I baby-sit our grandchildren. One day each week is dedicated to
researching, writing, editing, and publishing my blog to promote Busted. (I’m amazed at how much time
this requires.) I’m also an active board member of Human Options, a non-profit
dedicated to ending domestic violence and abuse, which entails meetings twice a
month. In addition, my husband and I are designing and building a new home.
We’ve just completed the design stage, and the building stage will take another
year and a half, requiring weekly visits to the job site. Every Wednesday, I
attend my writing professor’s mentoring group along with six other authors from
6 to 9 p.m. So, to answer your question, sometime during the week I squeeze in
six to eight hours to compose the next seven pages of my novel.
Just for fun:
I play
cribbage on Thursday afternoons from 3 to 4:30, have lunch once a week with one
of my friends, and in the evenings, I love to read. Also, on the weekends, we
have dinner with friends, family, or see a movie.
What would you say is your interesting
writing quirk?
I’m a
perfectionist. Which is not the most efficient way to write. I’ve learned how
to edit, and now when I’m creating, I’m simultaneously editing.
As a child, what did you want to be when
you grew up?
I’m
embarrassed to say I didn’t have any lofty goals or aspirations as a child.
However, during my first and second careers in the technology industry (one in
the corporate world and one with my own business as an entrepreneur), I always
wanted to write fiction. I’d write short stories and share them with my friends
and co-workers. Their positive feedback encouraged me.
Anything additional you want to share
with the readers?
If you’re
interested in writing, I recommend taking a class from a qualified instructor.
Be wary of “Writing Groups”; if they are not led or managed professionally, the
negative critiques can be devastating and de-motivating. Also, do your
research. I’ve seen many talented writers who are too lazy to dig into the
details that make a story authentic. Lastly, writing is like a marathon, and
with any endeavor, passion helps, but commitment is critical. I wish you the
best!
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