Novelist Glenn Dyer is here today and we’re
chatting about his new thriller, The
Torch Betrayal.
Bio:
Long captivated
by the events of World War II, Glenn Dyer couples this fascination with his
passion for historical thrillers with the publication of The Torch Betrayal, the first in the Conor Thorn Series. He resides
in Park City, Utah with his wife Chris. They have three children, all of whom
live too far away.
Welcome, Glenn. Please tell us about
your current release.
A disgraced agent. A missing battle plan. Will he find redemption
or damage the Allies beyond repair?
London,
1942. OSS Agent Conor Thorn is desperate for a second chance. After a botched
mission in Tangier, Thorn knows failure is not an option. When confidential
directives for Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa, go missing, the
agent must recover the plans before the Nazis thwart the crucial mission.Thorn teams up with MI6 agent Emily Bright to seek out the traitor in their midst. Untangling the web of suspects leads them to Nazi sympathizers, double-crossing Soviet spies, and Vatican clergymen with motives of their own. As their mission grows more and more dangerous, Thorn and Bright have one chance to retrieve the document before it falls into enemy hands, leaving countless Allied troops in danger.
The Torch Betrayal is a high-stakes World War II thriller inspired by true events.
What inspired you to write this book?
The Torch Betrayal, is inspired by an actual event that I
uncovered while doing research for a World War II set novel that I wanted to
write. In Harry C. Butcher’s book, My
Three Years with Eisenhower (1946), he revealed that a top-secret document
that contained key directives of the invasion f North Africa, Operation Torch,
had gone missing. Nowhere in his fascinating book does he mention that the page
was recovered. Given that the invasion did, in fact, occur, I had to assume
that the page must have been recovered because to have launched the invasion as
it was originally scheduled with the knowledge that the missing document might
have fallen into the hands of the Nazis would have been potentially disastrous.
The Torch Betrayal is my story as to
what happened to that top-secret document.
Excerpt from The Torch Betrayal:
CHAPTER
THIRTY-SEVEN
1040 Hours,
Thursday, October 15, 1942
No. 28 Queen
Anne’s Gate, London
Thorn and
Bright parked several doors down from No. 28. They were twenty minutes early,
giving them some time to coordinate with the backup team. He was nervously
looking out his side and rearview mirrors for that very team. Bright peeked at
her watch
for the
second time.
“Well,
well, would you look at that?” Thorn was the first to spot Toulouse heading
down Queen Anne’s Gate toward them and No. 28. Dressed in dark-colored civilian
clothes, he was walking at a brisk pace. Two steps behind him and to the side
was the Asian
woman from
the Spanish embassy.
“Not who
I expected to see,” Bright said, sliding down farther into her seat. “What’s
your guess as to why he’s in the vicinity?”
“Could
only be two reasons. Our drug-dealing murder suspect is here to collect from
Montgomery, assuming he’s inside with Longworth, or to make a delivery. Maybe
both. But, even from this distance, he doesn’t look too happy.”
Toulouse
stopped suddenly and turned around as the Asian woman caught up to him. He
flicked a cigarette into the street. Thorn saw the woman’s mouth move rapidly.
She reached out and shoved him backward. Toulouse responded with a backhanded
slap to her
face. The force of it caused her to stumble.
“Good
God,” Bright said. “He’s such a brute. Should we do—”
“Nothing.
Not now.”
The woman
regained her composure and dabbed at the corner of her mouth with the tips of
her fingers. She examined her fingers, then, without looking at him, turned and
walked away from
Toulouse and
No. 28.
“There’s
more to that lover’s spat than we know,” Thorn said.
An
indifferent-looking Toulouse turned and headed toward No. 28. Reaching the
front door, he ignored the brass doorknocker and banged on the door with a
fist. The door opened slowly, creating a narrow opening of several inches.
Toulouse shouldered the
door open and
went in.
Thorn
looked at his watch. “Eight minutes to the hour. That team should be here by
now.” He pounded the steering wheel with his fist, which made Bright flinch. “Jesus,
Bruce had one job—to get the backup team here early so we could brief them.” He
pulled out his 1911A1. He pulled back the slide and released it, letting it
click back into place. Seconds later, a single gunshot rang out.
“Son . .
. of . . . a . . . bitch,” Thorn said. “Damn it! We can’t wait
any longer.
We’ve got to get in there.”
“Conor,
let’s leave. There’s no backup team in sight—this just doesn’t feel right.”
“No, we
can’t. Not now. Listen, the task forces sail ten days from today. If I’m wrong and
this Longworth lead points to nothing but a drug ring, then we’re back to
square one. And if that happens, we need as much time as possible to regroup.”
Thorn’s adrenaline was
pumping. He
grabbed her forearm. “You OK?”
“I . . .
Yes, I believe so.” Her voice trembled.
“Then
let’s go.” Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to you.
Thorn
released his hold on her arm.
#
What exciting story are you working on
next?
The next
novel in the Conor Thorn Series will center around the Allied effort to crack
the German cypher codes – Ultra. It is also inspired on information uncovered
in a excellent book written by Anthony Cave Brown titled Bodyguard of Lies. Brown writes about a Polish engineer that was
smuggled out of Poland to Paris where he built a replica of the German Enigma
machine that was critical in the British efforts to break German codes. When
the Nazis invaded France in 1940, the engineer and his wife were brought to
England for safety. Shortly after his arrival, he went missing and was never
found.
This engineer
had a great secret – the British had broken German codes. If this information
ever reached the Germans, they would have changed their codes, which, many
believe, would have added two to four years to the war.
The Enigma Betrayal (working title) is my story as to what
happened to that Polish engineer.
When did you first consider yourself a
writer?
After I
completed my first draft of The Torch
Betrayal.
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?
After
retiring from a thirty-five plus year career in commercial television, my wife
and I moved back to Park City, Utah and I began writing full time. Prior to
that, I was an incredibly undisciplined writer who would write consistently for
a few months than take a long vacation from writing that might last six months!
Not good.
I put in
anywhere from two to five hours a day working on book marketing, engaging
readers on social media, researching and writing.
What would you say is your interesting
writing quirk?
I can’t help
sometimes stopping the writing process to do a little more research. The habit
torpedoes any momentum but it often adds some credibility to the story. Thank
god for Google and Wikipedia!
As a child, what did you want to be when
you grew up?
A
professional football player.
Anything additional you want to share
with the readers?
If you’re
thinking of writing a book, don’t wait until your sixty years old like I did.
Life is too short.
Links:
Website | Amazon
| Barnes and Noble | Draft2Digital | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Thanks for joining me today!
