Active Defense by Lynette Eason

As a former field surgeon in Afghanistan, Heather Fontaine is used to life-or-death situations. She just didn’t expect them to follow her home. When she returns from a party to find that someone has broken into her house—and threatened her friends—she assumes it is the stalker who has been following her and creeping her out. She hopes to find safety and peace of mind by leaving the city and hiding out in a small town. But trouble has followed her even there.

Luckily, a stalker isn’t the only one watching Heather. Travis Walker has been secretly watching out for her for weeks. As owner of his own security agency, it’s what he does. Together, Travis and Heather must figure out who wants her dead—and why—before it’s too late.

Bestselling author Lynette Eason recently spent some time with The Big Thrill discussing her latest thriller, ACTIVE DEFENSE.

What do you hope readers will take away from this book?

I hope readers will be so engrossed in the story that hours seem like minutes, and they refuse to turn the light off because they can’t close the book until they know how it ends. In other words, I wish many sleepless nights for my readers! LOL. I also hope they take away a sense of “justice was served” in this world where justice isn’t always the end result. I like satisfying endings and satisfying endings equate to happy endings. To me anyway. So I do hope the readers are sad the story had to end, but happy it ended the way it did. I hope that makes sense!

Lynette Eason

Was there anything new you discovered, or that surprised you, as you wrote this book?

I wouldn’t say anything surprised me, but there are so many layers to law enforcement that I always learn something new to apply to the story—and sometimes future stories. I can’t thank my two FBI buddies who read every single one of my stories—and fix them—enough. Without them, I’d be lost!

What authors or books have influenced your career as a writer, and why?

So. Many. Authors! LOL I write for the CBA, so in that area, Terri Blackstock, Dee Henderson, Colleen Coble, and Irene Hannon are my top CBA influencers. In the ABA, I love James Patterson, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Lee Child, Katie Ruggle, Brenda Novak (her Hanover House series is phenomenal), and so many more. I’d need a lot more room to list them all!

What attracts you to this book’s genre?

I love that the good guys win. LOL I’m a big fan of justice and people getting caught when they do bad things. Ha. So this kind of genre is perfect for me. I loved reading Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys as a young girl, and I wanted to be Nancy. But I was also a big ol’ chicken, so I settled for living through the stories. When I got older, I moved on to Alfred Hitchcock, Agatha Christie, and others. So I think when I decided to write a story, this genre was kind of a no-brainer for me.

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Lynette Eason is the bestselling author of Collateral Damage and Acceptable Risk, as well as Protecting Tanner Hollow and the Blue Justice, Women of Justice, Deadly Reunions, Hidden Identity, and Elite Guardians series. She is the winner of three ACFW Carol Awards, the Selah Award, and the Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award, among others. She is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and has a master’s degree in education from Converse College. Eason lives in South Carolina with her husband and two children.

To learn more about the author and her work, please visit her website.