Contemporary Thrillers DECONSTRUCTION with Glenn A. Bruce

Commercial contractor Tom Loman seems to have it all—a great house, high-paying job, loving wife and kids—until one dark day when it all falls apart. What, or who brought on the total deconstruction of the successful six-years-sober Californian? A mysterious woman from his AA group may hold the answers. Will Tom live long enough to find out? Or will he die trying?

Glenn A. Bruce recently sat down with The Big Thrill to discuss his latest contemporary thriller, DECONSTRUCTION.

Glenn A. Bruce
Credit Susan Bolash Photography.

Can you pinpoint a moment or incident that sparked the idea for this book?

It was originally titled “Random Act.” The idea was that a relatively innocent action on the protagonist’s part (in this case, cutting in on some in a parking lot), set off the antagonist to the point that he decided to ruin the protagonist’s life anonymously. That idea got worked for twenty years in different forms to end up as “Deconstruction” and the thriller that it is today (with many more layers of intrigue added).

A novel is such a major undertaking; there’s the writing of it, of course, then you’re spending months and months revising, polishing, and then promoting it. How did you know this was the book you wanted to spend the next couple of years on?

It’s just a good story that I always believed in, and I got a lot of positive feedback along the way. So, I always knew it could be solid product.

Were there any particular books, movies, or songs that were knocking around in your head while you were writing this one?

No. I generally don’t work that. I need total silence when I write. And I don’t often, if ever, refer to other work.

When you first created your protagonist for this book, did you see an empty space in crime lit that you wanted to fill? What can you share about the inspiration for that character?

I wanted him to be an every day guy, one who was reasonably successful, with a good job that paid well (but kind of blue collar). He needed to have a great family, two kids, loving wife, etc. But he also needed to have some darker elements in his past. In this case, he was a borderline alcoholic who lapses when things start getting tough. I wanted to take everything away from him, ruin him by destroying all those great things, one at a time, reducing him to absolutely nothing. (Act II plot/turning point.) Then let him escape that, barely, to figure out what happened, who caused it, and somehow get even. In that way, he becomes a dark hero of sorts. But all he ever wants is his family back.

In addition to a great read, what do you hope readers will take away from this story?

Edge of their seat terror for our protagonist – that he will lose everything, which he does. But no matter how badly he fucks up, no matter how awful things become, and how badly he responds to those things, we never abandon him. We root for him. We despair, he hurt with him, we wish he would handle things better than he does; but we hang on by a thread – just as he does.

What can you share about what you’re working on next?

I’ve seen a lot of novels/movies lately where there’s no one to root for – everyone is flawed to the point of being unlikable on some level. (If not every level!) I’m not necessarily a fan, but then I decided I wanted to try it. So, I’m 110K in on my story about dirty cops. Everyone is a killer. Not one character is clean. It’s been fun!

Another thing I decided to do once I got a large part of it written was to abandon chapters. Instead, I’ve organized it in five sections with titles. Within those (long) sections, I only use asterisk breaks, so that it is more continuous, story-wise. It also allows a reader to read as much or little as they like at any sitting then pick up where they left off without having to get through an entire chapter at any point. It’s been fun and I think it works!