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Mississippi Noir by Tom Franklin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Aptly named, Mississippi Noir certainly plumbs the depths of modern-day noir with strange and sorrowful tales told from all perspectives, creeds, colors and cares. The milleiu of the state is clearly conducive to noir- as has often been observed< Read More 

Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Harlan Coben introduces a new character and cast of supporting characters in Deal-Breaker. Myron Bolitar is not your normal mystery-solving protagonist...he's a sports agent! More specifically, he's a northern NJ-based sports agent, working in the city and around the Meadowlands  Read More 

I had finally made it.

My first novel The Ripper Gene had just been published, and my wife had wisely scheduled our family to be nowhere near a bookstore, but rather at the New Jersey shore on vacation… in a sea town without a bookstore for twenty miles, during the momentous occasion of my first novel’s release.

The first night of the official day of my publication, after everyone in my family had gone to bed in the shore house, I quietly cracked open my MacBook Air and logged onto Amazon at midnight as my novel "went live”. I watched for the first few hours, disbelieving my own eyes as I watched my novel creep into the top 100  Read More 

(as originally appeared Nov 5, 2015 on My Bookish Ways)

MBW: What inspired you to write The Ripper Gene?

MR: An article in the journal Science was the literal inspiration for the scientific premise of the book. In that study, researchers found a genetic difference that influenced incarceration rates in boys from troubled backgrounds…boys who  Read More 

(as originally appeared Oct 20, 2015 on Wag the Fox: Gef Fox's Den of Dark Fiction)

GF: What was the impetus behind The Ripper Gene?

MR: This won’t be the answer you expect, but the real impetus behind this novel was actually a request from the former editor at Time Warner’s Mysterious Press, Ms.  Read More 

(as originally appeared Sept 24, 2015 on SCIENCETHRILLERS.COM)

People often ask me “What was the inspiration for your novel The Ripper Gene?”. I’ve already mentioned in other interviews that the genesis of Lucas’s backstory-his mother’s untimely death one Halloween night- was based on a real Halloween night from my childhood that I later  Read More 

(as originally appeared on September 22, 2015 on Momma On The Rocks)

MOTR: As a young boy, in a car full of trick-or-treaters on Halloween, you encountered two bloodied teens on the road that night - and years later wondered “what if?” But it’s a big jump from molecular biology and writing scientific journals  to  Read More 

(as originally appeared Sept 16, 2015 on Donna's Book Blog)

DBB: What is the book’s genre/category?

MR: It’s essentially a biomedical mystery / thriller but its classified officially as a “Medical Thriller”. Which works well for me, as it puts me in the company of all the very original authors I read in my early days who inspired me  Read More 

(as originally appeared on MarjorieBookLikes.com on Sept 15, 2015)

MWoB: Knowing your scientific background before reading your book, I had thought there might be parts that would be over my head. I was very impressed with the clarity and simplicity of your scientific explanations. Was it difficult for you to tone it down for the  Read More 

(as originally appeared on AuthorJayWhales.Wix.Com on Sept 14, 2015)

JW: Michael, with your background, do you find it difficult to write in a way that people understand what you are trying to say? (Is it hard to “dumb down” your thoughts?)

MR: No, in fact I’ve always enjoyed relaying what I do or  Read More