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Book: The 56th Man by James Clayton Rogers

categories: Book, Iraq, Saddam Hussein, Terrorists, Richmond Police, Green Zone, Baghdad, Armed Forces, Stray Cats, U.S. Marshall, Homicide, Retribution, International Thriller

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James Clayton Rogers

about this book: I have always found it instructive to turn a preconception on its head. In this case, I have turned James Bond into an agent of the Iraqi security service. I placed the main character in a subdued middle class neighborhood that holds a sinister secret, and then let him have his way. The incident with the child in Iraq is taken from reports from UNICEF. That some Iraqis were re-located to Iceland is true. The murder in Richmond is based on the murder of a family several years ago, although many key facts have been changed for artistic purposes.

Research included interviews with several veterans of the Iraq war. This is one of those occasions (rare for me, at least) when the protagonist takes over from the author. In fact, the character was so strong that he spoke for me, and it took me only a little over three months to write. (By comparison, the books before and after this one took a combined six years to compose.) I find the result interesting. Goodness is often a façade—and, too, is evil. The title of this novel is taken from the 55 playing cards issued by the armed forces to identify Iraqi war criminals.