Father's Day

It’s Father’s Day here in the US (also in the UK, Canada, and Ireland, according to my trusty Filofax), and I wish all the good dads a happy one. If this is a hard day for you due to distance, estrangement, or loss, I hope it is a day of peace and gladness.

I think a lot about fathers in fiction. This might be because I am one. But also that parent/child relationship is so primal, and such a source of emotion and drama (even when it’s a good relationship). For my next book, I thought about fathers a lot.

One thing the characters of January Holte and July Whitlock have in common in January and July are that their fathers are absent from their lives. January’s dad, a Canadian intelligence analyst, died of cancer before she was born; July’s father, an American military attaché in Germany, killed himself when July was young, and sadly July found his father’s body.

Both absences obviously have a lasting impact on the characters, but in different ways: January’s life has been managed and overshadowed by her mother’s legendary career as an intelligence agency executive, and July’s never really understood why his father made this choice, and his mother has Not Wanted To Talk About It. It’s a terrible stain on his memory, the single incident that changed the course of his life to where his academic and athletic successes feel overshadowed by his setbacks. I picture July thinking, but never saying, that he could end up like his father.

This newsletter doesn’t have to be heavy, but I lost my dad nearly thirty years ago. I still miss him a lot. I especially wish he could have known his grandsons—they would have been the lights of his life. I wish he had been here to help me through some tough times and to share the good times. He had been sick for a long time, and I took care of him. After he passed, people told me “well, you have closure with him”. I don’t think I do. I don’t think that aspect of your life closes.

I think . . . you just learn to live with the absence. Maybe that’s closure to some, but to me that door never entirely shuts. You just exist with that door open a crack, never opening wider, never shutting entirely.

This probably isn’t promoting my book very well, but that’s okay. January and July is meant to be an entertainment, but characters are relatable to readers when they have emotions grounded in our shared human experience (wow so deep, Jeff, pace yourself) and the loss of a parent is one of those life-shaping experiences.

My real wish here is to hope you have a good Father’s Day, whatever your relationship with your father and the day itself. I am lucky enough to spend it with my family, where they will feed me well and let me watch the World Cup games.

I’ve started an Instagram here and I have a pro Facebook page here. Of course, the new website is live and has links for preordering the new book from your favorite sellers and ordering my backlist. I appreciate every order, and every reader!

January and July will be out in less than a month! Booklist said:

“Abbott is one of the best thriller writers in the business…and this is one of his best, mostly because its two leads are such wonderfully drawn characters. We like them the moment we meet them, and we eagerly follow them as they sink deeper into a web of murder and conspiracy. A first-rate novel from a genre master.”

My campaign to be called Genre Master by my family is not going well, but hey maybe it’ll work on Father’s Day.

Thanks again for your kind interest! Y’all are the best.