Beyond All Measure — Beyond the Story

Readers often ask me how I come up with my stories — specifically, "What's the story behind the story?" And every time, I brace myself, because the truth feels anticlimactic. Something I never want my books to be. My usual answer? "I dunno. Beats me. How the hell should I know?" Cue the tilted head, the raised brow, and the silent Really? That's all you've got?

But here's the reality: my stories tend to write themselves. They drag me along for the ride, making turns I never planned, and I just do my best to keep up and get the words on the page.

Where It Was Supposed to Go…

Originally, Beyond All Measure was planned as a revenge story — rooted in what happened to Adriana at the end of Spear Garden. (No spoilers. If you know, you know. If you don't, I won't ruin it for you.) But the story had other ideas. It veered off on its own path, and once that happens, I follow the mission wherever it leads.

What's in a Name?

At first, this book was going to be called Retaliate. That lasted about five minutes. Next came Deep Rising. It sounded cool — until I realized ten thousand other titles already beat me to it.

Then something unexpected happened. While writing one of the late‑story scenes, a character used the phrase "beyond all measure…" I literally stopped typing. That's it. That's the title. And that's how the book got the name it was always meant to have.

Building the Story

I love thrillers that take readers somewhere different — places we don't often see in books or film. Not London. Not Paris. Not Moscow. We've been there. We get it. I wanted remote. Raw. Unforgiving. So the story took me to:

• The barren Arctic Ocean
• Kotelny Island in the East Siberian Sea
• The Faroe Islands
• Bergen, Norway
• Prudhoe Bay, Alaska

Once I dropped the opening attack scene in the middle of the Arctic, the natural question became: Why? Why attack them out here? What do they know? At first, I had no idea. Then it clicked: oil. A massive, world‑shaking discovery. A secret worth killing for.

Everything after that fell into place: false flags, global tensions, superpowers pointing fingers, and one man quietly orchestrating chaos while the world teeters on the edge of World War III. And just like that… the Arctic thriller was born.

Want a Tease?

If you want to get a taste of the intensity, you can read a quick 2‑minute peek at Chapter 1 right here — the first page hits hard. You've been warned.

👉 Read a preview →

What's Next

Don't forget to check out my News page for upcoming announcements — podcast appearances, releases, behind‑the‑scenes updates, and more. I'll be on Jim Hirtle's The Last Story podcast on February 10th at 7 PM EST, discussing Beyond All Measure and my upcoming prequel, Who Is Blake MacKay.

👉 Listen to The Last Story podcast →

Thank You

Your support — whether you've read one book or all of them — means more than I can say. If you enjoy my stories, Amazon and Goodreads reviews make a massive difference in helping new readers discover my work. You can also scroll to the bottom of a book's Goodreads page to see the lists it appears in — voting those up helps visibility more than you know.

Thank you, truly. And God bless.