Thomas O'Callaghan Interview - No One Will Hear Your Screams ~ JeanBookNerd

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Thomas O'Callaghan's work has been translated for publication in Germany, Slovakia, Indonesia, the Czech Republic, China, and Italy. As an internationally acclaimed author, Mr. O'Callaghan is a member of both the Mystery Writers of America and the International Thriller Writers associations. A native of New York City and a graduate of Richmond College, Mr. O'Callaghan resides with his lovely wife, Eileen, a stone's throw from the Atlantic Ocean in beautiful Belle Harbor, New York. His debut novel, BONE THIEF, republished by WildBlue Press on April 28, 2020, introduces NYPD Homicide Commander Lieutenant John W. Driscoll. THE SCREAMING ROOM, the second in the John Driscoll series, was republished by WildBlue Press on May 5, 2020. The third book in the series, NO ONE WILL HEAR YOUR SCREAMS, was released by WildBlue Press on May 9, 2020.

What inspired you to write No One Will Hear Your Screams?
I was inspired to write No One Will Hear Your Screams as the third book in the ongoing NYPD Lieutenant John Driscoll series. Books #1 and #2 were well received here in the United States as well as in Germany, Slovakia, Indonesia, the Czech Republic, China, and Italy.

Who or what has influenced your writing, and in what way?
I’d have to credit authors like Michael Connelly, Thomas Harris, and Jeffery Deaver who I consider masters in the field of intrigue. I believe my individual “voice” was influenced by their skills at writing novels that captivated an audience hungry for fast paced thrillers.

Tell us your most rewarding experience since being published.
My most rewarding experience has been to have the rights to my first novel, BONE THIEF, which introduces Lieutenant John Driscoll, been bid on by a number of publishers in Germany. Goldmann-Verlag eventually published the book. Not bad for a debut novel!

Can you tell my Book Nerd community a little about No One Will Hear Your Screams?
The novel follows the onslaught of a series of heinous bloodletting killings perpetrated by a crazed embalmer, who, as a young boy was sexually abused by his mother and her lover. In dogged pursuit of this psycho-on-a-mission is NYPD’s top cop, Homicide Commander Lieutenant John W. Driscoll, whose own childhood still stirs memories that haunt him.

What part of Lt. John W. Driscoll did you enjoy writing the most?
I’d have to say I enjoyed writing his back story the most. Here’s a gentle soul who, when first introduced, is grieving the loss of his teen-aged daughter killed by a drunk driver. That same collision sent his loving wife into a six year coma from which he knows she’ll never recover.

If you could introduce one of your characters to any character from another book, who would it be and why?
I’d introduce Tilden, my crazed killer in NO ONE WILL HEAR YOUR SCREAMS, to Hannibal Lecter. It would be a writer’s tip of the hat to Thomas Harrris who authored SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Though I’m sure Doctor Lecter could have offered Tilden advice on how not to be captured. That’s not to suggest Tilden has been captured. One would need to read my book to find out. ☺

What is something you think everyone should do at least once in their lives?
Write a book. It needn’t ever be published. In fact, it needn’t ever be read! The genre isn’t important, nor is the word count. Consider it a journal, of sorts. I believe the act of writing is an outlet where an individual can express joy, frustration, grief, sorrow, and every other emotion prevalent to the human condition.

What event in your life would make a good movie?
An ongoing event, that being my thirty-eight year marriage to the lovely Eileen, would make a good movie. Figure in our struggles through the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy which flooded our home with seven feet of standing water and our current circumstance of living in lockdown fashion in NYC, the epicenter of the corona virus. Thank goodness I have my world of fiction as an escape with my wife, an excellent co-collaborator of sorts, by my side.

What was the best memory you ever had as a writer?
My best memory was of the time I was invited to sit on a panel of writers at ThrillerFest in NYC. The theme was ‘Medicine and Madness”. There were five authors on the panel. All thriller writers. Four of them held a degree in medicine. One didn’t. While my fellow scribes spoke of the medical side of police investigations it was up to me to speak of madness. Since my villains are raving lunatics, it was an easy task.

Where can readers find you?
My books are featured on Amazon as well as on WildBluePress.com and at Barnes & Noble. There are links on my WEBSITE for each book.

TEN QUOTES FROM NO ONE WILL HEAR YOUR SCREAMS
1) She attempted to move. But couldn’t. Her head was restrained. As were her wrists and ankles. Something smooth, she thought. And strong. Cloth? “Oh, my God! It’s rope!”

2) Willows, visible through the aperture of the grave, swayed against a cloudless sky, deaf to her howling. Indifferent to her plight.

3) John Driscoll was an ‘everyman’, of sorts, whose heart had been shaped by the happenings of his present and the hauntings of his past.

4) Driscoll, at 6’2, exhibited a forceful and intimidating stride. There was a swagger to his walk, not unlike that of Gary Cooper in High Noon. Women found the blue-eyed Irishman charming but his heart belonged to fashion consultant, Colette.

5) The medical examiner produced a transparent evidence bag containing a locket. It was an inch in diameter and featured Saint Vitalis of Gaza; his name etched in a half circle below his likeness. “I found it under her tongue. Someone apparently placed it there before suturing the tongue to the floor of her mouth,” he told Driscoll.

6) “I recommend Saint Paul’s letters to the Corinthians,” she said. “They can be very helpful to those who wait.” “And for those who don’t?” “Everyone waits,” she said with a smile before disappearing from sight.

7) After taking his time slipping into a pair of jeans, he reached for his Grateful Dead tee shirt, the quintessential casual attire for an embalmer.

8) The scream reverberated through the ICU unit on the Sixth Floor. The night nurse sprang to her feet and rushed to Room 608. She turned on the fluorescent lights flooding the space with a milky white luminescence. Tilden’s awakening from his sedated sleep had been abrupt. Consciousness, which had been up until now muddled, suddenly emerged.

9) Loretta’s attention was drawn to the customer seated at the counter eating his breakfast. He’d only been in a few times, but was a hard guy to forget. Batty as hell. A recluse, she’d been told. Word was he belonged to some religious cult, but his plaid shirt and frayed jeans didn’t point to any particular denomination. He seemed harmless enough, but had peculiarities. The fact that he waddled was one of them.

10) The sight of the impaled corpse above the reservoir with outstretched arms reminded Driscoll of the towering stone statue of Christ the Redeemer overlooking Rio de Janeiro from atop Mount Corcovado. It filled him with eeriness, an almost mystical emotion he hadn’t experienced in a very long time. The altar boy inside him had been stirred.

Is there a sociopathic killer on the loose and murdering prostitutes in New York City? NYPD’s top cop, Homicide Commander Lieutenant John Driscoll, believes there is. Someone who calls himself “Tilden” and claims to have been sexually abused as a child by his mother’s john. But what could have triggered Tilden’s rage that has him on a mission to eradicate all the women of the night in The Big Apple?

Praise for NO ONE WILL HEAR YOUR SCREAMS

"A fast-paced and compelling read. O'Callaghan depicts a serial killer like no other. Imagine Jeffrey Dahmer, Ed Gein, and Bible John, fused into one heinous beast. Not all serial killers are the same. Tilden, the evil antihero of this inflammable tale, is compelled by urges that wreak havoc on his human targets. Obsessed by a macabre plan, he implements his sordid designs on the bodies of his multiple victims. He baffles and disorients the forces of law and order- except for Lieutenant Driscoll, whose fervent imagination knows no bounds and whose understanding of evil makes him the prime investigator in this aberrant case. Read this novel, and be haunted!" —Anne K. Howard, 2020 INDEPENDENT PRESS AWARD and 2018 LITERARY EXCELLENCE PENCRAFT AWARD winning author of HIS GARDEN: Conversations With A Serial Killer

"Worth the wait! O'Callaghan is back with a vengeance and this time he delivers a complex but nuanced thriller that grabs you by the throat and never let's go. And that, by the way, is a very good thing." —Gregg Olsen, #1 New York Times bestselling author of WATER'S EDGE

"No One Will Hear Your Screams is a gritty crime thriller of the highest order. Thomas O'Callaghan has woven a superb neo-noir, carved from the fabric of the likes of Michael Connelly and James Elroy with just enough Don Winslow mixed in for good measure. Bracing when it needs to be, bold when it wants to be and blistering from beginning to end, No One Will Hear Your Screams is sure to leave you screaming for more." —Jon Land, USA Today Bestselling Author of the eleven book Caitlin Strong series

"Thomas O'Callaghan's No One Will Hear Your Screams, features NYPD homicide lieutenant John Driscoll, a man fighting his own demons, on the trail of a diabolical killer who's unleashed a murderous rampage on the city. Not for the faint of heart, No One Will Hear Your Screams, is coldly graphic in its depiction of the grisly acts of a depraved killer, yet compassionate in its portrayal of the human heart at war with itself in the pursuit of justice." —Con Lehane, author of six mystery novels, his latest being MURDER OFF THE PAGE

"A first class crime thriller: a fast moving story that never deviates from its goal: find the killer, stop the killing, save the lives of very vulnerable women." —Pat Mullan, Ireland's Chair of The International Thriller Writer's Association and author of A DEADLY GAMBLE

"Thomas O'Callaghan has created a dark, compelling novel filledwith thrills, kills, twists and turns that feel so real you'll be scared to readit alone. Police procedurals don't get much better than this. I highly recommendedit." —Alex Shaw, #1 International Kindle Bestselling author of the Aidan Snow, SAS thriller series.

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