Thriller Writer Tj O'Connor

Final Salute to 2024 . . . Off With You

Dec 31, 2024

The year that nearly crushed me. It’s been both a brutal year and a good one. Not sure if the balance of the two would be in the win column or not, but I’ve survived with just days to go. I choose to say, “Yep, it was okay.”

Let’s review.

The year started out fantastic. A new book contract for seven books! The original three Oliver Tucker books, republished in September 2024 as The Dead Detective Casefiles, plus three more to follow beginning in 2025. And, my new thriller, The Whisper Legacy, is coming in February 2025. A total win-win-win x 7.

Cancer Stinks!

The same week, we learned our baby girl, Annie Rose, a 7-year-old Yellow Lab, had bad cancer. Surgery, more surgery, chemo, meds, … in the fall, she was losing bad. They gave her days or a couple weeks. When the chemo stopped working, we resorted to goos, creams, potions, witch doctors, mystic rituals, and all assorted wives’ tales. She is still with us—happy, and mobile, always hungry, though fading—but fighting the fight with me. They gave her only days, we stole months and hoped to steal more. Regrettably, her time ran out just after Christmas and her birthday. I did my best and she fought hard. In the end, there was nothing left to do but show love and compassion and let her go.

The summer was a blur with consulting projects to no end. It’s still not over. But hey, job security! Maybe the New Jersey drones are really space aliens and I’ll be assigned to that problem. You know, from anti-terrorism to anti-Martins. I’m ready.

The Dead Detective Casefiles

Kaboom! Dying to Know, Dying for the Past, and Dying to Tell are republished after six years gone from the shelves. And the reviews are better now than the first time out! Yeehaw.

Boom, we rescued a lab—Jax (yeah, I know, another from my books) to keep our second lab, Sawyer, company when—gulp—Annie Rose succumbed. A week later, Jax tripped Sawyer down the outside deck stairs and dislocated his hip. Surgery, therapy, and more meds… for both of us! But he’s mending. Eh, sleeping on the couch with the injured and ill dogs isn’t all that bad. Except carrying them both in and out of the house every hour 24-7 for potty breaks gets old.

Jax

Boom, the season of birthdays and celebrations are upon me… count ’em just since September.… Son, Sean; Daughter, Lindsay; son in law, Bryan; daughter-in-law, Amy; granddaughter, Rylee; sister; mother; father-in-law, Bill; … my bday; anniversary; (Hmmm, I’m missing a couple in there) … Christmas!

Christmas

I have sold my kidneys three times. There is a timeshare on my heart. There is a waiting list for my lungs and spleen. Yikes!!!!!!!

But there’s a lot of upsides on this. I had a lot of time with the grands. One of my fav events is the annual Advent Calendar. I do it a little different than most. There are three grands who do it at my house—Railyn, Katherine, and Connor. Of the 25 days, I put something small like chocolate or something in half. I leave Scooby Doo clues in the others to put them on a treasure hunt to find other bags of treats or small things like Matchbox cars or something. The clues are spectacular! I am a genius, I swear. Clues like number cyphers, riddles—Hickory, Dickory, Dock, it ain’t the grandfather clock—but a mouse can run up it (the small wall clock; and Vroom, Vroom, Vroom, I’m a pilot and I can fly two down the street. (my saddlebags on my Harley). I sent them to the grandfather clock, my Harley, drawers, closets, the basement, hiding in plain sight, hiding deep in secret. It’s a blast doing it and having them hunt for the rewards. And then there’s the anchovies.

Advent

Young Mr. Connor, 4, loved the surprise in December 21—Anchovies!

So 2024, much like the COVID years, can just leave. Fast. Now. It’ll be remembered as a bittersweet year we tried everything including secret rituals and witchdoctors to help our dogs. It’ll be the year that returned Oliver “Tuck” Tucker and his pals to solve more paranormal mysteries. It was the year I launched a new series starring a down-on-luck former operative coming to grips with getting old and being the target of the police and international assassins. It was the year that was painful and fulfilling and everything in between.

But in the end, it was also the year of aliens, drones, crazy politics, and yes, anchovies.

drones
Aliens
anchovies

Strap yourselves in, folks, 2025 is already looking like a winner!

See you in the new year. Be happy. Be well. Be safe. (Oh, and buy my books!)

Kalá Christoúgenna, feliz Navidad, felices fiestas, schöne Feiertage … Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all the holidays to you.

Welcome

I first fell in love with writing while in grade school and over the years continued to dabble with characters and stories whenever life allowed. Lately, I've focused my energy on pursuing this dream—interrupted only by life as a security consultant and the demands of two Labrador retrievers.

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