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Steve Hadden

Goodreads Author

Born

The United States

Website

http://stevehadden.com

Genre

Mystery & Thrillers, Suspense, Thriller

Influences

Clive Cussler, Greg Iles, John Grisham, Lisa Jewel, Louise Penny, Mich ...more

Member Since

December 2011

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About Steve

Steve Hadden is the author of the acclaimed psychological and suspense action thrillers, The Sunset Conspiracy, Genetic Imperfections, The Swimming Monkeys Trilogy, The Victim of the System, The Dark Side of Angels, The Secret That Killed You and The Mentor’s Daughter. Steve writes intriguing thrillers with heart—stories that show memorable characters making their way through life’s dilemmas and adversities to discover life-changing answers about themselves and the world around them.

He attended Penn State, where he studied pre-med and graduated with a degree in chemical engineering. He began a career in the oil and gas business and traveled to intriguing places around the world and met some fascinating characters. An early fan About Steve

Steve Hadden is the author of the acclaimed psychological and suspense action thrillers, The Sunset Conspiracy, Genetic Imperfections, The Swimming Monkeys Trilogy, The Victim of the System, The Dark Side of Angels, The Secret That Killed You and The Mentor’s Daughter. Steve writes intriguing thrillers with heart—stories that show memorable characters making their way through life’s dilemmas and adversities to discover life-changing answers about themselves and the world around them.

He attended Penn State, where he studied pre-med and graduated with a degree in chemical engineering. He began a career in the oil and gas business and traveled to intriguing places around the world and met some fascinating characters. An early fan of authors like Michael Crichton, Dean Koontz, and Clive Cussler, he left the oil business and pursued his dream of becoming an author.

His experience in the oil and gas business ultimately led to the idea for his first suspense action thriller, The Sunset Conspiracy. His interest in biology and science formed the foundation for his next four action-adventure thrillers in the tradition of Michael Crichton and Dean Koontz, Genetic Imperfections and The Swimming Monkeys Trilogy. He returned to his hometown of Pittsburgh with his suspense thriller, The Victim of the System, inspired by the true story of a ten-year-old on trial for murder. The Dark Side of Angels, a psychologically intense suspense action thriller, is based on one of the most remarkable real-life discoveries in the history of medicine. His next suspense thriller, The Secret That Killed You, was sparked by his interest in the psychological and emotional challenges faced by RPA (Drone) pilots and children of alcoholics, along with one of the most heinous crimes of the twentieth century.

His latest book is the psychological suspense thriller, The Mentor’s Daughter, is inspired by a memoir by a real-life sociopath turned therapist and Steve’s adventures in the oilfields.

Steve and his wife, CJ, live in South Carolina.

Visit his website at http://www.stevehadden.com ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Steve Hadden How far would you go to save your family? That’s a question that’s at the center of my new book, The Victim of the System. The book’s elevator speech …moreHow far would you go to save your family? That’s a question that’s at the center of my new book, The Victim of the System. The book’s elevator speech goes like this: A hometown sports hero turned investigator races against time and the most powerful family in Pittsburgh to solve a series of cryptic clues and save a ten-year-old genius on trial for murder.

The Victim of the System is a thriller about the abyss between the justice system and closure told with the story of three families that have each experienced a devasting trauma that’s rocked the core of their family unit. Both the protagonist and antagonists in the story face the question: How far would you go to save your family?

The book’s roots are set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And I must say here and now that it’s a great city with great people. The characters and the story are entirely fictitious. I’d had the idea for the story years ago. The most visceral part of the plot came from a painful experience I had with the court system years ago. That experience confirmed what a lawyer friend of mine had said. Rarely did someone get exactly what they wanted and very few ever got closure from the court system. Then, when I learned that Pennsylvania was only one of two states in the nation that automatically charged children as adults if they were charged with murder, the story began to take shape.

The protagonist, Ike Rossi, is a forty-one-year-old hometown sports hero who’s haunted by the murder of his parents twenty-two years ago. When his parents were murdered, he gave up his football scholarship and came home to raise his nine-year-old sister and find his parents’ killer. Now, he owns the bar and restaurant where his mother worked. He specializes in private security and investigative services in the oil and gas business. When he decides to help Jack, the ten-year-old genius on trial for murder, he’s pulled into an abyss filled with the painful sticky emotions of his parents’ unsolved murder twenty-two years ago.

The image on the cover is of the Bridge of Sighs at the Allegheny County Courthouse in downtown Pittsburgh. The bridge connects the courthouse to the old jail, and prisoners would be taken across the bridge to the court to determine their fate. It was the bridge between the abyss of prison and the closure of their case. Today, the bridge is still used to temporarily hold prisoners during court appearances, but the prison now houses the Family Law Court. The courthouse is a magnificent building with beautiful murals inside, including the Mural of Justice. The courthouse figures prominently both early and late in the book and Ike’s view of the courthouse and justice changes dramatically from the beginning of the story to its end.

I believe powerful thrillers lie at the intersection of great stories, interesting characters, dramatic human conflict and the edge of science, and each of those elements are incorporated into this intriguing story. The book was just released, so if you like powerful thrillers, pick up your copy of The Victim of the System today.

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Steve Hadden’s books

Average rating: 4.27 · 1,959 ratings · 284 reviews · 12 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Victim of the System 4.26 avg rating — 788 ratings — published 2018 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Swimming Monkeys: Genesis 4.04 avg rating — 260 ratings — published 2012 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Dark Side of Angels 4.31 avg rating — 220 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Genetic Imperfections 4.14 avg rating — 201 ratings — published 2012 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Secret That Killed You (Ike Rossi, #2) 4.41 avg rating — 186 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Swimming Monkeys: Exodus 4.65 avg rating — 98 ratings — published 2015 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Swimming Monkeys: Revelation 4.68 avg rating — 92 ratings — published 2013 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Sunset Conspiracy 4.11 avg rating — 103 ratings — published 2011 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Mentor’s Daughter: A Psychological Suspense Thriller 4.57 avg rating — 7 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Swimming Monkeys Boxed Set it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 3 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Steve Hadden's Blog

They Hide Among Us

They hide among us. You may know one. You may even live with one...and not know it until it's too late.

It's estimated that they are one in twenty-five people in the United States.

They have no guilt, no shame, and no concern over any other living thing on earth, They are predatory, and know us far better than we know them. They are engaging, interesting, enchanting, and can be at the top of their Read more of this blog post »

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Published on April 27, 2026 11:41 • Tags: psychological-thriller, steve-hadden, the-mentor-s-daughter

Series by Steve Hadden

Swimming Monkeys (3 books)
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Steve Hadden (Goodreads Author)

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Dear Debbie

by Freida McFadden (Goodreads Author)

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What She Saw

by Mary Burton (Goodreads Author)

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Atonement

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May 03, 2026 09:33AM

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