Most of the book is pretty autobiographical aside from the USB plotline, which is the main fictional engine driving the larger thriller arc. The environments, the emotional beats, the addiction, the family dynamics, the world around organized crime a lot of that comes from lived experience or people I knew. Also, My mother did not die on 9/11. But that day was a catalyst for so much of what my generation went through. Especially on Long Island. The fear, the anger, the silence in households, the way grief showed up sideways in families that didn’t know how to talk about anything. I felt like very little had ever been portrayed honestly from a kid’s point of view. Most stories focus on politics or heroism. I wanted to explore the emotional aftermath inside a child watching the adults unravel. Uncle Joe is based on my uncle. Anthony the midget is real. Even Jimmy was real. That thing in oak beach really happened. Vincent is frustrating on purpose. That feeling of wanting to shake him, wanting him to just come clean or choose better that’s addiction. That’s trauma. That’s knowing what the right move is and still sabotaging yourself. I didn’t want to sanitize that.i didn’t write it as a memoir because sometimes when you label something a memoir, people read it differently. They look for facts instead of truth. Fiction gave me space to weave real emotional experience into a story that could carry it.
I’m grateful you connected with it. That’s all I ever hoped for. I hope you stick around for The Car In White! YOU ROCK!!!
I’m grateful you connected with it. That’s all I ever hoped for. I hope you stick around for The Car In White! YOU ROCK!!!