Interview with Steve Hadden, author of Victim of the System

by Grant

in Author Interviews, Mystery, News, Thriller

02 Apr 2018

What can you tell us about your new release, Victim of the System? The elevator pitch 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. But 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 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?

What or who inspired you to become an author?

It happened quite a while ago when I was in junior high school. I was taking an English class that included a segment on creative writing. After writing a two-page short story, my teacher pulled me aside and said I should consider pursuing writing. However, I was also off the charts in science and math and was encouraged to pursue those avenues of education. I ended up getting a degree in chemical engineering and working in my career in the oil and gas business for a while before I reignited the pursuit of writing fiction with my first book, The Sunset Conspiracy.

Which books would we be surprised to find on your shelves?

Probably the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. I like the writing and wanted to see what the hype was all about.

Say you’re the host of a literary talk show. Who would be your first guest? What would you want to ask?

While he’s no longer with us, I’d love to interview Michael Crichton. I’d ask him to talk about how he wrote about intriguing science while turning it into blockbuster mainstream fiction.

What’s your favorite thing about writing?

I’d have to say it’s the creative process of putting the words on the page. As interesting characters interact with the setting and the plot on the page, real magic happens. If you had an extra hour each day, how would you spend it? Another interesting question for me. It depends on when that hour occurred. If it were in the evening, it would be playing guitar or piano. If were in the morning it would be writing my next intriguing novel.

What scene in Victim of the System was your favorite to write?

Wow. That’s a tough one. If I had to pick one, it would be the scene with ten-year-old Jack at the Homewood Cemetery with Ike.

Do you have a motto, quote, or philosophy you live by?

My personal mission is to make the world a better place by using my God given talents and enjoying the people in each moment of my life. But my favorite motto by far comes from Rule Number 13 in the United States Golf Association’s rules of golf that I think applies to any situation in life.

“Play the ball as it lies.”