Review and Interview: Blood Money by Doug Richardson

Beemer had a simple plan: steal a truck with frozen blood products, then drive it all over to Long Beach and collect the money for it. But, it doesn’t always turn out like you’ve planned. Stopped by a local police officer, Beemer starts shooting. Teenage music star with her boyfriend is on the wrong place in the wrong time. Three people got killed. 

Lucky Dey works as a police detective in Kern. He receives the worst phone call of his life, finding out that his younger brother got killed. The only clue that he has is a big black refrigerator trailer. He has to find his brother’s murderer.

Lydia Gonzales, also called “ Gonzo” is LAPD detective. She has to babysit Lucky Dey. What she does is joining him in order to catch the bad guy.

Conrad Ellis is a millionaire whose daughter just got famous. He made her a teenage music star. He paid for her album. Pepper Ellis has just became a teenage starlet. And she was killed, together with her boyfriend. And her father wants justice. He wants revenge. And he is willing to pay a lot of money for that.

Four lives, four stories, one chase. 

If you are in for full speed adrenaline stories, than this is a story for you. It’s a real page-turner. One moment you are in Gonzo’s home with her son, next you are in a law office, next you are chasing a truck on the highway. I really liked that the story has been told from different perspectives. From one side there is Beemer, who wants the money for the truck and nothing stops him to get them and hasn’t even realized what he has done. On the other side there is a cop who has just lost his brother, a father who has just lost his daughter, and a cop who has to do her job. There aren’t just four characters, there are many more. I really liked  Gonzo as a character. Not just because that she was a woman. I liked her character, her straight to be the only woman among cops in her department, to be a single mum.  I could see the most of her private life, not just her at work. Also, the chasing on the road is very vividly described. I could imagine myself right there on the passenger seat.

Overall, it’s a story full of adrenaline, turbulences, heating points. Definitely worth for recommendation.  

My opinion: 4 / 5 

Buying links: Amazon / Smashwords

Meet Doug Richardson, Author of Blood Money

Doug Richardson was born in Arcadia, California. The son of a career politician, Doug grew up outside Sacramento and inside the state Capitol. He used to talk his way into then-­‐Governor Ronald Reagan's office, just to get a handful of jellybeans. 

Doug left Northern California for Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California's School of Cinema. For as long as he could remember, Doug had wanted to be a movie director. But in pursuing his goal he discovered how movies are really made: in the writing. 

After finishing college, Doug signed a two-­‐year contract with Warner Brothers. In 1989 he garnered national attention when his spec screenplay was the first in Hollywood to sell for a million dollars. Doug's first feature film, the sequel to Die Hard, Die Harder, was produced in 1990. He has since written and produced feature films including the box office smash Bad Boys and, most recently, Hostage. To date, Doug's features have grossed over 800 million dollars worldwide. 

Blood Money is Doug's fourth novel, preceded by Dark Horse, True Believers, and The Safety Expert. 

Doug continues to write and develop for feature films and television. He lives in Southern California with his wife, two children and four mutts.

Films:                                                                               Books:
Die Hard, Die Harder/Die Hard 2                                      Dark  Horse
Bad Boys                                                                            True Believers
Money Train                                                                      The Safety Expert
Welcome to Mooseport                                                      Blood Money
Hostage

1  What inspires you, how do you create a story in your mind and then on paper? 

Everything inspires me. Seriously. From the macro to the acute. After awhile, it just becomes a good habit to see something or read an article and apply it to the storytelling craft.

   Your stories are full of adrenalin. Can you tell us something about that?

I like to experience stories be it through books or on the screen. I suppose you could say that’s a less cerebral approach, but it’s still what I prefer. I think it’s a basic human need to be moved to emotion. It’s also one of our gifts. To build a tale that carries a reader through some sort of emotional ride is my biggest thrill as a writer.

   Your characters are suppressing their emotions in order to catch the bad guy. But there is no lack of emotions. How do you manage the balance between full speed actions and emotions?

There’s no trick other than imagining myself as the character and how I might react in a similar circumstance. To be fraught with emotion yet needing to see a task through to the end is a great character hurdle.

   You were working on screenplays also.  Bad Boys , Money Train and Die Hard 2. Great movies.  I’ve seen them all.  Are you currently working on new movie?

I’m always working on both film and TV projects as well as my next novel. I do, though, have a policy of not discussing stuff “in the works” other than with the producers involved. It’s a personal thing. And it annoys the hell out of my family.

   What’s the difference between writing a book and writing a screenplay? Can you compare?

They are both very much the same in the daily approach. Get up and write something compelling. And if it’s not compelling, rewrite it until it is. But then the disciplines diverge. Screenplays are highly structured, must read like the wind, be generally no longer than 120 formatted pages, and limited to what one sees and hears on screen. They are essentially an architect’s schematic for the movie which others will later come to and physically construct. Books, on the other hand, are so much more elastic, using language and shifting points of view and internal dialogue no movie would normally attempt to muster. At least that’s how I see the differences.

   From your story I can see that you are familiar with police and law procedures.  You are doing a lot of research.

All the time. I’m constantly researching and cataloguing information that might fit my genre.

   You are writing about real and plausible crimes. Do you think that reality is sometimes more interesting than fiction?

Hmmmm. Good question. I’d say that reality can be more interesting than fiction, but not as compelling. Ever since man first sat around a fire and passed down stories and myths we have been intrigued with tales that somehow conclude. In life, stories don’t usually conclude until the reality show is cancelled.

    I’ve read that you wanted to be a movie director. Did you try to fulfill that dream or you’ve found something more interesting?

Yes, I found something more interesting. They’re called novels. When I wrote my initial novel we were expecting our first child. Not wanting to take the time away from my family to direct a movie, I chose to write a book instead. And with that, nearly all my directing yens were quenched.

   What is the most important feature of a writer?

I can only speak for myself because I’m certain others have differing opinions. For me, it’s the discipline to first get it on paper, garner the right kind of critical feedback, and then rewrite what I initially thought was precious. If you can do that, you’re a writer in my book.

    Is there anything else that you would like to mention?

Yes. I also write a blog that is consumed weekly by the thousands. It’s an inside peek at working in Hollywood. Sometimes hilarious. Sometimes tragic. All true. And always entertaining. It’s at my website, dougrichardson.com. If you sign up for email alerts you will get nudged every week to read my pithy little tales. Also you can follow me on Twitter @bydougrich.