Operation Javelin just released last week. It’s a huge milestone for the Last Chance series because it marks the halfway point.

Here’s a little history. It took me many years to come up with the Last Chance series. I’d always wanted to have a team of heroes and heroines. At first, I’d looked at an all-woman team, but it didn’t work. And a military team. Didn’t work. I was close to giving up until I drafted a novel that will never see the light of day. That’s okay because it gave birth to a secondary character who demanded his own spinoff series. That character was Victor Chavez, and his story became Operation Shadow Box back in 2015.

So I had my first character. What about the others? I thought carefully through things and decided that each book in the series would have a Beatitude as its theme. For those of you who are interested, the Beatitudes can be found in the Bible (Matthew 5:2-11). And sure enough, eight Beatitudes equaled eight characters, and the Last Chance series was born.

I wrote about Victor’s struggle with mourning and the varied meanings of the word. And then came Suleiman, the team’s sniper, who had a past that brought him into an inevitable clash with Victor (see Operation Peacemaker). And Sana, the breaking-and-entering specialist, whose identity crumbled when she discovered the truth in her family history (see Operation Music Man). And now Shelly, the comms-and-computer specialist, who has to overcome her own battles with her self-image and who she is as a child of God. There’s a theme emerging here. Each grapples with their pasts and must overcome, and each person has brought their own set of issues to the team.

Who’s next? Butch Addison, the team’s mechanic and escape-and-evasion specialist. Currently, this book is in the drafting stages, so I’m hesitant to say much, even to share a draft title. But in due time, it’ll come to light. But do know that Butch will face one of the greatest challenges he’s ever encountered.

Question: If you’ve read the books in the Last Chance series, which one is your favorite and why?