I do have thoughts about starting a new series involving Nate Thrower, this time with him as the main character. It would probably involve him moving around, going from city to city, or country to country, lending his services out to people who need them. I’ve been giving it some thought. I’ve had a few people indicate they’d like him having a series, but please let me know if you’d like to see him having his own series, as well.
Buchanan was a character that I originally thought would play a bigger role throughout the series than he wind up doing. The first two books his role was rather significant, but after the first few, it just didn’t seem like he was necessary for a bigger role. I didn’t really want to have Jacobs leaning on a police contact for things if I could help it. And I thought that Jacobs really wanted to distance himself from his past, so I really couldn’t justify Buchanan having a larger role, though in a few books I felt like I tried bringing him back in. But it just didn’t seem necessary to be any larger than popping up every now and then.
For the big villain, I always knew that Mallette was going to make an appearance out of jail again. From the first book where it really starts with him going to prison, I always knew that the final book was going to be him getting out of jail, however that happened. He got released a book earlier than I originally planned, but this was one of those things that I always really felt strongly about happening. The final book was always going to end up with Jacobs and Mallette meeting up again, face to face. Somehow, that was going to happen.
I really thought about ending the series with The Return, book eleven. When they have that showdown at the end of the book, with Mallette taking out Butch, I really thought about ending things there, since all the main players were basically there, except for Ames. But then I thought that it would be too many things going on, and I really wanted Mallette to have his own space. I thought he deserved to be the focal point of the last book instead of going down with a bunch of wannabes. At least that’s how he views his competition.
That’s most of the main players in the series. When I first started writing these, as with any series, I really didn’t know how long it would go on for. As with all my books, fan and reader interest pretty much drives the decision on whether they go on for a while. At least to a certain degree. As long as I feel there’s still reader interest, and I still have a passion for the books and characters, I’ll keep writing them. For The Eliminator Series, though, I felt that the story had naturally come to a conclusion. For me, there was nothing left to tell after this. The reader interest was still there, and I hadn’t lost interest, but I really didn’t know what else I would write about after this without it getting repetitive.
As with the other series I write, I wrote the first three books, then hoped there would be enough interest to keep going. Luckily there was. I thought maybe we’d do six or eight books, then call it a night. But the interest was still there, and there was still more story to tell, so we made it to twelve. And I think that’s a pretty good place to be. Hopefully, you’ve enjoyed this ride as much as I have.
If you want to talk about the books, or any of my work, the best place to interact with me is on Facebook. I answer every comment on there (as long as it’s nice).
Thanks for being here, and staying with me to the end of this thing. I hope I delivered for you.
Also by Mike Ryan
Thank you for reading The Eliminator Series. If you’re looking for your next read, please check out the following titles:
Other Books:
The Silencer Series
The Extractor Series
The Cain Series
The Cari Porter Series
The Ghost Series
The Brandon Hall Series
A Dangerous Man
The Last Job
The Crew
About the Author
Mike Ryan is a USA Today Bestselling Author. He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife, and four children. He’s the author of the bestselling Silencer Series, as well as many others. Visit his website at www.mikeryanbooks.com to find out more about his books, and sign up for his newsletter. You can also interact with Mike via Facebook, and Instagram.
