The Long Game Part 1

Let's talk a little about reading order, and about the long game. 

As its author - and steward, I'll say, because I feel as though I'm ushering these characters through their adventures at this point, rather than deciding for them - the thing about Dartmoor that I find to be the most challenging, but also the most interesting, is the long game. It's not a loosely-connected sequence of standalones, but rather a continuous, ongoing story, with happy-for-nows, and moments of satisfying wrap-up in each book. As the series has progressed, the story has become more reliant on the previous books, rather than less; the weaving of the tapestry more complex, and trickier to continue, with new patterns branching off in multiple directions. As I said, though: for me, that's what keeps it interesting. It's also what enables me to play out scenarios not possible in standalone novels. Some stories need time to marinate, and the current nature of the series allows me to play the long game to best effect. 

In Nothing More (out now, run get it!), we get to see Raven fall in love with a biker, which she never expected to do. We also get to see her friendship with Ian, and the progress she's making in her relationships with certain family members (Tenny and Devin). In this way, the book is a culmination of threads first laid down in Prodigal Son. 

Some have said that PS is a tonal shift for the series. If we want to play with semantics - I'm an author, I always want to play with semantics - I would argue that the tone is in line with the rest of the series: one that balances life-and-death drama, interpersonal family drama, and a hefty dose of silliness and dark humor for levity. PS is no darker, nor lighter, nor less character-driven than the other books. What it does do, however, is greatly broaden the scope of the drama. I think it feels like a big jump, from small-town villains, to international, powerful villains, with a hefty dose of espionage, spy thriller, and a touch of Manchurian Candidate, supersoldier wildness thrown in. In this way, it was a genre shift, rather than a tonal one. I'm very careful, when writing all my series, to maintain a certain "voice" for each. Dartmoor doesn't read like the Sons of Rome, doesn't read like the Drakes, doesn't read like Hell Theory, and by design. But up until this point, Dartmoor had felt very nitty-gritty, all-American, rough-and-ready biker...and PS throws the reader across the pond and into something with a much higher budget and production value, lol. It feels different because we're in a different city, with a (somewhat) different cast, facing different types of villains.

I'd also argue, though, that it's a shift that not only was inevitable, but was built up along the way. The trajectory of the Dogs is one of expansion: expanding chapters, expanding influence in the underworld, expanding wealth and power. Under Ghost, and with Ian as patron and ally, they've gone from local rowdy boys, to serious players on an international scale. And serious players inevitably attract serious enemies. The question I asked myself while writing PS, which felt like a juncture, was, "Do I want to keep going in the same vein? Or grow the series the same way I'm growing the characters?" For my own sanity, and to keep from churning out photocopies of what I'd already done, I leaned into the expansion, and the result has been some of my favorite moments, characters, and books of the series. Imagine a character like Tenny in Fearless. It would never have worked. But the world of the Dogs has expanded, and now we're here.

PS was our first real introduction to Devin, and watching him flit in and out of the kids' lives has been one of my favorite things to write. It's also the book that introduces Tenny, and the one in which Raven and Ian meet for the first time. The book that starts the Dogs on "ops" rather than more basic runs. It lays the groundwork for all that comes after, and it's the beginning of the story that continues in Nothing More. 

One of the most rewarding aspects of writing is looking back over your shoulder at the beginning, and seeing the tapestry laid out behind you, this unexpected, intricate portrait in threads of every color. And, even better, knowing there's threads still to weave.

The whole series is best read in order, but if you're wondering where to start for Nothing More specifically, start with Prodigal Son. Over the next few days, I'll walk us through the path between it and NM in a series of posts celebrating the long game.