From the author of Overwatch and the Logan West thriller series comes the latest in Matthew Betley’s repertoire, The Neighborhood, a stand-alone thriller that solidifies Betley’s mastery of the riveting page-turner.
Hidden Refuge is a typical American town—a gated community, a great place to raise a family, and the kind of place where nothing unusual ever happens. One seemingly ordinary Friday night, the peaceful citizens of Hidden Refuge are greeted with fervent knocks on their doors by men posing as police officers. Their idyllic little town secretly harbors secrets these dangerous men want access to—and they will do anything to get what they seek.
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The Neighborhood
However, Zack Chambers is his town’s secret weapon: a modest programmer and suburbanite cubicle-dweller whose secret past arms him with surprisingly deadly skills. When things come to a head, Zack is willing to do anything to protect his family and community—even if that means unearthing a part of himself that he never expected to confront again.
“In today's day and age, as a result of political divisiveness and a relentless 24/7 media cycle, plus the dangers of social media, there are no safe spaces in America,” Betley said. A former Marine, Betley’s work is distinctly grounded in the United States. Betley is heavily influenced by his relationship with the military, his past, and the feeling of containing secret multitudes.
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- Photo Credit: Aiden Frazier / Unsplash
This not only inspired his Logan West series but informed the characterization of Zack Chambers in The Neighborhood. “I used real-world places, tactics, techniques, and procedures for those geopolitical action thrillers,” Betley said. “More importantly, I infused those books with the esprit de corps, sarcasm, and brotherhood that I experienced in the Marine Corps because everything I have today—sobriety, discipline, purpose—I owe to the Marine Corps. The Big Green Machine made me who I am, and I'm eternally grateful and honored to be a part of an elite warrior class.”
Betley is a thriller-enthusiast and master of his craft. “I love taking people on an intense, action-packed, emotional, occasionally gut-wrenching roller coaster ride, one that grips them from the beginning, shakes them violently, thrills them wildly, and doesn't let go until it's over,” he said. The Neighborhood is a successful manifestation of these techniques: an unputdownable, thrilling investigation of the quietly suffocating trappings of American suburban life.
“Readers don't have to have read any of the Logan West Thrillers,” Betley clarified. “The Neighborhood is a standalone thriller intended to attract new readers and introduce them to the wild world of a Betley action-thriller. And if they love what they experience, they can always go back and read the Logan West Thrillers, starting with the one that started it all, Overwatch.”
This novel has already made waves in the industry and entered a brand new space: Hollywood. Readers can get in early on the next great blockbuster. “I’m extremely fortunate that The Neighborhood is already in development to be a major motion picture,” Betley confided. “We've got a rising-star female action director (who's assembled an A-team), an A-list producer, and a screenplay adaptation that I wrote myself and is the one being used going forward. I always wanted to be a screenwriter, and it looks like I'm getting that chance. It's kind of surreal.”
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- Photo Credit: Bruno Fernandez / Unsplash
End your summer on a thrilling high note and dive into Betley’s compelling world. The Neighborhood is the perfect place to start.
