Author Mixology: Crafting a Military Thriller that Packs a Punch and Goes Down Smooth

Dive into The Instructor, former Army intelligence officer T. R. Hendricks’ fast paced, action-packed debut thriller that’s Jack Reacher meets Survivorman, the first novel in the Derek Harrington series!

Derek Harrington, retired Marine Force Recon and SERE instructor, is barely scraping by teaching the basics of wilderness survival. His fledgling bushcraft school is on the cusp of going out of business and expenses are piling up fast. His only true mission these days? To get his ailing father into a full care facility and to support his ex-wife and their son.

When one of his students presents him with an opportunity too good to be true—$20,000 to instruct a private group for 30 days in upstate New York—Derek reluctantly takes the job, despite his reservations about the group’s insistence on anonymity. But it isn’t long before the training takes an unexpected turn—and a new offer is made.

Reaching out to an FBI contact to sound his concerns, Derek soon finds himself in deep cover, deep in the woods, embroiled with a fringe group led by a charismatic leader who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. When what he wants becomes Derek’s head, the teacher is pitted against his students as Derek races against time to stop what could very well be the first attack by the domestic terrorist cell.

Interested in getting a taste of what inspired T. R. Hendricks to write his pulse-pounding debut thriller, The Instructor? Then read onwards to see all of his ‘ingredients’ and how he mixes them together to create a recipe for the perfect story!

By T. R. Hendricks:

“THE INSTRUCTOR”

5 ounces of active duty service
3 ounces of 80’s action movies
½ cup of heavy metal anthems
1 tablespoon wilderness survival research
1 teaspoon adrenaline
Equal parts experience and emulation
A few dashes of cynical dark humor
Garnish with effort, determination, and belief

A lot of people ask the question, “what was your inspiration” behind my debut novel. While that is a unique story in its own right, in this age of the influencer I thought it might be unique to explore things that shaped my imagination and ultimately led to the story in THE INSTRUCTOR. An inspiration explanation with a twist, if you will…

At least in my case, it helps to have a solid foundation of military service to develop your story from, but this isn’t a necessity. Plenty of phenomenal authors like Nick Petrie and Connor Sullivan have crafted military veteran protagonists that so convincingly leapt from the page that I believed they both were veterans themselves. For me, my time on active duty lent itself to a wealth of experiences, interactions, knowledge, and even consequences that when blended with the rest of the recipe, made up the base of my story.

This can be both a blessing and a curse, if I’m being honest. Yes, technical items like unit structure and equipment; tactics, techniques, and procedures; even the slang servicemembers might use is easier to reproduce having lived that life for five years. On the flip side, many of the recollections of certain memories, ones that I may have worked a long time to banish and forget, can be difficult if not outright painful to work through as I impart them to the page. That’s the rub of experiences like that. They lend authenticity, “the been there, done that” feeling I want my readers to come away with. I benefit from relating my service and subsequent ramifications in that I gain a realism while also expunging some things I don’t wish to hold onto any longer in my own little cathartic methodology.

Foundation in place, we start adding in the ingredients that make up my military thriller. As a blue collar family, we didn’t have cable TV growing up. What we did have was an affinity for movies, action movies in particular, and an older brother who worked at the local library that happened to have a healthy selection of VHS tapes you could borrow. Through our constant consumption and evaluation of movies, I formulated from a very early age what elements work and where the fat can be trimmed when developing a kick-ass plotline.

For THE INSTRUCTOR in particular I have a couple of favorites that were the most relatable to getting this story going. One of my all time go-to’s, the kind of movie that you have to watch anytime it is on, is First Blood. Readers should easily be able to see the parallels between John Rambo and Derek Harrington in their training, internal struggle, and conflict with the antagonists. I was fixated on the scene in the movie where Rambo fashions all manner of booby traps and uses his superior tactical experience to neutralize the Sheriff’s deputies one by one. It’s still one of my favorite sequences in a film loaded with amazing sequences.

Predator tops the list of movie influences as well. A rescue mission deep in the jungle against an enemy camp that turns into a blistering fire fight. Add to that the “Boy Scout” traps that Dutch and team attempt to snare the Predator with and later the primitive weapons and traps that he uses to fight the alien hunter one on one. The movie has all of the action you need to create an edge-of-your-seat ride.

I would be remiss if I didn’t include perennial 80’s action giants like Lethal Weapon and Die Hard. I loved the Special Forces turned cop character of Martin Riggs, especially his expertise during the fire fight at Dry Lake, his fury during the pursuit of Mr. Joshua through the streets, and ultimately the hand-to-hand combat on Murtaugh’s front lawn. Riggs employed a triangle choke well before the popularity of BJJ and MMA, a move that I forever associated with elite training for that time. Riggs, like Rambo, is a flawed character dealing with his internal demons as much as external enemies.

I love the impact the John McClane character had on me. While true that McClane is not entirely untrained, as an NYPD detective he is much closer to that of the everyday Joe like you and I than he is to elite combatants found in the Special Operations community. This “everyday hero” concept stuck with me and, being a native New Yorker, I loved the inherent attitude and snark that John threw at Hans every chance he got.

Need to ratchet up the adrenaline even more when turning the pages? There’s a few choice songs that were my soundtrack to THE INSTRUCTOR. Anthems that got my blood boiling as I churned out the words, and ones that lend themselves to the heightened pace of the action sequences. Add these to the mix of my military thriller cocktail:

“Fuel,” “Blackened,” and “Master of Puppets” by Metallica
“Hail to the King” and “This Means War” by Avenged Sevenfold
“Savior” by Rise Against; “Kickstart My Heart” by Motley Crew
“Faint,” “Numb,” and “Bleed it Out” by Linkin Park
“Ace of Spades” by Motorhead
“Wash it All Away” by Five Finger Death Punch

As an extra track, I’ve always envisioned the movie trailer to THE INSTRUCTOR set to the cover of “Bad Company” by FFDP. Something about the lines, “I was born, a shotgun in my hands. Behind the gun, I’ll make my final stand,” always resonated with me for Derek’s arc in the book. A man seemingly put on this earth to fight, and despite his best efforts to not do so any longer, he finds himself right back in the thick of battle.

Experience is that which adds the human element. What makes Derek a tangible, realistic person with all of his complex flaws and attributes. In this I relate most of my own struggles with reintegration to civilian life after the military, and the at times crushing nature of wrestling with the full spectrum of PTSD symptoms and episodes. For emulation, all of the credit in the world goes to my own father. A man who sacrificed his personal safety, security, and well being in order to ensure his family had exactly that for 20+ years. In doing so, he set the example to my brothers and I of what it means to be a person of honor, integrity, and loving devotion.

He was also a major contributor to those dashes of dark, cynical humor being developed in all of us, but in no way was he the only one. The types of jokes and overwhelmingly raucous nature with which we all communicate is a direct result of being raised in and a part of a family of soldiers, Marines, corrections and police officers, and yes, even mailmen. If you pick up on the edge in Derek’s dialogue and humor, now you know where it came from.

Rounding out this boozy beverage are critical components. For the sake of the recipe I labeled them as garnishes, but make no mistake, effort, determination, and belief are as critically important to this cocktail as any of the other ingredients. Maybe even more so, and you don’t want just dashes. You want teeming fistfulls of them. Belief in yourself, in your abilities, that you will one day succeed in this writing endeavor gives the drink all the flavor you can muster. Yet talent only can only get you so far, so being determined and putting in the effort is what will up the proof and deliver the kick that will have people screaming for a refill as soon as they’re done.

So there you go, thriller fans. The concoction to compliment your dive into my debut. Throw everything in the mixer. Give it a good shake. Pour it over an ice mold, let it mellow a bit, and then enjoy each sweet and savory sip of adrenaline soaked wilderness survival. Down the hatch.

This round’s on me.