Debut novels are tricky things. While I’ve not asked this question specifically of some of my fellow writers, the general impression I get is most writers consider their debut novels both with pride at their accomplishment and ruefulness at missed opportunities for improvement. And I’m no different.
Looking back at my own novel, I am absolutely amazed that after years of considering and planning for a novel, I finally got a finished book in my hand. Are there things I wished I might have done differently? Sure, but I don’t think it takes away from the book itself. I set out to tell an intriguing story set in a world (journalism) which was such a part of my life for many years, and I believe I ended up with a good read.
Origins
I first started thinking of the story which would eventually become The Holy Fool in the early 2010’s. Back then, I was making a transition away from the field of journalism (with an 18-month or so return to work for my hometown newspaper, The Muscatine Journal), and pondering what I’d experienced. My service as a (primarily print) journalist convinced me of the importance of the profession, especially its role in keeping local communities accurately informed about the important events and issues affecting them.
It also convinced me of the dangers American journalism faced, which was leading to decline which has only accelerated in recent years. There are a wide variety of factors leading to this - short-sighted media companies addicted to unrealistic and unsustainable profit margins, the presence of the Internet and how it disrupted the traditional media delivery model, and politicians who never liked being held accountable for their actions.
I was observing all this as well as the economic and cultural turmoil stemming from the George W. Bush years which extended into the Obama years and beyond. It all dropped into the creative stewpot in my head, simmering, cooking, and transforming.
Into the pot dropped a story I’d read about in one of the books we used when I’d attended the journalism and mass communication program at the University of Iowa in the mid 1990’s. Back in 1993, the New York Post was owned for two weeks by a parking garage tycoon named Abe Hirshfeld. The staff of the Post so despised their new owner they ran an entire issue about how he was unfit to own and operate a newspapers in New York. They got rid of Abe, but Rupert Murdoch ended up buying the paper. 🤷🏻
Just as an insurance salesman named Tom Clancy once transformed an unsuccessful mutiny aboard a Soviet destroyer into a more successful one on a Soviet missile sub for The Hunt for Red October, I decided to see what an even more successful journalistic revolt set in the city of Chicago (which, as a Midwest kid actually born in its outer suburbs, I was more familiar with than New York). I was off to sort out the story.
After several years of work-shopping, advice, and major revisions, I published The Holy Fool through Biblio Publishing in 2019.
The Story
It’s mid-August 2008. Samuel “Sonny” Turner is the Iowa-born star columnist for the Chicago Journal, which has served the Windy City for the past 140 or so years. He’s approached by his mentor, City/Metro desk editor Arthur “Gus” Pulaski, with a confidential task: investigate John Michael Edson, the CEO of Journal owner Edson Media, to find out if the paper is in danger of being sold and perhaps even closed for good.
Over the course of five weeks, against the backdrop of the Obama-McCain presidential races and the beginnings of the Great Recession, Turner, Pulaski, and a handful of trusted colleagues investigate their own owner and his plans. Once they realize their journalistic home and their livelihoods are at risk, Turner, Pulaski, and the others prepare to take drastic action in a last ditch effort to keep the Journal’s presses running.
At the same time, Turner has in his possession a mountain of classified and top secret information about the conduct of the wars now raging in Iraq in Afghanistan. He wants to report on the information, but even Pulaski is hesitant about the ethics and feasibility of doing so. With pressure coming from his own bosses and the federal government, Turner starts to consider whether a new approach to journalism might be what’s needed.
The Holy Fool is a reference to a a Russian archetype of someone who seems foolish but is actually intelligent, and the court jesters who were able to tell the truth to kings without losing their heads1.
If You’re Interested…
…in thrillers with a journalistic slant, with a dash of a heist story and political intrigue, The Holy Fool is absolutely for you.
Essentially, you can probably find it just by Googling “Jason Liegois The Holy Fool,” but if you want faster links, you can check out either the links on the sidebar of my desktop version of this site, or go to my profile page on Substack and click on the “Links” section. If you’re interested, you can pick up the paperback version for $14.95 or the Kindle version for $4.99.
Or, if you happen to visit a book fair or author’s event in Iowa, western Illinois or maybe even Northeast Missouri, you might see me there and ask me if I’ve got a copy to sell and autograph. I’ll be the relatively big guy with a gray beard and I’ll almost certainly be wearing something in purple. You won’t miss me.
Next Sunday, I'll reintroduce my second novel to all of you - The Yank Striker.
And yes, I admit titling my debut book with a cultural reference requiring a paragraph to explain was a bit of a choice.