The Patriot Oath by Lloyd Lofthouse

Publisher: Three Clover Press (July 8, 2021)
Category: Political Thriller, Native American, Terrorism, Psychological, Vigilante Justice, Kidnapping, romance gone wrong suspense, and Military.
Tour dates: November, 2021
ISBN: 978-0986032899
Available in Print and ebook, 266 pages

Description Patriot Oath by Lloyd Lofthouse

And He Thought Being In The Marines Was Tough …

After twenty-four years, Special Forces legend Josh Kavanagh has retired from the military. But now that he’s home, he’s finding that everyone has a different understanding of his motivations, and realizes that there are some wounds no amount of time can heal.

Josh’s traumatized sister, Suki, thinks her big brother is a hero and has come home to punish her rapist, the youngest son of a ruthless, crooked billionaire who lives to get revenge on anyone he sees as a threat to his family, wealth, and power.

Josh’s childhood sweetheart, Rachel, hopes he’s returning for her—the fierce girl he left behind when he joined the military. But Rachel doesn’t know about Mia, the woman in France …

And Josh isn’t coming home alone. The Oath Group, an elite force of private military contractors, is already in Montana waiting for their commander to arrive.

The DOD and CIA don’t want President Trump to know they hired Josh’s Oath Group to examine dangerous white supremacist militias that are threatening the U.S. Constitution. That covert black-ops military operation is starting in Idaho and Montana. Josh and his teams have to get the job done while preserving their anonymity—and their lives.

NOTE: this novel grew out of a prompt in a VA Vet Center PTSD support group that focuses on writing as a form of therapy. Everyone in that group was a combat veteran that included Marines, Special Forces, medics, combat photographers, et al.  The combat vets in that group heard the entire novel as it was written chapter-by-chapter, starting in March 2018.

Praise Patriot Oath by Lloyd Lofthouse

“excellent characters, interesting moral ambiguity. sad ending. but one of the best books of its type that Ihave read in a long time.”- Gary Furrow

“I really enjoyed this book, particularly the characters. I will be disappointed if this not book 1 of a multi-book series.”-Joe D.

“Excellent book, story and clear history to the end. I strongly recommend the book and the book writer to be followed.”- Cesar Carreras

“I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Great story and unforgettable characters!”-Daniel Pyle

Interview With Lloyd Lofthouse

TR: Hi Lloyd, thank you for agreeing to this interview!

LL: You’re welcome, Teddy, and thank you for hosting me and ‘The Patriot Oath’ on your site.

TR: Please tell us something about ‘The Patriot Oath’ that is not in the summary.  (About the book, character you particularly enjoyed writing etc.)

LL: ‘The Patriot Oath’ was an accidental novel that started as a response to a VA PTSD support group writing prompt in March 2018.

As I recall, the prompt was “a combat vet with PTSD gets out of the military and goes home. What was his homecoming like?”

At the time, I had no idea that prompt would turn into a novel. This was new for me. Before ‘The Patriot Oath,’ I knew how every story I wrote would end. All I had to do was fill in everything between the beginning and the conclusion.

For the next few weeks, I returned to the same character and fit him into more prompts, until that character said, “Stop, no more prompts. This is my story.”

When Josh took over, I still didn’t know where the story was going to end.

Through the rest of 2018 and into 2019, national and world issues found their way into the story: racism, white supremacist militias, religion, rape, and the horrid and almost invisible world of global sex trafficking that refuses to go away.

TR: I always enjoy looking at the names that authors choose to give their characters. Where do you derive the names of your characters?  Are they based on real people you knew or now know in real life? How do you create names for your characters? 

LL: I don’t use the names of people I know, and often the names I do use change until they stick. I think Josh’s name changed a half dozen times. I often turn to the Writer’s Digest Character Naming Sourcebook for help.

TR: How completely do you develop your characters before beginning to write?

LL: The characters in all of my stories develop organically and evolve through each internal or external conflict they face. How they respond to each conflict shapes who they will be by the end of the story.

TR: Where did you get the inspiration for your cover?

LL: I searched Google for “images of Special Forces troops in combat” and then scrolled through hundreds until I found several that grabbed my attention.  If you look closely at the scene behind the title on the cover you will discover George Washington crossing the Delaware, because he was the first American president to take the Oath of Office the U. founding fathers included in the US Constitution. Former President Trump is the first president to break that oath, repeatedly, and he’s still doing almost a year out of office.

TR: What is your favorite scene in the book? Why?

LL:  My favorite scene is where Josh’s younger sister Suki who was gang raped and is suffering from extreme PTSD, meets the PTSD service dog Audie Murphy and his human LG. There is magic in that scene. It takes only a moment before Suki falls in love with Audi and laughs for the first time since she was raped.

TR: Which actor/actress would you like to see playing Josh Kavanagh from ‘The Patriot Oath? 

LL: Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck, or Hugh Jackman, in that order.

TR: Besides being a fiction character how does Josh Kavanagh’s military experience differ from yours (in 1-3 paragraphs).

LL: I was a U.S. Marine field radio operator and combat vet. Josh started out as a US Marine Scout Sniper, then became a Navy Seal for a few years before he switched to the Green Beret and eventually invited to join Delta Force. As a Scout Sniper and in Special Forces Josh was on call 24/7 and served all over the world.

I served one tour of duty in Vietnam. For Josh, combat was his life. Josh stayed in for 24 years and retired from the military. I didn’t. When my first contract ended, I got out.

Marine training lasts about three months. About 14 percent drop out because they can’t take it. For Special Forces, training may last a year and the dropout rate is 50 to 75%.

TR: What writers have you drawn inspiration from?

LL: Ray Bradbury and Ursula K Le Guin.  They are others I could add to this list but these two would be at the top.

TR: When did you first have a desire to write?  How did this desire manifest itself?

LL: The desire to write happened soon after leaving the Marines in 1968 and starting college on the GI Bill. During the first semester of my first year, I went to a lecture given by Ray Bradbury. I went in to hear a science fiction author talk and came out wanting to be a writer. His talk is what inspired me.

TR: What book/s are you reading at present?

LL: I recently finished Billy Summers by Stephen King and started reading Sooley by John Grisham.  Although I’ve listened to a couple of King’s audio books, this was the first one I read, and that is because Billy Summers story is about a military sniper turned assassin who ends up writing his life story.

TR: What are you currently working on?

LL: I am currently working on two novels: Never for Glory, the sequel to The Patriot Oath, and a science fiction fantasy novel, Becoming Merlin.

TR: Is there anything else you want readers to know?

LL: Yes, one of the Amazon reviews says, “excellent characters, interesting moral ambiguity. sad ending. but one of the best books of its type that i have read in a long time.”

Before reading this story, please focus on two words in that review, “sad ending”, because this is not a story where everything turns out great in the end. The characters in this novel have flaws and their world does not turn out to be a perfectly happy place.

About Lloyd Lofthouse

Multiple award winning author, Lloyd Lofthouse is a former U.S. Marine and combat vet with a BA in journalism and an MFA, with a focus on writing. He’s the author of the award-winning novels My Splendid Concubine, Running with the Enemy, The Redemption of Don Juan Casanova, and the memoir Crazy is Normal, a classroom exposé. His short story, A Night at the Well of Purity was named a finalist in the 2007 Chicago Literary Awards.

Websites: http://lloydlofthouse.org/ & https://thesoulfulveteran.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lflwriter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Lloyd-Lofthouse-168775989838050/

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