THE FOLLOWING IS AN EXCERPT OF LANCE LARUSSO’S LATEST NOVEL, “HIJACKING JUSTICE.”
A blinding flash ripped through Johnny
Till’s vision like a bolt of lightning piercing
a peaceful dream on a stormy night. Just
as his mind recovered from the insult,
another, then another burst shattered his
vision. The flashes reminded him of night
fire exercise on the police range, and his
brain searched for the missing sounds of
gunfire, the push of recoil, and the pungent
smell of gunpowder. Flash, flash, flash —
this time more rapid but distant and his
eyes saw the rapid movement of shadows
at their origin. The next
flash was not as bright, but
soon after, a plume of glass
erupted toward him, the
fragments dancing in the
air reflecting in the limited
ambient light and nearly
forming a rainbow.
Suddenly aware of a
trigger beneath his right
index finger, Johnny pulled
hard and fast, but the gun
would not fire. Instead, the
resistance of the trigger seemed to build,
heavier and heavier, as if the gun was
resisting him with all its effort. The flashes
came again as he felt he was moving. His
brain scrambled to find a safe place and
panic set in because his firearm was
useless. Survive, fight, win! The words
echoed louder and louder until only the
thunder of his heartbeat could compete.
As Johnny’s struggle raged, staggered
pillars of light pierced four narrow
windows illuminating particles of dust
hovering in the air like stars
on a clear night. The strong
spring sun brought warmth to
locations fortunate enough to
receive the heaven-sent
reminders of life outside the
thick walls. Two beams
landed on Detective Johnny
Till —one on his feet and one
on his face. The industrial
surroundings and thin, issued
blankets did little to help fight
the cold that seemed
inescapable. As the merciful, warm light
slowly rescued him from another restless
night, Johnny’s mind stopped the replay of
the internal terror he couldn’t escape.
Hopeful that the last few months
were just a horrible nightmare, Johnny
gathered the courage to pull back the
curtain of his eyelids to look beyond the
horror chamber that his mind had become
and slowly opened his eyes. Adjusting to
the natural light on his face, he wiped the
sweat from his forehead, and nearly
stopped breathing when the orange
sleeve of his inmate uniform combined
with the smell of industrial cleaners and
the dank odor of his thin mattress
signaling the start of another day in the
Ingram County Jail. Forcing himself to
take a deep breath, longing for fresh air,
Johnny lay still, staring at the ceiling as
the fragments of memory flooded back
piecing together how he turned from a
law enforcement witness in a serial rape
and homicide case to a man being held
without bond for murder.
Q&A
CL: How does inspiration strike you?
LL: I’m fascinated by how people interact with each other
and face life’s challenges. Many of my stories and plot lines
arise from exchanges I’ve witnessed or by imagining how a
person would feel if they were placed in a trying predicament.
Practicing law and serving as a law enforcement
officer provides a seemingly endless supply of such events.
Both professions witness the very best and the very worst on
the full spectrum of human behavior.
CL: What separates this book from other pieces you’ve
written? What connects it?
LL: My first books are non-fiction. “When Cops Kill: The Aftermath
of a Critical Incident” and “Blue News” are about law
enforcement while “Firefighters in The Hot Seat” is about
the fire service. While I have written fiction books, like
“Peacemaking and Parallax,” “Hunting of Men” is my first
full-length novel and the first in my Blue Mysteries Series.
Writing a story in long form provides more opportunities to
develop characters. My latest in the Blue Mysteries Series is
“Hijacking Justice”… Both novels present the realities of law
enforcement and portray how real law enforcement officers
solve crimes through the story of Johnny Till, a young
homicide detective. The novels and the non-fiction provide
the public with a side of law enforcement reality which is not
typically portrayed in movies and television.
MEET THE AUTHOR
Marietta local Lance LoRusso is a self-described
“attorney with a writing habit.” Most recently, he’s the
published author behind “Hijacking Justice,” an eight-episode
tale of detective Johnny Till. In this new installment of
LoRusso’s Blue Mystery novel series, Till finds himself
thrown in jail and charged with triple murder after being
ambushed while visiting Ingram County on the Georgia
Coast to help put away a serial rapist. LoRusso has authored
more than seven books, all self-published, thanks to his
extensive experience representing more than 120 law
enforcement officers. Cobb Life Editor Madison Hogan
asked LoRusso to share some of his insights as a writer and
talked the nitty gritty about the life of crime, justice and
storytelling.
56 COBB LIFE | SEPTEMBER 2021