It’s time we took a deep dive into Micah Reed, everyone’s favorite ex-con, ex-cartel, ex-Oklahoman ex-drinker. Minor spoilers below, but I’ll try to keep it vague…
WHO
Michael McBriar was born in Bixby, Oklahoma, the youngest child in the McBriar family. He has an older sister Magda, and older brother Kellen. He grew up in Oklahoma and attended college at Oklahoma State University.
However, because his drinking quickly spun out of control in college, Michael never finished. He dropped out and started working odd jobs, which eventually led him to work for some dangerous people. People who, he would later discover, were much more dangerous than he realized…
Michael was arrested and testified against Luis Velasquez and others in the American branch of the Sinaloa Cartel. Many of them went to prison.
Michael also went to prison for a year, in Ohio. He emerged into witness protection as Micah Reed.
Micah’s contact at the US Marshals, Gavin Belmont, arranged for Micah to get a job with Frank Mueller, an old friend.
Frank was sober twenty-plus years in AA, and Micah was at the end of his drinking career. He was in a bad place.
Micah trained under Frank to become a skip tracer. He assisted Frank’s bounty hunting and bonds business by effectively becoming a researcher and assistant. But, we all know, he did a lot more than that…
Micah gets sober in Airbag Scars, the first book published in the series. And that’s where the adventures begin…
WHAT
If you saw Micah Reed walking down the street, you wouldn’t think he was an action hero. He’s about 5’11”, 180 pounds of very-average-looking human. Brown eyes and brown hair. Women find him attractive enough, but he’s not going to win any contests.
But that’s one of his assets. Most people underestimate him.
Micah is scrappy and determined and he’s not going to quit. He’s pretty good with his fists after years training in the boxing ring, and he knows his way around a gun. He’s not afraid to pull a trigger.
He doesn’t always do the right thing, but, if you follow the series, you’ll see how getting and staying sober helps to shape him into a better person over the course of the novels.
He’s an introvert, but he’s only shy on occasion. Sometimes, he has no trouble talking to people, but he certainly dreads going to parties. He usually is ready to head out the door after about thirty minutes.
WHEN
Micah first appeared in the book Airbag Scars. (I’ll tell you a fun fact about where his name came from below). I actually wrote this book twice… it wasn’t a thriller at first. Then, I rewrote it as a thriller, and Micah Reed came to life.
Micah doesn’t cross over as many series’ as his dashing counterpart Layne Parrish, because Micah’s books are generally slower paced crime books, unlike Layne’s spy thrillers or Ember Clarke’s Six Assassins thrillers. but Micah has been known to pop up here and there.
WHERE
Micah came from Oklahoma, and he bounced around various locations in the state until he moved to Denver. During the course of the Micah Reed series, he lives in a condo near downtown, one provided for him by the government. It’s part of his WitSec deal.
Micah actually drops out of Witness Protection early on in his Denver stint. If you want to know why, you’ll need to read Paper Tiger.
WHY
When I was in my early twenties, living aimlessly in a terrible apartment in a terrible neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I had these two friends. I met them through work. They were roommates, Micah and Hayden. If you’ve read Airbag Scars, you might recognize these names, although the names are where the similarities end. The characters are not based on the real life people.
But they were platonic roommates in real life, although one was in love with the other. One night, the romantic feelings were revealed, but not reciprocated. But they still lived together afterward, in a tense limbo of awkwardness.
I found the despair of that situation fascinating, and somehow, that turned into Airbag Scars, even though the plot doesn’t remotely resemble that real-life situation. Shrug. I dunno how that happens… I just work here :)
