In order to get to know everyone’s favorite assassin dad, it’s time to dig in a little deeper on the man we know as Layne Parrish.
(Contains minor spoilers for Layne’s backstory)
WHO
Layne Parrish was born in Hackettstown, New Jersey. He was the youngest of two boys, and his parents soon moved to Denver. Later, they all briefly lived together in the mountain town of Shotgun, Colorado. Layne’s parents divorced and Layne moved to Fort Collins to attend Colorado State.
He received a Masters in Psychology, but never became a Licensed Professional Counselor, as he had intended. During grad school, Layne was involved in an incident that caught the attention of Daphne Kurek, a woman who had recently been given authority over a clandestine operations team within the US Government.
Layne began training with the team at age 24, then officially joined about a year later. He worked with Daphne’s team for a decade before he retired.
He met the mother of his child not long after that, and Inessa Yahontov and Layne Parrish were married. By the time their daughter Cameron Parrish was born, Layne had retired from government service and opened up his own security consulting business, which he subsequently closed two years later.
As of this writing, Layne Parrish is allegedly fully retired, no longer working with any sanctioned government entity. He enjoys spending days building snowmen at his cabin with Cameron, and spending evenings losing to her at games of Hungry Hungry Hippo.
WHAT
Layne Parrish looms large wherever he goes. When we first meet him at age forty, he stands at 6’4″, about 240 pounds, with a body fat percentage smaller than his shoe size. He probably could have been a professional wrestler, but he’s not like that. He’s not the type to be flashy about his muscles.
He has blue eyes and blond hair, but there’s quite a bit of gray threaded in there, too. Tattoos blanket his arms from shoulder to wrist. His favorite pieces within are dueling cherubs… one on each forearm.
Layne would probably call himself a borderline introvert, but he’s not. He’s definitely an extrovert who sometimes enjoys an evening alone. He wouldn’t do well in isolation for an extended period of time, though.
He’s a gamer and a lover of weighty fantasy paperbacks, although he doesn’t have much time for either. Just like the Harley Davidson he ditched when he realized he didn’t want to end up being a splat on the highway some day. Not after seeing his daughter for the first time.
WHEN
Layne Parrish made his first appearance in the Micah Reed crime novel Blood Thief. Layne knew the owner of Glazer’s Gym near downtown Denver, and had stopped by one day to box a little, when a younger boxer caught his eye. The man turned out to be Micah Reed, and they struck up an unlikely friendship. Layne appears in several of the Micah Reed novels.
Layne Parrish’s solo debut came in the action spy thriller Shadow Soldiers, a globe-trotting thrill ride that kicks off Layne’s solo series. It was my first traditionally published novel, after winning the Kindle Scout competition. The Amazon imprint Kindle Press published the novel in 2018.
Layne Parrish also appears in Ember Clarke’s Six Assassins series. I’m afraid that’s about all I can tell you, because anything more about why or how would be a spoiler!
WHERE
Layne would probably tell you that his primary residence is the little cabin in South Fork, Colorado, but he doesn’t seem to spend much time there. Over his appearances, Layne has lived in various places around Denver, as well as owning a fake address in Austin, Texas… in case he ever has to pretend to be a therapist. Daphne set it up for him back in the day, and now he has it forever… a vacant store in a strip mall.
Layne’s series is the most “international” of my books so far, because he’s traveled to Australia, England, Canada, Thailand, Mexico, Singapore… just to name a few. But jet lag is an occupational hazard when you’re a dashing spy.
WHY
Here’s where I give you a little piece of trivia about Layne Parrish, something you probably didn’t know:
He almost died. By that, I mean, I almost killed him.
My original plan when writing Blood Thief was to kill off Layne near the end of the book. But as I started writing him, I enjoyed the character and wanted to see him stick around.
So, Layne got a reprieve, and I’m glad he did!
