FALLOUT
ACTION CRIME DETECTIVE DRAMA MYSTERY
Contemporary
ROBERT E MARIER
TaleFlick Pick!
Logline
Successful businesses become desperate from COVID closures and face financial ruin. When they are offered untraceable cash to do a killing some reluctantly agree. The lack of clues and motives frustrate the FBI task force who cross the country trying to solve the puzzling case. Engaging plot twists.
Genre
Action,Crime,Detective,Drama,Mystery
Short Summary
Older restaurant owner in trouble receives an offer of $500M to kill an innocent man. Eventually 8 other identical killings were identified. Puzzling story-turns lead the FBI astray and confused. With the perpetrators on the run to escape capture in Puerto Rico, a plane crash complicates things
Legal maneuvering and bad intentions lead to an exciting and unexpected ending and an unsatisfactory ending for the FBI and the victims.
Setting
Tampa , Naples and Jacksonville FL. Reno, Sacramento and the Cayman Islands
Based on a True Story
No
Plot - Premise
Overcoming Monster/Villain
Plot - Other Elements
Meaningful Message,Twist
Mature Audience Themes
Information not completed
Main Character Details
Name: Harry Knight, FBI agent in charge
Age: 57-60
Gender: Male
Role: Protagonist
Key Traits: Adventurous,Aspiring,Confident,Empathetic,Flexible,Engaging,Educated,Leader,Honorable,Masculine,Modest
Additional Character Details
Name: John Ellis
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Role: Logical
Key Traits: Confident,Faithful,Educated,Honorable,Unapologetic,Masculine,Modest,Complex,Skillful
Additional Character Details
Name: Sara Barnard
Age: 35
Gender: Female
Role: sidekick
Key Traits: Aspiring,Charming,Confident,Decisive,Gracious
Additional Character Details
Name: Sydney Snider
Age: 68
Gender: Male
Role: emotional
Key Traits: Complex,Desperate,Engaging,Greedy,Modest,Secretive,Lone Wolf,Naive
Development Pitch
FAllOUT ROBERT E. MARIER The police were clueless. The FBI was frustrated. Despite having an all-star investigation team, no one could figure out why nine upstanding business owners had been murdered in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. There seemed to be no motives for this country-wide string of assassinations. Unshakable Agent Harry Knight and his team from the Tampa FBI Field office travel to California, Lancaster PA, Charlotte NC, Daytona and Naples Fl, and finally the Cayman Islands and Puerto Rico, chasing the elusive inventors of one of the most creative criminal schemes in US history. This fascinating fictional story highlights how normal people, desperately trying to save their businesses from bankruptcy due to Covid-19 shut-downs, can lose their moral compass when offered an easy way out of their problems. With his third mystery novel, author Robert E. Marier hits his stride in FALLOUT. Like his first book, TIDAL POOLS, an engaging mystery set on the Maine coast, and PERFECT FAIRWAYS, which involves the world of professional golf, FALLOUT is suitable for younger readers due to its lack of objectionable language and sexual content. Readers of all ages, however, will find it a page-turner!
Genre
ACTION
Brief
An agent discovers similarities in some deaths that occurred in different American states. He begins the investigation and comes up with a few culprits, including salespeople, desperate for their failed business on behalf of COVID 19, who ended up joining a criminal scheme.
Overall Rating
GOOD
Narrative Elements
Authors Writing Style: GOOD
Characterization: FAIR
Commerciality: GOOD
Franchise Potential: FAIR
Pace: GOOD
Premise: GOOD
Structure: GOOD
Theme: GOOD
Accuracy of Book Profile
It is accurate.
Draw of Story
It is a story that takes place during the COVID pandemic, but it is not about the pandemic itself. It's about the effects of the pandemic on the activities of small businesses. It has an interesting beginning as it places us in the core of families going through financial problems because of the pandemic. Afterward, we get to know these men, who accept a criminal deal out of desperation.
Possible Drawbacks
The plot is very dynamic, but the part of the investigation in which the agent visits some witnesses ends up becoming a bit repetitive, as most of the victims' colleagues have the same thing to say.
Use of Special Effects
THE STORY DOES NOT RELY ON SPECIAL EFFECTS
Primary Hook of Story
Understanding what a man is capable of in a desperate situation and the investigation that needs to connect the dots between unrelated victims to find the criminals.
Fanbase Potential
Criminal investigation fans might like the story because the way the author conducts the investigation seems believable and entertaining.
Awards Potential
If the plot focused a little more on the internal conflicts of these men who found themselves desperate for money and ended up committing a crime, perhaps it would have more potential for awards.
Envisioned Budget
MEDIUM BUDGET
Similar Films/TV Series
SEVEN: BECAUSE OF THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION THAT SEEKS TO CONNECT THE DOTS BETWEEN CRIMES THAT SEEM INDIVIDUAL BUT HAVE A CONNECTION. THE COMPANY MEN: AN EXECUTIVE WHO LOSES HIS JOB IN A MASS LAYOFF AND STRUGGLES TO SURVIVE DURING THE 2008 CRISIS.
What’s New About the Story
The combination of the crisis resulting from the pandemic with a criminal investigation, very typical of the action genre, makes the story more original.
Lead Characters
Despite the protagonist being active, committed to his job, and wanting to solve the cases, the characters who actually stand out are those men who appear at the beginning, who, out of the desire to help their families, end up entering the world of crime.
Uniqueness of Story
It's not a rare gem, as this is a traditional police investigation. However, the crisis originated by the pandemic as a starting point for some conflicts turns out to be somewhat original for this genre.
Possible Formats
Film: Studio, Streaming TV Series: Limited Run / Mini-Series
Analyst Recommendation
CONSIDER
Justification
Despite being a typical investigation story within the action genre, the drama found at the beginning brings an attractive drama. Seeing these people desperate for the failures caused by the pandemic, and having to keep their families and their businesses alive, is an excellent starting point. It's even more tragic to see that cruel personalities can push these people even further into the deep end by exchanging money for murder. The choice of these men to commit the crime - and suffer eternally from that guilt - in order to protect their families is an intense, breathtaking, engaging start. The investigation itself ends up falling to a more common level, but the protagonist itself and the actions chosen by the author are good to follow. It is the typical entertainment produced by action movies. The author tries to keep a realistic police action, and at the same time, he creates intense scenes, such as the police trying to stop the plane. Seeing that one of those men committed suicide because of his guilt and another went mad and is in an asylum brings even more drama to the plot. There is humanity in these "criminals." And after all, who are the real criminals here? Those men who desperately try to save their sons or those criminal masterminds aiming to earn millions on insurance by destroying other people's lives. It reminds me of the show Squid Game, in which people are capable of everything to make money and help themselves and others. Certainly, both committed crimes, but the book raises this question properly. The story needs a certain polish in structure and also requires more character development to make the protagonist stand out. We could also follow the life stories of those men in parallel, instead of just sticking to the investigation, thus creating a harmonious product of drama and action.