Moreton, Casey (William Casey Moreton)

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Moreton, Casey (William Casey Moreton)

PERSONAL:

Married; wife's name Kari.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Rogers, AR.

CAREER:

Writer.

WRITINGS:

The Greater Good: A Thriller, Atria Books (New York, NY), 2004.

Hit and Run: A Thriller, Atria Books (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Casey Moreton's first book, The Greater Good: A Thriller, revolves around the hunt for a videotape that contains a confession made by the U.S. Vice President James Ettinger. Ettinger mailed the tape to a television producer, and also mailed a letter to his brother apologizing for what he and the President did to get elected. The assassin, Olin St. John, is then forced to hunt down the tape when the powers behind the presidency kidnap St. John's fiancée, Megan. Told to kill anyone who tries to prevent him from getting the tape, St. John soon finds himself hunting down a female producer at NBC television, who, after watching the tape, knows she is now another target. The producer goes on the run as she tries to figure out whom she can trust to reveal the tape's contents to in order that the truth will be let out. Harriet Klausner, writing on the Best Reviews Web site, noted that the author's debut "is an excellent political crime thriller on a par with the works of Tom Clancy, John Grisham, and Dan Brown." Klausner went on to write in the same review that Moreton "will definitely be one of tomorrow's superstars."

In Moreton's next book, Hit and Run: A Thriller, Moreton builds his complex thriller around a hit- and-run death, the heart attack death of a Supreme Court Justice, and a battle between two software firms. Steve Adler is riding in a car from Boston to New York with his best friend, Nick Calevetti, who comes from a superrich family. When Nick hits a man walking on the highway, he realizes that he could go to jail because of his previous record; he decides to kill the man with a tire iron. Nick then frames Steve for the murder. Steve's dad, Allan Adler, does not have the money to hire a top-notch defense lawyer to defend his innocent son. Instead, the elder Adler uses his past knowledge of a Pentagon official's affair with a Russian spy years ago. The official, Getty Fairfield, is slated to replace the recently deceased Supreme Court justice, and Adler decides to blackmail Fairfield to save his son. Meanwhile, two influential software corporations want two different men appointed to the Supreme Court. Believing that their specific choices will benefit their company plans, the companies resort to bribery, theft, and even murder to get the justice they want onto the court. In the meantime, both Steve and the software companies' hired men are out to find the one-time Russian spy, who has had a daughter with Fairfield. Noting that the plot "spark[s] enough chases, plots and counterplots for a Hitchcock triple feature," a Kirkus Reviews contributor went on in the same review to comment that the author "keeps readers hooked."