Travis enjoys a steady, quiet life married to his childhood sweetheart, living in the same California neighborhood where they grew up, until his wife dies in a car accident. His heart falls into a very dark place, feeling like he died as well, or should have. Greta, his wife's sister, the consummate explorer, coaxes him to The Hague, The Netherlands, where she has taken a new job. She wants him close to her, to watch over. And selfishly, she needs him for her own solace.

For weeks Travis wanders the city, worried he will never have a life again. A combination of his profound loss and this radical move changes him in unexpected ways. He now welcomes risk into all his decisions. As he gets to know this strange world, he makes an enemy of a gang of human traffickers by trying to help a troubled woman. He has nothing to lose—except his life, thus, no big deal. Never afraid of risk, Greta insists on helping him—her way of protecting him. Bolstered by their lifelong friendship, and their love for each other, Travis and Greta are ready to face whatever trouble may come. And it does—in the form of direct threats of physical harm. While working through these challenges, their feelings for each other are changing. Neither wants to acknowledge this. But when the dust settles, they finally accept the results of their decisions and embrace their new bond.

Lost in The Hague is a literary/upmarket novel of 92,000 words, told from both Travis's and Greta's points of view. My novel is rich with empathy and emotions much like Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout and shares the same edgy feel of living in an international capital as Leaving Atocha Station by Ben Lerner. Being a character driven story about expats with a bit of intrigue, novelists such as Ian McEwan and Graham Greene influenced my voice and style.

Having lived as an expat in several countries, including seven years in The Netherlands and five years in Africa, I have drawn from my personal adventures, the people I've known and all the joys and tragedies thereof. A couple of decades ago I had two novels published by a small press. The publisher no longer exists and the books are out of print, but I managed to get then on Kindle.