Interview with Jack Eadon

The Armstrong Solution
Jack Eadon
Eloquence Press (2005)
ISBN 0975330012
Reviewed by Irene Watson for Reader Views (1/07)

Reader Views talks with Jack Eadon, author of “The Armstrong Solution,” the fourth novel in his fascinating “American Drama Series.” Jack is being interviewed by Juanita Watson, Assistant Editor of Reader Views.

Juanita:  Jack, welcome back to Reader Views.  We are very excited to talk with you about your novel “The Armstrong Solution.”  Would you start by explaining your storyline?

Jack: It’s very exciting. Kathy Armstrong, a female marketing manager, starts her job at a company that is trying to make unrealistic financial objectives.  The somewhat paranoid CEO of the company, a fast food giant of sorts based in California, conspires with an illicit hot sauce supplier in Mexico.  The CEO wants to use a formula that is addictive in order to guarantee results.  The hot sauce is distributed nationwide, sales skyrocket as predicted, and people start dying as a result of their exposure to the “magic” ingredient, a cocaine-based hybrid of the coca plant.  Kathy has to rescue her workmate, who has been abducted at the Mexican hot sauce plant, and foil the plan, meanwhile stopping the evil CEO from fleeing the country.

Juanita: Now, “The Armstrong Solution” is a sequel to your novel “Latent Image.”  Would you explain the connection, and will readers have to be familiar with Latent Image to understand “The Armstrong Solution”?

Jack: Not at all.  It so happens that the two books occur in the same “story time,” and "Latent Image" takes place from Marcus Ramsay’s point of view. "The Armstrong Solution" takes place from Kathy Armstrong Ramsay’s point of view.  The two books actually share a few scenes, but from different points of view.  So, it’s sort of fun to read both and note the shared scenes!

Juanita:  Knowing that all of your novels somehow reflect your own real-life adventures, how does “The Armstrong Solution” relate to your own life?

Jack: While I personally based my Marcus Ramsay character on my life, I based much of Kathy Armstrong Ramsay’s life and issues in my wife’s rise as an executive at a major fast food company.  While the details aren’t at all as real life, the basic plot premise came from my wife’s experience at a meeting where the people joked about addicting their consuming public as a way to make an unrealistic corporate plan.

Juanita:  What inspired/compelled you to actually write this book?

Jack: I started wondering, could this joke actually come true?  Was it possible for a corporation to break so many rules and become that desperate that they’d actually stoop to addicting their public?  Recent news stories suggest that it’s possible.

Juanita:  Would you describe Kathy Armstrong?  How did you come up with her character?

Jack:  I first of all based her on my wife: her stature, her voice, and her occasional timidity of the corporate institution back then.  Since then she’s evolved into a major player in her industry. She is a top marketing executive and I’m quite proud of her.  I also thought a lot about Jody Foster and Geena Davis as the prime players as I wrote the book.

Juanita:  Were there any challenges writing with a female lead character?

Jack:  Yes, it really forced me to see things from a female perspective and not excuse my own male bias.  This not only applies to the character based on my wife, but on the character who was her workmate in the book, who was ultimately detained in Mexico.  I had to make that detention believable and protract the suspense over an extended time period.  I used lots of tools to do that and have been told I was quite successful.

Juanita:  Among one of the many issues Kathy faces in “The Armstrong Solution” is her conflict with a male-dominated industry.  Would you comment on this aspect of the story? 

Jack: It was fundamental to my story that Kathy be in a male chauvinistic company.  That was easy; easier than expected.  It ends up it was not hard to portray many of the male execs at Pepe’s Café as brutish and arrogant, and it wasn’t far from the truth.  Kathy’s challenge, therefore, was to stop the bad guys—literally bad GUYS—so, much of the conflict in the story was women versus men.  I imbued Joanne Johnson, the “detained” woman, with a case of HIV, to which the evil guys were totally unsympathetic.  That really helped me present them as cold and uncaring.

Juanita:  Do you feel this is a true depiction of what many women in high-level positions deal with?  From your experience, do women bring something different to the table than men at these levels of business?

Jack:  Yes, on both counts.  Women have had it tough for years, breaking the so-called “glass ceiling.”  When I was in the corporation, they were just starting to play a fair and equal role, but it is amazing how, through my wife’s career, I’ve seen her constantly battle the sometimes blatant arrogance of men.  I also realize, again through my wife’s experience, that women tend to bring a more balanced perspective to business and are less confrontational than men.  I’ve also seen that some women can be less incisive about issues and at times appear petty, but that appears, I think, at lower levels of management where there is still a lot of female struggle to prove oneself.

Juanita:  Who is the villain of this story? 

Jack: John David Robbins, the CEO of Pepe’s is the villain of the story.  But he has surrounded himself with a team of equally ill-spirited men.  There is a good guy, Lawrence Pepper, who is the sensitive male, trying to cope with chauvinism.  Meanwhile my Marcus Ramsay character is bitter and resentful about the chauvinism found in the corporate institution, perhaps because of his expulsion from that institution.

Juanita:  An interesting angle that is significant to your plot is the use of addictive substances in food to entice the consumer to buy more.  This has been a hot-topic issue for the past several years.  How does this play out in “The Armstrong Solution,” and having experience in a similar industry yourself, what are your thoughts on real-life concerns the public should know about?

Jack:  I really don’t think the public should worry about a grandiose scheme like I’ve posited in "The Armstrong Solution."   However, it is important for everyone to keep wary and realize that surprising schemes can come to fruition.  In my current newsletter, featuring "The Armstrong Solution," I cite the situation of a man having a taco, then testing positive at a local hospital for opiates.  That sounded so much like "The Armstrong Soltuion," I was shocked.  The company was Taco Bell, which Pepe’s Café is significantly based upon.  Taco Bell is investigating the claim.  Weird!

Juanita:  Kathy heads to Tijuana, Mexico to do her own investigation into the dubious hot sauce company, Plantation Foods, and soon finds herself in grave danger.  What happens?

Jack: Well, without giving away the most exciting ending of the book, I can say that she goes to Plantation Foods, not necessarily expecting to find her workmate detained there for she expects that Joanne has fled the country as AIDS has set in.  It was all a lie, invented by the evil Executive Committee.  When Kathy discovers Joanne filthy and in disarray from her long detention, she gets detained herself and together they have to find a unique way for both of them to escape against all odds.  It gets very exciting and quite cinematic.

Juanita: Competition and corruption are two strong themes of this story.  Would you elaborate?

Jack: Not unlike political issues in the real world, "The Armstrong Solution"investigates the moral dilemma that constantly presents itself to managers.  Competition can spring from a need to fulfill personal obligations to the corporation, but corruption can subsequently be born as managers seek to accomplish these sometimes unrealistic goals through illicit means.

Juanita:  Where are the checks that keep the level of corruption/deceit down in big corporations?

Jack: Multiple layers are the biggest deterrent to immoral behavior, but also after Enron the Press can make middle managers feel comfortable that they will be listened to if they become whistle-blowers.

Juanita: With your lead character being a strong woman, do you think “The Armstrong Solution” will appeal more to a female audience rather than male?

Jack:  Absolutely.  In "The Armstrong Solution," women rise above the arrogant male-dominated corporation.  On the other hand, many of my readers have been male and they enjoy the excitement and drama of the book and root for the women underdogs as they respond to a unquestionably evil, seemingly unbeatable, executive committee.

Juanita: Jack, what is the underlying message of “The Armstrong Solution”?

Jack:  You can do things to “beat the system” but be prepared to face the results of that sometimes dubious moral choice.

Juanita:  This book is a corporate thriller, in the same manner as another one of your novels “A Consequence of Greed.”  What draws you to the theme of corporate corruption?

Jack: I think the fact that moral conflict is so obvious in the corporation draws me.  I remember when I worked on a business and became a star because I was able to fortify a product with vitamins.  I felt good about that.  Then afterwards a researcher from the lab informed me that some of the vitamins would become less potent when boiling water was put on them anyway. “So why did we do it?” I asked.  He answered, “Because people will buy it if they know it’s presumably fortified.”  I felt horribly empty at realizing I had just done something wonderful, but was also deceiving the public in a certain fashion.

Juanita:  Jack, I understand that “The Armstrong Solution” was reviewed for a screenplay.  Would you tell us more about this, and what is it about this novel that would make it great for the big screen?

Jack:  Well, it so happens my book "A Consequence of Greed" was looked at for a movie or mini-series.  But it so happens that "The Armstrong Solution" is the most cinematic book I’ve written and would translate well to the screen.  Copies have floated around Hollywood for years, and lots of “players” have read it.  Maybe some day someone will note its power for the screen—particularly given the current importance of the immigration issue, the exotic locations, and the well-drawn, unique characters.  Then the so-called players will come running!

Juanita: Well Jack, we will keep the big screen vision for you, and be the first to buy tickets.  How can readers find out more about you and the seven books in your American Drama Series?

Jack: It’s simple.  They can go to my main site, http://www.eadonbooks.com or many others, like Amazon or Barnes&Noble.com.  They can also order any of my books from any bookstore in America since I’m distributed by Baker & Taylor.

Juanita:  Jack, it has been great talking with you today.  Once again, you’ve written another fantastic book, and we strongly encourage readers to look for “The Armstrong Solution” at local and online booksellers or eadonbooks.com.  Do you have any last thoughts for your readers today?

Jack:  Just that once you’ve read "The Armstrong Solution" check out the newsletter that features it.  There are lots of cool facts about the book there.  If you’d like to get on my newsletter list and see reviews, a slide show, and a movie trailer, just drop a line to jeadon@cox.net.

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