Shooting at Shadows

Some background

My debut novel, Shooting at Shadows has just been released. In the coming weeks, I’ll be writing here about some of the real events that inspired and informed the book.

In 1993, I spent eight months working on a photo story about radical racists, most of whom lived in Pennsylvania. I interviewed a convict inside Attica Prison, slept on the floor of a ramshackle trailer in a rural compound, rode in the back of a Ryder truck going to an anti-gay rally, and attended a cross burning. I hung out with skinheads and Aryan Nations and Klan members. I saw and heard things that were shocking and repugnant. By the end I had a story strong enough for my agent to license to publications around the world. You can see some of the photographs in the Archive section of this site here.

Several years later I found out that some of the people I had photographed had robbed twenty-two banks, netting several hundred thousand dollars. Six of them either pleaded or were found guilty and were sentenced to federal prison.

I decided that working on the story and spending time with those criminals had the potential for an exciting book. After experimenting with a non-fiction treatment, by 1999 I settled on a fictional version and started writing what became Shooting at Shadows.

Read a full review here.

Order your copy here.

"...a provocative thriller exploring highly pertinent themes in American culture today..."

–Fredrick Soukup, author of Blood up North

"One hopes that McMullin has further adventures planned for his unlikely hero."

–Kirkus Reviews