About me…

I’ve spent most of my life in manufacturing as an owner/operator of businesses serving A-list companies such as GE, Clinique, Lancôme and Starbucks, and I’ve lectured or been a panelist at many events including the MIT Enterprise Forum (New York City). But my biggest challenge has been a debilitating spine disease. Forced to pivot from the things I love to do, I found a new love: writing.

My novels are psychological thrillers about ordinary people—office workers, teachers, and electricians—who face extraordinary circumstances, and how their actions shape their lives, and the lives of those around them. Local and national news stories ignite my imagination—be it a missing child or the havoc wrought by a professor’s addiction. The suspense springs from the reality that some elements of the story are factual—and I craft my novel’s action from there.

Once I’ve designed a solid plot I work with my characters to mold it into their own story. That’s why most of my writing time is spent developing my characters into three-dimensional people who act in ways that surprise even me, but by trusting them to lead the way they take my novels to compelling, dramatic places. Readers will find these multilayered characters relatable, and grow to care about them. Of course, there are some that readers might come to dislike, perhaps even loathe, but isn’t a worthy antagonist what makes for great suspense?

Writing has made me a critical reader. Richard Russo showed me that great novels don’t need Ivy League lawyers, or brilliant detectives. From Kent Haruf I found that seemingly bland landscapes and hardscrabble lives can be the basis for compelling stories. Karin Slaughter taught me that graphic writing, used sparingly, can bring the thriller genre to life. Sarah Schmidt demonstrated that the details of grimy, personal habits can be the critical components which ultimately reveal the true direction of a suspense novel.

I have two novels in the works. It’s been a long journey and I’m excited to say that my first book, Avarice is almost ready for release.

I live in Kennebunkport, Maine. I was in high school when I first visited the natural beauty of the Maine coast and I felt an immediate connection. Eventually I moved here so my kids could find the same love of hiking mountains, swimming, boating and sailing as I have.

I’ve done a fair amount of hiking, ranging from the Andes in Columbia to the Arctic’s Donjek Glacier in the Yukon. In South America I found that you don’t need a common language to understand gratitude or friendship or the value of sharing. In the Yukon I was awed and humbled by the sheer scale of the landscape: on one hand expansive, stunning views of snowy peaks as far as the eye could see and on the other, the fragile, diminutive wildflowers of the tundra.

A lifelong non-profit volunteer in the fields of mental health and postsecondary education, I was president of a board of an organization providing multiple levels of transitional housing for young adults coming out of the Yale Psychiatric Institute (YPI). In 2014 I retired from the York County Community College Foundation Board, but I remain an advisor to the Board.

I’ll be posting updates about my novel Avarice, to include a peek into the story, and an excerpt. Please be sure to follow me on: Facebook (Jamie Goodwin, author) and Twitter @jamiegoodwn. And find me on LinkedIn. Questions or comments? Click on the Contact link up top.

Thanks for visiting!

Jamie