Vanessa Kier spends way too much time thinking up ways she can torture her characters. A worst-case scenario thinker, she's been creating stories in her head since childhood. Now she channels her persistently dark what-if questions into writing romantic thrillers that combine intense emotion with action-packed plots. The author of The Surgical Strike Unit series about a privately run special operations group, she has set her new series WAR in West Africa, where she lived for a time.

When she's not writing, listening to music, or playing puzzle games on her mobile device, Vanessa helps writers learn Scrivener and takes long hikes in the nearby hills.

For more about Vanessa and to sign up for her newsletter to receive exclusive content, please visit her website www.vanessakier.com. She loves to hear from readers. You can also find her on Twitter @VanessaKier or Facebook Facebook.com/vanessakierauthor