the pen behind the pages
"Then I started to realize a lot of women were being choked, but not to the point where they were completely unconscious or dead,Because of a gap in the law, there wouldn’t be an assault charge even though someone had closed their airway."
- Samantha Sonnett
A Lifelong journey
I spent more than twenty years on the front lines of some of the most specialized law enforcement work in the country.
As a member of the NYPD's CBRNe Unit within the Counterterrorism Division, I trained over 6,000 specialized personnel annually in CBRNe threat response and helped develop curriculum adopted department-wide. Before counterterrorism, I served as a Domestic Violence Investigator in Manhattan's 19th Precinct, where I brought the first Felony Strangulation case under New York's new statute to Supreme Court — work recognized by the New York Times.
(link to NY Times article https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/nyregion/choking-someone-is-now-a-felony-but-convictions-are-elusive.html)
Today I'm a DHS contractor and Lead Instructor for Texas A&M's Engineering Extension Service, delivering WMD and hazmat training to DoD personnel and first responders across the United States. I also consult in the global security sector.
But the story of how I became an author begins in a hospital room.
In 2023, I was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition requiring a series of invasive brain and spinal surgeries. Facing long recoveries and an uncertain physical future, I turned to something I had always carried but never made time for—writing.
What began as an outlet became a passion. What began as a passion became The Protectorate.
I needed something I could do from anywhere. Something that didn't require a body that cooperated. Writing gave me that, and after years of scholarly writing, the creative freedom of a thriller gave me something I didn't expect…it was fun.
Drawing on two decades of operational experience—the crime scenes, the counterterrorism briefings, the victims I fought for, the institutions I watched from the inside — I wrote the thriller I always wanted to read. One with women who actually know what they're doing. One where justice means something complicated, as it often does.
I'm a Master's candidate in International Criminal Justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, a peer-reviewed author and the founder of Sonnett House Publishing.
The Protectorate: A Phoenix Rises is my debut novel — the first in a three-book series.
I live in New Jersey with my wife, two dogs, and a very ornery cat.
Where Magic Takes Form
My sanctuary is a small room with a large window overlooking a garden, usually cluttered with old maps, half-finished cups of tea, and stacks of research books. It's here, surrounded by the scent of old paper and rain, that the whispers of characters become conversations and the outlines of unknown lands sharpen into focus. It is my quiet, chaotic, and perfect portal to elsewhere.