Richard R Becker

As a child, I was always a storyteller. I used to invent elaborate backstories for my stuffed animals, army men, and whatever toys were lying around. Art was another way I expressed myself, drawing scenes from the worlds I’d created in my head. I dabbled with poetry and the occasional short story in high school, but I didn’t fully commit my storytelling with words until college. I transferred schools intending to combine art and psychology as a path into advertising. Ironically, the program I chose routed advertising through the journalism school, where they introduced me to an entirely new medium for telling stories — words that would become advertisements, articles, commercials, documentaries, or whatever else was needed.

Born on Monday is a small-town literary thriller that digs deep into how the choices we make — and the ones we don’t — can trap us in cycles of sameness or set us free. The story follows four estranged friends from the same fading town. After high school, some escape to bigger cities and brighter futures, but small towns have a way of pulling people back… and the problems they thought they left behind have a habit of following them home. We see this through three main characters: Billy Stevens, a quarry worker haunted by loss, who suddenly finds himself the prime suspect in a brutal crime; Jessica Michaud, who returns to care for her ailing mother only to be stalked by a vengeful ex; and journalist Andrea Kearney, who starts uncovering corruption in a powerful local dynasty as violence in the town escalates. Fans of Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn or Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell will feel right at home in this atmospheric, character-driven drama with a fresh voice. I’m thrilled that it debuted as the #1 New Release in Psychological Thrillers on Amazon, won first place for Thriller/Suspense at the Fall 2025 BookFest Awards, and took second place in The Incipere Awards.