What happens when two small-town half-brothers find themselves entangled in a high-stakes web of suspicion, digital currency, and international crime? In ALL WE TRUST, bestselling author Gregory Galloway delivers a taut, character-driven noir that’s as emotionally layered as it is suspenseful. From the winding backroads of New England to the gritty underbelly of San Francisco and the sun-drenched terrain of Mexico, this riveting story explores fractured family bonds, shifting loyalties, and the fine line between justice and survival. In this exclusive Jen’s Jewels interview, Galloway opens up about crafting morally complex characters, subverting traditional noir tropes, and why he believes the genre is as timeless as ever. If you love your thrillers with philosophical depth and a fresh take on crime fiction, this one’s not to be missed.
Jen: What first sparked the idea for these two small-town brothers who get in way over their heads?
Gregory: I didn’t really have much idea of a plot when I started the novel (but then, I never do), but knew that the brothers were at odds, each thinking the other is turning against them (giving incriminating evidence to the district attorney on the one side, and stealing evidence/crypto on the other), and then knew that I wanted something to pull them back together, and hoped that the more they got in over their heads, the more they’d realize where their true loyalties were.
Jen: The book moves from New England to San Francisco to Mexico. What drew you to these particular settings, and how do they shape the story?
Gregory: I live in rural Connecticut, and used some of the geography (country roads, small town businesses, etc.) as the main setting, then moved to San Francisco because it’s such an icon of classic crime fiction/films (e.g. Dashiell Hammett, Out of the Past, Dark Passage, The Lady from Shanghai, Vertigo, etc., etc.) and I wanted the brothers “trapped” with each other (cross-country plane ride, stuck in a car as they wait for hours to intercept a package) to try and sort out their differences, and then Mexico because I wanted the brothers out of their “element,” and in an unfamiliar environment, but with a family connection (one of the brothers – really half-brothers – has a father living in Mexico).
Jen: Peck and Al are brothers, but also potential adversaries. How did you approach writing their complex relationship?
Gregory: I knew early on that I wanted them to be close and yet distant, and I knew that I wanted them to be close in age. So, I have them as half-brothers (different fathers) who didn’t know about each other until they were older. They each have different pasts but are also intimately connected (work together, live near each other, have been through a lot of challenges and difficulties together) with a number of these threads starting to fray. I also knew that I wanted the power dynamic to shift between the two brothers, as they grew increasingly wary of each other but still need to rely on each other.
Jen: Why did you decide to weave digital currency into the plot? And what research did you do to make the financial crimes feel authentic?
Gregory: I did a fair amount of research on money laundering (read some white papers on how common it is, what methods are used, its impact on the economy, etc. as well as reporting on people convicted of money laundering, even some trial transcripts), which led to digital currency (and the facts and myths about it), and when I was writing the novel, digital currency was volatile (with some dramatic swings in value), which I thought fit nicely with the other volatilities going on in the novel. The trick was to take a lot of that research and translate it to a small town, where you might assume most people know what’s going on, and how does a criminal enterprise go undetected?
Jen: What draws you to the noir genre? How do you balance the classic noir elements readers expect with fresh, contemporary twists?
Gregory: Noir gets to the core questions that philosophy and literature always want to answer: identity and purpose (who am I? and why am I here?). It’s no surprise that both Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre were fans of noir, with Camus being influenced by James M. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Sartre finding some existentialism in Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest. Moral ambiguity, temptation, corruption, and fatalism are all key components of noir, and probably key components of society, which are all compelling to me as a writer.
I’ve been labeled “neo-noir,” which I sort of bristle at, since I think “noir” is built to last and will always be fresh (and when does “neo” end and what comes after that?), and I’m a bit of a classicist at heart. I think what I add to the tradition is a direct acknowledgement of the tradition itself (I try to inject references to previous works in my novels – my previous novel, Just Thieves, had direct references and quotes from other crime fiction and films), and a subversion, or even rejection, of some of the tropes of the tradition. Noir is an oft-debated label, which leads to a lot of silly “what’s in and what’s out” of the “canon,” with some people arguing that “noir” by definition must have a femme fatale. I don’t think this is true at all, so in ALL WE TRUST, there is no femme fatale, but instead a couple of high school girls who help resolve some key elements of the story. If there’s a “neo” part of noir, it’s that it is more expansive now than ever and doesn’t have to be strictly tied to the limiting definitions of the past.
Jen: The story escalates from a local family dispute to an international crime saga. How did you manage the character development as the stakes grew higher? Did Peck and Al surprise you as they evolved throughout the story?
Gregory: I don’t plan anything before I write, so almost everything comes as a surprise to me. I also don’t write in a linear fashion (often the first pages I write end up being deep into the novel, and the beginning is almost always the last thing I write) but tend to build in a scattershot fashion (it’s sort of like putting together a puzzle when you don’t know what the picture is). So, Peck and Al were constantly evolving and revealing themselves to me, and the biggest challenge was to try and keep their growing animosity and antagonism tempered by their deep bonds and love for each other.
Jen: What do you hope readers will take away from this tale of family, betrayal, and moral ambiguity?
Gregory: I hope they find it entertaining and well-written. The novel covers a lot of ground (from divorce, single-parenting, death, substance abuse, falling in love, etc.) and I hope readers find a relatable commonality with some of the characters (even though their mostly criminals, they think they’re living rational, justifiable, normal lives).
Jen: What’s currently on your to-be-read stack?
Gregory: My to-be-read stack is getting longer by the day, but here’s a few that hover near the top: On Wings of Song by Thomas M. Disch, The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante, A Kind of Testament by Witold Gombrowicz, Coyote Songs by Gabino Iglesias, and Harrow by Joy Williams. None of these are crime fiction – not sure why (and I’m sure that will change).
Jen: How can readers connect with you and your work? Do you have a website, social media presence, or preferred way for fans to reach out and discuss your books?
Gregory: I’m on Facebook (which I check infrequently) and Instagram and even have an old Tumblr account I still post to and can be reached through any of those.
Jen: Can you give us a little peek at what you are working on now? Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing this story with us.
Gregory: I’ve been through a couple of drafts of a novel (so I think I know what it’s about for a change), which involves a young man who comes across a single-car accident and stops to help. The driver is dead when he arrives, and the passenger is critically injured. He calls 911 but leaves before help arrives. It turns out to be not an accident at all, but a murder and robbery of almost $300,000. The person who stopped to help goes from being a good Samaritan to being the prime suspect and must try to prove his innocence, which gets more difficult as the police investigation continues.
ALL WE TRUST by Gregory Galloway
From a true modern master of noir fiction comes a twisty new tale about two small town crooks who get in over their heads . . .
Peck and Al have a good thing going. The two brothers own a bar and a hardware store and make a comfortable living. They also launder money for a criminal organization. Everything is perfectly fine until Peck begins to suspect that his brother is going to betray him to the local District Attorney. Things get even more complicated between them when Al’s hard drive with millions of dollars in Crypto goes missing – Peck was the only other person with access.
What starts out as a family squabble turns into an international battle between competing crime organizations, moving from small town New England to San Francisco to Mexico. Along the way the brothers encounter betrayal, double-dealing, kidnapping, and ultimately, revenge.
Suspense [Melville House, On Sale: July 8, 2025, Trade Paperback / e-Book , ISBN: 9781685891817 / eISBN: 9781685891824]
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About Gregory Galloway
Gregory Galloway is the author of the novels The 39 Deaths of Adam Strand and the Alex Award-winning As Simple As Snow. His short stories have appeared in the Rush Hour and Taking Aim anthologies. He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and currently resides in NW Connecticut.
About Jennifer Vido
Jennifer Vido writes sweet romances set in the Lowcountry, earning acclaim as the award-winning author of the Gull Island series. Her debut novel, “Serendipity by the Sea,” secured the prestigious Best First Book award from the New Jersey Romance Writers Golden Leaf Contest. In 2024, Vido’s talent garnered further accolades, with Baltimore Magazine readers naming her Best Local Author in their annual Best of Baltimore poll, while the Baltimore Sun acknowledged her with an Honorable Mention in their Best of 2024 Author category. When not writing fiction, she interviews authors for her weekly Jen’s Jewels column, leads water exercise classes, and directs a legal nonprofit. Currently residing in Maryland, she and her husband are proud parents to two grown sons and a rescue dog named Fripp.
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