A suspicious flight charge on his credit card became the spark for John DeLorenzi’s second novel
After many years working in the corporate world, the Sault’s John DeLorenzi is living his dream of being an author.
Specializing in adult fiction, DeLorenzi has released his second novel titled The Search for Ezekiel.
The novel starts with a real-life event and turns into fiction.
“In February 2017 I got a charge on my credit card for a flight for $4,200 U.S., which I didn’t make,” DeLorenzi told SooToday.
With the help of his bank and Air Canada, the charge was reversed.
“An Air Canada rep told me the flight was from Lagos, Nigeria with a stopover in Frankfurt to Toronto. The rep ended up telling me the person’s name, so I used his real name, Ezekiel Azuta, in the book,” DeLorenzi said.
From that real-life incident, DeLorenzi’s novel then turns into fiction.
The main character is an Ottawa-based Canadian man named Matt Rosso.
Like DeLorenzi in real-life, the fictional Rosso is the victim of credit card fraud involving a flight.
“The Air Canada rep says ‘aren’t you sick of this online fraud and people making charges on credit cards? You’ve got enough information to actually go look for this guy,’” DeLorenzi said.
From there, Rosso makes an adventurous decision.
“He says ‘I need to bring a bit of challenge and excitement into my life and get into an environment where I’m not comfortable, and I will go looking for him,’” DeLorenzi said.
Rosso heads off to Africa to search for Ezekiel Azuta.
But he doesn’t make that journey alone.
“He ends up getting the Air Canada rep to go with him because you need a little romance in the book along with intrigue,” DeLorenzi said.
Rosso and the Air Canada rep – accompanied by a camera crew – travel to Africa to search for Ezekiel Azuta.
“It’s a small team of four people and they’re all quite different from each other. They have their own idiosyncrasies and it’s really about them going to look for this guy,” DeLorenzi said, leaving the reader to discover what happens from there.
DeLorenzi earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McMaster University in Hamilton and followed that up with a master’s degree in industrial relations from the University of Toronto in the early 1990s.
After working in human resources in Ottawa and Toronto, he returned to the Sault in 2007 and worked in that role for Algoma Steel.
He has owned and operated Allora Espresso Imports, a downtown coffee business, since 2021.
His love for writing stemmed from being encouraged to check out artistic hobbies as a child.
“A lot of people talk about a change in careers. For me, I always wanted to write a novel. I just wanted to try and create this new life where I’m able to write.”
His first novel, Take the Front Seat, was published by Tagona Press in 2024.
It involves the interaction between a group of strangers seated in a ride-share vehicle on a series of long-distance drives from Toronto to Ottawa.
“If you’re a passenger in that car you think ‘I’m never going to see these people again,’ but you start talking about things you wouldn’t normally talk about, or unload about things,” DeLorenzi said.
Conversations between the characters in Take the Front Seat launch in unexpected directions.
“It’s made up of characters who end up seeing each other again and again and they get involved in each other’s lives. In the end they’re instrumental in helping each other overcome major decisions they need to make in their lives.”
DeLorenzi said he remembers how he felt when he began his first novel.
“The first time you write a book, you’re thinking ‘can I actually write a book?’ You’re developing your own style. Once you’re done with that first book and heading into the second, you have a better sense of what you like to write and what your capabilities are.”
DeLorenzi said sales of Take the Front Seat were “not too bad,” and mostly from locals.
He plans more aggressive online promotion for The Search for Ezekiel and he’s already 15,000 words into his third novel.
“The third is even more suspenseful and adventurous than The Search for Ezekiel. I write because I want to entertain people and create characters that people can identify with,” DeLorenzi said.
“I like writing books not to teach huge messages or convey any grand theories on anything, but really to entertain through adventure, suspense, and humour. I like to push those things.”
The Search for Ezekiel is available for purchase through Tagona Press and Amazon.
Copies of the book can also be purchased at Allora Espresso Imports in the Paul Mall and Stone’s Office Supply.
A book launch for The Search for Ezekiel will be held at Forty-Five Social at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 28.