Megan Lisa Jones is a lawyer and investment banker, but after the release of her first novel, Captive, the busy mother of two can now add the title of author to her resume.

The Santa Monica resident decided to pursue a career in writing after leaving her job as an investment banker. The transition from working woman to full-time mother left Jones itching for a career change. 

“Writing was something I always wanted to do and I just never made time for it in my life,” said Jones. “So after the birth of my second child I had a little more time on my hands, so I wanted to take advantage of pursuing one of my dreams, which had always been to write a book.”

Jones started taking writing classes through UCLA extension and began writing Captive, a tale of terrorism and political intrigue.

The novel, which was released in October 2010, follows a psychology professor who is charged with retrieving information from an Al Qaeda operative, who is held in American captivity after scoping out a bombing location in London. While working on the case, the professor is pit against the terrorist's comrade, a graduate student in Los Angeles, who is planning a series of bombs to detonate across the United States.

“I never thought I would write a book about terrorism," said Jones. "I just had my second child and we were bombing Iraq. I asked myself what was different about what we were doing and what they were doing,” said Jones. “I just had the baby, so I was really hormonal and emotional. I decided to start reading books about terrorism and I got interested in the topic because there are a lot of ideological differences and there are a lot of ideological similarities.”

Jones, the daughter of immigrant parents, spent a lot of time in Great Britain growing up. She drew from her experiences with terrorism in London while writing Captive.

“I had been in London for the IRA bomb scares so I was used to terrorism as a background in my life,” said Jones. “It always struck me at one level that people would do such horrible things, but to them it’s not so horrible, so what’s the difference? How can we justify killing people and condemn them for killing people?”

Although Captive deals with a heavy topic like terrorism, Jones said readers will find the novel an enthralling and memorable tale.

“I want people to enjoy the book. I tried to make it not just a book about terrorism, I made it a thriller so there’s more of a narrative story and you get to know the characters,” said Jones.

“Politics and the terrorism is definitely part of it, but it’s a very small part. I think the bigger part that I’d like people to enjoy is the story and maybe sympathize or even empathize with one or more of the characters.”

Jones, who is currently working on a sequel, was a semi-finalist for the Amazon.com Breakthrough Novelist in 2010. Amazon.com readers voted and ranked her in the top 50 out of 10,000 submissions.

“It was the first independent validation that I had of the book, because other than that I only had a few friends look at it and your friends are always encouraging,” Jones said.

Jones will appear at the South Pasadena Library Community Room on Thursday, January 27 for Author Night. Doors to the free event open at 6:30 p.m. and the program will feature live jazz music from South Pasadena-based pianist Vic Buxton. The Friends of the South Pasadena Public Library will also approve their new officers for 2011 with a brief vote during the event.