Synopsis

An LA screenwriter is killed shortly after completing his latest script, FALL OUT – a thriller destined to be a blockbuster but written with a secret double purpose.  Echoing events from the past, the screenplay is sent to a very specific group of people and will change their lives forever.  All are connected to a movie that had abruptly stopped shooting in the jungles of the Philippines years before.  FALL OUT exposes the truth about a conspiracy and murder that led to a half-a-billion-dollar fortune for a select few.

Follow the story of Producer Marcus Riley, who sets out on an increasingly dangerous quest to get FALL OUT made.  From a powerful agent’s office in Hollywood, hidden treasures in Belgravia and a remote chalet in the Swiss Alps to murder at the Cannes Film Festival, Marcus teams up with designer Melinda (Mako) de Turris as they and the other recipients of the screenplay are pursued by an assassin from the past.

With clues cleverly concealed in the screenplay, Marcus and Mako unravel a lethal puzzle that for some will bring death, others the truth and ends in a cave with a shocking secret…

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Praise

“If you want a fast-paced stand out different thriller, I can’t recommend Fall Out enough. I loved it.” —Emma Forbes, broadcaster

“Amazing . . . I agree with all the other reviews that have stated if you like Dan Brown or James Patterson, then this book is for you.” —Joyful Antidotes

“And, action! Plenty of it and super nasty bad guys and stories so outrageously crazy they can only be true . . . Fall Out is inventive and, at times intentionally filmic . . . The fun doesn’t stop for 440 pages.” —Booksplainer

“A page-turning, jaw-dropping thriller of action and surprise. A riveting debut.” – Damien Lewis, international bestselling author

Review

Corruption, greed, deceit, lies, dreams, and death describe this novel to a T. This cast of characters has a secret they are hiding, or at least some of them are hiding one. The others are determined to uncover the mystery of why so many have died over the years.  It also gives us a look into the film industry, what goes into making a movie, and how those attributes could make or break a film and those involved.

The story jumps around a lot – from the past (1945 or so) to the 1970s to the present. It took me a while to get used to the jumping around and to understand the significance of the scenes from the 1940s since you truly don’t understand it until about 3/4 of the way through the book.

This is a fast-paced book with many plot lines and characters to keep up with. The book also shares some pages of a screenplay, but the significance will take some detective work to uncover the truth. I was surprised at some of the twists and turns the book took with the different characters, including those that were running for their lives. It is amazing how much deception there was from the various characters, and it seemed like anyone could be bought or paid off.

I did think that the book was about 75-100 pages too long. Others would probably disagree, but at times there was text that didn’t seem to add much to the storyline. I did enjoy the action and the fast-paced novel, and we give this book 3 1/2 paws.

Excerpt

“Fingers burnt, huh, playing with the big boys? You should have stayed on your side of the pond making Godfather knock-offs with a cockney accent.” The man extended his hand towards Marcus.

Straightening up to his full height, Marcus looked down at the outstretched hand.

“Do you validate?” he asked dropping his parking ticket into it.

As Marcus drove his cheap rental out through the wrought iron studio gates, he went over his options. There were few. The best seemed to be to get blind drunk. He was teetering at the tipping point; nearly broke, his judgement was suspect, and he’d just been dismissed by the entire Hollywood system. He pulled into a liquor store parking lot.

“A bottle of Chivas Legend Special Reserve,” he said, pointing at the most expensive whisky in the shop.

“Celebrating?” the girl smiled.

“Death of my career,” replied Marcus. “Just want to give it a good send-off.”

Two hours later he collapsed fully clothed onto the thin mattress of the bed of his motel room.

It was dark when he woke up with a hangover so bad his hair hurt. He sat up checked, his tousled brown locks in the mirror and pulled his long fingers down the sides of his cheeks. He stuck out his tongue and pulled down his eyelids, the green iris flecked with brown, but the whites of his eyes were bloodshot. Not a good look at twenty. Bad in your forties.

“Great career farewell,” he murmured.

He gulped down a glass of water and four Tylenol and picked up the phone to check his emails. A voice mail icon flashed reminding him of the badly timed call from that morning. He dialed to retrieve the message.

“Hi Marcus, Sam Wood here. Tough out here, eh? They tell me you not staying quite at five-star hotels these days,” said the broad Australian accent. “So, I am sending you my latest script…see what you think…. if it rings any bells, jogs any memories. Oh, and Balzac was right.”

Sam Wood. Marcus was in shock. At the very moment his world was collapsing around him, one of the most successful writers in Hollywood had sent him a screenplay. Sam was the last person on earth Marcus expected to hear from, let alone receive a script. Twenty years ago, he and Sam had been almost brothers, but on a typhoon-lashed movie set, their bond had been broken by death and violence. They had not spoken since.

He stood stock still for a moment trying to absorb the enormity of that call. A beat, then he rushed down the thinly carpeted hallway to the reception desk.

“You have anything for me?” he panted as he reached the reception desk.

The young girl on duty looked up startled by the tall disheveled Englishman.

“I’m sorry. No manners,” Marcus took a deep breath. “Please, did anything come for me by courier today, while I was…out?”

She handed over a manila envelope. “I knocked on your room, but you were…no answer…,” she trailed off as Marcus gave her his last twenty-dollar bill as a tip and ran back up the corridor.

Shutting the door, Marcus ripped open the envelope. Inside was a screenplay, titled FALL OUT, with a handwritten note attached.

Dear Marcus,

THE SECRET OF A GREAT SUCCESS FOR WHICH YOU ARE AT A LOSS TO ACCOUNT IS A CRIME THAT HAS NEVER BEEN FOUND OUT, BECAUSE IT WAS PROPERLY EXECUTED. –

Honoré de Balzac

You’ve got an eighteen-month free option.

Sam

An hour later and with shaking hands, Marcus put down the screenplay. His body was pumping pure adrenaline. FALL OUT was far and away the best thing the Australian had ever written. A gripping plot with box office smash written all over it. It was exactly what Marcus needed.

About the Author

Mark Grenside, born and raised in London, began his working career straight out of school at Lloyds of London, specializing in Kidnap, Ransom and Extortion Insurance. At 25, it was time for a career change and to dump the suit and tie, so he started his media career working for Jim Henson and The Muppets©. From that moment on, he has been involved in Entertainment and nearly every aspect of it.

He went on to create and produce several television series and mini-series. At the same time, he started a music management company launching million seller artist Neneh Cherry.

In 2004 he arranged the US $250 million buy-out of the Hallmark Channel International, which was then successfully sold to NBC. He returned to producing a number of movies and mini-series.

He has recently morphed into a serial entrepreneur and is now a co-founder of seed to shelf CBD producer Dragonfly Biosciences (www.dragonflybiosciences.com) and a founder of two separate digital companies.

In addition to his love of cooking, an unhealthy amount of time and money is lavished on a collection of classic cars that he has raced all over the world. He enjoys risk and has parachuted in New Zealand, scuba-dived in the Pacific, hang-glided in the Himalayas and even tobogganed down the Cresta Run. In nearly every case chasing after his wife, who is utterly fearless!

He is now writing the follow-up to Fall Out, entitled The Bastion. In addition, he writes a humorous blog with subscribers in more than 40 countries.

He has two grown sons, two daughters’-in-law, three grandchildren and lives in Malta with his wife and two French bulldogs.

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Discovery of the Five Senses: The Urban Boys, Book 1 by K.N. Smith

Publisher:  Two Petals Publishing (Sept. 15, 2021)

Young Adult Action-Adventure, Young Adult Thriller, Urban Fantasy, Mystery/ Thriller, Super Heroes

Synopsis

Welcome or unwelcome. Fate has arrived.

A suspenseful incident in a forbidden preserve heightens the senses of five friends. Sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell become super-gifts that forever change the world. But furious battles confront the boys as they try to understand their sensory super powers in a race to save mankind.

With light beings and mysterious strangers complicating their plight, can the boys defeat the evil Druth before it’s too late? Get prepared for the twisting and grinding of this award-winning, action-adventure story — an edge-of-your-seat narrative for young and mature readers alike.

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Praise

“Brilliantly crafted and written!”–Megan King, Indie Book Reviewers

“An energetic adventure debut with stellar action sequences. Smith’s writing is intelligent and often lyrical. Her exuberant prose never fails to dazzle.”–Kirkus Media

“Author K.N. Smith uses her mastery of the written word to weave an entrancing, yet powerful tale of adventure that keeps you turning pages in an unquenchable desire to find out what happens next.”–Publishers Daily Reviews

“Well written and very creative, ‘Discovery of the Five Senses’ is an absolute must-read for fans of novels such as Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, etc.”–Anabella Johnson, Indie Book Reviewers

“K.N. Smith has an incredible way with words; her descriptions are vivid; you see what the characters are seeing, you feel what they are feeling; you feel like you are there.”– Cody Brighton, Indie Book Reviewers

“A wonderful and deeply written emotional adventure.”–Self Publishing Review

“K.N. Smith’s articulate word imagery is all that is needed to transport readers to a mysterious world. Make the time to connect with this piece of literary prowess. You will not regret it.” – V. McDermott, Educator, English Teachers Association of Queensland, Australia

Guest Review by Nora

“Discovery of the Five Senses” is a captivating story from start to finish. Five boys go into the nature preserve in their town, only to discover strange balls of light floating in the air. After the balls of light begin to fly at the boys and explode, they soon blackout and find themselves waking up at one of their houses the next morning with no memory of getting there. But why are they all in so much pain? And why do they seem to each have one sense that has been sharpened to super-powered levels?

This is the question of ‘Discovery of the Five Senses.’ What were those balls of light, and why do they seem to have given the boys one super ability each? Although the teenagers are initially somewhat afraid of their new gifts, they soon have a need to use them, as a young man named Druth from the next town over wishes to use his own gifts to attack their town—and to steal their powers for his own. The boys are helped by a mysterious dark stranger, who seems to have some connection to a time when another group of teenagers received the same gift from the preserve. No wonder their parents warned them to never go into the nature preserve!

I really enjoyed how Smith used the different perspectives to tell this story. Between the five teenagers, Druth, and the dark stranger, the story really benefited from getting to experience everyone’s viewpoint.

This was a riveting YA thriller that kept my pulse pounding for the entire wild ride. I was so concerned for the boys and the residents of Danville Heights that I couldn’t put this book down! Make sure you set aside a block of time to read this, and get ready to add it to your list of favorite books! Five stars for this mesmerizing novel!

About the Author

K.N. Smith, winner of the “Best of” in the category of “Outstanding Young Adult Novel” at the Jessie Redmon Fauset Book Awards, is an author and passionate advocate of literacy and arts programs throughout the world. Her lyrical flair sweeps across pages that twist and grind through action-adventure and urban fantasy in edge-of-your-seat narratives.

As an award-winning consultant, K.N. has over twenty-five years of experience in communications and creative design. Reading is still her foremost hobby. K.N. inspires people of all ages to reach their highest potential in their creative, educational, and life pursuits.

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Giveaway

This giveaway is for 2 winners of a $50 Visa eGift Card each and 2 winners of a print copy each, open to the U.S. only.

This giveaway ends on Sept 1, 2022, midnight pacific time.

Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.

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Synopsis

Lyle Hardgrave is a gentleman, a poet, a jazz lover, and a hitman.

But when he meets Cora Wilson, the killer finds himself battling organized crime, the FBI, and unchained emotions to keep himself and the love of his life alive.

Hardgrave is known to the criminal underworld as the Gorgon. See his face. Die. He’s lived a life of anonymity, a life in which he has total control where emotions are a handicap. Years ago, he chained them and buried them, then threw away the key.

A series of events threatens his anonymity and his control. He’s forced to kill the son of Joseph Vincenti, the top mob boss. His best friend, and the only one that knows his identity, disappears. The FBI closes in. Vincenti and his thugs hunt him. All part of the lifestyle he’s chosen.

Except, now there’s Cora Wilson. Besides being beautiful, she’s energetic, unrestrained, passionate, and pure. Hardgrave falls in love with Cora as she fills a void he’d ignored for decades. Cora possesses the key to his shackled emotions. One by one she unlocks them. But she doesn’t know Hardgrave’s secret.

Hardgrave must choose. Leave his criminal life or leave Cora. Even if he chooses Cora, will she accept who he really is? Can he have love from this amazing woman and find redemption from his past?

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Excerpt

As they left the Gnarly Barnacle, Hardgrave’s arm around Cora’s waist, her head on his shoulder, he began to doubt his first theory. Maybe the greaseballs hadn’t approached Cora. An anonymous phone call? A threat by letter, perhaps? He decided he wasn’t going to ask her tonight. His previous plan still seemed the best. Ask the greaseballs. They’d tell him…eventually.

They neared his car.

Cora stopped. “Look at that.” She pointed down the row of cars.

About fifty feet away, three men formed a ring around a woman. What Hardgrave at first had mistaken for laughter he realized was cries of terror.

“You have to do something,” Cora said.

“Get in the car. There’s nothing we can do.” The last thing he wanted was to get involved with three drunken morons pushing around some hooker.

“Lyle, we can’t leave her. They could kill her.”

“Probably just having a little fun.” He hated himself for taking that position, but he could foresee big trouble if he got involved. He opened the passenger side door.

Cora broke from his embrace and started walking toward the gathering.

“Cora, come back here.”

“No. If you won’t do anything, then I will.”

“Great,” he muttered, then shouted, “wait.” He leaned inside the car, popped the glove compartment, retrieved his nine millimeter and twenty-two, and slipped one in each pocket of his light jacket. He then slammed the car door and swiftly caught up with Cora.

“Stay here. No matter what. You understand?” He felt himself slipping into the role of cold-blooded killer. Much too easily.

A faint flicker of the earlier fear flashed through Cora’s eyes. He knew he was about to undo everything he’d worked hard that night to do.

Slipping his hands in his pockets, gripping both guns, he sauntered toward the three men. Where most men would have felt nervous, excited, an adrenaline rush, he felt nothing, dispassionate, maybe annoyed, like he was going to scold errant children.

He leaned against the nearest car, directly behind a balding man with five-day stubble, a black T-shirt, and faded jeans hanging low enough to reveal his butt crack. The other two men both had long hair, one a goatee, the other a ragged mustache. Upon quick inspection, he determined none of them had guns. A knife maybe, hidden in a jeans pocket. But he could deal with that.

The woman was pretty in a grungy way. Ratty blonde hair hung over her shoulders. She also wore a T-shirt and jeans, though her jeans were snug on a firm behind, and her T-shirt was cut off at the sternum, barely covering ample breasts.

“What’s the matter, baby? You come on to ole Joe here but now you don’t want to put out?” This was spoken by goatee boy. His accent indicated transient. Not from around there.

“Yeah, ole Joe here, he likes them boobs you got. Come on, give us a feel.” Baldy inched toward the woman.

“Evening, boys,” Hardgrave said.

For a moment, no one said anything. The woman looked at him with an expression of relief.

Baldy turned slowly and when he saw Hardgrave, snarled. “What do you want, slick?”

“I was just wondering if the lady was enjoying herself.” He looked past Baldy and caught the gaze of the woman. “Are you?”

She shook her head.

Goatee boy shoved the woman toward Baldy hard enough to snap the woman’s head back. She gasped, then cried out in pain, but held her balance.

Hardgrave sighed and shook his head. “Now that’s no way to treat a lady.”

“Oh yeah. What you gonna do about it?”

“Yeah, what are you gonna do about it?” asked the man with the ragged mustache.

Hardgrave glanced over his left shoulder, toward the bar. A couple of men were exiting but ignoring the gathering. Other than that, the pier was empty. No help. He’d have to deal with it. Cora was watching intently behind him.

In the old days, the situation would have been easy to resolve, the only cost, three slugs. Now, with Cora, he was forced to employ tact. Again, he sighed, feeling weary just thinking about the energy this was going to take. “I think you’ve had enough fun for one night. Why don’t you leave the woman alone. Better yet just leave.”

Baldy stepped close enough so that Hardgrave could smell his rotten breath and pungent body odor. “And just what are you gonna do if we don’t? Huh, slick?” Baldy glanced back at his friends and grinned. The other two laughed and nodded their heads.

Hardgrave kicked Baldy in the groin. The thug doubled over with a grunt. Hardgrave drew his leg back, then planted the heel of his cowboy boot on Baldy’s forehead. The man fell back onto his butt.

Goatee Boy and Mustache Man looked first at their fallen leader, then at Hardgrave. But neither one moved toward him.

Baldy struggled to his feet, still hunched over and holding his groin. A deep growl rose from the man’s throat. He charged, head down.

Hardgrave timed his kick and drove the steel tipped toe into Baldy’s nose, then he stepped aside as the man’s momentum carried him into the car Hardgrave had been leaning on. He hoped the moron didn’t leave a dent, as he doubted the Lexus belonged to him. Baldy slid down the car into a crumpled heap.

Two clicks sounded in rapid succession. Switchblades.

Hardgrave looked at Goatee Boy and Mustache Man. They had fear in their eyes and knives in their hands. Both had crouched into fighting positions. He pondered for a moment, trying to come up with a clever line that would send the rodents scurrying, but failed. Instead, he took his hands out of his pockets, the nine millimeter in the right, the twenty-two in the left, and aimed each gun at a different thug. His fingers twitched. He came close to firing but abstained.

Cora’s eyes burned into his back.

Both men straightened. When Hardgrave said nothing, they dropped the knives.

“Get your fat friend and get out of here,” Hardgrave said.

They did as they were told, half dragging, half helping along the groaning bald man.

The blonde rushed toward him. “Thank you,” she croaked, her voice hoarse from screaming. She tried to throw her arms around him.

“Get outta here.” Hardgrave impatiently waved her away while stepping out of her embrace.

She pouted but turned and headed in the same direction as the departing thugs, but at a much slower pace.

Hardgrave pocketed the guns, sighed, and turned around. One of those morons might as well have plunged a knife in his back; it would have been less painful than the terrified look on Cora’s face.

About the Author

B.D. Lawrence has always loved reading fiction. Ironically, though, his worst subject in high school was English. One night, sitting in a master’s level computer programming class, daydreaming about vigilantes, he decided to give writing a try. Out of that came his first novel, which went nowhere. That was many years ago. During his writing journey he’s dabbled in several genres, including mysteries, suspense, science fiction, fantasy, and literary fiction. He currently is focusing on stories of justice, vengeance, and redemption.

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Synopsis

Seven years after a harrowing encounter with the Abbott family, a mysterious murder brings Parker Derrick back to Jasper. Tasked with solving the case, Parker must face even higher stakes when something very dear to her is stolen.

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Review

This second book in the Parker Derrick series continues the excitement just several years later.

Parker has put some time behind her and the disaster from the Abbott family that caused her so much pain in the first book. She has worked at getting her life back together with therapy and the help of her partner, Aaron. They have a son together, Silas, that is the joy of their lives. However, the mess from her past hasn’t gone away yet. Her best friend’s daughter is kidnapped, a long-time friend passes away, and then something unthinkable happens to Parker that throws her life upside down.

The author’s writing continues to improve and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. While it was somewhat obvious to me who the culprit was, the author still manage to throw in a few curveballs near the end that took me by surprise. Parker is somewhat self-absorbed and doesn’t always take the bigger picture into consideration. But she is growing and therapy is helping her on that journey. Seems like most protagonists tend to have blinders on at one time or another. She still needs to grow and learn to not shut everyone out of her life when life gets tough.

I liked that Parker was working on improving her relationship with her father despite his issues from the past. We see most of the characters from the first book return plus a few new characters that just might show up in the next book based on this book’s ending. Not a cliffhanger but definitely left me wanting to know more and how Parker might take on the next challenge.

I enjoyed this book and anticipate more great things from this budding author.

We give this book 4 paws up.

About the Author

By day, he’s a mild-mannered nurse, loving husband, and father of three dogs – who just so happens to write stories in his spare time. Inherit is his debut novel.

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Finding Ruby Draker by Marianne Scott

Genre: Mystery / Thriller

Publisher: Friesen Press

Synopsis

Kathleen Jones has lived a protected and typical suburban life, nothing unexpected in her carefully controlled and planned existence. She’s about to complete her college degree and is ready to start a successful career but after completing her last exam she comes home to find her world has been turned upside down. Her home has been torched and her parents and little brother killed.

If that’s not bad enough, she is kidnapped and drugged unconscious by strangers posing as a police officers. When she awakes she discovers that everything has changed – her face, her name, and everything she believed to be true.

But things get worse. Hardly recovered from surgery, she is whisked away under the cover of darkness as more men storm the clinic with guns. It seems that the men who abducted her are not her greatest threat. Now on a private charter on its way to Nice, France, her abductors are calling her Ruby – Ruby Draker!

Finding Ruby Draker is a novel about knowing yourself, accepting change, embracing danger, and taking risks. You never know what life is going to throw at you.

Amazon * Amazon.CA * Friesen Press Bookstore

Review

This action-packed thriller will keep you on the edge of your seats about what could possibly happen next for the Draker family. It moves at a pretty steady clip, so stay alert because you never know what curve might come next.

The book starts out and we discover Kathleen has been kidnapped after arriving back home to discover her home on fire and her family has perished. It takes quite some time for her to understand what is going on and why these people took her and gave her plastic surgery. I felt her frustration not getting answers or understanding about the situation. To top it off, once she is whisked away to another country, she still doesn’t get answers and there are these people that say they are her parents and siblings. They aren’t according to what Kathleen, now Ruby, remembers of her life. I thought it was odd that they took so long to fill her in on why she was there. In fact, she doesn’t learn the whole truth for quite some time. Perhaps it is a test, but if you take someone from their home surely you would provide them with some information.

Once Ruby is in the know, the story picks up speed because they are off to try and save some people from suffering the same fate as Ruby’s parents and the other residents of this estate. You won’t learn everyone’s situation right off the bat, some are not shared until near the end of the book. But the stories intertwine and the Draker’s pick up some others along the way that they knew from the past. Turns out this is a cold war situation that should have ended but one character continues the fight. This antagonist has a lot up his sleeve when it comes to this family and I kept wondering how he was able to stay one step ahead of them in most situations.

The story is long but there is not a lot of downtime for the characters and everything they do has a reason. I enjoyed the twists and turns and how prepared the Draker family was throughout the whole book. I can’t imagine trying to save others and protect your secret as well. And the story of how they have their estate was a nice little twist from what you might expect. There is even a potential love interest for Ruby with a very bizarre love triangle near the end with grave consequences.

While you might have to suspend reality in some places, this is a solid book and one that I enjoyed. I was sad that some of the family doesn’t survive, but it is what leads us to the next book and where life will take them next.

We give this book 4 paws up.

Read the 2nd Book in this Series

Ruby Draker has found new strength and is ready to move on after Felix Szabo devastated the Draker estate in Nice, France. Three Drakers are dead leaving Ruby in grief and with thoughts of revenge. The Drakers are a family built of survivors; each rescued from Felix Szabo, a psychopath, who sought to murder his former agents at the CIA whom he believed betrayed him. The Drakers’ sole mission is to stop Szabo from adding more victims to his list, and although he also perished during the invasion, his legacy continues to haunt them. When the Drakers learn that Robert Draker, presumed dead since the shoot-out at Robert’s farmhouse, may be alive and at a rehab clinic in Portland, Maine, the Drakers know it could be a setup, but they have no choice but to try to nd him and bring Robert home.

​Shocked that Robert may be alive, the family head from France to America to find him. It’s only when they arrive in the west that they realize finding Robert won’t be as easy as they thought. Szabo has found a way to terrorize the Draker family, even after death. His outstanding debt with a Corsican crime family means the Drakers must now find and deliver a shipment of plutonium, which will likely be used by terrorists to create a nuclear bomb, to get Robert back. As Ruby struggles with the decision to save her brother or North America, she must also evade the CIA, who are trying to stop the Drakers from delivering the plutonium.

Amazon * Amazon.CA * Friesen Press Bookstore

About the Author

Marianne Scott is the Canadian author of four mystery thrillers and is currently finishing an edit on her fourth novel, a murder mystery. She has a BA and a Diploma in Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, CA. She studied creative writing through Conestoga College and Humber College. She enjoys writing workshops such as those offered by Brian Henry, publisher of the blog, Quick Brown Fox, and One Lit Place, a writers’ hub by creator/editor Jenna Kalinsky. She has an author’s website and blog is the president of The Cambridge Writers’ Collective and is a member of the Guelph Genre Writers. In September of 2018, she completed a fourth-year course in Writing Fiction at the University of Guelph under the expert teaching of Lawrence Hill. Her novels, Finding Ruby Draker and Shadows in the Aftermath are self-published. She is actively seeking representation to break into the traditional publishing world with her third and fourth novels.

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Giveaway

Win paperback copies of both FINDING RUBY DRAKER and SHADOWS IN THE AFTERMATH (4 winners)

USA only. Ends July 8, 2022

FINDING RUBY DRAKER/SHADOWS IN THE AFTERMATH Book Tour Giveaway

Synopsis

Two women. Many aliases.

Meg Williams. Maggie Littleton. Melody Wilde. Different names for the same person, depending on the town, depending on the job. She’s a con artist who erases herself to become whoever you need her to be—a college student. A life coach. A real estate agent. Nothing about her is real. She slides alongside you and tells you exactly what you need to hear, and by the time she’s done, you’ve likely lost everything.

Kat Roberts has been waiting ten years for the woman who upended her life to return. And now that she has, Kat is determined to be the one to expose her. But as the two women grow closer, Kat’s long-held assumptions begin to crumble, leaving Kat to wonder who Meg’s true target is.

The Lies I Tell is a twisted domestic thriller that dives deep into the psyches and motivations of two women and their unwavering quest to seek justice for the past and rewrite the future.

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Review

Quite the tale which is told from the perspective of Meg (the grifter/con artist) and Kat (the journalist).

Everything is not as it seems and the way to truly con someone is to know them better than they know themselves. Both Meg and Kat have someone that they want to take down for horrible treatment in the past. How they approach those events is very different. Kat is crippled by emotions and inaction. Meg is a doer and is always thinking 3 steps ahead (if not more).

I didn’t want to like Meg, but she has more redeeming qualities than you might think. Kat needed to find her inner strength and it took her the whole book, but she does find it and I found it quite interesting the path she started down in order to right some wrongs in her life.

While the book is told mostly told in the present, there are some flashes to the past that help to round out the story and give us a deeper understanding of these women.

I think in the end that these two women might have actually formed a friendship, at least one of understanding that maybe they were more alike than they realized.

Worth the read and we give it 5 paws up.

About the Author

Julie Clark is the New York Times bestselling author of The Ones We Choose and The Last Flight, which was also a #1 international bestseller and has been translated into more than twenty languages. She lives in Los Angeles with her family and a golden doodle with poor impulse control.

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Synopsis

In every life, there lurks catastrophe. So believes Eli Dagan, a thirty-nine-year-old man whose traumatic past led to his service as an assassin for the Mossad. He now lives in New York City, where under various assumed names he’s a contract killer. Anton Gorlov, the head of the Brooklyn-based Odessa mafia, has a new and challenging assignment for Eli. Gorlov wants to leave the country permanently, so all loose ends must be eliminated. He’s willing to pay $1 million for a task divided into two parts. The job involves extreme measures along with unprecedented danger for Eli, who has lived a ghostly existence over the last ten years. Is accepting Gorlov’s offer a subliminal death wish? Or is it a way to reclaim part of his damaged soul? For the first time since his pregnant wife and parents were killed by a suicide bomber years earlier, Eli Dagan faces challenges that will reconnect him with his blighted past and may yet offer hope for a new and better life.

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Praise

About the Author

Mark Rubinstein, a novelist, physician, and psychiatrist, has written eight nonfiction books, including The Storytellers. He has also written eight novels and novellas, including the Mad Dog trilogy and The Lovers’ Tango. He lives in Wilton, Connecticut.

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Synopsis

The dark side of paradise is exposed when a terrified couple reveals their daunting experience on a remote island to their rescuers—only to realize they’re still in the grips of the island’s secrets—in this intense and startling debut in the tradition of Into the Jungle and The Ruins.

When a Navy vessel comes across a yacht in distress in the middle of the vast Indian Ocean, Captain Danial Tengku orders his ship to rush to its aid. On board the yacht is a British couple: a horribly injured man, Jake, and his traumatized wife, Virginie, who breathlessly confesses, “It’s all my fault. I killed them.”

Trembling with fear, she reveals their shocking story to Danial. Months earlier, the couple had spent all their savings on a yacht, full of excitement for exploring the high seas and exotic lands together. They start at the busy harbors of Malaysia and, through word of mouth, Jake and Virginie learn about a tiny, isolated island full of unspoiled beaches. When they arrive, they discover they are not the only visitors and quickly become entangled with a motley crew of ex-pat sailors. Soon, Jake and Virginie’s adventurous dream turns into a terrifying nightmare.

Now, it’s up to Danial to determine just how much truth there is in Virginie’s alarming tale. But when his crew makes a shocking discovery, he realizes that if he doesn’t act soon, they could all fall under the dark spell of the island.

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Review

This was a different type of suspense novel for me, but it wasn’t extremely suspenseful except for some at the beginning and the end. A boat is discovered by a Naval unit and there is a lot of wondering about how these two ended up on the boat and how he was hurt. Lots of unanswered questions. The bulk of the book follows Jake and Virginie and their adventures with becoming world travelers on a boat and roaming from port to port, at least that is their plan until they meet Terry and learn about Amarante. This tiny island is in the middle of nowhere and anyone that visits has to stock up on supplies, and if you need help there isn’t much around. Virginie persuades Jake that they travel there first and change their plans. What could possibly go wrong?

This book kept me engaged and I wondered about several of the characters and their motives in various situations. I have to be vague to keep you in suspense and not give away too much of the storyline. The fellow travelers that they meet at Amarante seem harmless, but are they? The story comes to a climax as it nears the time they need to leave because the monsoon season is about to start and we then fall back to the snippet at the beginning and the navy vessel finding them drifting miles away from anywhere.

The ending really picks up with the truth coming out about various characters and their motives. I have to admit that I was confused once we were back in the present in the book and the book switched POV. The author probably should have put Tengku’s name at the top of the chapter so we know that it switches to his POV. He turns out to have a pivotal role in the ending. The characters didn’t have a lot of depth to them but you get a sense of who they are and how that plays into their character. There are some obvious good and bad characters but the interaction between them all was intriguing.

Overall, we give this 4 paws up.

About the Author

Emma Bamford is an East Midlands-based author and journalist who has worked at The Independent and Daily Express and most recently as News Editor of the I newspaper.

She had a fairly normal life, to begin with, growing up with her younger brother and sister under the watchful eyes of her parents in Lincoln and Nottingham. After studying English Literature at Southampton University and Newspaper Journalism at UCLan, she started work as a cub reporter for the Bicester Review and then the Derby Evening Telegraph, cutting her journalistic teeth interviewing organizers of local fetes and grilling parish council members. Fleet Street beckoned and highlights of her career as a reporter and news editor include asking F1 driver Jenson Button what his favorite toasted sandwich filling was, quizzing the incumbent Home Secretary on his preferred kind of cheese (spot a pattern?), and peeing in Bruce Forsyth’s downstairs loo. There was some serious and hard-hitting journalism in there for a fair few years, too.

Then, in her early 30s and bored with this ‘fairly normal life’ she’d created for herself, Emma took a career break and, despite protestations from friends and family, answered an advert on the internet for ‘crew wanted’ and flew to Borneo to live on a boat with a man she had never met and his cat. She found herself hunting for elephants in the jungle, visiting deserted islands, and running from pirates. Finally, she ended up among billionaires, working as a stewardess on a superyacht in Italy. Her adventures form the basis of her first book, Casting Off.

Emma now works part-time as a freelance to give herself space to write and make the jump from memoirs to novels. Her ambition is to make book writing her full-time career. Tropical settings feature high in her inspiration and as her books’ settings, although she lives about as far away from the sea as it is possible, in landlocked rural Derbyshire. And, while she may make self-deprecating jokes constantly, she really is serious about figuring out what is important in life and finding the freedom to be who you want to be.

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Synopsis

When the shocking discovery of a murdered woman’s body disturbs the tranquility of tourist season, the police detective in charge of the puzzling case must work alongside the new filmmaker in town to pursue every lead in the new romantic thriller from New York Times bestselling author Laura Griffin.

After a scandal derails her television reporting career, Macey Burns comes looking for a change of pace in Lost Beach, Texas. She’s ready to focus on her first passion–documentary filmmaking–and has a new job working for the island’s tourism board, shooting footage of the idyllic beachside community. Her plans for a relaxing rebound are dashed when she realizes the cottage she’s renting belonged to the woman whose body was just found in the sand dunes.

Detective Owen Breda is under intense pressure to solve this murder. Violent crimes are rising in his small town, and he can’t stand to see anyone else hurt…especially not the beautiful documentarian who keeps showing up at the precinct.

With the clock ticking, cameras rolling, and body count climbing, Macey and Owen must use all their resources to find the killer without getting caught in the crosshairs.

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This book releases 5/24, pre-order your copy today!

Excerpt

Macey blinked at the windshield, shocked. Her heart raced as she tried to catch her breath. The car was tilted, and the headlights illuminated a patch of weeds and a gravelly strip of shoulder.

Macey put the gearshift in park and shoved open the door. She started to get out, but the seat belt yanked her back. Unbuckling it, she slid out. Rain pelted her as she looked around in a daze.

What the hell had happened? One second she’d been driving along and the next second it was like aliens had seized control of the car. And she’d definitely felt a bump. Had she hit something?

Glancing at the road, she saw no other traffic. She retrieved her cell phone and slammed the door. Her wet flip-flops thwacked against the gravel as she walked around the front of the Honda and checked for damage. No dents. No sign of an animal.

She stopped beside the front bumper. The right tire was flat.

“Crap.”

She switched on her cell phone’s flashlight and aimed it at the tire. Rain streamed down her face and neck. What now? She turned off the flashlight and called Josh, but he didn’t pick up, so she sent him a text:

SOS! Flat tire. Call me.

A car raced past and sprayed her with water. She yelped and whirled around, but the driver didn’t even slow. Cursing, she glanced up and down the highway. This end of the island was fairly desolate-mostly campgrounds and nature parks. She’d passed a marina, but that was a ways back.

When she’d planned her trip down here, she had wanted seclusion. After weeks of scouring listings, she’d been ecstatic when a long-term rental popped up on the island’s north end, just footsteps from the beach. The idea of being away from town, surrounded by sand and waves and the soundtrack of nature, had been immensely appealing. But now she wasn’t sure. Maybe she should have followed Josh’s advice and rented an apartment in town for the summer.

Macey shivered and rubbed her bare arms, chilled from the rain despite the warm temperature. Her tank top and jeans were already soaked through, and she was out here alone and stranded.

I can handle it.

Ha. Famous last words.

She went back around the Honda and reached inside once again, this time to pop the trunk. It was a new-to-her car, and she didn’t know the spare tire situation, but surely there was something in back. Macey had helped a boyfriend change a tire in college once. Well, maybe not helped, but she’d watched, and it had seemed pretty straightforward.

She tromped back to the trunk and slid aside the tripod and the suitcase filled with camera equipment. After finding the corner tab, she peeled back the layer of carpet.

Score! A spare tire, along with a heavy metal tool-a lug wrench?-and what had to be a jack.

But the spare seemed . . . off. She frowned down at the anemic-looking tire. Pressing her fingers against it, she confirmed her suspicion.

The spare was flat, too.

“Crap,” she said again.

Macey checked her phone. Still nothing from Josh. She hated asking a man to rescue her, but it was freaking pouring, and she was out of options.

Another lightning strobe, followed by a clap of thunder. Then a jagged white bolt zapped down from above.

She looked up at the sky, awestruck. The ferocious beauty of it reminded her of why she’d been attracted to Lost Beach in the first place. She’d been lured by the film project, of course, which would pay her bills while she got her life sorted. But beyond that, she’d been attracted by the dramatic juxtaposition of nature and people. She’d been lured by the rugged Texas coast and one of the last long stretches of untamed beach and twenty-foot dunes.

Rainwater trickled down the front of her shirt, reminding her of her plight. She stared down at the useless tire.

Her trip was off to a rocky start. She wasn’t superstitious-at least not usually-and she refused to take tonight as a bad omen. She was here for the entire summer, and no matter what happened she planned to make the best of it.

A flash of light had her turning around. A pair of headlights approached, high and wide apart, like a pickup truck. The truck slowed, and she felt a ripple of unease.

But maybe this was just what she needed-some Good Samaritan here to help her.

The truck rolled to a stop and the driver’s-side door opened.

Macey squinted into the glare. Nerves fluttered in her stomach as a man got out. Tall, wide shoulders, baseball cap. She couldn’t see his face, only his towering silhouette against the light as he walked toward her.

As he got closer, she saw that he was very tall-six-three, at least, and he easily outweighed her by a hundred pounds. Oftentimes Macey liked being short because people underestimated her. This was not one of those times.

“Need a hand?”

About the Author

Laura Griffin is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than thirty books and novellas. Her books have been translated into fourteen languages. Laura is a two-time RITA® Award winner (for Scorched and Whisper of Warning) as well as the recipient of the Daphne du Maurier Award (for Untraceable). Her book Desperate Girls was named one of the Best Books of 2018 by Publishers Weekly. Laura lives in Austin, Texas, where she is working on her next novel.

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Synopsis

In the espionage community, Vienna is known as the City of Spies, and Matt Drake is about to learn why in the latest electrifying thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Tom Clancy Target Acquired and The Outside Man.

When a mysterious walk-in to the US embassy in Vienna claims to have critical information about a Russian intelligence operation, he raises eyebrows. But when he asks for Matt Drake by name and calls himself the Irishman, he gets the DIA’s premier case officer on a one-way flight.

Matt arrives to find Austria’s charming capital lousy with intelligence officers, all swirling around Nolan Burke—a onetime member of the real IRA. But before Matt can debrief Nolan, the Irishman is kidnapped by a Russian direct action team. Now, Matt must find a way to repay the debt of honor he owes Nolan while stopping World War III in the process.

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Excerpt

Matthew? Is that you?”

“Yep,” I said, holding the phone between my ear and shoulder as I packed my shooting gear into my range bag.

Even though our range time had been nearly complete before the interrupting phone call, Laila had been less than thrilled with our abrupt departure. She was now in the gun store attached to the range, expressing her annoyance in a manner designed to get my attention.

Shopping.

Shopping for a baby Glock to carry in her purse.

What a woman.

“Then use your man voice. I can barely hear you over this racket.”

I paused in the middle of zipping the bag closed. The check-in guy had been kind, or terrified, enough to let me take the call in his office. The soundproofing in the door and walls rendered a silence absolute enough to hear my heartbeat.

“Where are you, Chief?” I said, dreading the answer.

“At a slam-poetry reading. At least, that’s what the sign says. But none of it even rhymes. And don’t get me started on the audience full of hipster jackasses. Cups of fufu coffee are the only thing slamming in this joint.”

I could hear the disappointment in his voice even as I took a seat in the flimsy chair opposite the metal desk. Defense Intelligence Agency Branch Chief James Scott Glass, former Army Special Forces team sergeant and current night terror to jihadis everywhere, was attending a slam-poetry reading.

If this wasn’t a sign of the apocalypse, I wasn’t sure what was.

“Can you hear me now?” I said, shouting into the phone.

“No,” James said. “Between the screaming from the stage and the yapping audience, I’ve been in firefights that were quieter. Wait one. QUIET.”

The silence that greeted James’s outburst made my soundproof room seem loud.

My boss certainly knew how to work a room.

“Speak, Matthew,” James said, coming back on the line.

“Still here, Chief,” I said.

I debated barking, but didn’t. Mostly because I was an adult and whatever had James desperate enough to call me from a slam-poetry session probably wasn’t a laughing matter. But also because even ten years into forced medical retirement, my boss was not a man to be trifled with.

“Good,” James said. “I need you to come in. Now.”

“I just landed last night. I haven’t even been home for twelve hours. I’d remind you that I’m on vacation, but I suspect you’re not familiar with the term. It’s Sunday. Give me twenty-four hours with my wife, and I’ll grab the direct to Washington Reagan tomorrow. I’ll be in the office before lunch. The world’s not gonna end today.”

I thought it was a pretty good argument.

James didn’t agree.

“You’re not going to DC,” James said. “Our embassy in Vienna had a walk-in.”

Walk-in was slang for someone who came in off the street purporting to have information of interest to the US government. The vast majority of these folks were people hoping to trade something of minimal value for the ultimate prize-US citizenship. As such, walk-ins were normally relegated to the most junior CIA or DIA officer. But occasionally something of value did stroll in the door. If James was calling, I had to think the Vienna walk-in fell into this category.

“Can you give me any specifics?”

“Not over an open line. But I will say this-the walk-in asked for you. By name.”

That was interesting, but not entirely unexpected. As an officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency, I ran and recruited assets the world over. While the goal of every recruitment was to snare an asset who produced meaningful intelligence for the duration of their career, this wasn’t always the case. Sometimes an asset transitioned to a job without the requisite access. Sometimes they just stopped producing. When this happened, the asset was formally closed, but I always tried to part ways on good terms.

Every now and then, dormant assets found themselves in a position where they could again become useful. This was why I always provided mine with an email address and a phrase to employ if they needed to reestablish contact. These instructions didn’t include plans to visit the American embassy, but the assets I ran were, by and large, intelligent men and women. If they believed that a crash meeting at the embassy was necessary, I wasn’t going to second-guess them.

As embassies went, Vienna was one of the most crucial. Although the Cold War had ended more than thirty years ago, Vienna was still a city of spies. Its central European location made the Austrian capital a geographical crossroads between East and West. Vienna would be an ideal venue for a spy on the run to contact an old handler.

“Which of my aliases did the walk-in use?” I said.

“You’re not listening, Matthew,” James said. “He asked for you by name. Your true name.”

I sucked in a breath, contemplating James’s answer. Like any sane handler, I never operated under true name. If this man knew my identity, he merited my attention.

“What’s his name?” I said.

“Wouldn’t give one. Just a message. He said to tell you the Irishman was calling in a favor. Ring a bell?”

It did.

“I’m booking a ticket to Vienna,” I said.

“No need. A Gulfstream’s sitting on the tarmac at Austin-Bergstrom. Get moving.”

Excerpted from HOSTILE INTENT by Don Bentley, published by Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Copyright © 2022

About the Author

Credit Robin Winkles Photography

Don Bentley is the New York Times Bestselling author of the Matt Drake thriller series including Hostile Intent, The Outside Man, and Without Sanction as well as one forthcoming title. Don also writes in the Tom Clancy Jack Ryan, Jr. universe with Zero Hour, Target Acquired, and one forthcoming title.

Don spent a decade as an Army Apache helicopter pilot during which time he was stationed in South Korea, Germany, and Texas. While deployed to Afghanistan as a Troop Commander in support of Operation Enduring Freedom VI, Don was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Air Medal with “V” device for valor. Following his time in the military Don worked as an FBI Special Agent and was a member of the Dallas Office Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team.

After leaving the FBI, Don worked for companies that developed technology for the U.S. Special Operations Community. He holds a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Ohio State University, and an M.F.A in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University.

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