Tag: #thriller

Blog Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Danger on the Island by Stewart Giles

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for DANGER ON THE ISLAND (DI Liam O’Reilly Mysteries Book #11) by Stewart Giles on this Books ‘n’ All Promotions Blog Tour.

Below you will find a book blurb, my book review, and the author’s bio and social media links. This series never disappoints. Enjoy!

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Book Blurb

The Island of Guernsey isn’t exactly a favourite destination for adrenaline junkies.
But it does have one thing that attracts a new breed of adventure freaks.

Cliff jumping is taking off on the island, and June appears to be the best time of year for those that way inclined to choose to partake in the sport.

When a young woman is killed after a jump, her death is judged a tragic accident, but when her body is retrieved, and the remains of another corpse is found on the rocks below, the Island Police are brought in.

It’s the last thing Detective Liam O’Reilly feels like. Still feeling the effects of a case that almost broke him, he really doesn’t need this.

But when he drags himself back to where he once was, and starts to understand what he’s dealing with he wakes up enough to realise he’s dealing with something much more dangerous than the cliffs that people are jumping off.

There is someone on the Island who likes to take things to the extreme, and O’Reilly is damned if they’re going to do it on his island.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127541869-danger-on-the-island?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=Z2JAu9hEPC&rank=1

DI O’REILLY MYSTERIES

Book 1 – Blood on the Island

Book 2 – Lies on the Island

Book 3 – Fear on the Island

Book 4 – Malice on the Island

Book 5 – Revenge on the Island

Book 6 – Christmas on the Island

Book 7 – Silence on the Island

Book 8 – Secrets on the Island

Book 9 – Chaos on the Island

Book 10 – Sadness on the Island

Book 11 – Danger on the Island

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

DANGER ON THE ISLAND (DI Liam O’Reilly Mysteries Book #11) by Stewart Giles is an exciting, intricately plotted serial killer mystery featuring the feisty Irish DI Liam O’Reilly and his police team on the island of Guernsey. This book can be read as a crime mystery standalone, but the main characters continue to evolve with each book, and I feel they are best read in order. Every book in this series is amazing and will not disappoint.

Guernsey is usually a laid-back place to live and vacation, but this summer a new phenomenon for thrill-seekers is occurring on the island – tombstoning – which is the activity of jumping into the sea from high cliffs or other high points. When a group goes out early for a jump, the first girl off the cliff hits the jagged rocks instead of the sea and when the Coast Guard go to retrieve the body, they find a second female body impaled on the rocks.

O’Reilly is back to work after a terrible motorbike accident because he refuses to sit at home. As more bodies are found at the farthest points of the island with no identification, O’Reilly and his team are at a loss. No clues but footprints until a young boy films one of the murders, but the perpetrators are wearing masks. O’Reilly knows he and his team are being led and he is determined to turn that around and find what is really going on with this sudden bout of murders on the island.

I absolutely love every time I get to take a book trip to Guernsey and revisit all these characters. O’Reilly and all the recurring characters after these eleven books are fully drawn and I feel as though I am visiting old friends while also trying to figure out a well plotted and always surprising crime mystery. I was on the edge of my seat, as usual, reading this book and could not put it down. I know when I get an Island book that I had better have several hours to sit and get immersed because I never stop until the last page.

I highly recommend this gripping and exciting serial killer crime mystery book! I never miss one of these DI Liam O’Reilly Mysteries books.

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Author Bio

After reading English at 3 Universities and graduating from none of them, I set off travelling around the world with my wife, Ann, finally settling in South Africa, where we still live.

In 2014 Ann dropped a rather large speaker on my head and I came up with the idea for a detective series. DS Jason Smith was born. Smith, the first in the series was finished a few months later.

3 years and 8 DS Smith books later, Joffe Books wondered if I would be interested in working with them. As a self-published author, I agreed. However, we decided on a new series – the DC Harriet Taylor: Cornwall series.

The Beekeeper was published and soon hit the number one spot in Australia. The second in the series, The Perfect Murder did just as well.

I continued to self-publish the Smith series and Unworthy hit the shelves in 2018 with amazing results.  I therefore made the decision to self-publish The Backpacker which is book 3 in the Detective Harriet Taylor series which was published in July 2018.

After The Backpacker I had an idea for a totally new start to a series – a collaboration between the Smith and Harriet thrillers and The Enigma was born. It brought together the broody, enigmatic Jason Smith and the more level-headed Harriet Taylor.

The Miranda trilogy is something totally different. A psychological thriller trilogy. It is a real departure from anything else I’ve written before.

The Detective Jason Smith series continues to grow. I also have another series featuring an Irish detective who relocated to Guernsey, the Detective Liam O’Reilly series. There are also 3 stand alone novels.

Social Media Links

Website: www.stewartgiles.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stewart.giles.33

Twitter: @stewartgiles

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: American Girl by Wendy Walker

Book Description

Charlie Hudson, an autistic seventeen-year-old, is determined to leave Sawyer, PA, as soon as she graduates high school. In the meantime, she works as many hours as she can at a sandwich shop called The Triple S to save money for college. But when shop owner, Clay Cooper—a man both respected and feared in their small economically depressed town—is found dead, each member of his staff becomes a suspect in the perplexing case. Before she can go anywhere, Charlie must protect herself and her friends by uncovering the danger that is still lurking in their tightknit community.

Based on the #1 bestselling audio, American Girl is a riveting thriller told through the eyes of an unforgettable protagonist.

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Elise’s Thoughts

American Girl by Wendy Walker is a character study that begins as a murder mystery that then turns into a psychological thriller with elements of danger and twists. It is a story of good versus evil and life versus death. It about friendship and relationships between women surrounded by solving the crime of murder.

The story begins with the owner of a sandwich shop where Charlie Hudson works found murdered. Each member of the staff becomes a person of interest except Charlie who was hiding behind the counter. These people she works with have become her family, and she would go to any length to protect them.

Charlie is clever, thoughtful, resourceful, sensitive and has developed coping mechanisms for her autism that allow her to function.  

The author is a master of suspense. The story has many twists and turns and readers will not want to put the book down.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Why did you take the audio book and make it into a printed book?

Wendy Walker:  I worked with Audible for a novella of mine, Hold Your Breath. Once it went to Audible there were changes made to the story. The main character, Charlie, never had her condition spelled out. Readers could tell she was Neuro-divergent. This story became number one for Audible across all fiction. Since it was doing so well, I decided to revise the story sightly to make it for print.  And here we are. It is an ode to a woman’s life that starts at seventeen.

EC:  How did you get the idea for the story?

WW:  The summer of 2019 I was at a restaurant bar with a friend.  When the song, “American Girl,” came on I got up to dance. There were young people there who were flirting with each other, in their little packs.  I had a lot of images in my head.  I had a visceral that transferred me back to what it was like to be seventeen. As I was seeing women in different stages of life in this restaurant everything came together in a perfect storm. I had an acknowledgement on the realities of life. I thought of all the dreams I had. I became obsessed in writing a story. This was the first plot of mine that came from a character with all the other supporting characters giving life to Charlie. All the characters were written to express what I had experienced, the trajectories of a woman’s life.

EC:  Why did you make Charlie autistic?

WW:  I wanted to explain why she is perceptive of the world.  When she narrated the story, she is analytical and a little bit dispassionate even when things around her are very emotional and chaotic. She was atypical at that age. Most teenagers at that age are consumed with their own lives, their friends, but not the adults around them.  I remember thinking how the adults were irrelevant to me when I was seventeen, that parents could not understand me. I did a lot of research and spoke to specialists in the field, advocates of autism. It was really an education for me about autism. I learned how autistic people are all so different, and unique, especially the way their brains work.

EC:  How would you describe Charlie?

WW:  She has a good memory, good at math, but not good at relating to people.  She does not like loud noises or bright lights. She concentrates, an observer, loyal, and protective. She was diagnosed at age eleven. This helps to understand why she is different. She found the diagnosis very liberating and made her divergent. She can navigate the grown-up world.

EC: Charlie had a bunch of rules, why?

WW:  It is a story about an autistic girl and how any person put in Charlie’s situation would handle it differently based on their set of skills. The most important rule, “there are no rules when it comes to love.”  Love is a central theme to the book. The love between Charlie and her mom, between Charlie and her best friend Keller, and between Keller and her boyfriend Levi. Love is the one thing that throws off all the predictors. It causes all the other rules to fall away.

EC:  What was the influence of Charlie’s mom?

WW:  She felt trapped which is why she escaped from her parent’s clutches. She tells Charlie how love would destroy her.  She tries to be supportive. She was rejected by her parents.  She applies the lessons of what happened to her to everything for Charlie. All her dreams were stolen and now she has no dreams.  What is important to her and for Charlie is getting out of their town, Sawyer and to focus on survival. 

EC:  How would you describe Keller?

WW:  She is all consuming and passionate. She is an idealist, fragile, and harassed by the victim.  She drinks and smokes.

EC:  How would you describe one of the co-workers Janice?

WW:  She once had dreams. She is devoted, affectionate, proud, a worrier, and a mother figure.

E:  How would you describe one of the co-workers Nora?

WW:  She is resigned to life and feels pride in her work. She is a managerial type who is honest, loyal, disciplined, and a loner.

EC:  What about Ian, the policeman?

WW:  He was a childhood friend she was in love with. He is wound tightly and is trustworthy, sarcastic, and understanding. He is conflicted about his life’s circumstances.  He has unresolved issues and is shackled to the town. Charlie wants him to get over his past.

EC:  Readers feel no sympathy for the victim-correct?

WW:  He is not a good person.  He had a persona of what he wanted people to think of him versus his real persona. He was power hungry, greedy, lusted, and was not caring. He represents the bad things of this small town.  He enjoys humiliating people and takes advantage of people.  He is corrupt. He exploits his employees and takes away their dignity and self-respect.

EC:  Why the phrase, “lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and onions”?

WW: I worked in a sandwich shop at seventeen through college. The way the sandwich shop is described in the story is based on this shop. It was a chain called D’Angelos that have been around forever and puts those items on the sandwich. I had bosses who were sleeping with the teenage employees.

EC:  Next book?

WW: There will be an Audible book, an audio play titled Mad Love.  I describe it as Dirty John meets the Tinder Swindler meets the psychological thriller. It takes place in a wealthy suburban town.

EC:  Will this be made into a movie or TV show?

WW:  It has a TV series option.  All my stuff had been optioned.

THANK YOU!!

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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Feature Post and Book Review: Code Red by Vince Flynn/Kyle Mills

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for CODE RED (A Mitch Rapp Novel Book #22) by Kyle Mills. This is the last book that Kyle Mills will be authoring in this series started by Vince Flynn, but the series is continuing.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!

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Book Description

Mitch Rapp hates owing anyone a favor—especially when it’s the world’s most powerful crime lord. But when Damian Losa calls, Mitch is honor-bound to answer.

The Syrian government appears to have created a highly addictive new narcotic that it plans to distribute throughout Europe. It’s a major threat to Losa’s business and he’s determined to send someone to keep him on top by any means necessary.

Rapp is the perfect choice for the mission. Not only does he have extensive experience operating in the Middle East, but he’s also entirely expendable.

As he crosses into war-torn Syria, Rapp quickly discovers a shocking truth. The new drug isn’t being produced by Damascus to prop up the government’s collapsing finances. Instead, it was created by Russia’s asymmetrical warfare unit, not for profit but as a weapon against the West.

With far more than Damian Losa’s interests at stake, Rapp devises a desperate plan that forces him and his team onto a battlefield where the United States is virtually powerless and allegiances shift almost hourly. Further, if Russia uncovers their plot, it will set off a confrontation between the two countries that could change the course of human history.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/109238891-code-red?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=AJbfuoNeEt&rank=2

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

CODE RED (A Mitch Rapp Novel Book #22) by Vince Flynn/Kyle Mills is another exciting addition to this political/terrorism thriller series. This is Mr. Mills last book in this long-standing series, but the series is continuing with another author. While this book begins with the repayment of an obligation from a previous book and the main characters continue to evolve, it is still easily read as a standalone thriller. I am privileged to be a chosen Ambassador to this series.

Mitch Rapp owes a favor to one of the world’s most powerful drug lords, Damian Losa, for the help that only he could provide in locating a threat to Mitch’s family. Losa is calling in his marker and sends Mitch undercover into Syria, but things do not go as planned. When Mitch is double crossed, he considered his debt paid and he goes after a Russian developing a designer drug that could easily destroy Western civilization as we know it.

Off the official books, Mitch and his team come together in Syria to take down this latest threat before Russia uncovers their plan and it turns into a major international incident.

I really love this series, but not this one until about a quarter of the way into the plot. I found Losa using Mitch the way he did just not what I expected, and it just did not fit the Mitch persona, so I did not really buy it and it dragged. The plot with the Russians making a new drug that could destroy Western society is when it grabbed my interest and the action took off with what I have come to expect in a Mitch Rapp book and that made it a good addition to the series for me. The book satisfied me by the end when Mitch and his team do what they do and made up for the slower beginning. I love this series for the intriguing political/terrorism plots that are not out of the headlines, but almost seem like the author can see into the horrors of the future. While I do not feel this is the best Mitch Rapp in the series, it is still an action roller-coaster thrill ride to the end.

I have loved this series since book one when Vince Flynn started it, and Kyle Mills has been an excellent choice to continue it and hopefully it will continue to be one of my favorite action thriller series as the author changes once again. Thank you for your stewardship, Mr. Mills.

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About the Author

Kyle Mills is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-two political thrillers, including Enemy at the Gates, Total Power, and Lethal Agent for Vince Flynn and The Patriot Attack for Robert Ludlum. He initially found inspiration from his father, an FBI agent and former Interpol director, and still draws on his contacts in the intelligence community to give his books such realism. Avid outdoor athletes and travelers, he and his wife split their time between Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Granada, Spain.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.kylemills.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KyleMillsAuthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KyleMillsAuthor

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/kyle-mills

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: A White Hot Plan by Mike & Ayan Rubin

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for A WHITE HOT PLAN by Mike & Ayan Rubin on this Coffee and Thorn Book Tour.

Below you will find an about the book section, my book review, an about the authors section, and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!

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About the Book

A group of alt-right terrorists decides that now is the time–and New Orleans is the place–to make an explosive statement that will force the world to acknowledge the superiority of the white supremacist movement.

Disgraced former New Orleans homicide detective Starner Gautreaux is now a poorly paid sheriff’s deputy relegated to writing his weekly quota of speeding tickets in a sleepy south Louisiana parish. His mundane life is all-too-predictable until several unusual events cause him to suspect something is seriously amiss. While the local coroner classifies the resulting deaths as accidental, Starner’s prior experience leads him to believe that not only are they homicides, but also that they signal something far more sinister.

Taut action bubbles up from the swamps of Louisiana to the hidden haunts of underworld bosses, from small-town life to urban grit, and from a high-speed highway shootout to a terrifying confrontation in the heart of the French Quarter. White supremacists seek to impose their will on a city swamped with carefree tourists, but Starner Gautreaux is determined not to let that happen.

A White Hot Plan

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

A WHITE HOT PLAN by Mike & Ayan Rubin is an intricately plotted, gripping thriller featuring a disgraced former NOPD homicide detective now just going through the motions as a rural sheriff’s deputy in his hometown South Louisiana parish. This is a standalone thriller that does leave an opening in the final chapter for the possibility of more books featuring this protagonist in the future and I am hoping that does happen.

Sheriff’s Deputy Starner Gautreaux is leading a predictably mundane life in his hometown until people begin to disappear and others are found dead. While the coroner calls them natural deaths, Starner’s experience has him believing otherwise. Starner refuses to ignore what is happening, but he will have to move quickly to stop a plot that could destroy the French Quarter during a festival.

This is a timely plot with the rise of domestic terrorism and white supremist groups currently in the news. Starner has grown up in this racially charged area, but treats all equally, but is not blind to the racism all around him. He has had a horrific life since Katrina and yet he still has a sense of justice that he cannot let go. The parish comes to life with the author’s descriptive writing of the bayou, the small town, the corrupt sheriff, and the fanatical delusions and cruelty of the white power group. The plot is fast paced and captivating as readers get to follow not only Starner’s point of view, but also all the members of the racist group. The short chapters moved the plot quickly and made me not want to stop reading until the end.

I highly recommend this engrossing crime thriller and I hope P.I. Starner Gautreaux will be back in more new books.

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About the Authors

Mike and Ayan Rubin are a husband and wife writing team.

Their debut novel, THE COTTONCREST CURSE, is a historical thriller published by the award-winning LSU Press. Its story line takes place from the 1860’s through the 1960’s and follows the exploits and travails of several generations of five families who own, work, or reside near the eponymous South Louisiana plantation.  THE COTTONCREST CURSE garnered the Book of the Year Gold Award at an annual meeting of the American Library Association where it was named the top thriller/suspense novel published by a university or independent press. A German edition has been published by Suhrkamp and is for sale in Europe.

Their second novel, a contemporary legal thriller entitled CASHED OUT, is now in its second edition.  It won the coveted Jack Eadon award as the Best Contemporary Drama and was shortlisted for the Silver Falchion Award as the best thriller. Combining page-turning action with a distinct sense of southern locale, the Providence Journal raved that it features “a lawyer down and out enough to make John Grisham proud. He’s culled from the likes of Michael Connelly by way of James Lee Burke. A gem of a tale.”

A WHITE HOT PLAN is their third novel.

A nationally known legal ethicist, public speaker and humorist, as well as a full time appellate attorney, Mike has had a varied career. He has been a professional jazz pianist in the New Orleans French Quarter, a radio and television announcer, and an adjunct law professor. He won the Burton Award for Outstanding Writing given at the Library of Congress and is a member of the Author’s Guild, the International Thriller Writers, the Mystery Writers of America, and the International Association of Crime Writers.

Ayan has had an equally varied career, having been a classroom teacher, an education administrator, a prolific grant writer, a developmental book editor, a nonprofit consultant, and, for almost three decades, the Coordinator of the Educational Services Division of Louisiana Public Broadcasting, a statewide television network, where she was responsible for initiating and then shepherding a wide variety of video projects from concept through script development and production to statewide and national broadcast.

Mike’s breadth of knowledge about the intricacies of the law and his penchant for devising dramatic situations, combined with Ayan’s unique ability to visualize and bring characters and scenes to life, make for taut tales with unrelenting twists and turns.

Because Mike’s full time legal career and numerous speaking engagements keep them hopping, they write early in the morning or late in the evening, often discussing plot lines and character development during their daily 4:30 a.m. power walks. They are just as apt to draft and revise chapters while sitting in airports or hotel rooms as they are to do so in their adjoining home offices.

Together, Mike and Ayan Rubin have developed a unique literary voice that has captivated devotees of their page-turning thrillers. A WHITE HOT PLAN is their third novel..

The protagonists and primary characters in each of their contemporary novels are descendants of the protagonists and primary characters in THE COTTONCREST CURSE, and the intoxicating action in all of their fiction plays out amidst the backwoods, bayous, big cities, and body politic of their beguiling home state of Louisiana.

Social Media Links

Website: https://mrubinbooks.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100036882297081

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MichaelHRubin

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6187123.Michael_H_Rubin

Book Tour/Feature Post and Mini Book Review: Dead West by Linda L. Richards

Dead West

by Linda L Richards

September 4 – 29, 2023 Virtual Book Tour

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for DEAD WEST by Linda L. Richards on this Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links, and a Kingsumo giveaway. Enjoy!

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Book Description

Still struggling towards the light, this time the assignment is to save, not kill.

Taking lives has taken its toll. Her moral justifications have faltered. Do any of the the people she has killed — some of them heinous, but all of them human — deserve to die?

Her next target is Cameron Walker, a rancher in Arizona. When she arrives at his remote desert estate to carry out her orders, she discovers that he is a kind and beautiful man. After a lengthy tour of the ranch, not only has she not killed him, she’s wondering who might want him dead.

She procrastinates long enough that a vibe grows between them. At the same time, she learns that he’s passionate about wild horses and has been fighting a losing political battle to save the mustangs that live on protected land near his property. He’s even received death threats from those who oppose him.

She finds herself trying to protect the man she was sent to kill, following a trail that leads from the desert, to the Phoenix cognoscenti, to the highest offices in Washington, DC. Along the way she encounters kidnappers and killers, horse thieves and even human traffickers. Hopefully she can figure out who ordered the hit before they hire someone else to execute the assignment.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/125756161-dead-west?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=DCrtnzu6O4&rank=5

Dead West: A Novel

Genre: Thriller, Noir, Suspense
Published by: Oceanview Publishing
Publication Date: September 2023
Number of Pages: 320
ISBN: 9781608095124 (ISBN10: 1608095126)
Series: The Endings Series, Book 3

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My Mini Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

DEAD WEST (The Endings Series Book #3) by Linda L. Richards is a noir crime thriller with a twist. The protagonist is a female assassin who questions her continuation in her chosen profession when she falls in love with her intended target. While this is the third book in the series, it can be easily read as a standalone story.

I found this an interesting thriller with a noir feel and an intriguing protagonist. While I felt the need to suspend some belief as the assassin and her target fall into an instant attraction, the action takes off when he disappears, and I quit thinking about it. The information about wild horses was fascinating and I wish the plot would have stayed in that vein and not pulled in other crimes like the human trafficking crime sub plot. There are plenty of plot twists and action right up to the end that kept me guessing.

Overall, this is a fast-paced noir crime thriller with an intriguing protagonist.

***

Excerpt

CHAPTER ONE 

I’m sitting on a beach. It’s a ridiculous proposition. Fluffy white clouds are scudding through a clear, blue sky. Surfers are running around carrying boards, often over their heads. Then they plunge into a sea that looks deadly to my non-surfing eyes. Palm trees are waving, and the air is so neutral, you don’t have to think about it. Soft, welcoming air. You just float right through. 

The view is beautiful. It’s like a movie backdrop. A painting. Something skillfully manufactured to look hyper-real. Textbook paradise, that’s what I’m talking about. 

I’m sitting on this beach, trying not to think about the reason I’m here. But it’s hard. Difficult. To not think about it, I mean. I’m here, in paradise, because someone has to die. 

Someone will die. 

I got the assignment a few days ago. I flew to this island to pull it off. 

My target is a businessman who lives on this island in the South Pacific. He is the kind of self-made guy who has achieved every goal in life and would seem to have everything to live for. Only now, apparently, someone wants him dead because here I am, ready for business. 

So I stake him out. You need to understand at least the basics of who someone is before you snuff them out. This is the idea that I have. I’m not going all sensitive on you or anything, that’s just how it is. In order to do the best possible job in this business, you need to understand a little about who they are. It’s not a rule or anything, it’s just how I feel. 

His name is Gavin White, and I researched him a bit before I got here. He made his fortune in oil and wax, which is an odd enough combo that you perk up your ears. Only it doesn’t seem to matter: the source of the income would seem to have nothing to do with the hit. Would seem to, because there is only so much I can learn about that, really. On the surface, anyway, I can find no direct connection between Gavin White’s livelihood and the death that someone has planned for him and that I am now further planning. 

I follow him and his S560 cabriolet all over the tropical island. He makes a few stops. I watch what he does, how he moves and who he interacts with. Some of it might matter. I’m not doing it for my health. I’m watching him so I can determine when I might best have advantage when I go to take him out. There are always multiple times and different places to fulfill my assignment and usually only one—or maybe two—that are virtually flawless. Sometimes not even that. So I watch. 

And it’s more than an opportunity I’m looking for, though that can play a part. It’s also a matter of identifying what will make my job not only easier, but also safest from detection. And so I watch. And I wait. 

As I follow him, he stops first at a bank. Does some business— I’ll never know what. After that he visits his mom. At least, I guess it is his mom. An older woman he seems affectionate with. From my rental car, I can see them through a front room window. There is a hug and then a wave. It could be a bookkeeper for all I know. But mom is what I guess. 

After a while he heads to the beach. He sits on the sand, contemplative for a while. I think about taking him there; full contemplation. But it is crude and much too exposed. 

More time passes before he takes off his shoes, leaves them on the beach, and walks into the surf. I leave my car and take up a spot on the sand, just plopping myself down not far from his shoes. 

I watch him surreptitiously. It is obvious he did not come to the beach to swim. He is fully clothed and he hasn’t left a towel behind there with his shoes. There is none of the paraphernalia one associates with a visit to the beach, even if this were one that is intended for swimming, which it is not. Signs warn of possible impending doom for those who venture into the water. 

“Strong current,” warns one sign under a fluorescent flag. “If in doubt, don’t go out.” 

“Dangerous shore break,” warns another. “Waves break in shallow water. Serious injuries could occur, even in small surf.” 

I don’t know if Gavin White read the signs, or noticed them, but even though he is still fully clothed, he steps into the water anyway. 

First, he gets his feet wet. Not long after, he wades in up to his knees. He hesitates when the water is at mid-thigh, and he stops there. For a while, it seems to me, it is like a dance. He stands facing the horizon, directly in front of where I sit. His shoulders are squared. There is something stoic in his stance. I can’t explain it. Squared and stoic. 

Waves break against him, push him back. He allows the push, then makes his way back to the spot where he had stood before. 

Before long, he ventures deeper still. The dance. I watch for a while, fascinated. I wonder if there is anything I should do. But no. The dance. Two steps forward, then the waves push him back. 

And now he is in deeper still, and further from shore. I see a wave engulf him completely, and I hold my breath. He doesn’t struggle, but then I see him rise, face the horizon, square his shoulders. 

The waves are strong and beautiful. And they are eerily clear, those waves. Sometimes I can see right inside them. Careful glass tubes of water, I can even observe that from shore. 

For a while he stands like that, facing the horizon—a lull in the action of the waves. And then he is engulfed once again. I hold my breath, but this time he doesn’t rise. 

I sit there for a long time, considering. And waiting. My breathing shallow. But he doesn’t reappear. 
After half an hour, I text my handler.
“It is done,” is all I say, just as I know she will expect.

It was not my hand, but the mission has been accomplished regardless. No one knows better than me that there are many ways to die.

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Author Bio

Linda L. Richards is the award-winning author of over a dozen books. The founder and publisher of January Magazine and a national board member of Sisters in Crime, she is best known for her strong female protagonists in the thriller genre. Richards is from Vancouver, Canada and currently makes her home in Phoenix, Arizona. Richards is an accomplished horsewoman and an avid tennis player. She enjoys yoga, hiking, cooking and playing guitar, though not at the same time.

Social Media Links

LindaLRichards.com
Goodreads
BookBub – @linda1841
Instagram – @lindalrichards
Twitter – @lindalrichards
Facebook – @lindalrichardsauthor
TikTok – @lindalrichards

Purchase Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads | Oceanview Publishing

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Book Review: A Killer’s Game by Isabella Maldonado

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

A KILLER’S GAME (Daniela Vega Book #1) by Isabella Maldonado is a gripping crime thriller that takes off like a rocket and never stops. This is the start of a new series featuring a Hispanic female FBI agent with a unique background in the U.S. Army Special Forces. This is an author introduced to me by Amazon’s First To Read program and I am looking forward to reading more of her books.

FBI Agent Daniela “Dani” Vega witnesses a murder right in front of her on the streets of Manhattan. When the killer is caught, it is learned he is only a part of a group of killers used in a conspiracy to enrich a powerful Senator. The only way to infiltrate this group is for Dani to team up with the murderer, Gustavo Toro, and while she successfully infiltrates the group, this new mission is a trap for them all set up by a brilliant game maker set on revenge.

In an underground converted missile silo rehabbed as a labyrinth, Dani and Toro and the other assassins must now fight each other with only one allowed to survive and leave. In this game everything is real, and the logic puzzles are lethal. Can Dani survive Nemesis’ ultimate revenge?

This is one of those thrillers that pull you in and then you cannot put it down. Dani is a strong, intelligent, competent, and yet vulnerable main character. All the secondary characters were believable, from her siblings to her FBI colleagues and all the antagonists as they are fleshed out, they never slowed the pace of the story. The plot, especially once all the assassins are in the maze, kept me on the edge of my seat and I was trying to solve the puzzles right along with Dani. This is not the usual FBI investigative procedural.

I am anxiously looking forward to more books in this series to see what Dani gets herself into next.

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About the Author

Wall Street Journal bestselling author Isabella Maldonado wore a gun and badge in real life before turning to crime writing. A graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico and the first Latina to attain the rank of captain in the Fairfax County Police Department just outside DC, she retired as the Commander of Special Investigations and Forensics. During more than two decades on the force, her assignments included hostage negotiator, department spokesperson, and precinct commander. She uses her law enforcement background to bring a realistic edge to her writing, which includes the bestselling FBI Special Agent Nina Guerrera series (soon to be a Netflix feature film starring Jennifer Lopez), the award-winning Detective Veranda Cruz series, and the Agent Daniela “Dani” Vega series. Her books have been translated into 22 languages.

Social Media Links

Website: https://isabellamaldonado.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorisabella

Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorbella1

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/isabella-maldonado?list=about