The Magic of Sunshine

The last couple of days, it was cold and gray, cloudy, wet and rainy. If it wasn’t raining, it was misting and threatening to rain. And when it wasn’t raining, you could smell the rain in the air. All in all, rather depressing.

I’ve often wondered how the folks in Seattle and the surrounding area stand it. I worked with a colleague in Southern California when I was a counselor, who wanted to move to Seattle because he liked the rain. I didn’t understand it then, and I don’t understand it now. 

Living in Southern California was a unique case altogether. It seldom rained, and it seldom got too cold. You didn’t have to wear sixteen layers of clothes in the winter like in Wisconsin to stay warm. Just jeans and a sweatshirt or light jacket. But I remember one December when it rained all or parts of about 40 days straight. Most of us searched backyards to see if Noah or someone was building an arc. But eventually, the rain stopped, and the sun shone like normal. 

Being a weatherman in Southern California has to be one of the most boring jobs in the world. In fact, one station hired a standup comedian, Fritz Coleman, to do the weather, and at least he could make it entertaining. He was a weatherman, not a meteorologist. Different animals. 

I understand the benefits of different seasons, just like I understand the benefits of rain. It’s needed to make things grow. Grass, trees, flowers, animals. People. It’s just that I am more of a fan of sunshine than I am of rain. 

Today, I woke up to a bright blue sky and the warmth of the sun, and I could feel my spirits lifting. My youngest, Emily, is a social worker, and she is convinced the weather plays a part in how people are feeling, because she sees changes in her clients when the weather changes. I have long believed this, too. I also believe there is something to the full moon, but I’ll save that for a different post someday. 

When the sun is shining and I feel the warmth of the sun on my skin, I find myself smiling more. My mood is lighter. I’m happier, certainly not as grumpy, though I think I’m seldom grumpy.

There is something to be said about how weather affects one’s outlook and mood. We can set our minds on our mood and try to change it on our own, and there is something to be said about that, too. I do think one’s outlook is a choice. Much like the choice to act or react to what is taking place around us. But heck, being in the sunshine makes it a lot easier, don’t you think? Something to think about …

Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!

To My Readers:

Connect with me on Social Media: 

Author Website at https://www.jrlewisauthor.blog

Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Joseph.Lewis.Author

Instagram at: @joseph.lewis.author

Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/Joseph-Lewis/e/B01FWB9AOI /

**ONLY 4 DAYS UNTIL FAN MAIL LAUNCHES! FOUR DAYS!**

A lot will happen when it does! There is a Seven Day Book Blog Tour that begins with three book bloggers sharing their thoughts on Fan Mail on the 30^th, and that continues for the next seven days. There will also be special activities associated with the Fan Mail, and some of my other books, in the weeks that follow.

April will be a busy month! I have two book sales and signings taking place at two different local libraries, along with a regional craft fair I’m taking part in. The first event is April 1^st at Howell Library in Stafford County from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. I’ll have copies of all my books for sale and signing, and if you go to my Facebook and Instagram pages, you will find details as they get closer.

I took part in the Author’s Spot Podcast. It was a little about my life, my writing, and about my newest book, Fan Mail. You can find it at: https://podcast.theauthorsspot.com/1973858/12365749

Need a New Book? I have nine available, and I hope you gift someone, maybe yourself, with one of my books. If you have read one of my books, I would like to ask a favor. If you could go online and write a review or, at the least, give a rating on the book, it would be of great help. Both a review and a rating would be wonderful. The review could be one or two lines. It doesn’t have to be long. Just let others know you read it and hopefully, enjoyed it. Obviously, 4s and 5s are the best. Thanks for this consideration.

My newest, Fan Mail, is Available for Preorder at https://www.blackrosewriting.com/thrillers/fanmail  

Use code PREORDER2023 to receive a 15% Discount. If you head over to my author website at www.jrlewisauthor.blog/ you will find the cover to Fan Mail, along with the book trailer, and the first two chapters to preview. You can also PREORDER the Kindle Version on Amazon at: amzn.to/3WBbRps

**If you are a blogger, librarian or reviewer, Fan Mail is available on NetGalley for free UNTIL MARCH 30TH.**

Fan Mail: New Release! A Literary Titan Silver Book Award Winner!

A barrage of threatening letters, a car bomb, and a heart attack rip apart what was once a close-knit family of adopted brothers. Randy and Bobby, along with fellow band member and best friend, Danny, receive fan mail that turns menacing. They ignore it, but to their detriment. The sender turns up the heat. Violence upends their world. It rocks the relationship between the boys and ripples through their family, nearly killing their dad.

As these boys turn on each other, adopted brother Brian flashes back to that event in Arizona where he nearly lost his life saving his brothers. The scars on his face and arms healed, but not his heart.

Would he once again have to put himself in harm’s way to save them? And if faced with that choice, will he?

Blaze In, Blaze Out: Best Action Crime Thriller of 2022 by Best Thrillers! A Literary Titan Gold Book Award Winner! A Readers’ Favorite Award Winner! A Reader’s Ready Recommended Read! A BestThriller’s Editor’s Pick!

Eiselmann and O’Connor thought the conviction of Dmitry Andruko, the head of a Ukrainian crime family, meant the end. It was only the beginning. They forgot that revenge knows no boundaries, vindictiveness knows no restraints, and ruthlessness never worries about collateral damage. Andruko hired contract killers to go after and kill O’Connor and Eiselmann. The killers can be anyone and be anywhere. They can strike at any time. They care nothing of collateral damage. Andruko believes a target is a target, and in the end, the target must die. https://amzn.to/34lNllP

Betrayed: Two Top Shelf Awards: 1^st Place Fiction-Mystery; and Runner-Up Fiction-Crime; A PenCraft 1^st Place Winner for Thriller-Fiction! A Maxy Award Runner-Up for Mystery/Suspense! A Literary Titan Silver Book Award Winner! A Reader’s Ready Recommended Read Award Winner! A Reader’s Favorite Honorable Mention Award Winner for Fiction-Crime-Mystery!

Betrayed is Now Available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! https://amzn.to/3AfUUpS

A late-night phone call, a missing kid, a murdered family, but no one is talking. A promise is made and kept, but it could mean the death of a fifteen-year-old boy. Greed can be all-consuming, and seeing is not believing. No one can be trusted, and the hunters become the hunted. https://amzn.to/2EKHudx

Spiral Into Darkness: Named a Recommended Read in the Author Shout Reader Awards!
He blends in. He is successful, intelligent, and methodical. So far, he has murdered eight people. There is no discernible pattern. There are no clues. There are no leads. The only thing the FBI and local police have to go on is the method of death: two bullets to the face- gruesome and meant to send a message. But it’s difficult to understand any message coming from a dark and damaged mind. Two adopted boys, struggling in their own world, do not know they are the next targets. Neither does their family. And neither does local law enforcement. https://amzn.to/2RBWvTm

Caught in a Web: A PenCraft Literary Award Winner! Named “One of the Best Thrillers of 2018!” by BestThrillers.com 

Caught in a Web is also available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! http://bit.ly/2WO3kka

They found the bodies of high school and middle school kids dead from an overdose of heroin and fentanyl. A violent gang, MS-13, controls the drug trade along the I-94 and I-43 corridors. They send Ricardo Fuentes to find out who is cutting in on their business, shut it down and teach them a lesson. But he has an ulterior motive: find and kill a fifteen-year-old boy, George Tokay. Detectives Jamie Graff, Pat O’Connor and Paul Eiselmann race to find the source of the drugs, shut down the ring, and find Fuentes before he kills anyone else. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CKF7696  
 
The Lives Trilogy Prequel, Taking Lives:
FBI Agent Pete Kelliher and his partner search for the clues behind the bodies of six boys left in various and remote parts of the country. Even though they live in separate parts of the country, the lives of Kelliher, 11-year-old Brett McGovern, and 11-year-old George Tokay are separate pieces of a puzzle. The two boys become interwoven with the same thread Kelliher holds in his hand. The three of them are on a collision course and when that happens, their futures grow dark as each search for a way out. https://amzn.to/34nXBH5
 
Book One, Stolen Lives: Editor’s Pick by BestThrillers! Literary Titan Gold Book Award Winner! A Crime Thriller finalist in the 2021 Best Thriller Book Awards!
Two thirteen-year-old boys are abducted off a safe suburban street. Kelliher and his team of FBI agents have 24 hours to find them or they will end up like the other kids they found- dead! They have no leads, no clues, and nothing to go on. To make the investigation that much tougher, Kelliher suspects that one of his team members might be involved. https://amzn.to/3oMo4qZ  
 
Book Two of the Lives Trilogy, Shattered Lives:
The boys are home, but now they have to fit back in with their families and friends. Their parents and the FBI thought the boys were safe. They were until people began dying. Now the hunt is on for six dangerous and desperate men who vow revenge. With no leads and nothing to go on, the FBI can only sit back and wait. A dangerous game that threatens not only the boys, but their families. https://amzn.to/2RAYIk2 
 
Book Three of the Lives Trilogy, Splintered Lives:
Three dangerous men with nothing to lose offer a handsome reward to anyone willing to kill fourteen-year-old Brett McGovern. He does not know that he, his younger brother, and a friend are targets. More than anyone, these three men vow to kill George, whom they blame for forcing them to run and hide. A fun vacation turns into a nightmare and ends where it started, back on the Navajo Nation Reservation, high on a mesa held sacred by George and his grandfather. Outnumbered and outgunned, George will make the ultimate sacrifice to protect his adoptive father and his adoptive brothers- but can he? Without knowing who these men are? Or where they are? Without knowing whom to trust? Is he prepared for betrayal that leads to his heartbreak and death? http://bit.ly/SplinteredLives  

Photos Courtesy of Todd Kent and Unsplash

Spring

Growing up in Wisconsin, one of the first signs of spring was a robin singing in the tree in our backyard. It was a ritual, much like the groundhog, but way more reliable. Wisconsin is also known for sometimes not following the adage: In like a lion, out like a lamb. Witness this March with sub-freezing temps and mounds of snow. 

But there was always, always, the robin. How he/they survive the “in like a lion, out like a T-Rex,” I’ll never know. 

One thing I never enjoyed about early spring in Wisconsin was the Yo-Yo weather it can have. Up one day, down the next. But even worse was the ugly melting when it finally warms up.

Fresh snow, when it falls and lands atop roofs and tree limbs and fence posts, is white as powdered sugar. But when it melts, it is wet and dirty like unkept bed linen. Car exhaust and road dust darken it to gray and black on roadways. Puddles are everywhere, and when you drive through them, they splash up onto your car along with the salt used to help melt snow and ice. It creates rust and damages the undercarriage. Sometimes, if the temps drop, underneath the melting snow is black ice, and one never knows until you test the breaks and feel the slide forward and the pitch sideways if one isn’t careful. 

Still … there is something about spring that brings relief. Hope, if you will. 

Spirits lift. There seems to be more smiling and laughter. People shed some of the nineteen layers of clothes one wears in a Wisconsin winter. Families begin planning their summer trips. More people are out and about- shopping, hiking, walking, running. 

There is more life happening in and around you.

I’ve noticed here in Virginia, in the small woods beyond our backyard, there are crickets chirping and frogs croaking. I’ve seen several blue birds and a couple of cardinals. And of course, the robin. 

Mostly, when I think of spring, I think of hope and rebirth. Grass, brown and dormant in winter, turns green. White, sometimes pink and red buds breakout on trees, and after, trees grow back their leaves that had been shed during winter’s harshness and cold. 

Just as there are different seasons in nature, I believe there are different seasons within each of us. I notice this especially as I grow older. While my thoughts turn outward, rather than inward with what I might do to improve myself and get better at … life, I notice there is a willingness in myself to get and be active. Not only in my walking, but also in my reverie and meditation.

I notice a willingness within myself to move beyond self. To reach out, to shed my shell, much like a tree budding and leaves growing. To become more, somehow.

I think this is one of the great lessons of nature that sometimes isn’t noticed, or, if noticed, seldom thought deeply about. We need to grow; each of us needs to grow. To become better- not only physically, but mentally and spiritually. If nature demands that of itself, shouldn’t we? Something to think about … 

Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!

To My Readers:

Connect with me on Social Media: 

Author Website at https://www.jrlewisauthor.blog

Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Joseph.Lewis.Author

Instagram at: @joseph.lewis.author

Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/Joseph-Lewis/e/B01FWB9AOI /

**ONLY 11 DAYS UNTIL FAN MAIL LAUNCHES! ELEVEN DAYS!**

A lot will happen when it does! There is a Seven Day Book Blog Tour that begins with three book bloggers sharing their thoughts on Fan Mail on the 30^th, and that continues for the next seven days. There will also be special activities associated with the book in the weeks that follow.

April will be a busy month! I have two book sales and signings taking place at two different local libraries, along with a regional craft fair I’m taking part in. If you go to my Facebook and Instagram pages, you will find details as they get closer.

I took part in the Author’s Spot Podcast. It was a little about my life, my writing, and about my newest book, Fan Mail. You can find it at: https://podcast.theauthorsspot.com/1973858/12365749

Need a New Book? I have nine available, and I hope you gift someone, maybe yourself, with one of my books. If you have read one of my books, I would like to ask a favor. If you could go online and write a review or, at the least, give a rating on the book, it would be of great help. Both a review and a rating would be wonderful. The review could be one or two lines. It doesn’t have to be long. Just let others know you read it and hopefully, enjoyed it. Obviously, 4s and 5s are the best. Thanks for this consideration.

My newest, Fan Mail, is Available for Preorder at https://www.blackrosewriting.com/thrillers/fanmail  

Use code PREORDER2023 to receive a 15% Discount. If you head over to my author website at www.jrlewisauthor.blog/ you will find the cover to Fan Mail, along with the book trailer, and the first two chapters to preview. You can also PREORDER the Kindle Version on Amazon at: amzn.to/3WBbRps

**If you are a blogger, librarian or reviewer, Fan Mail is available on NetGalley for free UNTIL MARCH 30TH.**

Fan Mail: New Release! A Literary Titan Silver Book Award Winner!

A barrage of threatening letters, a car bomb, and a heart attack rip apart what was once a close-knit family of adopted brothers. Randy and Bobby, along with fellow band member and best friend, Danny, receive fan mail that turns menacing. They ignore it, but to their detriment. The sender turns up the heat. Violence upends their world. It rocks the relationship between the boys and ripples through their family, nearly killing their dad.

As these boys turn on each other, adopted brother Brian flashes back to that event in Arizona where he nearly lost his life saving his brothers. The scars on his face and arms healed, but not his heart.

Would he once again have to put himself in harm’s way to save them? And if faced with that choice, will he?

Blaze In, Blaze Out: Best Action Crime Thriller of 2022 by Best Thrillers! A Literary Titan Gold Book Award Winner! A Readers’ Favorite Award Winner! A Reader’s Ready Recommended Read! A BestThriller’s Editor’s Pick!

Eiselmann and O’Connor thought the conviction of Dmitry Andruko, the head of a Ukrainian crime family, meant the end. It was only the beginning. They forgot that revenge knows no boundaries, vindictiveness knows no restraints, and ruthlessness never worries about collateral damage. Andruko hired contract killers to go after and kill O’Connor and Eiselmann. The killers can be anyone and be anywhere. They can strike at any time. They care nothing of collateral damage. Andruko believes a target is a target, and in the end, the target must die. https://amzn.to/34lNllP

Betrayed: Two Top Shelf Awards: 1^st Place Fiction-Mystery; and Runner-Up Fiction-Crime; A PenCraft 1^st Place Winner for Thriller-Fiction! A Maxy Award Runner-Up for Mystery/Suspense! A Literary Titan Silver Book Award Winner! A Reader’s Ready Recommended Read Award Winner! A Reader’s Favorite Honorable Mention Award Winner for Fiction-Crime-Mystery!

Betrayed is Now Available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! https://amzn.to/3AfUUpS

A late-night phone call, a missing kid, a murdered family, but no one is talking. A promise is made and kept, but it could mean the death of a fifteen-year-old boy. Greed can be all-consuming, and seeing is not believing. No one can be trusted, and the hunters become the hunted. https://amzn.to/2EKHudx

Spiral Into Darkness: Named a Recommended Read in the Author Shout Reader Awards!
He blends in. He is successful, intelligent, and methodical. So far, he has murdered eight people. There is no discernible pattern. There are no clues. There are no leads. The only thing the FBI and local police have to go on is the method of death: two bullets to the face- gruesome and meant to send a message. But it’s difficult to understand any message coming from a dark and damaged mind. Two adopted boys, struggling in their own world, do not know they are the next targets. Neither does their family. And neither does local law enforcement. https://amzn.to/2RBWvTm

Caught in a Web: A PenCraft Literary Award Winner! Named “One of the Best Thrillers of 2018!” by BestThrillers.com 

Caught in a Web is also available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! http://bit.ly/2WO3kka

They found the bodies of high school and middle school kids dead from an overdose of heroin and fentanyl. A violent gang, MS-13, controls the drug trade along the I-94 and I-43 corridors. They send Ricardo Fuentes to find out who is cutting in on their business, shut it down and teach them a lesson. But he has an ulterior motive: find and kill a fifteen-year-old boy, George Tokay. Detectives Jamie Graff, Pat O’Connor and Paul Eiselmann race to find the source of the drugs, shut down the ring, and find Fuentes before he kills anyone else. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CKF7696  
 
The Lives Trilogy Prequel, Taking Lives:
FBI Agent Pete Kelliher and his partner search for the clues behind the bodies of six boys left in various and remote parts of the country. Even though they live in separate parts of the country, the lives of Kelliher, 11-year-old Brett McGovern, and 11-year-old George Tokay are separate pieces of a puzzle. The two boys become interwoven with the same thread Kelliher holds in his hand. The three of them are on a collision course and when that happens, their futures grow dark as each search for a way out. https://amzn.to/34nXBH5
 
Book One, Stolen Lives: Editor’s Pick by BestThrillers! Literary Titan Gold Book Award Winner! A Crime Thriller finalist in the 2021 Best Thriller Book Awards!
Two thirteen-year-old boys are abducted off a safe suburban street. Kelliher and his team of FBI agents have 24 hours to find them or they will end up like the other kids they found- dead! They have no leads, no clues, and nothing to go on. To make the investigation that much tougher, Kelliher suspects that one of his team members might be involved. https://amzn.to/3oMo4qZ  
 
Book Two of the Lives Trilogy, Shattered Lives:
The boys are home, but now they have to fit back in with their families and friends. Their parents and the FBI thought the boys were safe. They were until people began dying. Now the hunt is on for six dangerous and desperate men who vow revenge. With no leads and nothing to go on, the FBI can only sit back and wait. A dangerous game that threatens not only the boys, but their families. https://amzn.to/2RAYIk2 
 
Book Three of the Lives Trilogy, Splintered Lives:
Three dangerous men with nothing to lose offer a handsome reward to anyone willing to kill fourteen-year-old Brett McGovern. He does not know that he, his younger brother, and a friend are targets. More than anyone, these three men vow to kill George, whom they blame for forcing them to run and hide. A fun vacation turns into a nightmare and ends where it started, back on the Navajo Nation Reservation, high on a mesa held sacred by George and his grandfather. Outnumbered and outgunned, George will make the ultimate sacrifice to protect his adoptive father and his adoptive brothers- but can he? Without knowing who these men are? Or where they are? Without knowing whom to trust? Is he prepared for betrayal that leads to his heartbreak and death? http://bit.ly/SplinteredLives  

Photos Courtesy of Arno Smit and Unsplash

     

A Hallmark

 

My daughters love the Hallmark Channel and the holiday movies it airs. Hannah, especially, will sit and watch for hours, one after the other. She even counts down the days before they appear near Christmas. But both Hannah and Emily will watch them throughout the year, and not just during the holidays. 

The movies are sweet, if not sappy, and are predictable. So sweet, one could end up in a diabetic coma from watching them for too long. Predictable? Within the first few minutes, the viewer knows how it will end. 

A typical plotline is: A pretty, vivacious girl is jolted, perhaps drifting in her current relationship. Maybe she isn’t even in a relationship, but her friends make every effort to get her into one. The girl meets a boy. More than likely, he is annoying and they don’t get along too well. But somehow, someway, they develop a relationship. However, something causes one or the other, usually the girl, to question it and eventually, call it off. But never fear. Fate causes them to get back together and fall in love. Happily ever after. Do I have it about right?

Different characters, different setting, maybe a different time of year, but the storyline is repeated, and the result is the same. 

Honestly, I watch Hannah and Emily more than I do the movie. Their expressions are almost angelic. Big smiles, sitting a bit forward in their seats, daring not to move, shushing me should I make the near fatal mistake of asking a question or talking to them while the movie is playing.

I guess there is a reason these movies appear on the Hallmark Channel. The “hallmarks” of these movies, or the hallmark of the channel, are these types of movies. Wholesome. Loving. Family-oriented. Good stuff, even for me once or twice during the holiday season.

My mind drifted this morning as I thought of other hallmarks: what is the hallmark of our country? What is the hallmark of our leaders? What is our hallmark- while we are living, and when we are dead? In our jobs, at home when we are off the clock?

Tim McGraw has a brand new song out: Standing Room Only and it is a similar theme. The radio station I normally listen to had folks call in and give the DJs their thoughts on the song. One lady reported she thought of her father. Just before he died, he didn’t think anyone, or at least, only a few people, would show up for his funeral. He was wrong. The place was packed. “Standing room only,” she reported. So packed, they set up a video feed so people could watch in the basement because no more were allowed in the main church.

I think back to my son’s celebration of life in August 2014. None of us- not my wife, Kim, his widow, Maria, his sisters, Hannah or Emily, and not I realized how many individuals were affected by our 28-year-old son, husband, and brother. Impacted by a 28-year-old. The funeral home set up more chairs. People stood, still unable to find an open seat. They wept, or laughed when it was appropriate to do so. Maybe it was the circumstances of his death, but I think not. At least, not to those who spoke to us.

I’m not blind to the fact that some of my friends have passed away. Many of the singers, songwriters, and actors I grew up watching have passed on, too.

I wonder what my hallmark might be (is), what I might be remembered for at my passing. Sometimes, I wonder just how many or few there will be at my funeral. The only thing I can control is what I do in this life while I’m living to bring about happiness to those around me, to encourage love, being kind and considerate to those I encounter. In the end- pun intended- it’s all I can control. My words. My actions. The way I treat others. These are the things that will make up my hallmark, probably yours, too. What will your hallmark be? Something to think about …

Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!

To My Readers:

Connect with me on Social Media: 

Author Website at https://www.jrlewisauthor.blog

Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Joseph.Lewis.Author

Instagram at: @joseph.lewis.author

Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/Joseph-Lewis/e/B01FWB9AOI /

I recently took part in the Author’s Spot Podcast. It was a little about my life, my writing, and about my newest book, Fan Mail. You can find it at: https://podcast.theauthorsspot.com/1973858/12365749

I hope you take a little time to listen to it. After sitting for the interview in February, I listened to the edited and polished result this past weekend. I have to tell you the interviewer, K. E. Robinson, did his homework. He knew about my writing and my book, and as a result, it was as simple as having a conversation with him. I learned about myself and I gained some insight into my writing. I think you will enjoy it.

Need a New Book? I have nine available, and I hope you gift someone, maybe yourself, with one of my books. If you have read one of my books, I would like to ask a favor. If you could go online and write a review or, at the least, give a rating on the book, it would be of great help. Both a review and a rating would be wonderful. The review could be one or two lines. It doesn’t have to be long. Just let others know you read it and hopefully, enjoyed it. Obviously, 4s and 5s are the best. Thanks for this consideration.

My newest, Fan Mail, is Available for Preorder at https://www.blackrosewriting.com/thrillers/fanmail  

Use code PREORDER2023 to receive a 15% Discount. If you head over to my author website at www.jrlewisauthor.blog/ you will find the cover to Fan Mail, along with the book trailer, and the first two chapters to preview. You can also PREORDER the Kindle Version on Amazon at: amzn.to/3WBbRps

**If you are a blogger, librarian or reviewer, Fan Mail is available on NetGalley for free.**

Fan Mail: New Release! A Literary Titan Silver Book Award Winner!

A barrage of threatening letters, a car bomb, and a heart attack rip apart what was once a close-knit family of adopted brothers. Randy and Bobby, along with fellow band member and best friend, Danny, receive fan mail that turns menacing. They ignore it, but to their detriment. The sender turns up the heat. Violence upends their world. It rocks the relationship between the boys and ripples through their family, nearly killing their dad.

As these boys turn on each other, adopted brother Brian flashes back to that event in Arizona where he nearly lost his life saving his brothers. The scars on his face and arms healed, but not his heart.

Would he once again have to put himself in harm’s way to save them? And if faced with that choice, will he?

Blaze In, Blaze Out: Best Action Crime Thriller of 2022 by Best Thrillers! A Literary Titan Gold Book Award Winner! A Readers’ Favorite Award Winner! A Reader’s Ready Recommended Read! A BestThriller’s Editor’s Pick!

Eiselmann and O’Connor thought the conviction of Dmitry Andruko, the head of a Ukrainian crime family, meant the end. It was only the beginning. They forgot that revenge knows no boundaries, vindictiveness knows no restraints, and ruthlessness never worries about collateral damage. Andruko hired contract killers to go after and kill O’Connor and Eiselmann. The killers can be anyone and be anywhere. They can strike at any time. They care nothing of collateral damage. Andruko believes a target is a target, and in the end, the target must die. https://amzn.to/34lNllP

Betrayed: Two Top Shelf Awards: 1^st Place Fiction-Mystery; and Runner-Up Fiction-Crime; A PenCraft 1^st Place Winner for Thriller-Fiction! A Maxy Award Runner-Up for Mystery/Suspense! A Literary Titan Silver Book Award Winner! A Reader’s Ready Recommended Read Award Winner! A Reader’s Favorite Honorable Mention Award Winner for Fiction-Crime-Mystery!

Betrayed is Now Available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! https://amzn.to/3AfUUpS

A late-night phone call, a missing kid, a murdered family, but no one is talking. A promise is made and kept, but it could mean the death of a fifteen-year-old boy. Greed can be all-consuming, and seeing is not believing. No one can be trusted, and the hunters become the hunted. https://amzn.to/2EKHudx

Spiral Into Darkness: Named a Recommended Read in the Author Shout Reader Awards!
He blends in. He is successful, intelligent, and methodical. So far, he has murdered eight people. There is no discernible pattern. There are no clues. There are no leads. The only thing the FBI and local police have to go on is the method of death: two bullets to the face- gruesome and meant to send a message. But it’s difficult to understand any message coming from a dark and damaged mind. Two adopted boys, struggling in their own world, do not know they are the next targets. Neither does their family. And neither does local law enforcement. https://amzn.to/2RBWvTm

Caught in a Web: A PenCraft Literary Award Winner! Named “One of the Best Thrillers of 2018!” by BestThrillers.com 

Caught in a Web is also available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! http://bit.ly/2WO3kka

They found the bodies of high school and middle school kids dead from an overdose of heroin and fentanyl. A violent gang, MS-13, controls the drug trade along the I-94 and I-43 corridors. They send Ricardo Fuentes to find out who is cutting in on their business, shut it down and teach them a lesson. But he has an ulterior motive: find and kill a fifteen-year-old boy, George Tokay. Detectives Jamie Graff, Pat O’Connor and Paul Eiselmann race to find the source of the drugs, shut down the ring, and find Fuentes before he kills anyone else. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CKF7696  
 
The Lives Trilogy Prequel, Taking Lives:
FBI Agent Pete Kelliher and his partner search for the clues behind the bodies of six boys left in various and remote parts of the country. Even though they live in separate parts of the country, the lives of Kelliher, 11-year-old Brett McGovern, and 11-year-old George Tokay are separate pieces of a puzzle. The two boys become interwoven with the same thread Kelliher holds in his hand. The three of them are on a collision course and when that happens, their futures grow dark as each search for a way out. https://amzn.to/34nXBH5
 
Book One, Stolen Lives: Editor’s Pick by BestThrillers! Literary Titan Gold Book Award Winner! A Crime Thriller finalist in the 2021 Best Thriller Book Awards!
Two thirteen-year-old boys are abducted off a safe suburban street. Kelliher and his team of FBI agents have 24 hours to find them or they will end up like the other kids they found- dead! They have no leads, no clues, and nothing to go on. To make the investigation that much tougher, Kelliher suspects that one of his team members might be involved. https://amzn.to/3oMo4qZ  
 
Book Two of the Lives Trilogy, Shattered Lives:
The boys are home, but now they have to fit back in with their families and friends. Their parents and the FBI thought the boys were safe. They were until people began dying. Now the hunt is on for six dangerous and desperate men who vow revenge. With no leads and nothing to go on, the FBI can only sit back and wait. A dangerous game that threatens not only the boys, but their families. https://amzn.to/2RAYIk2 
 
Book Three of the Lives Trilogy, Splintered Lives:
Three dangerous men with nothing to lose offer a handsome reward to anyone willing to kill fourteen-year-old Brett McGovern. He does not know that he, his younger brother, and a friend are targets. More than anyone, these three men vow to kill George, whom they blame for forcing them to run and hide. A fun vacation turns into a nightmare and ends where it started, back on the Navajo Nation Reservation, high on a mesa held sacred by George and his grandfather. Outnumbered and outgunned, George will make the ultimate sacrifice to protect his adoptive father and his adoptive brothers- but can he? Without knowing who these men are? Or where they are? Without knowing whom to trust? Is he prepared for betrayal that leads to his heartbreak and death? http://bit.ly/SplinteredLives  

Photos Courtesy of Sandy Millar and Unsplash