Thank You!

I started this blog with the first publication of a post on November 29, 2012. So far, there have been 466 entries, this being the 467th. Some of you traveled with me on this journey way back then, while others of you have jumped aboard relatively recently, and still others at some points along the way. My posts generate close to 2,000 views a month- some months more, some months less. Amazing when I think about that.

I use this blog to inspire, to cause people to think, to examine their lives, their heart, their head. I wrote about relationships and how our lives might affect and intertwine, sometimes to intervene with others. At the close of most posts, I write: “Something to think about …” and just after that, “Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!”

That has always been the goal of this blog: to get you … each of us to think, and for each of us to Live Your Life, and Make A Difference! 

Something to think about … 

I’ve always been a reflective guy. I seldom, if ever, shoot from the hip. I’m not a very spontaneous guy at all. I try to be deliberate in my words and actions, carefully considering not only what my words and actions say but also how they might affect others. That has been my goal, anyway. My writing, I think, reflects that.

Some posts are better than others. On some days, I just wasn’t feeling it, but I tried anyway. Sorry about that. Other days, I didn’t realize just how much of an impact my posts had on others. The power of the word, I guess. The power of words and each individual’s perspective and needs at that moment. Some posts you disagreed with, while others you did. Some brought laughter, some brought tears. The power of the human heart.

Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!

This comes directly from my message to everyone who was present at my son’s celebration of life in August 2014. I spoke to so many young adults that day and some older folks too, and then for days after, about the importance of living their own life- not their parents’ life; not their friends’ life, but their own. To chase a dream, capture it, and live it. That is what my son did. He made mistakes, took missteps, changed direction, but ultimately, he lived his life and was happy. It’s the way all of us should live. 

And what I tried to leave everyone with- at the celebration of life, and each day with each word and with each action, is to Make A Difference! A positive difference in the lives of others. To recognize we have the power to create smiles, to create laughter, to correct, to encourage, to lift up. That is the difference I would like each of us to make: right now, today, tomorrow, and all our days. 

One last thing I want to say is that each of us needs to recognize that moments are to be lived! We need to make sure those around us: spouse, our kids, our loved ones, brothers and sisters, parents- all in our lives, need to know they are loved by us, important to us. We need to make sure not a day goes by without our expression of this love, this compassion, this caring. It has to be deliberate. It has to be intentional. 

I believe I’ve written many, many posts on this, and stated it in many different ways. We honestly never know how long we, you and I and others, will walk upon this earth. Here one moment, gone in the next. So please, don’t let an hour go by without reaching out to let someone you love and care about know that you love them, and know how much they mean to you. We owe them that. We owe ourselves that! 

So lastly, thank you for tagging along on this journey of mine. The “Simple Thoughts From A Complicated Mind … Sort Of” journey. I hope I add something to your day, usually at the start of each week, for you to use in your daily life, in your relationships with others. For you to consider and “think about.” I am perhaps not as eloquent as some, but at the least, I try to be as genuine as I can be. Thank you! 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: https://www.Instagram.com/joseph.lewis.author

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

A Surprise For You!

My Publisher, Black Rose Writing, and I are sponsoring a giveaway for Fan Mail beginning at 12:00 AM PT on Tuesday, April 25 and will finish at 11:59 PM PT on Wednesday, May 24th.

We are giving away 5 copies to Goodreads members in U.S.

When the giveaway ends, winners will be randomly selected, and I will mail out a signed copy of Fan Mail.

Use the Giveaway widget:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Fan Mail

by Joseph Lewis

Released March 30 2023

This giveaway begins at 12:00 AM PT on Tuesday, April 25^th and ends at 11:59pm PT on Wednesday, May 24

giveaway details »

Enter Giveaway

 

Fan Mail: New Release! A Maxy Award Finalist and 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? https://amzn.to/3eNgSdS 

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   

Photo courtesy of Jon Tyson and Unsplash

 

Silence

I wander from room to room, trying to absorb the energy that was once there just twenty-four hours previously. The house full of laughter and games, food, and the opening of presents. At times, quiet conversation. 

I don’t mind silence usually. I relish it at times. Just not today. 

The morning after. 

Bellies full of pancakes. Conversation and reminiscing at the kitchen table. Packing up and loading their cars. Getting ready for their trek home, as I build up my nerve, my strength, hating to see them go. 

Emily and Kim planned, decorated, and organized Hannah’s baby shower. I was mostly a bystander, running some errands. We had expected a party for fourteen, but it grew- happily so- to twenty. Mostly in the background, I watched Hannah open the presents, laugh, and talk with her friends. I watched Emily and Kim, the grandmasters of the party, do their thing.

Such a happy time. A joyous time. 

And then … after a night of laughter and stories, morning breakfast and more stories and reminiscing, Hannah and Emily got ready to leave. 

Emily packed up to go back to Greensboro, four and a half hours away to her new life as a social worker, helping her clients pick up the pieces and heal their hurts. Hannah packed up to head back to Richmond, an hour away, where she will finish up her year as a third grade teacher and prepare for her son to be born in just ten or so weeks. Leaving Kim and me alone. 

Silence.

Normally my friend, my respite. My opportunity to recharge, to think, to plan, to read and write. 

And it dawned on me, not for the first time, how proud I am of Hannah and Emily, how much my heart bursts with love for them. Hannah and Emily - sisters and friends. My … our … daughters. Proud of who they have become and grown to be. Proud of the life they have made for themselves. Proud of their choices, their decisions. Knowing there have been a few missteps along the way, but many more successes paving the way for their life and what lies ahead. 

But for the first time, I realized that as happy as I am about their life, their success, I am sad. Sad that while I am dad, and will always be dad, they have their own lives to attend to. Plans they are working on to make happen. Work on, well, life. Their life. 

Hannah, a year into her marriage with a baby on the way. Their first child. Our first grandchild. Emily, planning for her wedding. House hunting. In two weeks, wedding dress shopping with Kim and Hannah. 

And it isn’t just the physical distance they are away from me, from Kim and me. It is the distance created by Kim’s and my success in raising two wonderful, beautiful kids, now young ladies. Two young women successfully launched into the world, who are now embarking on their own lives, creating their own path. 

Sad. 

Knowing that their lives, rightfully so, will become busier with their own husbands, their own families. Knowing that their own families will take, in some respect, precedence over Kim and me. Again, as it should be.

But the success Kim and I had in raising two beautiful kids has become a double-edged sword. While it cuts the path they are embarking on, it also cuts the cord to Kim and me. Not totally, but enough to make it hurt. Enough to leave a lump in my throat each time they leave to go … home. Each time they visit and not stay longer, because they have to go back to their own lives.

So the silence this morning, this day, is not restful and soothing and kind as it normally is for me. The silence I feel this morning is cold and unwelcome and painful. On the one hand, I am happy and proud of them. On the other, I am sad that Kim and I will somehow become less in their lives as they grow their families and live their lives. Kim and I will diminish as they become more. Again, as it should be. I’m just not ready for that yet. Maybe I’ll get there. I’m sure I will. Just. Not. Yet. Please. 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: https://www.Instagram.com/joseph.lewis.author

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

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? https://amzn.to/3eNgSdS

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   

Photo courtesy of our dear friend, Sheri Pierce

Faith

I grew up in a traditional, rather conservative Catholic family. My brothers and sisters and I all went through Holy Angels Grade School in our hometown of West Bend, Wisconsin. Every Sunday, we attended 9:15 a.m. mass at Holy Angels church, sat in one of the front rows on the left side, and sang in the choir when the occasion called for it. We were baptized, received our first communion and our confirmation in the same church. 

Jack and Jim attended a seminary briefly before coming back to the city’s only high school. I attended a private boarding school about sixty miles away for high school and graduated from it, while my youngest brother, Jeff, started at one high school, but ended up graduating from a different high school in a different city because mom and dad moved. 

Mom and Dad would invite priests for dinner, and we visited the nuns during holidays. Because I toyed with the idea of becoming a priest and had contacted several orders, traveling priests would come visit on a kind of recruiting trip. I even spent an overnight at one monastery. It was interesting, and while I considered becoming a priest throughout high school and college, even as a young teacher and coach, I came to the conclusion that life and calling wasn’t for me. 

My journey is like one of my characters in each of my books, Jeremy, who is the adoptive father of the seven boys in my fictional family. He shares that characteristic with me. Or should I say, I shared mine with him. 

Still, I consider myself religious. I pray throughout the day. I do my morning meditation and I read the Bible. From the religion classes in grade school and high school (even though it wasn’t a Catholic high school), I remember so many stories and characters of scripture. I have my favorite Bible verses. Matthew 7 verse 7 is my all-time favorite: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” That verse means so much to me. It is a statement of faith, a challenge, if you will. To believe enough to ask, to knock, to seek, and you will receive answers.

Psalm 23 about the Good Shepherd is probably my favorite psalm. It describes Jesus for me: His caring, concern, protection. His presence. The idea that if one sheep, one lamb is lost, He would seek it, find it, and bring it home. That’s comforting to me, knowing how much we might stray, how much trouble we might get ourselves into, He is there to find us, bring us home, and protect us. That, and even though “we walk through the valley of death,” He is there with us. Kind of like the story about the footsteps in the sand. At first there were two sets, then just one. When asked why did you abandon me when I went through such a tough time, He answered, “There was only one set of footprints because it was then that I carried you.”

I have several favorite characters and stories from the Bible, but my favorite story is that of the Prodigal Son, and my favorite character is the father. The story is about the younger son who asked for his inheritance, went off, and lost it all. Wild women and booze. He ended up working for a farmer, cleaning the pigpen, and eating the scraps.

Finally, he came to his senses and went home. But the father “saw him from a distance” which meant that the father had searched for his son all the time he was gone, longing for his return, hoping and praying for his return. The son reached his father and offered to work and live like a slave if his father would have him back.

But what did his father do? He ordered his slaves to bring a clean robe for his son, to put a ring on his finger, take a fatted calf and cook it up because they were going to have a feast. The father was just happy to have him home. Not only was the father looking for him all that time, he was happy he had returned. Losing his inheritance was forgotten. He was home now, safe and sound. The family was together. 

The father didn’t hold a grudge. The father welcomed him back, welcomed him home. That’s faith, as much as it is kindness and compassion, concern and empathy. I want that in my life, knowing that I’ve screwed up countless times and in countless ways. And faith is knowing that I do have that in my life. We all do, really. The only thing we need to do is come to our senses and come back “home.” Something to think about … 

Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!

To My Readers:

I have a surprise for you, a Gift! 

Beginning tomorrow, April 9 through Tuesday, April 11, my newest book, Fan Mail, is FREE on Amazon Kindle at https://amzn.to/3eNgSdS   

Here is your opportunity to read a thrilling, yet heartwarming story of a family of seven adopted boys and their caring parents. A coming-of-age story wrapped in a thriller-crime-mystery. Get yours today, or tomorrow, as it were.

Connect with me on Social Media:

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

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

Instagram at: https://www.Instagram.com/joseph.lewis.author

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

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

Beginning tomorrow, April 9 through Tuesday, April 11, my newest book, Fan Mail, is FREE on Amazon Kindle at https://amzn.to/3eNgSdS  

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  

Photo courtesy of Karl Fredrickson and Unsplash

 

 

Monsters

Remember when we were younger, we might have a bad dream, maybe a nightmare, and the way to hide from the monsters in those dreams was to stick your head under the covers? The thinking was that if you couldn’t see the monster, the monster couldn’t see you. I think we’ve all done that, and when the dream passes, we even might have felt foolish with that reaction. 

The Apache Indians had a similar belief. They felt if they stared too long at the enemy, the enemy would spot them. Instead, they would glance at their enemy with long intervals of time in between each glance, and only when an attack order was given did they concentrate on their enemy. 

I don’t remember either Hannah or Emily having nightmares or bad dreams. I’m sure they did, but I just don’t recall it. However, William had a tougher time getting to bed and lasting through the night when we first adopted him, and it was beyond anything related to the adoption. 

Before he was adopted, he lived in a poor section of Guatemala City, Guatemala. His bedroom had a large window and one night (as he described it), robbers broke into their little home through that window. When we adopted him at age seven, his bedroom in his new home had a window that faced out to the cul de sac we lived on. Not knowing Spanish and not comprehending his fear, it was difficult convincing him he was safe. But in time and with patience and understanding, he outgrew it. That, and when he could speak English, he told us what his fear was.

Not just kids face monsters. As adults, we face monsters- real or imagined- too. 

Anxiety, fear, doubt, worry, and uncertainty can create monsters for us, can’t they? We worry about an unexpected payment or health issue. We worry about our kids as they travel from one place to another. We worry about our kids living in a different city or at college, hoping they make good choices. As we get older, we worry about our retirement, our frailty. We wonder, perhaps worry, what will happen to our spouse, our kids should we die. 

Yes, fear, worry, and uncertainty can be real monsters and can be difficult to deal with. And they won’t go away by simply shutting our eyes or hiding under our blankets. Try explaining that one to the person collecting the money for the bill. 

That ghastly trio of fear, worry, and uncertainty cause many anxious days and nights. Needless and painful, sometimes immobilizing us, not permitting us to move forward. 

Sometimes the monsters are more real than our imagination. 

The governor who signs a bill permitting the carrying and concealing of handguns with or without a permit. The governors who initiated the banning of books, and the ability of one or two people to throw out an entire curriculum because they deem it harmful to their child, placing their beliefs ahead of the majority. The leaders, past or current, who treat truth, respect for justice and the respect for democracy like a scrap of paper or a tin can to be thrown away. 

The leaders of our government, past and present, who condone hateful rhetoric. The neighbor who takes it upon herself to police those who drive down their street or walk down their sidewalk, asking for identification to prove they belong. Governors who forbid the teaching of different cultures- including heroes like Dr. King and Harriet Tubman- and forbid the teaching of our American history like slavery and civil rights freedom marches. The governors who would rather forbid individuals from dressing up in drag in the guise that it is harmful to children rather than addressing the actual harm for children- and teachers- that come from guns and bullets. 

A party of elected and non-elected individuals who, instead of changing their thinking and making their policies, thoughts and ideas more appealing to voters, limit who can vote, where they can vote, and when they can vote for the sole purpose of staying in power.

Yes, the monsters who live in our imagination are real. But so are the modern-day monsters we have to deal with. And we cannot deal with them by shutting our eyes or hiding under the covers. That didn’t do Germany any good when, little by little, the Nazis came into power, pointed fingers at that individual, that group of individuals, and deemed them inferior and less than. Folks, we are on that path, and it frightens me. 

I’m not sure who said it first, but if we remain silent with our words and do nothing by our actions, we condone what is taking place to others. And at some point, they will come for those who were silent. Us! Each of us! 

Yes, we have real, dangerous, and disgusting monsters in our lives. It’s time we stand up with one voice and say, “No more!” and state emphatically, “Enough!” 

I am normally positive and inspiring on this platform. I certainly try to be. Some posts are better than others. Not sure where this one will fall, but I felt it needed to be said. It has been weighing on me. So, I will not hide under the covers any longer. I will not shut my eyes to it. I’m using my voice and my words- strong or weak as they may be. I ask that you do too! Something to think about … 

Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!

To My Readers:

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Photo courtesy of Jen Theodore and Unsplash