A Couple of Thoughts

As a basketball coach, I admit I was more animated than many other coaches. I was a yeller and screamer, and I directed the game from the sidelines. My assistant coaches, Dan, Mark and Tim, were much more calm than I was. Thinking back on my antics on the sideline, I’m embarrassed. And honestly, it was one reason, probably the main reason, I got out of coaching. I didn’t like who I became. It really wasn’t me. I embarrassed myself as much or more than anyone. Successful, sure. At least in terms of record and accomplishments. But successful when measuring how I handled myself and the kids, I was an abject failure.

Yes, I am intense and passionate. In my writing, in love and care and concern for my family and loved ones. I think there are times and places for intensity and passion. Just not all the time, twenty-four-seven.

I watched an interview where Robert De Niro spoke about being calm. I am paraphrasing badly, but he said it never pays to get too excited, because the only place you go from there is disappointment. You can’t go too far up, without at some point dropping down. And he continued by saying, you cannot allow yourself to get too far down, because at some point, you will rise. One cannot happen without the other.

I’ve written before about waves and troughs, and peaks and valleys. We’ve all been there, haven’t we? As many times we have success, we also fail. The trick is to stand up each time, continue on our journey, and as De Niro said, Stay Calm.

The other thought I had is somewhat related to the above. It is about being kind.

Be kind whenever possible, and it is always possible. Always. It doesn’t cost you anything to be kind to someone else.

When you recognize someone in a valley, when someone has fallen down, help by lifting them up. That is kindness. You can go on your way after, but take a moment to lift up. A kind word or gesture. Maybe just to be with someone in silence until they can gather themselves to take a step.

As a principal, I’ve had teachers and staff members and some central office folks who would stop in and say hello, but then ask for permission to just sit and gather themselves. I get it. I’ve been there myself. I’ve sought places to sit quietly, or times to take a quiet walk, or sought people I know I can be with or be around and not be judged for it. 

Be That Person! Be kind! 

There is no cost involved. Kindness doesn’t cost anything. It can only help. Imagine what our world might be if we were kinder to those around us- and kinder to ourselves? We need that. We all need that! Something to think about … 

Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!

To My Readers:

My newest book, 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.

I received some fantastic news!

Blaze In, Blaze Out received the Best Action Fiction of 2022 Award by Best Thrillers! I can’t possibly express how happy and humbled I am to receive it. This marks the fifth award Blaze In, Blaze Out has won.

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.

Connect with me on Social Media: 
Author Website: www.jrlewisauthor.blog/
Twitter at @jrlewisauthor
Facebook at: www.facebook.com/Joseph.Lewis.Author  
Amazon at: www.amazon.com/Joseph-Lewis/e/B01FWB9AOI /

Fan Mail: New Release!

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 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 Kalen Emsley and Unsplash.

 

Yes, Maybe, No

When we had moved from Wisconsin to Virginia, our daughters, Hannah and Emily, lobbied hard and heavy for a dog. It didn’t need to be a puppy, but they both wanted a dog.

They reasoned that since we moved, a dog would help. Hannah went online and found a dog for sale. She plastered pictures of the dog everywhere: on the refrigerator, in the refrigerator, on our bathroom mirror, on doors, in cupboards. Name it- a picture of the dog could be found. There was conversation. There were pleas, and a fair amount of bargaining took place.

Both Kim and I grew up with dogs. I knew Kim wanted one, though she didn’t voice an opinion one way or the other. But she knew I did as well.

We relented. We drove to pick up Bailey and paid the person $50. Not much when it came to dogs, especially a Golden Retriever.

We put her in the car and Kim and I didn’t know Bailey was going to last. We could see her ribs. She was quiet, a little shy. Seemed friendly, though certainly not outgoing. Worse, Kim and I could see she was malnourished and we could see her ribs. We didn’t mention anything to the girls, but both of us wondered how the girls would react if Bailey passed. We figured maybe two weeks, tops.

The person who gave us Bailey told us she was turned over to her by a Turkish military couple and she suspected the dog wasn’t treated well. A lot of yelling, at the least. Not much care. Not much love.

But Hannah and Emily, and Kim and I loved her. In time, Bailey understood we were a much different family than she was used to. It took her a good two months before Baily even barked, and that was because she wanted table scraps. Until then, we thought she was mute. We never heard a noise coming from her.

It didn’t take long before Bailey picked a favorite. While the girls and I loved her and treated her well, Bailey and Kim bonded. Bailey became Kim’s dog. (It should be noted that any dog we ever had, Kim was the favorite.)

It all began with Hannah and Emily asking, pleading, and begging. The cute pictures plastered all over didn’t hurt the cause, either.

Eric Church has a song, Some Of It. That song happened to be the last graduation song I sang to my graduating seniors in 2020. In the song, he has a lyric:

‘Mama ain’t a shrink, daddy ain’t a bank,

and God ain’t a wishin’ well.’ 

Church certainly got it right about God. You can ask, but one of three things might happen: a yes, a not right now, a no. And generally, the no comes with an “I have something better for you.” 

But as for mom not being a shrink, I can tell you the girls (and I) get measures of wisdom from Kim. Sometimes, merely her listening to us yammer on is enough. As for me not being a bank, well, I admit we’re not the wealthiest of folks. I’ll never compete with the likes of Musk or Bezos, but we’ve done pretty well. And there are times when Kim and I have done without, so Hannah and Emily and Wil could ‘have.’ Many parents do that. We all do that, and I’m certain that Hannah and Emily will do that for their kids. Parents do that. I know I certainly tried to do that.

Parents also say “Yes,” or “Not yet,” or “No,” but almost always, we try to do better for our kids, don’t we? To me, that isn’t spoiling them, it’s loving them. It’s in the job description of being a parent. Something to think about …

Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!

To My Readers:

My newest book, 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.

I received some fantastic news!

Blaze In, Blaze Out received the Best Action Fiction of 2022 Award by Best Thrillers! I can’t possibly express how happy and humbled I am to receive it.

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.

Connect with me on Social Media: 
Author Website: www.jrlewisauthor.blog/
Twitter at @jrlewisauthor
Facebook at: www.facebook.com/Joseph.Lewis.Author  
Amazon at: www.amazon.com/Joseph-Lewis/e/B01FWB9AOI /

Fan Mail: New Release!

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 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 Marcus Wallis and Unsplash.

 

 

Joyful Noise

When I was a principal, one of the administrative assistants had the best laugh! Actually, I’ve been blessed with administrative assistants who had great laughs. Anna, who is now deceased and who I miss dearly, was one of them. Dona, Wendy, Sherrie, Val, Chrissy, many others – all of them made me laugh when I heard them laughing. They made the offices they worked in fun to be in. A joyful place to be in.

When there was a birthday, we’d gather and celebrate and, of course, sing the birthday song to whomever it was we celebrated that day. It was Alicia who said, “I don’t sing! I make joyful noise!”

Joyful Noise! 

Remember when you’d go to your son’s or daughter’s preschool or early elementary school concerts? There were times when the kids would belt it out and, usually, it would be sung in several different keys at the same time. Didn’t know that was possible, but it made me smile each time, just like it makes me smile as I write this.

One Christmas Eve way back, I visited my sister, Betty and her husband, Jim, and my niece and goddaughter, Nadine. We went to one of the later services and a children’s choir sang, Go Tell It On The Mountain. Two boys in the front row got so into it, they created their own hand and arm motions to go with it. The audience snickered along with the priest. But he was so taken with the performance, he asked the choir to do it again. So we all sang along, and the two boys got even more animated as they sang. It was the best service I had ever been to! So much joy!

Joyful Noise!

But it doesn’t even need to be singing.

When Hannah and Emily come home with Alex and Q, we play board and card games. There is so much laughter and teasing and taunting. All in fun. All good-natured. And the decibel level climbs as the competition increases. Not that the Lewis family could ever claim to be competitive. Ha! But again, it is Joyful Noise, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Back when we’d take road trips and Emily and Hannah were in the backseat, they’d sing along with the radio. Although, I wouldn’t necessarily characterize it as singing. More shouting, along with hand and arm motions, almost dancing in their seats. And oh, was it loud! But Kim and I would laugh, and I’d struggle to stay between the lines because I watched them using the rearview mirror. 

Joyful Noise!

I think the best is a baby’s laughter. The giggle and belly laugh. Or, the individual who, when they’d laugh, you automatically smile and laugh with them. Can’t be helped. 

During the year or two we wore masks because of Covid, one of the things I think I missed the most was seeing someone’s smile. The warmth of it. The humanness of it. The vulnerability of it. The invitation and message the smile gives. 

I don’t think we laugh enough. I don’t think we smile enough. We’re more guarded, or perhaps so involved with the ‘importance’ of our moment, we forget to or don’t have time to smile, to laugh. We need more joyful noise! Young, middle-age, old- all of us need to smile and be smiled at. All of us need to laugh and to be laughed with. All of us need Joyful Noise! Something to think about …

Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!

To My Readers:

My newest book, 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 first chapter or two to preview.

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.

Connect with me on Social Media: 
Author Website: www.jrlewisauthor.blog/
Twitter at @jrlewisauthor
Facebook at: www.facebook.com/Joseph.Lewis.Author  
Amazon at: www.amazon.com/Joseph-Lewis/e/B01FWB9AOI /

Fan Mail: New Release!

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: 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 Ben White and Unsplash.

 

 

 

In Service to Others

Our daughter, Hannah, came for a visit this past weekend. She is a third grade teacher in a district south of us and has been teaching for four or five years now. My wife and I knew she’d end up being a teacher, even though she tried different majors while in college. It is her calling, and we saw it from little on. 

Her class is mostly made up of non-English speaking students, and some who are below grade level. The school draws from lower income neighborhoods, and her work is hard, but she loves it.

Over dinner, she told us a story about one of her former students, now in fourth grade. Each day, he seeks Hannah out for a hello and a hug. At the end of the day, he is reluctant to leave, wanting to be with her. Not atypical for some kids to connect with teachers. As a principal, I preached that if a student connects with one caring and interested adult, the chances of success for that student multiple tremendously.

This little guy has had a tough go of it. His mother died last year, and he lives with his father, and a sister who is out of school. Both his father and his sister work long, long hours, and this little guy goes home to an empty house most days. He gets his own dinner and puts himself to bed- alone. No one to say goodnight to. No one to read him a story. No one to listen to how his day went. This little guy is only nine years old.

I could tell Hannah’s heart broke when she told us the story. Heck, mine did, too. Hannah wondered how she might ask his father if she and her husband could take the little guy hiking one day a month. Spend time with him. We suggested she speak to the school’s social worker, and Hannah suggested she might speak to the school counselor.

Our youngest daughter, Emily, is in her first year as a clinical social worker and a therapist at a nonprofit. She sees a variety of adult clients and works through their problems with them. She guides, coaches, and leads, but doesn’t preach at them or tell them what to do.

Like her sister, we knew Em would choose a helping profession. And like her sister, we saw that in her little on.

When she worked with the homeless population, helping them obtain living arrangements, medical care, and sometimes providing a path to psychiatric care, she had many funny stories. Like the one man who played a game of cards with several individuals- who weren’t actually visible or there. Like the guy who “shadow boxed” his way ahead of Em and her partner in an effort to “protect them” from unseen individuals, again, who weren’t there. At least Em and her partner didn’t see them, but the guy sure did.

Some days, she was frustrated with “the system” because of the hoops she and her clients had to jump through to get the help they needed. She would call and vent, and in the end, her stock answer to all might be, “People are stupid!” And she’d say it with a laugh.

I could go on and on about teachers helping kids, about my niece who is a 9-1-1 operator helping individuals in immediate crisis, about administrators working to cut tape and clear out the obstacles so kids and teachers can get the services they need. In my 47 years, I think I’ve forgotten more stories than I remember.

But I realized then, as I do now, that teachers, administrators, therapists, and other health and helping care workers are loving their clients. They do what they do because at the core of their belief is that kids and people are worth it. They work in service to others. They care. They love.

To me, service to others is loving others. Yes, we get paid for what we do. (Not nearly enough, however). There are so many long hours, some sleepless nights- all because these caring individuals love others enough to work on their behalf. They give- many times much more than they receive. These selfless and caring, compassionate and loving individuals do what they do in service to others because they love others. And isn’t that what we are called to do? Something to think about …

Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!

To My Readers:

I have fantastic news!

My newest book, 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 and book blurb to Fan Mail.

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.

Connect with me on Social Media: 
Author Website: www.jrlewisauthor.blog/
Twitter at @jrlewisauthor
Facebook at: www.facebook.com/Joseph.Lewis.Author  
Amazon at: www.amazon.com/Joseph-Lewis/e/B01FWB9AOI /

Fan Mail: New Release!

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: 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 Bethany Hill and Facebook.