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.

Words

As an author, I spend a great deal of time and energy, not to mention dealing with heartburn, trying to get my words correct. Not only correct to me and for me, but for the characters I create, and the settings and situations I place them in. And for the reader who reads those words. It isn’t as easy as one thinks, but that is where my joy in writing takes over. I’m free to explore and invent and create. And the words have to be just so. It was someone a lot smarter than me who said that when the words are just right, the tuning fork vibrates. I like that analogy.

Yet, I think my task as a thriller-crime-mystery author is easier than the journalist and the poet.

The journalist is bound by the economy of words in their copy (as I understand it, and from my limited experience writing for my high school yearbook and newspaper so long ago. So long ago, I forgot whatever it was I wrote!). The journalist has to not only convey the story, but capture the reactions to the story accurately.

The poet, by nature and definition, has to convey a thought or feeling, and move the reader. This movement can be uncomfortable, especially if the thought or feeling contradicts what the reader holds to be true. 

I prefer my role as an author. I get to create characters and the world to place them in. I get to create the situations and circumstances, and I get to imagine how they feel and how they will react. Once I figure that out, I have to convey that to the reader.

It’s all imaginary … or is it?

I’m not sure who said it, but someone said: even though the world and life doesn’t make a great deal of sense sometimes, fiction has to all the time. While sometimes life is just unbelievable, fiction has to be believable, or at least, if written well, the reader has to suspend his/her belief and trust the author who is taking them on the journey. 

It doesn’t matter what genre. Thriller, romance, crime, mystery, horror, dystopian, fantasy. The story has to convey truth, and it has to make sense, again, even if life doesn’t.

Being an author or journalist or a poet is easier than being a parent or counselor. Most of the time, anyway.

As a counselor, I remember kids and parents sitting in my office discussing this or that, and I wanted to squint in my disbelief, laugh at them, and be sarcastic. There were times I wanted to smack them up alongside the head. Sometimes, it wasn’t easy to refrain from making these unwise choices. 

Instead, I had to form my words and my questions and lead them to discovery and onto a better choice of paths on which to embark. And for sure, I had to sit on my hands for fear of them flying into someone’s head. Folks, sometimes, these sessions were like pounding rocks (and I’m not talking about the kid’s or parents’ head, either).

As a parent, there were times when what took place in the counseling office would somehow become a similar conversation around our dinner table, or at bedtime, or at breakfast, or after a party or night out. Kim and I would listen and question, accept, and lead our own kids onto to a better path and help them decide on a different course of action or train of thought.

Sometimes my emotions got the best of me and I blurted out things I so regret. It wasn’t often, but it was enough for me to have to admit this. I can rest in the fact that I’m only human, right? Not satisfying to me. Not even close to the justification for hurting someone. Instead of using love and compassion and gentleness, I was abrupt and harsh and hard. Not at all soft as kids … or my wife … or family members … or friends deserve.

I think we’ve all been in this place, this situation. I think each of us has had those moments we’d like to take back. Unfortunately, once a word or words are said, we can’t chase them down, capture them, and hide them. Ears and hearts heard those words. Eyes and souls saw our expressions. And we can’t take them back.

The best we can do, and it seems like such an insignificant best we can do, is to apologize and strive to do better. To somehow make it up to the one we hurt, the heart and the soul we hurt. Learn from the mistake and strive never to repeat it. The best we can do, which is sometimes never enough. 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 Leighann Blackwood and Unsplash.

 

Reunion

 

One week ago, I drove back to Wisconsin to attend my high school reunion. It has been 50 years since I graduated, and 50 years since I’ve seen any of my friends from high school. Many didn’t come back for the reunion, and I wished they would have. Like I said, it has been 50 years, and I don’t know if we’d ever have this opportunity to see each other again.

Yet for those of us who attended, it was a nice, relaxing time. Bittersweet, really.

Funny thing about memories and the pictures in one’s head from 50 years ago. I honestly didn’t recognize many. I had to read their nametags. Played football with several. Herb and I shared the backfield together. Ran track together. Herb had this carefree, daring persona about him all the way through high school. One of the toughest guys I remember.

One of the memories shared- that I had forgotten about was how Herb would scale the gym walls and beams. I know he wouldn’t, couldn’t do that now. Another story was that somehow, Herb had gotten onto the roof of the church and, with help from the building across the road, hung up a banner for our graduation. Don’t know how I forgot that.

Dang, we’re old. Some of us have hair, some not. Some in really good shape, some not.

Some of my classmates had their share of illness. Some still battling, and in at least one case, it doesn’t look like he might win the battle. He shared with me he knows, and as he shared that with me, his wife nodded. Sad. It left me to wonder how many others are winning, or losing their battles.

On a tour we took of our school (it was a co-ed boarding school that was once a seminary), we stopped at the cemetery on the campus. Some of the buried were my teachers- priests, brothers, nuns. All were members of the Salvatorian Order and Society. Some so old, their names are almost smoothed off the grave marker. Others, recent. The dirt on their grave still visible, even with grass grown over it.

The football field- the bowl, as we called it, now filled with water for a pool. Several buildings were gone. Burned to the ground or removed. Others boarded up with windows broken, doors locked or chained shut because of old age and disrepair. Would have loved to have gone in those buildings just to see, to remember, to revisit. Freshen the memories, if that was possible. 

In looking at and visiting with my classmates and schoolmates, I was surprised at the paths some of them took. Dan was my guitarist throughout our four years. Man, he could play. Finger picked most everything. He could read sheet music or play by ear. I figured he was LA or Nashville bound. Nope. He got into finance and accounting. Would never have guessed. Pete, two classes older than mine, is a municipal judge. Joe, two or three classes younger than me, is retired and had worked in a paper mill. Pete, retired, worked in hospital administration after a stint in Vietnam and the Navy. Josh, one of the smartest guys in my class, a postal worker. John, a doctor/professor, still teaching family medicine for a medical college. Several farmers. Another John works in HR for the UW system. 

I was asked if back then, that I would have ever thought I’d have one book published, let alone eight. Nope, not a chance. I had always loved to read. But to write? Hmmm, nope. Honestly, I didn’t even know I’d be in education for 47 years and counting, though now, only part-time. But me a principal? Back then, never would have considered it. Never imagined it.

I don’t know many seniors in high school who figured out their life plan and path as they walked across the stage to pick up their diploma. My wife might have been an exception. She knew in third or fourth grade she wanted to be a PE teacher. She still is. 

What I didn’t hear, though I imagine there were thoughts bouncing around the recesses of the minds of the attendees, were regrets. I didn’t hear any if-I-could-have-should-have-would-haves. Nor should I have heard any. All of us successful, seemingly happy. As it should be. A life well lived. Some with grandkids, others not. We ran the race and are approaching the finish line. Will receive the wreath of victory one day, hopefully not too soon. Too much to do, things to see, people to love. And hopefully, each of us will finish strong. Some will even have the kick of a sprinter or long-distance runner as we approach the finish line. That would be nice, wouldn’t it? Something to think about …

Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!

To My Readers:

If you head over to my author website at www.jrlewisauthor.blog/ you will find the cover and book blurb to my newest book, Fan Mail along with another short story. I should have it up and running either yet today or tomorrow early. The short story is titled The School that is a take on the high school I graduated from. The theme fits our spooky season.

While you wait for Fan Mail to hit March 30, 2023, I hope you take the time to enjoy my other work. The last four books have won thirteen awards, while my Lives Trilogy has won two.

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 /

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 Unknown Classmate.