Review for The Serpent's Bite by Warren Adler

Hi, folks!

Warren Adler's team asked me to do an advanced review for his newest blockbuster, THE SERPENT'S BITE. It's just out now and you can order it by clicking on the link on the left hand side of this page. 

Honored by the request, I thoroughly enjoyed this somewhat dark piece of literary fiction. See what you think, and let me know if the review below strikes any questions or chords. We love comments here, so don't by shy. ;o)

 

Aaron Paul Lazar

www.lazarbooks.com

Title:  The Serpent’s Bite

Author:  Warren Adler

Publisher: Stonehouse Press

Genre: Literary fiction

Kindle eBook: $7.69

ASIN: B00906GKRC

Trade Paperback: $16.43           

ISBN-10: 159006044X

ISBN-13: 978-1590060445

Author’s website: http://warrenadler.com

The Serpent’s Bite by Warren Adler offers raw escapism rooted in the wild environs of Yellowstone State Park. This riveting novel pits nature against the tense dynamics of a very unnatural family, drawing fascinating conflicts between right and wrong, real and counterfeit, power and subservience, abuse and rebellion.

George Temple, widowed several years earlier, deeply mourns the loss of his first wife, the mother of his two children. Over time, much to his surprise, he meets Muriel, a woman who understands and comforts him. Now he hopes to gingerly introduce the idea of his upcoming marriage to his two estranged children, Scott and Courtney, and has planned a grand trail riding adventure during which he will divulge his news.

George hopes to recapture the innocence of a time when he and his young family took a long guided trail ride through Yellowstone. He contacts his children, who have all but abandoned him, and they reluctantly agree to retake the trip of their childhood with the same guide who hosted them years ago.

Courtney and Scott are spoiled, ungrateful offspring. Scott—weak and easily pushed around by his sister—still holds some affection for his father, although he is furious that George has recently declined to finance the latest in a long string of unsuccessful ventures.

Courtney—egocentric, brutal, and completely without conscience—is focused only on her unsuccessful career as an actress and nothing will stop her maniacal grab for her father’s fortune. This woman is the ultimate sociopath housed in a goddess’s body, and her scheming ways make hardened criminals look tame.

In addition to the intricate layers of subterfuge in this miserable family, horrible, dark secrets simmer in their past. Flashbacks include insight into a relationship most shocking. I won’t reveal the participants or nature of the liaison, as it’s one of the surprise elements of the story.

One of George Temple’s greatest disappointments in this adventure has to do with the trail guide. Decades after their first trip, Harry has succumbed to alcohol and is constantly inebriated. The Mexican trail hand, Tomas, enables his boss’s habits by burying bottles of liquor ahead of time near the campsites. Although Harry has some redeeming qualities, such as his deep and respectful knowledge and love of nature, Temple finds him intolerable because of his treatment of Tomas. With prejudice and arrogance, Harry orders the trail hand around like a slave, hurling racial epithets at every opportunity and taunting the quiet man with regularity.

Mr. Adler’s understanding of abnormal relationships is insightful and brilliant. Some scenes made my skin crawl, and others saddened me deeply. I felt great empathy for George, who tries so valiantly to reunite his family. Of course, these reactions to strong characters parallel the suspense and tension embedded in the story from page one. Will George win the affection of his children again? Will the group make it out of the park safely? What about the grizzlies and mountain lions lurking in the background? Can there be a positive outcome?

This tense and often shocking journey through nature’s spectacular canyons and mountains will hold your attention and keep you reading long into the night. A new classic has been born from the prolific Mr. Adler!

Recommended for adults only by Aaron Paul Lazar, www.lazarbooks.com.

Review for The Tangled Web by JP Lane

Title:  The Tangled Web: an international web of intrigue, murder, and romance

Author:  J.P. Lane

Publisher: Amazon Digital Services

Genre: Thriller/Suspense

eBook $3.97

ASIN: B007Z5Y3ZQ

Author’s website: www.jp-lane.com

The Tangled Web is a fast paced and well told international thriller. I know I’m dating myself, but Ms. Lane’s book reminds me of Helen McInnes’s wonderful espionage thrillers that I used to read back in the seventies when I was in college. (Ms McInnes’s books were in fact written in the second half of the last century, and I stumbled upon them in my parents’ piles of books along with Agatha Christie, Rex Stout and John D. MacDonald.)

I was hooked from the start by the exotic setting(s), international verbage/dialects, and the spy-novel type thrills that run rampant in The Tangled Web.

Ms. Lane’s thriller is set primarily on a Caribbean island, replete with tropical lush scene painting and intriguing local color. The characters who hail from the island range in character and style from rich white landowners to the delightful housekeeper, Ivy, who was one of my favorite (albeit minor) characters.

The dialog felt genuine, as did the frustration experienced by main characters Logan Armstrong (international tycoon) and Lauren Anderson (journalist) as they plummeted through this adventure without being able to fully communicate their feelings or intentions until the very end.

I won’t rehash the plot here—since so many others have done so very thoroughly—but suffice it to say there is great treachery ongoing in the Caribbean political scenes behind the bright and touristy island of blue oceans and heady-scented flowers. The Prime Minister has become corrupt, putting his island’s future in peril due to his links with the drug cartels and his own selfish purposes. Two plots interweave to assassinate this monster–one driven by a truly frightening cartel head, Maria Echevarria, and the other by well-meaning government officials who know that the Prime Minister must go.

I enjoyed this romp across the globe: from New York to London, from Prague to the Caribbean, it held my interest throughout. Well done, Ms. Lane!

Recommended by Aaron Paul Lazar, lazarbooks.com

Special Post - Introduction to Mr. Lance Johnson

Hi, folks.

Mr. Lance Johnson has written a book that will help so many people that I have decided to give him a bit of help in exposure by featuring his book here today on this blog. It's not a mystery. It's not a suspense. No, it's actually non-fiction, which I hardly ever read, I'm ashamed to say. 

But Lance's book is geared toward aiding new arrivals to our country by spelling out all that is America. I think it's great. I hope you will too, and perhaps you can keep this in mind the next time you meet a new immigrant to The United States of America. 

- Aaron 

  lazarbooks.com

Genesis of a Book to Help Foreigners Better Understand Crazy America

by Lance Johnson

copyright 2012, Lance Johnson

 

Having taught overseas and traveled in 81 countries, I was always amazed at the nonstop questions people had about all things America. Crazy America, as some called it. Our language, government, people, literature, films, food, dress. Our behavior. Even our negative image on the world stage. At home, I watched my foreign heritage friends struggle to start a new life—get jobs, open businesses, enter schools, make friends.

After years of these exchanges I searched for a book I could recommend to them that condensed and simplified what America is all about. Aside from the multitude of stuffy textbooks it would take to cover this cosmic sized subject, there wasn’t one. So I began thinking about writing one, not sure I wanted to be slayed by this Herculean monster. It stewed on my back burner for several years.

Then, on a flight to Beijing in 2001, I sat next to an American executive in charge of overseas operations for a major U.S. corporation. He lamented the struggle he had teaching American business concepts to his foreign managers. I mentioned my abeyant book idea. His face lit up. He said such a book would make a valuable training aid for his foreign managers and executives. “Good hard facts,” he said, “culture, the big picture, the details. Because of cultural differences they just don’t get the full picture and tend to revert back to local customs. As a business we need to hit on all cylinders. In this competitive world we can’t afford to backslide.”

That was the final jostle I needed. I returned home and the next day began to write What Asians Need To Know About America From A to Z. It would take two years to complete. Halfway through the research and writing process, I signed a contract with a major Chinese publisher for the rights in China thanks to the efforts of an agent there, the only one who had the same vision I had. I finally had the confirmation I wanted: What I was doing was indeed important.

Next step: Endorsements. My attitude is if you don’t try you’ll never know. I sent a two-page overview of my upcoming book along with the first pages of the 26 chapters to the American ambassador in China and the China ambassador in the U.S. I was shocked…it was easier than I thought it would be. They wrote endorsements! So did journalists, editors, educators and scholars around the world.

After its publication I learned that marketing books in China is just as difficult as in the U.S., but with a few cultural differences that make it even harder. Book signings, mailings, and other marketing attempts to spur sales are alien, even for a major publishing house like mine.

Fast forward to 2009 when I set sail to expand my book to include all foreigners, not just Asians. I tweaked the title to What Foreigners Need To Know About America From A To Z: How to understand crazy American culture, people, government, business, language and more. 

Three years later it was published at 614 pages. Would its inch-and-a-half thick size scare readers away? I had three choices: 1) drop the two hundred-plus pictures to slim it down, 2) use a glasses-needed smaller font size, or 3) come up with four smaller books that correspond to the four major sections in the big guy: America’s Heritage, America’s Culture, America’s Business, and America’s Language. I chose the latter to allow the readers to target their own needs or interests.

To make the book relevant to foreign readers, I knew I had to use lots of comparisons— how we do things in the U.S. and how they vary from country to country. So in the introduction I wrote about Budapest, Hungary, where I was shocked I had to pay for a packet of McDonald’s ketchup—something that’s free in the U.S. And how flashing the soles of your feet in Thailand is a big no-no versus the bare foot mentality in the U.S. And the confusing times in Bulgaria when they nodded up and down to signify “no” and left to right for “yes,” the exact opposite of what we do. And in India where drivers ignored stop signs and traffic lights, but you’d better not do that in the U.S. In other words, do not expect things to be done here as they are back home, and be alert to making needed cultural changes that I discuss in my A to Z book.

I also wrote, “With all of our cultural differences though, you’ll be surprised to learn how much our countries—and we as human beings—have in common on this third rock from the sun called Earth. After all, the song played at our Disneyland parks around the world is “It’s A Small World After All.” Thanks for coming along on this journey with me. Thank you for allowing me to share my America with you. And thanks to all of you who shared your country with me.”

What did I learn from my twelve-year odyssey? 

·      First and foremost, don’t give up on something you truly believe in, as I almost did when scores of agents and publishers said they had never seen a book like this, so it probably wasn’t worth pursuing. There will always be naysayers for everything we want to attempt in life…and that includes agents and publishers. 

·      Get a good editor who is forthright, honest and not afraid to slash and burn here and there. However, keep your eye on your North Star. My guiding light proved to be the right direction on several issues. 

·      Keep rewriting until you have the tone and flow you know is right for your book. Know who your reader will be. In my case it was foreigners who likely read English as a second language, thus my language had to be simple. I also scattered light-hearted humor and personal notes to avoid a textbook tone. 

·      Don’t be in a hurry to see it printed because you only have one chance to make a good first impression. And, yes, once printed you’ll hit your forehead with your open palm when you still find typos and dumb errors.

·      And finally, the big shocker is the marketing effort that must follow the publication. As most authors say, this is the hard part, not the writing of the book. I found the books I needed in the Frugal Book Series (http://howtodoitfrugally.com/) most helpful in this department.

Good luck with your writing and keep the faith!

--

Lance Johnson is a former CEO and management consultant who has traveled in 49 of the 50 states and continues exploring the difficulties foreigners face understanding American ways and language, and how that affects their success in dealing with Americans. He consults, teaches, and conducts seminars about the subjects in this book. He has an Ivy League graduate business degree and has studied at Oxford University in England. He is also an actor on the stage and in film, commercials and on TV, including a lead American role in a 28-part TV series in China.

The book and the author’s website is http://www.americaatoz.com/. The book is sold worldwide on amazon.com (simply do a search there on “what foreigners need to know” or “lance johnson”). It can also be found or ordered in bookstores, including famous Vroman’s in Pasadena, California, that is celebrating its 118th year in business and where he will have an upcoming book signing.

Back from the Brink by Michael Prescott

Hi, folks.

Please join me in extending a warm welcome to Michael Prescott, author of numerous bestselling thrillers and one of the hottest authors on the Kindle scene. This man has sold over a million eBooks, and I am honored to have him here today. Not only is Mr. Prescott a phenomenal success and a true gentleman, but in my humble opinion, he is one of the finest suspense/thriller/mystery writers of the century. 

Writers, if you're looking for an example of how to "get it right," how to capture audiences with unrelenting action and tension, with psychological premises that both shock and awe, with twists and turns that'll spin your head around...just pick up one of his books. 

I'm just starting Grave of Angels, but I highly recommend such books as Stealing Faces, Blind Pursuit, Mortal Pursuit, Deadly Pursuit, and Dangerous Games. Writers, these books are primers for how it's done!

Please help us welcome Mr. Prescott and leave a comment in the section below.

Aaron Paul Lazar

www.lazarbooks.com

Back from the Brink

copyright 2012, Michael Prescott

In 2009 my career was over.

I'd been writing suspense novels for twenty-three years and had published twenty of them. Some were modest bestsellers, though I remained securely ensconced in the dreaded "midlist" - halfway between stardom and oblivion. Beginning in 2007 it all fell apart. My longtime publisher, Penguin, dropped me, along with many of its other veteran authors; the company announced it would now focus on "vampire erotica" for its mass-market paperback titles. Being neither a vampire nor erotic, I was shown the door. 

At first I didn't worry too much. There were other publishers. Well, four or five of them, anyway. But my efforts to find a home in one of the other big New York houses went nowhere. What I was selling, they weren't buying. My sales record was too uneven, my books weren't enough like The Da Vinci Code, and the whole industry was suffering a crisis of confidence as paperback sales circled the drain. 

By the summer of 2009, I had to face facts. I was no longer a publishable writer. So I started writing something else - option calls. I would buy some stock and write (sell) options on it; the option premiums provided an income stream. With stocks on the rise, writing calls was a pretty easy way to make money. No, I wasn't being creative and I couldn't honestly say I was contributing anything to society, but I was paying my bills. 

In 2010 I had an idea for a sideline. I would take an unsold novel, Riptide, heavily revise it, and publish it myself using print-on-demand technology. My expectations were minimal. I thought I might sell a couple of hundred copies. Mainly I wanted a copy of the book for my shelf. At the last minute, I decided I might as well make Riptide available as a Kindle ebook also. It cost nothing, and who knows, the book might sell a few more copies. 

Nothing much happened with Riptide for a while, but I'd enjoyed the process of putting out the book, so I decided to start digitizing my out-of-print backlist titles. The rights to these books had reverted to me, and I wanted to keep them around. 

Then in the spring of 2011, my friend and fellow author J. Carson Black (The Shop, Icon) suggested that I drop the price of my ebooks to only $0.99 and promote them on Amazon's discussion forums. This strategy was working well for her, and similar strategies had worked for Jay Konrath and others. I was dubious, but I gave it a try. 

Thus began the most unexpected run of luck I've had in my life. In retrospect, I really should have visited Atlantic City and put down some bets on the roulette wheel. Sales of my ebooks went up … and up … and up. I was hitting #1 in Amazon's Suspense category. Some of my titles began appearing on the bestseller lists of the New York Times and USA Today - self-published ebooks sharing the list with the latest releases from the New York houses. Yes, the same outfits whose editors had turned off the lights and hidden behind the sofa when I came knocking on their door. 

By the end of 2011, I was closing in on a million ebooks sold. USA Today ran a feature story about me and other indie ebook writers. Amazon Publishing contacted me to ask if I wanted to do a deal. 

And in fact, I did want to do a deal. For all my success at self-publishing, I was interested to see what Amazon could do for me. As it turns out, they can do a lot. My first book with them, Grave of Angels, benefited immensely from the contributions of developmental editor David Downing, while acquisitions editor Maria Gomez gave me significant input into the cover design and promotional copy. Now the marketing team is doing a bang-up job of promoting the book through targeted emails and onsite ads. 

Grave of Angels, probably the last book I'll write with a southern California setting, focuses on Kate Malick, a former Carmelite nun turned security consultant to the stars. Her most troublesome client is teenage Chelsea Brewer, a hard-partying, self-destructive train wreck. When Chelsea is kidnapped, Kate swings into action, hunting the city's darkest corners over a long and dangerous night.  

I hope it's a gripping thrill ride, but I have to admit it can't hold a candle (or even a Kindle) to the roller coaster I've been riding since 2009!

Michael Prescott

www.michaelprescott.net

Author bio:

Born in 1960, Michael Prescott grew up in New Jersey and attended Wesleyan University, majoring in Film Studies. In 1981 he moved to Los Angeles, where he wrote scripts for independent producers and worked as a magazine freelancer, archival researcher, and editor. In 1986 he sold the first of five horror novels, then moved on to suspense novels, some of which appeared under the pen name Brian Harper. Praised for "brilliant elements of psychological horror" (Publishers Weekly), Prescott 's novels have sold more than one million copies in print editions, and have found a new audience among ebook readers. At last count he had sold more than one million ebooks, making him one of today's  bestselling ebook writers. 

Book Review for Deadly Pursuit by Michael Prescott

 review by Aaron Paul Lazar, 2012


Title: Deadly Pursuit
Author: Michael Prescott
Publisher: Audible, Inc. and Amazon Digital Services
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
Audio Book: $21.95
ASIN: B0088UU3YW
eBook: $2.99
Author’s website: www.michaelprescott.net


Jack Dance is the cleverest, nastiest, and most accomplished sociopath ever to grace the pages of a thriller. With no conscience and a devil-may-care attitude, this smiling, tune-humming, horribly handsome serial killer will make you shudder. His cavalier attitude when engaged in murder, his complete and utter lack of humanity, and the pairing of these attributes with the most cunning criminal mind of the century will linger in your mind long after you’ve finished the book.

Jack had a bad experience when he was eleven. It had something to do with a blue-eyed blond named Meredith. And after stewing in hot rage for many years, he finally takes action. Her murder—his first—whets his appetite for what is to becomes a ritualistic re-killing of Meredith, over and over again.

Aside from being a superb writer—I say this with complete honesty and zero exaggeration—Mr. Prescott is a talented plot twister who maintains tension and never, ever lets it slacken. Once you’ve read (or listened) to his books such at Stealing Faces, Blind Pursuit, or Mortal Pursuit, you’ll learn that you’d best store up some extra adrenaline for the guaranteed ride to come. Deadly Pursuit is relentless in its suspense, and your favorite protagonist will be sure to partake of many successions of satisfying chase scenes with the villain. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: when it comes to writing thrillers, Mr. Prescott leads the pack.

Steve and Kirstie Gardner head for a vacation on Pelican Key, the place of Steve’s childhood summer vacations, where he and his pal Jack Dance explored and clambered over the ruins of the old lime plantation. Now the house has been restored, and it beckons to Stephen with an inexplicable urgency. He needs to be there. He craves the connection to his youth. And he worries that maybe—just maybe—secrets from his past might follow.

The problem arises when Jack Dance happens to seek refuge on the same island when the feds begin to link him to the murders of the now infamous “Mister Twister.” When Jack bumps into Kirstie on the beach, his thirst for blood surges, because as luck would have it, she looks a lot like Meredith.

I won’t spoil the plot by telling you more. Just rest assured that the ride is torturous and deliciously scary.

This book is much more than a thriller—it’s also a story that transports you from your armchair to a tropical island. I love novels with a sumptuous “sense of place.” Deadly Pursuit propels the reader smack dab in the sultry humidity of the Florida Keys. I’ve never been there, but felt thoroughly connected thanks to Mr. Prescott’s descriptions of the lush flowers, trees, wildlife and ecosystem. I am certain he must have frequented the location in person, so beautifully drawn were the scenes.

I happened to experience this book in audio book format. The narrator, Christopher Burns, has an uncanny knack for voices, especially for the carefree, jaunty inner voice of a serial killer. It “creeped me out” as my kids would say, to listen to this sociopath in such an intimate fashion. Well done, Mr. Prescott and Mr. Burns!

Highly recommended for adults by Aaron Paul Lazar, lazarbooks.com

Need Virtual Book Tour Hosts!

Hello, friends.

I'm setting up a virtual book tour (VBT) for my newest release, FOR KEEPS, book 3 in Moore Mysteries, also known as the "green marble" series. You won't believe what Dr. Sam Moore has to endure in this story, and how Billy helps him out of the jam. (see synopsis below)

To become a host for the tour, you can do one or more of the following things, and post it on Facebook, your blog, or your website during the Sept.14-16th OR October 12-13, which coincides with the two free Kindle giveaways of the FOR KEEPS eBook.

There are lots of options - you don't have to be an official review house or book blogger to do this, although those folks are very welcome! I'm happy to have just regular folks be my sponsors in this event - all readers are invited!

1) You may read/review the book and post your thoughts here on (and/or Facebook or a blog/website, of course!). Please remember to "like" the book on Amazon if you do post a review. That is IF you like it!!

2) You may simply post an excerpt provided by me from FOR KEEPS on Gather, etc. during the dates given above.

3) You may ask me or my characters interview questions that we'll answer with wit and wisdom (I hope!).

4) Or you may post my article about how I wrote FOR KEEPS and how hard it was to kill the one you love (fictionally, of course!).

OR choose any combination of the above! We want to have all of this happening either on Sept. 14-16th, or October 12-13th. So there's plenty of time to do whatever suits you.

Contact me at aaron dot lazar at yahoo dot com if you want to review the book. EBook format (Kindle or pdf) is available at the moment for free for reviewers. The print book is coming along in a few weeks.

Thanks in advance!

Aaron Paul Lazar
www.lazarbooks.com


PS Here are some early review blurbs and the synopsis, in case you're interested in checking out the story.


"Aaron Paul Lazar's deft paranormal mystery starts off quietly and builds to a powerful finish. More than a thriller, FOR KEEPS is a heartfelt story of love and devotion, family ties and emotional crisis, loss and redemption. A winner!"

- Michael Prescott, USA Today bestselling author of Final Sins (also bestselling Kindle Author!)


"Lazar does it again with Sam Moore's explosive return in FOR KEEPS, a story of sordid pasts, buried secrets, and ultimately, true love. This tale will break your heart—and then tenderly stitch it back together—all while you're biting your nails to the quick. Every book in the Moore Mysteries series just keeps getting better!

- Sonya Bateman, author of Master of None & Master and Apprentice


“The author’s gentle prose brings the scents of a summer garden to life, together with rippling shade of forest and cool clear waters of lake. Characters are vividly real and welcoming too, with pitch-perfect dialog around the dinner table, a wonderful grandfather dealing with a two-year-old’s tantrum, and the awkward embarrassment of past secrets becoming public knowledge.”

- Sheila Deeth, author of FLOWER CHILD


"I was truly mesmerized by this book, and I can honestly say that I have never been so blown away by the ending of a novel. I actually felt a painful wrench when I turned the last page of the book as if I was being physically torn away from the Moore family."

-Cindy Taylor, Allbooks Reviews

OVERVIEW:

FOR KEEPS, book three in the award-winning* Moore Mystery series, is another of Lazar's beautifully written mysteries with a paranormal twist. The series is also known as the "green marble" series, courtesy of the unique talisman that links retired family doctor Sam Moore with his long dead little brother, Billy. All three books in the series can be read in any order.

SYNOPSIS:


When retired family doctor Sam Moore’s old girlfriend is murdered in a local hotel, the police suspect his involvement. The coroner, a former med school colleague whose husband is about to desert her, reveals that she had a crush on Sam in med school. When she is strangled the next day in her own morgue, Sam is once again in the hot seat.

Sam’s world falls apart when he returns home to find a family member killed in the laundry room, stabbed with his own garden shears. Rocketed into a world of denial and temporary insanity, Sam faces his worst fear, and is locked up in the very same psych ward he was in when his brother Bill died fifty years ago. Sam is determined to ask his long dead brother to help him. Billy, who communicates through a little green marble, has the ability to propel Sam through time and has helped Sam unwrap baffling mysteries in the past.

Sam’s plan: to change time, and bring his loved one back to life.

No time to read? Try audio books!

copyright, 2012 Aaron Paul Lazar

I have become totally nuts about audiobooks recently. Oh, sure, I knew about audiobooks. I’d even rented a few from the Cracker Barrel years ago when I was working on the second shift and made the hour drive home around midnight every night. I remember loving hearing Tony Hillerman read his books to me as I glided through the night on the dark ribbon of highway.

Since then, I really hadn’t given them a thought.

That is, until I started a partnership with ACX (owned by Audible, which is in turn owned by Amazon) to get my own novels made into audio books. We have five available now with several more in production. It's been a real blast and has opened up many new opportunities for me as an author. But that’s another topic for another article. This re-introduction to the audio book media, if I may call it that, as been phenomenal.

I began listening to recorded chapters made by the various narrators I'd teamed up with to produce my mysteries. I listened in the car, using my iPhone through the Bluetooth connection. No wires, just press a button and the sound comes out of the car speakers. Oh, how I love that! Alternatively, I just plug in ear buds to my phone and listen using a free Audible app. Oh, it’s so easy, and so addicting.

I read a great deal. Since eBooks have become so accessible through Kindle and iPhones and all other devices, I am constantly reading, whether it be on the plane, in line at the grocery store, in the doctor’s waiting room, or at night in bed. I’m going through at least twice as many books than when we had only print books on hand, and am just loving it.

However, there is a lot of down time in my life in which I wish I could be writing or reading. Since I can’t write while commuting back and forth to work or while doing my hour walk each morning (other than imagining scenes in my head), I’ve become addicted to listening to audio books during both activities.

I started out with Michael Prescott’s audio book, Blind Pursuit and was hooked from the first moments of listening. The narrator—a superb actress named Allison McLemore—is a genius at assigning distinct and powerful voices to each of the characters. Okay, so this writer is one of my favorite thriller writers in the world. He is polished, highly skilled, and knows how to craft an edge-of-the-seat suspense story without letting you breathe between the scenes. I am crazy about his books, and usually read them on Kindle.

I could rave on and on about Prescott's talent. Since I listened to Blind Pursuit, I also listened to Mortal Pursuit (a hot fast ride you’ll never forget narrated by another talented narrator named Gayle Hendrix), and have just downloaded Deadly Pursuit. Now I can’t imagine my days without someone reading to me enroute to work or on the lonely dirt road where I walk every morning. It’s pure bliss.

The cost is actually more reasonable than you might think. Oh, sure, the books are more than your typical $2.99 eBook. If you’ve become accustomed to getting lots of free eBooks and paying a buck per book, the cost of $18.00 per average book might astound you. But if you join Audible.com at the basic level of $14.95 per month, you are entitled to one free audio book per month. I got Deadly Pursuit (eleven and a half hours of listening!) which was priced at $24.95 for the monthly fee of $14.95. It’s worth every penny, and frankly, I would have paid the full price without hesitating.

How do you download an audiobook?

It’s easy. Unlike the bulky multiple disk sets that I used to rent at the Cracker Barrel, this process is painless, you can do it while sitting at your desk or walking in the wilderness (as long as you have a 3G signal!), and there is nothing to carry around with you or stick into CD players.

Simply find the book(s) you want, buy them through Amazon, Audible, or iTunes, and they are automatically deposited in your Audible Library. You can download from the buy page, or wait until you’re ready to read. I use my iPhone. I downloaded the Audible app, for free of course, and then I go right into my library to search for my book. Click "download", and in a very short time you will have one or two files containing all of the hours of intense production that went into the recording of the book aright at your fingertips. Just click on the file, and listen! You also are allowed to burn one set of CDs if you like, but I can’t imagine why anyone would want to do this when you can just access the file from anywhere, anytime. Why waste the money and time on disks?

Well, I’m off to start listening to Mr. Prescott’s newest book. I’m learning as a writer about how the very best man in his field accomplishes his taut suspense and relentless tension. So not only am I being totally entertained, using my time wisely, but I’m learning as I go. How can you go wrong with that scenario?

If you want to listen to some great audio books and don’t know where to start, may I suggest to take a listen to the excerpts of my own mystery audio books at http://www.lazarbooks.com. I highly recommend Terror Comes Knocking, narrated by Mr. Robert King Ross. It’s new, and it’s beautifully rendered by this accomplished actor. Let me know what you think if you listen!

Aaron Paul Lazar

www.lazarbooks.com

Book Review for Missing in Mexico by Stuart Gustafson

Title:  Missing in Mexico

Author:  Stuart Gustafson

Publisher: AITEpublishing.com

Genre: Mystery

Kindle eBook: $2.99

ASIN: B004HW6FIS

Trade Paperback: $14.95

ISBN-10: 0977172740

ISBN-13: 978-0977172740

Author’s website: www.stuartgustafson.com/books-tools.html

Missing in Mexico is a fine first novel, filled with a genuine sense of place and easy-to-read prose. Many debut novelists fall prey to overwritten prose with too many adverbs or adjectives, excessive “telling,” and laborious narratives. Mr. Gustafson has, for the most part, avoided those traps, and does a good job of simply telling the story in a natural style. Gustafson also includes a bit of education at the beginning of each chapter, where he provides us with a simple Spanish lesson. I enjoyed this aspect of the novel because although I’ve studied French and German, I’d only taken on semester of Spanish in high school and the memory-jogging was fun.

When Robert and Tina Johnson visit Mexico with their daughter Sarah and her best friend Mary, they had no premonition of the impending horror they were about to endure. When the joint vacation is over, they leave the girls (both college freshmen) to enjoy a few extended days in Los Cabos, an area they deemed quite safe, knowing the girls needed a little time to unwind before returning to college after Christmas break.

When Mary gets on the plane with Sarah right behind her, she’s shocked when the girl doesn’t show after making a beeline for a last minute purchase. The plane leaves without Sarah, and the mystery begins.

Did Sarah miss the plane on purpose? Or did someone kidnap her? Is she alive? Or dead? The most important question, however, is whether Stan Walkorski—the private eye the Johnson’s hired—will find the girl in this strange but beautiful land.

The author has achieved a great start to his series here, buoyed by his extensive knowledge of the land of Los Cabos, Mexico. While his travel knowledge sometimes crept into the story a bit too often to maintain taut suspense (there was a long section about the art district that was interesting but not crucial to the story), in general the tension was well-maintained.

Gustafson makes his readers care about Sarah and her parents, who suffered dreadfully and imagined the worst every waking hour of their days that stretched from weeks to months; and also about the protagonist (Stan). I couldn’t help but wonder, however, why he became involved with a woman he met on the plane who originated from the Los Cabos area, and then just let the woman go without really fighting to find her. (I really liked her and was very disappointed when that didn’t work out and he started seeing a new woman he also met on the plane.). In real life, things like this do happen, so I chalked it up to the author’s right to choose.

As a last note, I do believe the title is a real winner – how can anyone resist a mystery named “Missing in Mexico?” I’ll be interested to see how this author progresses in his travel mystery series, and where he’ll take us next!

Review by Aaron Paul Lazar, www.lazarbooks.com.

How to Turn a Loving Papa into a Monster (or revisiting the scenes of the crimes)

To be fair, I must preface this by saying that we did have a wonderful time at Tall Pines during our near week-long July 4th vacation. My wife Dale, grandson Julian (9), and grandson Gordon (8) traveled to the locale of my newest mystery series on the Saturday before Independence Day with Amber, one of our sweet dogs. We left Balto home (much to his dismay) to keep watch over my wife's mother and the boys' mom, Jenn, while we were in the Adirondacks. It wasn't until the ride home that I fell apart, but more about that later.

My daughter, Melanie and her husband Jay came up for a few days. We hadn't seen them since Thanksgiving, so that was a treat. And the boys were so happy to have playmates! We had a ball on the Speculator boardwalk called the Speculator Pathway on the Kunjamuk River.

The experience was exactly what I'd envisioned -- my grandsons and I played army and hide 'n seek in the woods around camp. We went for walks with Amber every morning. We spent hours every day in the "Jacuzzi," a small dammed up swimming hole on the Tall Pines property, where we rebuilt the dam with smooth, round river rocks and cleared the bottom of the swimming hole to make it easier to walk. Fortunately, we survived the horsefly and deerfly attacks with only a handful of war wounds. Julian and I hopped on river rocks on the West River while searching for the elusive White Face trail, and we all roasted marshmallows and hotdogs over the fire.

We also crossed the river (which was very low this year) and explored several small islands in the middle of the Sacandaga, exclaiming over deer and paw prints (probably black bear) and just enjoying the camaraderie of hanging out together. There were endless card games of go fish, several intense games of Battleship, a few fun variations on Scrabble, and nightly routines of planning and preparing healthy meals together.

When I was doing dishes, they went down to the river's edge near the cabin and threw rocks. That seemed to be the biggest thrill of all.

I also had a successful book signing at Mountain Memories, a gem of a cafe/gift shop in Wells, NY, which is featured in all three books in my Tall Pines series. Donna Bureau, the owner, was especially gracious, and my grandson Julian (9), helped me by passing out book marks and taking down email addresses for the Lazar newsletter. It was so nice to meet the locals who'd read FOR THE BIRDS and wanted to buy ESSENTIALLY YOURS, the sequel. We had some lovely chats and were offered invitations to several homes in the area.

While we were up in the Adirondacks, scenes from my Tall Pines mysteries kept greeting me. I stared out at Blackbird Island (named by me, who knows if it has a real name? It's not on the map!) and imagined poor Thelma being tied to the tallest pine on the island. The very same tree towered above all the others, standing proud, unaware of its dubious fame.

While sitting at the ledge overlooking the Sacandaga, I imagined Earl Tiramisu, one of the villains from FOR THE BIRDS, waving the gun at Marcella and Quinn and the fall/fight that followed. I pictured scenes from book 2, where Marcella and Quinn tried to crack the code on their MacBook Pro at the water's edge, doing everything in their power to figure out why Sky gave Callie the essential oil collection and the poignant chapter where Marcie and Callie talked about Callie's crush on her.

Oh, yes. It was a peaceful vacation. I was a good grandfather (called Papa by my boys), sharing my passions for the area with them one by one, and catering to their every need. I didn't yell (too much) or get too frustrated. As a matter of fact, I was starting to feel almost virtuous. They didn't fight much, either, which was a joy. Keeping kids busy with imaginative games all week and spending every waking minute with them was the secret.

Until I caught a nasty head cold on Thursday (starting with a sore throat) and decided it might be a good idea to get out of dodge early. I was a little worried about getting everything packed up and the cabin all cleaned up by 10 AM on Saturday, anyway. So leaving Friday seemed like a good idea. We'd had a great time and it felt right.

Everything was fine until we stopped at a little store/gas station for a bathroom break and the van's sliding door fell off.

No kidding.

I'd spent a lot of time deciding if we should rent a new van or fix up the old one for this trip. When I saw the prices of renting for over a week (around $800.00 with tax), I blanched. I might as well get the van fixed, I thought, and put that money to good use, since it's my winter car. It ended up needing far more than I had expected, however, and after $2700.00, it was "road read." What I didn't have them look at was the sliding side doors that occasionally stick. But there always was a solution for that - I turned the doors to "manual mode" and slid them myself. Big deal, right? Anyway, I figured it would be another thousand dollars to fix that nuisance, so I let it go.

Big mistake.

The door actually swung off it's hinge on the rear. I spent a half hour wrangling with it in the 94 degree heat, finally forcing it to close, but with an inch gap in the rear. Now there is a two foot long deep and ugly gouge on the side panel, really ugly. I tied it up with the nylon dog leash, but didn't feel safe about the whole thing at all. So I moved Gordie to the rear, and repositioned all our junk in his seat, another nearly impossible task since I decided to do it after I secured the door and couldn't open it again. Sigh.

So, drenched and thoroughly scared and angry now, I got back on the road. We'd already been driving for over an hour, and should have been home within 3.5 more hours if we followed our usual route. But I kept picturing the thing flying off into traffic, and couldn't imagine us driving on the thruway. So we got onto an alternate route (route 5) and for the next 6.5 hours, tried to keep my sweet grandsons from going crazy in the back seats, while I glanced back every ten seconds to check on the door to be sure it hadn't shifted at all.

After numerous potty breaks, dog walks, pizza stops, and more, we were finally almost home. Within twenty minutes from home I lost it.

They'd been laughing and screeching with each other for the past hour, and I kept telling them that my wife had a headache, but they just couldn't help themselves, they were so tired and silly.

I screamed at them. "I'll give you FIVE DOLLARS if you just shut up for the rest of the way home!" Yep, I yelled like a madman and said "shut up" to my precious grandsons! I'll never live that down in my own brain.

But guess what? They were totally quiet until we rolled in the driveway. ;o)

Occasionally, a little bribery works.

Hope you all had a wonderful 4th and that your travels were safe.

Best wishes to all,

Aaron Lazar
lazarbooks.com
FOR THE BIRDS
ESSENTIALLY YOURS