~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Thriller
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
When an old
friend disappears, Martin learns nothing is what it seems…
Martin Russell can barely face the future. With dismal life prospects and an estranged family, he is at the end of his rope. When an old friend, Hannah, elbows her way back into his life, Martin’s luck begins to turn around.
Hidden within the shadows of evil, there must be some good…
Ex-policeman Bobby Tanner lost everything one rage-filled night. Now he runs a reading group for alcoholics where he meets a young drug dealer, Zack, who disturbs him in a way that’s hard to define. Bobby soon discovers the teenager is in over his head and has been dealing with a despicable individual known as The Chemist.
The roots of evil run deeper than we imagine…
Martin’s lucky streak begins to unravel when Hannah suddenly goes missing, and he turns to a friend of a friend, Bobby, for help. Thrust into an underworld empire of corruption and half-truths, he learns his friend may not be who he thought she was.
In a shadowed world of deception, stalkers, and despicable drug dealers, Bobby and Martin must uncover the truth, and fast…
Several lives depend on it.
Martin Russell can barely face the future. With dismal life prospects and an estranged family, he is at the end of his rope. When an old friend, Hannah, elbows her way back into his life, Martin’s luck begins to turn around.
Hidden within the shadows of evil, there must be some good…
Ex-policeman Bobby Tanner lost everything one rage-filled night. Now he runs a reading group for alcoholics where he meets a young drug dealer, Zack, who disturbs him in a way that’s hard to define. Bobby soon discovers the teenager is in over his head and has been dealing with a despicable individual known as The Chemist.
The roots of evil run deeper than we imagine…
Martin’s lucky streak begins to unravel when Hannah suddenly goes missing, and he turns to a friend of a friend, Bobby, for help. Thrust into an underworld empire of corruption and half-truths, he learns his friend may not be who he thought she was.
In a shadowed world of deception, stalkers, and despicable drug dealers, Bobby and Martin must uncover the truth, and fast…
Several lives depend on it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT
She
did not recognise the number coming up on her mobile and hesitated slightly
before answering, “Hannah speaking.”
“Why
just the person, and how are you today, Hannah?”
A
cold shiver ran from the back of her neck down to her ankles. She tried to keep
her voice neutral. “Hi. I thought you were abroad just now.”
“Who
says I’m not?”
A
tremor of relief briefly visited her. “Oh, I see.”
“Actually,
I’ve come back. I missed the old haunts. I can’t seem to get the place out of
my blood.”
Was
it her imagination or did those two words, “haunts” and “blood,” seem to
resonate in her head? She needed to sound in control, and so her reply was
firmly delivered, “And you rang me because?”
“Just
to say hello, Hannah, just to say hello.”
With
that, the phone went dead. Hannah’s immediate reaction was anger at the
caller’s obvious attempt to unsettle her. She hit the recall button and
redialled the incoming number but the other phone was already switched off. She
was well aware that anger is sometimes a protective shield behind which lurks
blinding terror, but sitting alone in her car, Hannah recognised that she had
lost that shield and a fearsome terror instantly slewed through her entire
body.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Born and raised in Bristol,
England. I spent most of my life in business, my companies turning over in the
region of $500 million. The majority of that time marketing cars, eventually
owning the largest Saab specialist in the world, before a bitter divorce forced
me rethink my priorities. Particularly between 2003 and 2005 when I had to
accept that I was no longer a millionaire but literally penniless. I avoided
bankruptcy by the skin of my teeth and slowly rebuilt my life.
This led me to the life
changing decision to leave the bustling city and move to live halfway up a
mountain in the Welsh valleys. At the same time I started a part time six year
English Literature course at Bristol University, and attended creative writing
classes at Cardiff University. I left school at sixteen and this was my first
taste of further education and an immense challenge.
I eventually adjusted my
thinking to the academic life, and on 30 June 2015 had confirmation of my
2.1(Hons) degree from Bristol University. At the same time I also won the
prestigious Hopkins Prize for my essay on Virginia Woolf and the unsaid within
her text. Now the university courses are finished it will, with any luck, gives
me plenty of extra time that I can devote to my fiction writing.
Thanks to the university
experiences, my interest in English literature has flourished over recent
years. Hopefully I have evolved as a writer from my earlier work in short
stories (over ninety of them.) Although interestingly my first three novels
have all been developed from a long forgotten short story.
Life is, once again, very
good, and I live very happily halfway up a mountain, in the Welsh Valleys, with
my wonderful partner Mari, and our rescue dog Wolfie.
Twitter @mikerosswriter
Goodreads Mike Ross
***********************
GIVEAWAY
GIVEAWAY
3.75 out of 5 stars
Hand Over Fist by Michael Ross is the first book in the
‘Out of Hand’ series and follows the events surrounding Martin Russell, a man
who has experienced the destruction of his home life, and the changes wrought
by his re-connection with an old friend, Hannah Williams. It turns out that there are connections and
undercurrents swirling around both of them, and the path they are on may not
lead to a result that benefits everyone or anyone.
This contemporary suspense thriller introduces a cast of
characters who operate in a gray area that sometimes dips down into a darker
aspect of society. The gritty action,
surprising twists, and ethical quandaries that are presented start slowly and
gradually work up to an exciting climax that is followed by an epilogue that
leaves the door open for additional adventures involving many of the
characters.
It took me a while to get immersed in the story, partly
because of the use of third person omniscient point of view which gave me such
a sense of whiplash as perspective rapidly shifted between characters, but also
because I didn’t feel a connection to many of the characters. Despite this, I developed a somewhat grudging
respect for some of the multitude of people whose lives are touching, even
though I was troubled by their actions, and I struggled to decide whether I
liked any of them. The action is a
little uneven for me, and some things were a little too abruptly contrived, but
things do escalate until one becomes anxious to find out what the endgame is
and who is going to be successful.
There are nicely poetic word portraits painted, and an
intriguing look at a set of flawed people and the lengths they go to in order
to arrange their world to their specifications.
I confess to being a little unsettled by the way things turn out
although it is in keeping with the tone of the story and adds to the realism.
Those who like intense gritty suspense stories with atypical heroes will undoubtedly
enjoy this tale.
A copy of this title was provided to me for review
