Hosted by An Island Life

From An Island Life:
In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.
If you’d like to participate, visit An Island Life answer the question and then post your own question on your blog and leave your link below. Don’t forget to visit the other participants! It’s a great way to make new bloggy friends!

MY QUESTION:
Do you have a favorite card game that
you enjoy playing with friends?

MY ANSWER:
We like to play HiLoJack with friends,
wives against the husbands.
And, of course, we always win lol.

*sigh*  So many great books and so little time.  That’s how I felt when Anna, from Blue Dot Literary (Astor & Blue), contacted me to read and review Dead End Deal.  Mystery and medical, my kind of book!

It’s been 2+ years since my blog went public and to this date, I still am amazed and feel honored when an author, publisher and/or publicist contacts me to read, review and have the author visit my blog.  Because of this, I have been introduced to so many phenomenal writers and have read some fantastic books.  Today is no exception.  Not only do I have the pleasure to welcome and present to you a “new to me” author but this will be the first time, and hopefully not the last, to work with Anna from Blue Dot Literary, who contacted me about today’s guest.  So, please help me welcome, Anna and author, Dr. Allen Wyler!

ALLEN WYLER

Allen Wyler is a renowned neurosurgeon who earned an international reputation for pioneering surgical techniques to record brain activity.  He has served on the faculties of both theUniversityofWashingtonand theUniversityofTennessee, and in 1992 was recruited by the prestigiousSwedishMedicalCenterto develop a neuroscience institute.

In 2002, he left active practice to become Medical Director for a startup med-tech company (that went public in 2006) and he now chairs the Institutional Review Board of a major medical center in thePacific Northwest.

Leveraging a love for thrillers since the early 70’s, Wyler devoted himself to fiction writing in earnest, eventually serving as Vice President of the International Thriller Writers organization for several years. After publishing his first two medical thrillers Deadly Errors (2005) and Dead Head (2007), he officially retired from medicine to devote himself to writing full time.

He and his wife, Lily, divide their time betweenSeattleand theSan Juan Islands.
Connect with Allen Wyler at his website here.

GUEST POST

WHAT WAS THE RESEARCH BEHIND DEAD END DEAL?

This is a blitz-pace thriller about a Seattle neurosurgeon who, while in Korea, is framed for a murder. Now hunted by police he must evade a professional hit man while trying to find a way back to the United States. I figure it’s Three Days of The Condor meets Michael Crichton.

I got the idea for the story when I was a guest lecturer at a medical school in Seoul, South Korea. I was staying at the Walker Hill Sheraton hotel across the Han river from the hospital. So all the scenes (hotel, downtown Seoul, and the Korean hospital) were from notes and snapshots I took while there. (I always travel with a small point and shoot camera in my pocket). The brief description of the surgical procedure comes from my own experience.

My neurosurgeon protagonist, Jon Ritter, escapes via a route I personally took when figuring out how he might return to the United States without a passport. Again, the scenes were written with the help of snapshots. So, the short answer to the question is that all the research for the story came from personal experience. By the way, I find digital photography a great help when writing. I view a relevant snapshot on the screen as I write. This helps me accurately describe what I’m seeing.

WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES OF WRITING A MEDICAL THRILLER?

People who read medical thrillers are usually interested in medical details, just as readers of legal thrillers find law interesting. What is difficult is adding sufficient medical detail to satisfy a reader without making descriptions or facts boring. This is one reason I try to move my stories along at a fast clip. Thrillers are intended to thrill, not lecture. Fast pace, good plot, interesting characters are the elements that should be in a medical thriller.

ABOUT THE BOOK

World-renowned neurosurgeon Jon Ritter is on the verge of a medical breakthrough that will change the world.  His groundbreaking surgical treatment, using transplanted non-human stem cells, is set to eradicate the scourge of Alzheimer’s disease and give hope to millions.  But when the procedure is slated for testing, it all comes to an abrupt and terrifying halt.  Ritter’s colleague is gunned down and Ritter himself is threatened by a radical anti-abortion group that not only claims responsibility, but promises more of the same.

Faced with a dangerous reality but determined to succeed, Ritter and his allies conduct clandestine clinical trials inSeoul,Korea.  But there, Ritter and his allies are thrown into a horrifying nightmare scenario:  The trial patients are murdered and Ritter is the number one suspect. Now, aided by his beautiful lab assistant, Yeonhee, Ritter flees the country, as he becomes the target of an international manhunt involving Interpol, the FBI, zealous fanatics and a coldly efficient assassin named Fiest.

Dead End Deal is a fast paced, heart-pounding, and sophisticated thriller. Penned by master neurosurgeon, Allen Wyler—who draws significantly from experience, actual events and hot-button issues when writing—Dead End Deal is unmatched as a technical procedural. Its medical and scientific details can impress even the most seasoned medical practitioners. And yet, the technical expertise is seamlessly woven into a riveting plot with enough action and surprises to engross even the most well-read thriller enthusiast.  A smart, unique, page-turner, Dead End Deal delivers.

Praise for Dead End Deal:
“A wild Journey…cutting edge science, greed, corruption and political intrigue, you won’t be able to put it down.”’
–D.P. Lyle, award-winning author of, Hot Lights, Cold Steel.

 
Dead End Deal is a medical thriller of the highest order, reviving the genre with a splendid mixture of innovation and cutting edge timeliness.  Neurosurgeon Allen Wyler knows of what he speaks, and writes, and the result is a thriller that equals and updates the best of Robin Cook and Michael Crichton.  His latest is terrifyingly on mark, riveting in all ways and a masterpiece of science and suspense.”

–Jon Land, bestselling author of Strong at the Break

“The suspense builds and builds in this riveting page-turner.  It’s a skillful merging of the medical thriller and political thriller…Tom Clancy meets Tess Gerritsen!”

–Kevin O’Brien, NYTimes Bestselling Author of The Last Victim and KillingSpree

Purchase and/or have access to Dead End Deal, click here.

THANKS TO ANNA FROM BLUE DOT LITERARY, I HAVE
TWO (2) EBOOK EDITIONS TO GIVE AWAY.

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO
THE GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE.

DISCLAIMER
No items that I receive
are ever sold…they are kept by me,
or given to family and/or friends.
ADDENDUM
I do not have any affiliation with Amazon.com,
Barnes & Noble and/or any other retail/wholesale
outlets either online and/or elsewhere.
I am providing this link solely for visitors
that may be interested in purchasing this Book/EBook.
I do not receive any monetary compensation from any parties

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Today’s question:
A while ago, I interviewed my readers for a change, and my final question was, “What question have I NOT asked at BTT that you’d love me to ask?” I got some great responses and will be picking out some of the questions from time to time to ask the rest of you. Like now.
Cathy De Los Santos asks:
If you could write a book, what would it be about, and why? (Though, of course, some of you already HAVE.)

My answer:
Great question from Cathy!!  However, for me, the idea of writing a book is quite a stretch for a couple of reasons.  First, there are some days that I can’t even come up with a great idea to write a blog post lol.  Another reason is that when I read a mystery/suspense, I usually don’t figure out the ending, never mind, being able to outline a detailed plot from start to finish.

But if I was approached, with a huge advance lol, it would be a memoir.  I have had several people, that know me well and know my history, say that I should write about my life and what I have been through, experienced and witnessed.   They have also told me that some of the incidents and adventures sound as if it was fictional but it was my reality.

I think I will stick to reading and let the talents and gift that authors possess do the writing for my entertainment and pleasure.

What about you?  What genre would you write?  Have you considered and/or tried your hand at writing?

………of  Service  A Navy Seal At War by Marcus Luttrell

16 Jason D Nickolay Be a Public Follower of ‘CMASH Loves to Read’

1 Susan Smith Leave a Blog Post Comment

22 Damian Jarreau Be a Public Follower of ‘CMASH Loves to Read’

An email has been sent to the winners and they have 48 hours to respond with their mailing address or another winner will be chosen.  Thank you to all that entered.

Today we have a special visitor stopping by as he is touring with Partners In Crime Tours to tell us about his novel.  So, without further ado, please help me welcome Mr. Allan Leverone.

ABOUT ALLAN LEVERONE

Allan Leverone is the author of the Amazon bestselling thriller, THE LONELY MILE (StoneHouse Ink), and the thrillers, FINAL VECTOR (Medallion Press) and PASKAGANKEE (StoneGate Ink), as well as the horror novellas DARKNESS FALLS and HEARTLESS(Delirium Books.

Allan is a three-time Derringer Award finalist as well as a 2011 Pushcart Prize nominee. His short fiction has been featured in Needle: A Magazine of Noir, A Twist of Noir, Shroud Magazine, Morpheus Tales, Mysterical-e and many others.

He lives in New Hampshire with his wife Sue, three children, one beautiful granddaughter and a cat who has used up eight lives.
You can connect with Allan at his website, FB and Twitter.

ABOUT THE BOOK

An isolated village, remote and vulnerable.

A series of brutal murders.

And a vengeful spirit born of tragedy, reawakened after a centuries-old massacre.

Three distinctly different people must come together, racing against time and their own personal demons in a desperate attempt to stop an unstoppable killer and save their town.

Welcome to Paskagankee, Maine. You may not survive the visit.

DISCLAIMER
No items that I receive
are ever sold…they are kept by me,
or given to family and/or friends.

Hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

Author and friend, Melissa Foster, contacted me regarding today’s guest.  She has introduced us to several new and amazing writers.  And today, I have the honor to present and have you meet a very talented and gifted author that she has recommended.  I am presently reading her novel and it is gripping.  Helga will be on tour with her book starting in July with Partners In Crime Tours, when I will be posting my review.  You are getting a sneak peek today with a chance to win her page turning novel.  Please help me give a warm welcome to Ms. Helga Zeiner!

ABOUT HELGA ZEINER and GUEST POST

Allow me to introduce myself to you: I am a bi-lingual Canadian author of German origin. So far I have published five novels in my native German language and only recently my very first English one, Section 132.

At the age of 18, after I had completed my Arts degree inBavaria, I leftGermany. In the following 14 years I have lived and worked inAustraliaandHong Kong. My time in those countries gave me the inspirations for my first five novels.

Since 2004, I live with my husband on a country estate in the wilderness ofBritish Columbia, devoting myself to my life-long passion of writing entertaining, suspenseful novels.

A few years ago, I have more or less accidentally stumbled upon an article in the local newspaper. What I read there was so amazing that, at first, I refused to believe it.

I heard about a polygamous sect tucked away in a remote corner ofCanada, close to the American border and not far from where I live. My research into the topic uncovered a cesspool of unbelievable proportions. Within those sects, it is not unusual to married very young girls to middle-aged or even older men who use them as sex-object. Sister-wives have to suffer the most degrading life-style. Young boys are use as slave-labor for the economic benefit of the sect leaders. And, hard to imagine, even worse.

The deeper I dug into my research, the more horrified I was! How can this happen in our civilized world inAmericaandCanada?

I simply had to transform this material into a novel.

Of course, while the tale I spun out of this material is based on facts, it is still fictional. I have taken many liberties with the plot, have invented protagonists, changed settings, locations, situations and many other details. After all, I write to entertain. I want to take my readers on a journey of the unknown. If, by doing so, I might raise public awareness on some existing facts, so much the better.

I hope you give Section 132 your attention. It is available as ebook on Amazon and Smashwords.
You can visit Helga at her website, Facebook and Twitter @HelgaZeiner.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Lillian is only 13 when her parents marry her to a middle-aged Bishop of a fundamentalist sect who practices polygamy. She is forced to live with her new husband’s many wives and children on his compound tucked away in the Canadian wilderness.

The hardships of poverty and isolation have crushed the will of just about everybody in his flock. They suffer in silent submissiveness, trying to please their despotic leader. He justifies the humiliating treatment of his dependents by citing ‘Section 132 of the Doctrine & Covenants’ of his fundamentalist religion.

Until, one day, Lillian had enough. But it is dangerous to try and escape the Bishop’s iron rule. He practices blood-atonement, which is quietly sanctioned by the ‘Gatekeepers’, an American secret society within the Fundamentalist Mormon Church.

Lillian must find out-side help if she ever wants to leave the Bishop’s compound – but how can she do this if she is locked up without any means of communication?

Lillian doesn’t know how life outside a compound functions. She only knows that she can not live like this much longer. Many questions plaque her troubled mind.

Why do her sister-wives put up with this hardship, knowing only a bleak future lies ahead of them? Where do the child-brides come from, the Bishop keeps adding to his family? Where do some of his daughters disappear to, once they come of age? Lillian’s defiance grows with every injustice she witnesses – until she can’t hide her rebellion any longer.

Her desperate struggle to escape draws the reader into a very dark, very dangerous place.  But not all is hopeless. When land developer Richard Bergman buys the neighboring property, Lillian’s luck seems to be changing …

THANKS TO THE GENEROSITY OF AUTHOR, HELGA
ZEINER, I HAVE TWO (2) EBOOKS TO GIVE AWAY.

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO
THE GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE.

DISCLAIMER
No items that I receive
are ever sold…they are kept by me,
or given to family and/or friends.
ADDENDUM
I do not have any affiliation with Amazon.com,
Barnes & Noble and/or any other retail/wholesale
outlets either online and/or elsewhere.
I am providing this link solely for visitors
that may be interested in purchasing this Book/EBook.
I do not receive any monetary compensation from any parties