The White Rat (2024)
The White Rat is a psychological Thriller about a sociological experiment in a small town. Louisa Torres has been here since the beginning. When Sherriff Watkins and Doctor Baer disappear, she knows it is time to get out. Agent Winslow arrives with a team of FBI agents assigned to find the doctor. The task proves more difficult than anyone expected. Nothing is as it seems and this little nothing town is more dangerous than any place Agent Winslow has ever been. Soon Winslow is less worried about finding the doctor than he is about getting home to his wife alive.
From CJ: This book is more of a traditional mystery than much of my other work.
Victory Lodge (2022)
This psychological thriller is set at a secluded hunting lodge. New owner Victoria Meadows has trouble with the locals as soon as she moves in. Victoria’s guests bring culture to the mountains that far exceeds their hunting and fishing skills. She looks down on neighbors she regards as hillbillies and the more they learn about Victoria, the less they like her. She begins a romance with the sheriff, but even he can’t explain the strange happenings at the lodge. Someone is tormenting Victoria and when the sheriff fails to solve her dilemma, she turns to an overweight, graying carpenter with mediocre carpentry skills and even worse manners.
From CJ: This intense story will make you squirm. If you have trouble with a woman as a villain, this book might not be for you. This is the ideal gift for any guy who has gone through a rough divorce.
The End of Marking Time
This Psychological Thriller takes place after the Supreme Court rules that putting felons in prison is unconstitutional. Chaos reigns all over the United States and the authorities need to find a way to restore order. This book was written in 2009 and in 2024, we see some of the problems I imagined in this book as big cities release criminals without bail. Jails are replaced with a reeducation program and counselors that seem innocuous. There seem to be no penalties for anything, but the reeducation counselors have an uncanny way of knowing everything that relearners do.
This book will have you cheering for someone you know you should despise.
From CJ: While everything in this book is technologically possible, enjoying this one requires an open mind.
The Cat Bagger’s Apprentice (sequel to The End of Marking Time)
Computer hacker, Jordan Voss is caught breaking into a sensitive government database and is arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced all in one day. Such is the criminal justice system in America after reeducation takes control, but this time Wendell Cummings has a challenge on his hands. Jordan received his PhD. at 15 years old, so when his reeducation team tries psychological tricks on him, they always end up one step behind. Jordan runs amok and soon his antics have caught the attention of those in the highest levels of government. Things spin out of control until Jordan’s life is on the line as Wendell Cummings tries to salvage what’s left of his reputation.
From CJ: While everything in this book is technologically possible, enjoying this one requires an open mind.
The Winemaker’s Son
When his knee shatters on the playing field, Charlie Marston is plunged into turmoil. The fallen college superstar joins the family winemaking business, but working alongside his parents is not the future he had planned. He finds a new friend named Randy Black. Randy is part stunt-pilot, part Casanova, and part drunken Pied Piper. Randy introduces Charlie to Deirdre Deudon, the provocative wife of a French farmer. They come together in an ill-conceived stunt that explodes into consequences that chase Charlie and Randy back home to Massachusetts and change Deirdre’s life forever. The after-effects of this tragic mistake bind the three of them together and threaten everything they hold dear.
From CJ: This book is intense. It features an unconventional sex scene and graphic violence.
From a Reviewer “…the book was spellbinding. The plotting is brilliant, and Randy is an exquisite character, an evil genius for the modern age. –Debra Hamel”
One More Degree
Felix Lacroix moves a clamshell on the beach. An hour later, a rowdy jock runs over it, slices his foot, and misses his chance to meet a beautiful girl he’d been flirting with. The girl blames fate when the boy is carted away, because Felix’s manipulation is so crafty, she has no way of knowing he was responsible. For decades Felix uses his intelligence to shape the world to his liking. His meddling is so subtle no one ever understands his true intentions. He appears to be in complete control, but things begin to unravel as the summer solstice approaches. His most ambitious plan is at risk and as time runs down, he realizes he has woefully underestimated his most stubborn rival. Only hours remain for Felix to set things right, but the task is staggering even for a man who appears to hold the world in his hand.
From CJ: This book follows four supernatural beings who manipulate life on earth and have very different ideas about how events should play out.
Dinner at Deadman’s
Lorado Martin has loved junk since his grandparents took him bottle digging in the backwoods of New England when he was a boy. The search for antiques and collectibles led him to a unique hobby: digging through the estates of the newly deceased, arranging the sale of goods for the heirs, and keeping the leftovers for himself. To make a living he builds and maintains housing for recovering addicts and along the way he’s employed a number of his clients. The men wrestle with the siren call of drugs and teach Lorado about the difficult struggle to stay clean one day at a time. When these two worlds come together, Lorado learns that not every elderly person dies of natural causes and that some estates are sold to benefit a killer. His latest project hits close to home. A woman he’s known since childhood haunts him from a fresh grave. Her grandson, an affable addict who has fallen off the wagon, stands to inherit a considerable sum whether he deserves it or not.
From CJ: This book is a traditional mystery.
Fun Facts: The cover is CJ’s brother with treasure he has collected from estates, shot in his parent’s house. The term Deadman’s is Lorado’s affectionate term for items that come from the estate of someone who has passed.
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Addicted To Love
Wes Holiday sells his landscaping business and retreats to a quaint mountain town to heal after ending a ten year relationship with a woman he couldn’t bring himself to marry. In three weeks he is so captivated by a hair stylist that he deprives himself of food and sleep to be near her. When the local sheriff is murdered, Wes is recruited to keep the peace in the town his parents built, but he knows nothing about law enforcement and he’s struggling to understand how a woman he just met can dominate his every waking thought. Soon the idyllic town with a penchant for romance is rocked by a bizarre series of murders that defy explanation and it is up to Wes to stop a raging epidemic of violence.
From CJ: I tried to capture the feeling of being madly in love. Everyone in this town is madly in love to the point of distraction. My fiance reminds me often that this is one of those times I went a little too far outside the box.
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