Book Extract: Deadly Odds 9.0 By Allen Wyler
I am very excited to be welcoming Allen Wyler to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for his book, Deadly Odds 9.0.
Not every threat begins with violence. Sometimes it starts with quiet observation, careful planning, and the knowledge that someone has been studying every move. Deadly Odds 9.0 by Allen Wyler follows a cyber-detective whose greatest challenge may be protecting the people he never wanted caught in the middle.
Arnold Gold has learned to trust his instincts, and they warn him that something is wrong before any evidence appears. As he spends time with Kara Winston, a trusted ally who has become far more than a professional colleague, a dangerous adversary begins putting a calculated plan into motion. Rashidi watches, waits, and searches for the vulnerabilities that will cause the greatest damage, transforming Arnold’s loved ones into potential targets.
The danger escalates when Arnold discovers someone has attempted to kill his dog, Chance, confirming that the threat has become deeply personal. At the same time, growing conflict within Gold, Patel, and Associates weakens the support system Arnold has relied upon. With the help of SAM, his advanced artificial intelligence network, Arnold faces an increasingly complex battle against cyber threats, hidden enemies, and a relentless opponent determined to stay one step ahead.
Allen has shared an extract with us today. We hope you enjoy it.
(Warning: mild language.)
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CHAPTER 1—Seattle
Prickly spider tarsi skittered up Arnold Gold’s spine, causing his shoulders to scrunch together as the hair on the back of his neck became erect. Stopping in mid-sentence, he glanced over his left shoulder—as if he intuitively knew that was the only possible reason for such a strong sensation—but he only saw other diners and the familiar maître’d. Suddenly his eyes locked onto a darker skinned male hurrying toward the front door, the image triggering a sense of foreboding familiarity.
I know him.
Arnold stared at the space the man vacated as the visceral sense of danger subsided. Why did the fleeting image vise-grip his attention with a déjà vu familiarity and instinctive animal fear?
Did he know that person?
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Book Extract: Body Language By Brian Fitzgerald
I’m happy to be welcoming Brian Fitzgerald to Novel Kicks as we shine a light on his book, Body Language.
When Alan Wright learns his ex-wife Andrea leapt to her death only hours after getting remarried to a man he hates, he’s heartbroken. When he receives a package in the mail two days after her death, filled with the documents she’d used to plan that wedding, he’s hurt and angry. And when he learns that Andrea’s bizarre last wishes require him to spread her ashes over a lake outside a small village in Africa, he’s beyond resentful. But love, loyalty and the uncanny power of human connection win out, sending Wright back into the volatile stew of hope and cynicism that is aid work in the poorest parts of the world. In the teeming city of Kinshasa and the remote villages of the Congo he not only rediscovers his love for Andrea, he comes to understand that buried in the strange details of the wedding itself were subtle clues she’d left for him. Those clues point him to a plan to unleash genetic engineering in a way so reckless that its failure could mean the end of all human life, while its success could leave the fundamental definition of humanity in the hands of small team of scientists and the government that supported them.
Body Language travels with breakneck speed from the glittering research labs of Cambridge Massachusetts to the darkest corners of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It’s a story of the modern power of science, money and greed pitted against the eternal strength of human connection, love and altruism, reaching across the boundaries of death itself.
Brian has shared an extract with us today. We hope you enjoy.
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One
Andrea uncrossed her long legs. The skin below her short dress was tanned from years in the African sun. On one calf a series of thin white scars showed where the inevitable wounds from jungle life had been left to heal undressed. She crossed her legs the opposite way and drummed her fingers on the soft arm of the plush white leather couch. The bald man sitting on the identical couch opposite her ignored these shows of impatience. He kept his gaze lowered to the glass coffee table between them, intent on his work. Andrea watched the reflection of the ceiling lights ripple unevenly across his shaved scalp as he turned his head back and forth, scanning the pile of documents laid out on the table. From time to time, he’d hold a page to the light in his thick, crooked fingers. He seemed to be looking for faint markings or perhaps for some sort of invisible ink. This amused Andrea in some small way. She knew it was all for show. His cryptography expert had already told him the documents were free from any codes or cyphers. Some of the pages he inspected were printouts from a computer, and some were handwritten in Andrea’s hasty, childlike penmanship.
by Book Extract: House of Thieves By Rachel Walkley
Please join me in welcoming Rachel Walkley to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her book, House of Thieves.
At Terrington Hall, objects are treasured while people are forgotten.
Chief conservator Amy is restoring the Hurly family’s guilt-stained hoard when a theft forces her to hire Harrison, a security adviser on a personal quest to uncover his own history.
Unknown to anyone, an invisible presence woven into the fabric of the house watches their every move.
When Harrison uncovers a room sealed for decades, the investigation shifts from simple theft to the resurrection of murderous secrets. In a house where the past is too heavy to escape, the dead don’t need bodies to tell their stories — they just need someone to listen.
One house. Two mysteries. Two centuries apart.
Rachel has shared an extract with us. We hope you enjoy.
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Terrington Hall, for centuries, was home to the Hurly family until it was handed over to a charitable organisation and opened to the public for viewing. Unknown to Amy, the head of conservation and new member of staff, there is an invisible presence who continues to exist at Terrington Hall. This solitary inhabitant, waiting in the shadows, sets the scene…
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Since Amy’s arrival at Terrington Hall, I often stay by her, move with her, as close as possible, as if I walk her steps, breathe the air she breathes and can see what is in front of her. But I don’t feel her thoughts or touch what she does. My hopes for salvation are fuelled by her curiosity, her diligence, especially if she discovers the truth behind the thieves that once lived at Terrington.
I’ve always relied on others for companionship, to breach the loneliness of my incorporeal existence. My chief occupation is listening to their conversations. They have been generous in keeping me abreast of the changes both in and outside the house. They read newspapers and magazines, speak of things and events that are difficult for me to comprehend until one explains something complex to another in a simple manner, as if to a child.
by Book Extract: The Novel Detective By Teresa Dovalpage
Please join me as we welcome Teresa Dovalpage to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her book, The Novel Detective.
A metafictional mystery set in Cuba past and present about a writer returning to her long-lost hometown, seeking the truth about two suspicious deaths
2020: Teresa, a Cuban-born mystery writer now living in America, gets an unexpected call from her childhood best friend, Estrella, inviting her to Havana. Estrella is determined to get answers about a case that has haunted them both for decades: the purported murder-suicide of a teacher and a student at their high school. Though Teresa doesn’t quite understand why Estrella is taking the story so personally, she’s along for the ride—as she always wanted to write a novel about this case.
1980: Fourteen-year-old Teresita, bespectacled, awkward and mystery novel–obsessed, is “nosy, but not a tattletale.” She knows who’s been skimming off the top of the amphetamine stash in her mother’s pharmacy, which teacher keeps cyanide in his cabinet at school and that their classmate Yoyi is sleeping with their English teacher. Over the course of one fateful day, Teresita gets closer than ever to learning the “Truth of Life”—her catchall term for the intricacies of adult existence—even if it means coming face to face with death.
Directly inspired by the author’s own childhood in Cuba and adult life in the United States, drawing upon the tradition of Latin American magical realism, this is a resonant tale at once personal and universal, full of nostalgia, candor and danger.
Teresa has shared an extract with us today. We hope you enjoy.
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Step back into February 1980, Havana. The air is cool, the Beatles are forbidden, and shenanigans are brewing in a middle school housed inside a decaying building that happens to have its own ghost. Teresita, a ninth-grade student, practices the surveillance techniques she learned from the TV shows and Agatha Christie’s novels. Little did she know, these early lessons would be the very tools she’d need decades later to solve a crime.
* * *
It was a cool February afternoon. Around two-thirty, Teresita was in her favorite spot in the pharmacy, the storage area, reading Death on the Nile. She had finished school earlier that day. The last class period had been English, where the teacher, Felipe, had made rowdy jokes, laughed and danced Mozambique steps in the middle of the classroom, to the students’ delight. Fun! Why couldn’t all classes be like that? Technical drawing, for example . . .
by Book Extract: Perfect Moments at Duck Pond Cottage By Della Galton
It’s wonderful to be welcoming Della Galton to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her latest book, Perfect Moments at Duck Pond Cottage.
When two best friends decide to share their wedding day, what could possibly go wrong?
Jade is over the moon to be tying the knot alongside her best friend, Sarah, at the stunning Bluebell Cliff Hotel in Dorset—a venue where no detail is too small and no expense is spared in the pursuit of perfection.
But as the big day draws closer, so do the complications.
A long-lost relative, a troublesome brother, and some wildly unexpected animal antics all threaten to derail the brides’ dream celebrations.
With emotions running high and chaos around every corner, their perfect day begins to unravel.
Can love and friendship hold everything together when it matters most?
I want to say happy publication day to Della. She has shared an extract with us today. We hope you enjoy.
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It’s not just the humans who fall in love at Duck Pond Cottage Animal Rescue. Very often the animals get their Happy Ever After too. This is an extract showing what happens when a rescued parrot finds his forever home. Jade shows her best friend Sarah a message she’s just received from Malcolm Williams who’s rehomed Mr Spock, the parrot.
Jade saw she had a message from Malcolm Williams.
Please see attached the avian version of Love Story.
‘Ooooh, Sarah, look at this.’ Jade took her phone across the kitchen and then pressed play so they could watch the video together.
by Book Club
