Monday 29 September 2014

Second Chance

There are moments in life when you really question what you do. There are times when everything which made perfect sense prior to a sudden wave of doubting somewhat loses its meaning. You spend your time erecting and adhering to moral values and virtues, and like a wind changing its direction, your principles and beliefs are swept away; they crumble, they crash like a house of cards. I consider myself to be at times a morally upright, maybe even righteous kind of guy. I've got one hell of an armour to protect me from outside insanity, but oftentimes I have the feeling that those insane outsiders know where my weak spot is and thrive on jabbing at it. Slowly but surely they gnaw at my armour and the hole leading to the weak spot gets bigger and bigger. I am aware of this hole, but no matter how gaping it may be, I have difficulty in fending off the intruder, and I feel exposed to life's uncertainties and assaults.

Suffering and joy have both taught me well in recent months. Life presented me with challenges, and now, sanity has returned. I stand tall. Although some dark clouds do indeed remain, spread haphazardly in the sky above me, I look at my prospects with renewed hope. Like the phoenix, I too will rise from the fires and ashes, spread my wings, and roar my bravery.

Bringing this down from the clouds and back to the new manuscript, I reckon I'm in an in-between phase. My emotions dart from hot to cold, back to hot again, and so forth. Some days I read what I've written and think I'm just so awesome; other days I wonder what the heck crossed my mind before writing such a pile of crap. Fortunately, I'm an eager and optimistic person, I like to be methodical. I've been through this before with 'Out of Bounds', and I can tell that my writing has improved, generally-speaking of course. I've learnt lessons with my first novel and now I apply my newly-gained knowledge to the second novel. The reason why I'm experiencing these pangs of doubt is that I'm soon going to be sharing my new manuscript. It's a second novel, and so the stakes will be even higher this time. I've been through the process and those who'll give me feedback will, I expect, be more ruthless - well, at least I hope they will be.

I tend to agree with a recent and well-written review of 'Out of Bounds' which exposes quite succinctly what could be considered as my flaws. Basically, my writing could have been improved by a professional edit, with tweaks to an occasionally odd style of dialogue. It was considered that the narrative stopped flowing at times and some bits were a bit clunky. This is constructive feedback I have to take on board, and I'm keeping it in mind as I edit the new manuscript.

The final approximate word count is 115,000. I have a tentative title. I have to finish re-reading it for the umpteenth time, and then I'll submit it for proof-reading before mid-October. Assuming the proof-read takes as long as the proof-read for 'Out of Bounds', I should have collected all the feedback before the turn of the year. This means I'll be seeking representation via literary agents as of January 2015.

Stay tuned, I hope to break more news in the months to come.
Hopefully, this time round I'll be able to better put forward my potential as a writer, brand myself, and take the momentum to a whole new stage.
Stay tuned, this is my second chance.

Friday 26 September 2014

Charity Review Singled Out

My review for Frank Westworth's 'A Last Act of Charity' was selected by Murder, Mayhem, & More as their feature review on the occasion of the book launch, which took place on 25 September 2014.

For those of you who haven't yet heard about the Killing Sisters sensation, here's the review (also available on leading crime & sci-fi book and movie review website MurderMayhem&More)


A Last Act Of Charity: never a dull moment

"A Last Act Of Charity is a truly unique reading experience. The author, Frank Westworth, injects style, pace and energy into a witty, thrilling, and sometimes sickening story. The plot is mainly driven by independent snoop, contract killer, VW van / Harley-Davidson enthusiast, master blues guitarist, frequent drinker and the very pragmatic JJ Stoner. With such a resume, needless to say Stoner is an interesting man and he delivers a brutal and gutsy performance.

Stoner shares wise words of advice after emerging the victor in what was a one-sided coffee shop brawl: “‘His ankle’s broken. It will need setting. His nose is broken. It’ll be fine, but it will be hard to breathe through it for a while. It would be a kindness to take him to a medic, or call for one.’ Silence. Bewilderment. The invincible superiority of youth facing the demonstrable superiority of a single older man.”

The cool, often emotionless Stoner takes you on a roller coaster of a ride right until the very end. And when you think all is over in this murky and very graphic underworld, it’s not: Stoner is set to star again as the blunt but witty anti-hero of two more novels. A Last Act Of Charity is the first book of what is known as the Killing Sister trilogy (he already features in two short stories: First Contract and Two Wrongs – currently available in ebook).

If Stoner isn’t colourful enough for you, then rest assured the remaining cast provides plenty of crazy and unforgettable moments. The characters of this novel are so zany that you might either end up laughing out loud or re-reading segments to make sure that some of the weird and fascinating scenes (sometimes involving strange women and unconventional sexual acts) weren’t figments of your own imagination. Their encounters with Stoner are entertaining, funny, perhaps even tragic, but always interesting. And you are also guaranteed clever and punchy dialogue.

The three sisters and the trail of dead bodies and blood they leave behind was riveting storytelling. Even the more secondary characters fit in well and help the plot in their manner. You have the return of an old army comrade, threatening Stoner on his turf; there’s also Stoner’s unofficial employer, simply known as The Hard Man. Finally you have the women, who have important roles in Stoner’s world and provide their fair share of tongue-in-cheek moments. In a nutshell, you’re never quite sure whether Stoner’s network is composed of friends or enemies, or whether their intentions are of the dubious kind.

Not only does Westworth add depth to his characters, he enjoys weaving in his passion for blues and motorcycles as interludes to the story, albeit maybe a little too much at times if you don’t share such interests. A minor hiccup (although you may not agree with me) in what is otherwise a riveting first novel."


A Last Act Of Charity by Frank Westworth is available in paperback and ebook at bookshops and online.

Monday 15 September 2014

'Out of Bounds' is an interesting read.

'Out of Bounds' was selected for review by Eurocrime this month.

My book was among their September 2014 features, which included:

M J Arlidge's second book featuring Southampton's DI Helen Grace, Pop Goes the Weasel; Bill Daly's Black Mail, the first in the DCI Charlie Anderson series set in Glasgow; Alan Furst's Midnight in Europe set in the late 1930s; Bill Kitson's Buried in the Past, the eighth in the DI Mike Nash series; Austrian author Gabi Kreslehner's Rain Girl; George Mann's Sherlock Holmes - The Spirit Box; Last Kiss by Louise Phillips, the third in the Dr Kate Pearson set in and around Dublin; and Kerry Wilkinson's Crossing the Line, the eighth in the DI Jesica Daniel series set in Manchester.

Heres' the review (also available at http://www.eurocrime.co.uk/reviews/Out_of_Bounds.html)
"Kyle Hunt lives in Charleston, South Carolina with his partner and children. He struggles to survive on his salary as an installer of security systems and cameras and has debts including back rent. When he is contacted on his private telephone number offering him $20,000 for a private installation of equipment at a house after work hours he is very tempted. Little does he know that this is the start of his troubles with the police and some very frightening criminals. A murder at a storage facility leads the police direct to him although he has no knowledge of how or why his name came to be on the files of the facility.

When his family is subsequently threatened, Kyle realises that he must try to get to the bottom of who set him up if he is to make sure that he gets out of the mess that surrounds him. However, his investigations just seem to make the situation worse. He finds himself pursued by a criminal who is quite prepared to kill anyone in his way and the detective in charge of the murder who is convinced that Kyle, although perhaps innocent, still knows more than he is telling.

I found the characterisation interesting: Kyle is a loner and therefore has few friends that he can call on and seems incredibly naive and almost juvenile in his response to his problems. The story includes flash-backs to explain his history of drug dependency and depression and while this does go somewhere to explain his reactions, I didn't find it totally believable. I found most of the other characters rather thinly written – for instance that of his partner, Pilar – she is a very important part in his life who seems to influence a lot of his actions and I wanted to know more about her.

This is a first novel and there is a mixture of writing in the first and the third person. Personally, I find this style of writing rather irritating as, as is the case here, the transitions between scenes written in first person and those in third person jar for the reader and therefore break the flow of action.
OUT OF BOUNDS is an interesting read. There is a lot of description in the book - which at 390 pages is quite long - and this sometimes slows down the action in the story which is actually, at the core, quite fast paced."

Susan White, England
September 2014

Thursday 11 September 2014

A Last Act of Charity: Never a Dull Moment

I am proud to be one of the recipients of an advance copy of the new crime-thriller ‘A Last Act of Charity’ by Frank Westworth. ‘A Last Act of Charity’ will be published on 25th September 2014.

Here’s what R.J. Ellory, award-winning author of ‘A Quiet Belief in Angels’, said about ‘A Last Act of Charity’: “Guns, girls, guitars and scenes of gruesome violence, all shot through with a wit sharp enough to draw blood. With terse and brilliant prose, Westworth delivers a plot that drags you along relentlessly. Loved it, unconditionally.”

Here is my review for ‘A Last Act of Charity’:

A Last Act of Charity: Never a Dull Moment

‘A Last Act of Charity’ is a truly unique reading experience. The author, Frank Westworth, injects style, pace and energy into a witty, thrilling, and sometimes sickening story.
The plot is mainly driven by independent snoop, contract killer, VW van/Harley-Davidson enthusiast, master blues guitarist, frequent drinker, and the very pragmatic JJ Stoner. With such a resume, needless to say Stoner is an interesting man, and delivers a brutal and gutsy performance.

He shares wise words of advice after emerging the victor in what was a one-sided coffee shop brawl: “‘His ankle’s broken. It will need setting. His nose is broken. It’ll be fine, but it will be hard to breathe through it for a while. It would be a kindness to take him to a medic, or call for one.’ Silence. Bewilderment. The invincible superiority of youth facing the demonstrable superiority of a single older man.”

The cool, often emotionless Stoner takes you on a roller coaster of a ride right until the very end. And when you think all is over in this murky and very graphic underworld, it’s not: Stoner is set to star again as the blunt but witty anti-hero of two more novels. ‘A Last Act of Charity’ is the first book of what is known as the Killing Sister trilogy (NB: he already features in two short stories: ‘First Contract’ and ‘Two Wrongs’ – currently available in e-book).

If Stoner isn’t colorful enough for you, then rest assured the remaining cast provides plenty of crazy and unforgettable moments. The characters of this novel are so zany that you might either end up laughing out loud or re-reading segments to make sure that some of the weird and fascinating scenes (sometimes involving strange women and unconventional sexual acts) weren’t figments of your own imagination. Their encounters with Stoner are entertaining, funny, perhaps even tragic, but always interesting. And you are also guaranteed clever and punchy dialogue.

The three sisters and the trail of dead bodies and blood they leave behind was riveting storytelling. Even the more secondary characters fit in well and help the plot in their manner. You have the return of an old army comrade, threatening Stoner on his turf; there’s also Stoner’s unofficial employer, simply known as ‘The Hard Man’. Finally you have the women, who have important roles in Stoner’s world and provide their fair share of tongue-in-cheek moments. In a nutshell, you’re never quite sure whether Stoner’s network is composed of friends or enemies, or whether their intentions are of the dubious kind.

Not only does Westworth add depth to his characters, he enjoys weaving in his passion for blues and motorcycles as interludes to the story, albeit maybe a little too much at times if you don’t share such interests. A minor hiccup (although you may not agree with me) in what is otherwise a riveting first novel.

You can pre-order 'A Last Act of Charity' at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Act-Charity-Frank-Westworth/dp/1909984426/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1410454172&sr=1-1&keywords=a+last+act+of+charity

Monday 1 September 2014

Out of Bounds: 2 New Reviews


By Rowena Hoseason at MurderMayhemandMore

Out Of Bounds: a first novel packed with potential
 
Out Of Bounds is an interesting interpretation of a crime-thriller standard from a new author. Take an ordinary joe, muddle him up in something seriously grim, set the dogs on him and watch the innocent guy try to thrash his way free from an ever-tightening noose, beset by bad guys and the long arm of the law alike.

Give the unwilling hero something to fight for – in this case a loving wife and two young daughters who may pay the ultimate price for his moment of weakness. Take away everyone he can trust and make sure all his workmates, friends and associates could be complicit in the conspiracy. Set a pugnacious but honest and even-handed cop on his trail. Scare him witless with a series of encounters with a seriously tough hombre, an enforcer for a drug cartel, the kinda guy whose knife never takes ‘no’ for an answer and from whom you really shouldn’t ever, never, not even when threatened with redundancy, poverty and domestic strife, accept $20,000 in cash. Then watch the rabbit run and see if he can twist out of the snare…

All this is familiar territory but author Simon Duke introduces some interesting twists to the constantly evolving plot, swapping back and forth between the investigating cop and a first-person perspective of the fall guy who is desperately fighting for everything he holds dear. He turns out to be a tougher character than first appearances suggest. Initially Kyle-the-patsy is a bit of a whiner, complaining about his long hours, and soppily doting on his perfecto familio, harking back to his days in psychotherapy for anxiety attacks as a teenager. As the situation goes from awful to catastrophic, and he endures emotional angst, physical violence and cold-blooded killings at first hand, so Kyle discovers hidden resources, a tougher inner self. There’s a particularly compelling scene where he digs deep to convince himself to man up, to reach for the next threshold, to push himself past his previous limits.

Out Of Bounds is a first novel and it’s self-published. It’s better presented than many similar books but could have been improved by a professional edit, with tweaks to the occasionally odd style of dialogue. There were also a few sections where the narrative stopped flowing and felt somewhat stilted; big chunks of exposition and less-than-snappy dialogue to wade through. The female characters don’t do too well, either: the woman-under-threat felt like a plot device more than a person and was wonderfully good at stupidly putting herself and her kids at risk. She also switched from shrill squawking to devoted loving in a single sentence: from yelling to smooching in an instant. She, and a couple of the DEA / FBI guys, felt like characters straight from central casting.

However, if you can cope with an occasional clunky moment then you’ll be rewarded with several deft plot twists (especially on the ‘who can you trust?’ theme), and a truly wince-inducing finale where the author really puts poor old Kyle through the wringer. The ending was all the more rewarding for being unexpected – and pretty brave – in its outcome.

Simon Duke has real potential as a writer: this is a neat plot packed with ongoing action and a strong narrative thread. Out Of Bounds gives us glimmers of what the author can do: f’rinstance, on a midnight drive, the hero starts seeing the tail-lights of cars on the freeway as the red, glaring eyes of the demons that beset him. Powerful stuff. Hopefully Duke will develop more of this kind of style in his next novel.

7/10

Reviewed by Rowena Hoseason

Source:

http://murdermayhemandmore.wordpress.com/2014/09/01/out-of-bounds-a-first-novel-packed-with-potential/

**

By Louise Hunter at Crime Book Club

Out of Bounds by Simon Duke - Review

Book Blerb – Framed for murder and trapped in a conspiracy set in motion by a narcotics trafficking network, a cash-strapped man soon regrets accepting an easy and well-paid job. It was simply too good to be true. Kyle Hunt, an over-anxious thirty-three-year-old security equipment installer, living in Charleston, South Carolina, with his girlfriend Pilar Tellez and their two daughters, is having difficulty making ends meet. When local businessman Hector Ramirez and his tough associate Ray Dupree call on him for an off-the-record installation of a surveillance system and offer twenty thousand dollars in compensation, Hunt recklessly carries out the task. In the process he inadvertently sees private information, which ultimately backfires on him as a cargo facility is soon after robbed and a homicide is committed. Relentlessly looking for the killer of the cargo facility employee, veteran homicide detective Jacob Bornholm has earmarked Hunt as his prime suspect. And, to make matters worse, Dupree also reckons Hunt is responsible for the heist.

Review – I really enjoyed ‘Out Of Bounds’, a normal sort of guy gets mixed up in a felonious underworld. I love is fast pace and detailed plot.

It is a book you will want to read in one go!

When Kyle Hunt needs some money he accepts a job from a local businessman, he regrets this when everything starts to fall apart around him and his family are in danger. When Kyle is set up to take the fall for murder and is also in the frame for other crimes he needs to start his own enquiry.
The many different characters are well written and make ‘Out Of Bounds’ an exciting read, from the cop that has to cross the line to the many members of the underworld.

Overall score: 4 out of 5

Source:
http://www.crimebookclub.co.uk/review/out-of-bounds-by-simon-duke-review/