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Leaving Fantasy Land (Tram Taylor #1)

4.6 of 5 stars 4.60 · rating details · 5 ratings · 2 reviews

Milwaukee comic book store owner, Tram Taylor, is rattled to his core when a mysterious dead body suddenly turns up in the dumpster behind his store, Fantasy Land. In a weekend that could not possibly get any worse, his wife is violently kidnapped and held for ransom. Tram Taylor is left reeling in the aftermath as he wrestles with helping the MPD or striking out on his ow...more

Kindle Edition, 186 pages

Published March 29th 2012 by James E. Parker

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Jun 19, 2012 Laurie Carlson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-suspense-thriller, crime, kidnapping, wife-and-children, comic-book-store, flash-drive, who-do-you-trust, indie-author, white-knuckle-read, question-of-death, guns, threats, ebay-sales, police-academy, dui, police-officer, family, ransom-request

I LOVED reading this book! The writing, for one, was PERFECT! There was not '1' error whatsoever that I came across! The editing was professionally done to a "T"! The story was very SO suspenseful! It is truly a white-knuckle read! A GREAT Mystery/Suspense/Thriller/Crime novel! One of the BEST I have read in a LONG time! In my honest opinion, you do not 'need to like this genre in order to enjoy this book.' This is one of those books that engages you from the start, until the very end!
Tram Tayl...more I LOVED reading this book! The writing, for one, was PERFECT! There was not '1' error whatsoever that I came across! The editing was professionally done to a "T"! The story was very SO suspenseful! It is truly a white-knuckle read! A GREAT Mystery/Suspense/Thriller/Crime novel! One of the BEST I have read in a LONG time! In my honest opinion, you do not 'need to like this genre in order to enjoy this book.' This is one of those books that engages you from the start, until the very end!
Tram Taylor is married and has a couple of children. His wife works full-time, and Tram owns a comic book store called Fantasy Land, which is quite prolific. He has a huge business going on here, including great success on Ebay.
Tram goes into work one day, and finds his store has been turned over. What is going on? Not only does he find his store like this, but he has to go outside to the garbage dumpster and he finds a dead body in it! What is going on?
Tram calls the police, but says nothing about the dead body. For some reason he feels he has to keep this part of what he found quiet for now. Later we find out why he has a gut feeling about this dead body.
The Police start inquiring about items that were brought into his store the day before and traded. The next thing Tram knows is his store is being searched in every nook and cranny by the police, as well. The police are looking for something that they don't even know what it is they are looking for. They feel that something that was traded in his store the day before must have something inside of it. Tram is questioned relentlessly.
The police include Tram's computer in their search as well. It is his ebay account, in particular, to be exact that they are focusing on. The police inform him someone has been trading in his account other than the person he has given permission to. Is the guy who has the permission to handle the ebay account guilty of what is going on? Can he be trusted? What exactly is going on? What are the police looking for? The police don't even know exactly what they are looking for. Something BIG is going on, and no one knows exactly what it is. Meanwhile, Tram is still keeping quiet about the dead body in the dumpster. This is the last thing he needs the police to find out about. Tram feels if the police find out about this, they just might think he has something to do with all of this.
A couple of Detectives are assigned to Tram to help him and the whole case. According to them a man by the name of Don Johnson, who happens to be an officer on the force, is being accused of being a part of what has happened to Tram's store and what is going on. They find out something about someone bringing in something to trade that has something in it which is VERY valuable. Doesn't this sound confusing? It is! What could this possibly be? What is this something the police are looking for?
Tram questioned relentlessly. He keeps trying to make heads and tales about what is happening. Tram then figures out he is being followed and watched. Okay. He knows how this works. He had once attended and graduated from the Police Academy. What stopped him from becoming an Officer of the Law was a DUI he received shortly after graduating the Police Academy. He figured that ruined his entire chance of ever becoming a police officer. With a DUI, it ruined any and all of his hopes and dreams of ever becoming a Police Officer.
The next thing he learns is his WIFE has been taken HOSTAGE by these people, and she is being held for ransom in exchange for this 'thing' everyone is looking for. These must be the same people who had broken into his store who has now taken his wife hostage. Now Tram is worried about his children. He is right to worry about them because the next thing he knows is the place he has hidden his children at has been found out by these people who took his wife. They let Tram know they know where his children are.
Tram finds out something about a Flashcard? They have accused Tram of having this Flashcard, and they want it back. They are serious in their threats about killing his wife, and they even record a video of her last words, so they claim, and they do something to her to make him convinced she is dead.
Tram no longer knows who to trust, especially when he ends up in a high speed chase by Don Johnson, the accused. What is going on?
This story is so full of action and suspense. We never know what is going to happen next. Just like Tram, we don't know who to trust, who is the good guy, who are the bad guys. Now his children's lives are threatened. Tram doesn't know what to do.
Tram falls back on his training from the Police Academy to help him with this case, and to help him stay sane knowing his wife is most certainly dead, and he watched these people kill her. What about his children? Are they safe?
A high speed chase happens and it is Don Johnson behind the wheel. Tram loses and Don takes TRAM hostage.
What I have told you about this story is only a small fraction of what this book is all about! The really neat part about this book is to watch this character go from running his dream store, to bringing back and using what he learned in the Police Academy. It was neat to watch this character grow as the story went on.
The rest of this story I am going to leave for you to read about! The suspense, the action, the mystery, ALL of this continues on. Your white knuckles stay white, and you may even chew a few nails off while reading this!
What happens, how does this end? Is his wife really dead like the kidnappers made him watch on video? What about his children? Are they safe? Does Tram get away from Don Johnson? Does Tram solve this case? It's up to YOU to read this book to find out! I can tell you the action, suspense, mystery, the thrilling ride of this story does not dull at all. It continues on!
The writing is darn near perfection, and I'm NOT just saying this!
I HIGHLY recommend this book! I would put this book up against any other Best Selling book in this genre and I feel it is even BETTER than some of the Best Sellers I have read. This is my HONEST opinion. Hands down, James E. Parker can write! There is a sequel to this book coming, too! I'm excitedly waiting for it! Perhaps this story does NOT END? You've GOT to read this book!

This was a book I chose to read on my own. I happened to be on Twitter one day, and they suggest people to follow. I sent out some messages to these new people I started to follow, and I gave my contact info and said I was open to reviewing any of their books! Guess who replied? YES! This is how I met Independent Author, James E. Parker!
After I started talking to Jim and hearing what he had to say about this book, I did not wait for him to offer me a copy of this book to read! I decided to go and purchase this book from Amazon and read it for myself! As I have already said, this book does NOT disappoint! This IS a MUST-READ book!
And now, a sequel! It can't get any better! HOORAY, for Jim! EXCELLENT WRITING!(less)

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Jun 15, 2012 Paul Roberts rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is the reason self publishing works for the avid reader of Thriller and Suspense fiction. Leaving Fantasy Land is a real page turner and as the Author once said to me, "I am a real Harry Bosch fan" and it shows.

Leaving Fantasy Land is an excellent story and well written, from the imagination of someone who knows and loves the genre.

Read this book, not because I am telling you it is a good book to read but because it IS a good book.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007...

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Apr 08, 2013 Deborah marked it as general-library

Apr 06, 2013 Sheila marked it as to-read

Shelves: kindle

Mar 29, 2013 Hw Price is currently reading it

Dec 16, 2012 Ivy marked it as to-read

Nov 15, 2012 D.G. Torrens marked it as to-read

Nov 06, 2012 Jen marked it as to-read

Nov 01, 2012 Teresa marked it as to-read

Nov 07, 2012 Tommy Howell is currently reading it

Sep 13, 2012 Kimberly added it

Sep 07, 2012 Grampy marked it as to-read

Aug 12, 2012 Patti added it

Shelves: fiction, kindle

Dec 08, 2012 Lee added it

Jul 18, 2012 Sandy Wolters marked it as to-read

Jul 18, 2012 Andrew marked it as to-read

Jul 18, 2012 Carrie Penney marked it as to-read

Shelves: freebie

Jul 18, 2012 Katy marked it as to-read

Shelves: ebook

May 23, 2012 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars

May 15, 2012 James E. Parker rated it 5 of 5 stars

May 15, 2012 Joni rated it 5 of 5 stars

Apr 26, 2012 David Prosser marked it as to-read

Apr 26, 2012 C.R. Hiatt added it

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Leaving Fantasy Land (Tram Taylor #1)

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