B.D. Lawrence's Blog, page 16

January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month

January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month as well as Human Trafficking Awareness Month.

According to Hope for Justice, there are 4.8 million people in forced sexual exploitation, including 1 million children.

The Exodus Road reports over 400,000 of those trafficked are in the U.S. They also report that 71% of trafficking victims are female. While 72% of the traffickers are male. Another interesting statistic they report is that the average price for a slave in the 19th century was $40,000. Today, a slave can be purchased for $90.

According to Rescue America, sex trafficking is one of the top three criminal industries in the world, generating $150 billion of annual illegal profits worldwide. Their research shows that there are more sex trafficking points of sale than there are Starbucks in America.

Here are some organizations you can support that are fighting against this awful and evil set of crimes.

Hope for Justice: https://hopeforjustice.org/ – Mission is to End slavery. Change lives.

 El Pozo De Vida – https://www.elpozodevida.org.mx/ – Fighting to eradicate human trafficking in Mexico and Central America.

Stop Human Trafficking – http://www.stoptraffickingmo-il.org/ – Easter Missouri and Southern Illinois Network.

Phoenix Dream Center – https://phoenixdreamcenter.org/ – Stopping human trafficking. Ending childhood hunger. Educating tomorrow’s leaders.

The Exodus Road – https://theexodusroad.com/ – They strategically and holistically fight human trafficking through prevention, intervention, and aftercare work around the globe.

Operation Underground Railroad – https://ourrescue.org/ – They exist to rescue children from sex trafficking and sexual exploitation.

Tim Tebow Foundation – Anti-Human Trafficking – https://www.timtebowfoundation.org/ministries/anti-human-trafficking

Rescue America – https://rescueamerica.ngo/ – They exist to rescue, revive, and empower the sexually exploited.

There are many more. National ones as well as local ones. If you’re looking for something closer to home, search the internet for human trafficking organizations in [your city/town here].

Human trafficking is a problem everywhere! Please support the fight against this scourge on our world.

The post January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month first appeared on B.D. Lawrence.

Review of Drift by L.T. Ryan and Brian Shea

Drift by L.T. Ryan and Brian Shea

This book is currently number one on Amazom.com in the categories of Hardboiled Mystery and Vigilante and justice thriller. It’s been out a couple years, which says something about the popularity of this author and this book. And this book certainly hits both justice and vengeance. Not much redemption going on here.

This is book one in the Rachel Hatch series. Rachel is an ex-army criminal investigator, now out of the army and drifting around, unsure what she wants to do. This may sound familiar to Jack Reacher fans. The story and the character are not new ideas, for sure.

Rachel’s sister is found dead, supposedly of an overdose. However, Rachel isn’t convinced she died that way. She thinks her sister was murdered. Okay, a little spoiler. Her sister was murdered. Rachel is intent on finding the killer and exacting revenge, or at least justice.

The backdrop of the story is a small town owned by a large corporation that is supposedly doing good but may actually be doing bad. Again, sound familiar? Think Superman and Lois or Smallville or if you’ve seen the Netflix series, Ragnorak. All the same story, just no one with superpowers battling the large corporation. Again, not original.

Maybe this type of character and this story resonate with readers. They must as this book has sold a lot. For the most part it’s a well written book. It has its share of suspense, action, and some good characters. The new sheriff in the small town of Hawk’s Landing is an ex-homicide detective from Denver named Dalton Savage. Now, how can a character named Dalton Savage be anything but interesting? To be honest, he’s a more multi-dimensional and likable character than Rachel. She, however, is the one the series is about.

The book has some profanity. No f-bombs. No explicit sex. Of course, there’s violence, but nothing over the top. Rachel is a hardboiled character. She’s tough, closed off, and has a checkered past. All staples of the genre, and all characteristics of Jack Reacher. Overall, a good read, but not good enough to be ranked any higher in my list than number five.

Rankings for the year:

The Water Keeper – continues to stay strong.Save the GirlsChoose MeI See YouDriftThe Suriname JobPoisonedMissing Sister

Commission earned

The post Review of Drift by L.T. Ryan and Brian Shea first appeared on B.D. Lawrence.

Merry Christmas from Lefty’s world

Lefty Bruder: “Hey, I hope you all have a better Christmas than my last one.”

Lieutenant Pratt: Merry Christmas to you and your family. May God bless your time together. Remember, ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).’

Holly Day, Candy Kane, and Mahogany Delight: “Fathers, hug your daughters and tell them you love them. Keep them safe.”

Big Eddie: “Ha, ha, Merry Christmas, little man!”

If you wonder who these characters are, check out “A Vigilante and a Two-Armed Man: The Lefty Bruder Origin Story”. And if you’re looking for a new Christmas story, try, “The Finger Snatcher and the One-Armed Man: Lefty Bruder’s First Private Detective Case”.

Finally, Lefty says, “Soon, I’ll be looking for an angel in the gateway city. I hope you’ll join me.” “An Angel and a One Armed Man: A Lefty Bruder Private Detective Novel”.

The post Merry Christmas from Lefty’s world first appeared on B.D. Lawrence.

Review of Poisoned by Patricia Hartman

Poisoned by Patricia Hartman

This suspense novel is about justice and has a little redemption in it. One of the minor characters takes a turn for good and the main character draws closer to God. It’s a Christian suspense novel, so the content is clean. No profanity, no overt sex and most violence is off page. There is at least one shooting scene that goes into a little bit of graphic detail.

The story is about Dr. Julie Wheeler, a veterinarian who lives and practices in a small West Virginia town. Dr. Wheeler has a very bad day. Most of this 421 page book is one twenty-four-hour period. Her husband is the prosecuting attorney, and he has disappeared. Dr. Wheeler cannot get ahold of him. Strange things start to happen. A dog is dropped off who has been poisoned and the owner rushes out and never calls back to find out how the dog is. Dr. Wheeler is followed by one of the deputies in town, one she doesn’t know and doesn’t recall her husband ever mentioning. She starts hearing rumors about her husband and his gorgeous assistant. Things continue to escalate throughout the day reaching a life and death climax.

I don’t want to give away any more of the story. It’s a story with several good twists. Much of the story is from Dr. Wheeler’s point of view. In my opinion, the entire story should have been from her point of view. It would have set up a situation of an unreliable narrator. As the story is told from some other points of view, the reader knows more about what is going on than the main character. This takes away from the suspense.

There are two other issues I have with the book. First, it’s 421 pages long. That is about one-hundred pages too long for a suspense novel by a new fiction author. And for this story, it’s definitely at least one-hundred pages too long, no matter who wrote it. We get a lot of replays of Dr. Wheeler’s inner thoughts, the same ones. She obsesses over the rumors that her husband was having an affair with one of his assistants. This alone is fine, but we see this obsession over and over.

The second issue is the book suffers from a lack of copy editing. There were a lot of grammatical errors as well as a couple story errors.

Other than the two issues, the story kept me wanting to read, to find out how Dr. Wheeler was going to get out of her predicament. And it’s a doozy of a predicament.

I appreciated the Christianity worked in. Several of the supporting characters are Christians. Dr. Wheeler is not, so gives some interesting perspectives on prayer and Christian friendship.

This is book one in a series. The second book will focus on Dr. Wheeler’s dysfunctional sister, according to the preview.

Rankings for the year:

The Water Keeper – continues to stay strong.Save the GirlsChoose MeI See YouThe Suriname JobPoisonedMissing Sister

Commission earned

The post Review of Poisoned by Patricia Hartman first appeared on B.D. Lawrence.

The Finger Snatcher and a One-Armed Man

The Finger Snatcher and a One-Armed Man

A Lefty Bruder Private Detective Story

Holly Day, a long-time prostitute, was murdered and her index finger was taken by the killer. Another victim of the Finger Snatcher? This serial killer is running amok in St. Louis, killing prostitutes and taking a finger souvenir.

Having recently lost his right arm on a case with the St. Louis County Police, George Bruder, not yet known to his friends as Lefty, is mourning the loss of his arm, his job, his wife, and Holly, in that order. Holly Day was a close friend of his since they were children. But what can a one-armed ex-cop do to find the killer?

Bruder’s Lieutenant, Seymour Pratt, thinks the one-armed man can do a lot. For Christmas he gives Bruder a Missouri PI license and kicks his former detective into gear.

George Bruder uses his contacts in the St. Louis sex trade to try to track down the killer of his friend. But was Holly killed by the Finger Snatcher? Or was it something more personal?When you read this story, post comments here about what you liked and didn’t like.

And coming in January will be the first Lefty Bruder private detective novel.

I hope to hear from you.

 

Read the Story

The post The Finger Snatcher and a One-Armed Man first appeared on B.D. Lawrence.

The Marksman – a review

The Marksman – Directed by Robert Lorenz

My first movie review. The Marksman stars Liam Neeson, hence the reason I watched it. I’m a big Liam Neeson fan, especially when he plays a tough guy – like The Taken series. Love those. In this movie Neeson plays Jim Hanson, an ex-Marine. Sounds good so far, right? And obviously, he was a sharpshooter for the Marines. Jim Hanson is also financially broke, his wife died of cancer in the last couple years, and he’s about to lose his ranch in southern Arizona, near the Mexico border.

A woman, Rosa, and her child, Miguel, are fleeing Mexico because Rosa’s brother has stolen a bunch of money from the Cartel. Not real a smart thing to do. And even less smart, Rosa has the money with her. They come through a hole in the fence onto Jim’s land and he just happens to be driving by that spot and has to stop fast so that he doesn’t run over the kid. The Cartel patrols that area of the Mexico side and of course, they see Rosa and Miguel running for the fence. Mom and son make it through the hole and plead with Jim to help them.

Along comes the Cartel boys. Three of them. They ask Jim politely to hand over Rosa and Miguel. But the politeness only lasts for that one request. Jim refuses. Some back and forth banter. Gun battle ensues. Jim kills one of the Cartel boys, who happens to be the brother of the head enforcer. Stray bullets kill Rosa. Before dying she tells Jim she wants him to deliver Miguel to Chicago, where they have family. Jim is reluctant. But finally decides to do so.

Great set up. Cartel pursues Jim. Many sticky situations. The movie is worth the watch if you’re bored and can’t find any other Liam Neeson movies to watch.

For me, I found Neeson’s character to be not the brightest Marine in the platoon. He knows the Cartel is after him. He has a bag full of Cartel money. And at the first gas station he pays with a credit card. Doh! He’s pulled over by a cop on the payroll of the Cartel. I won’t describe what happens, but suffice it to say, Jim and Miguel get away. However…remember, he has a bag full of Cartel cash. He continues on in the same truck! Come on, Jim. Use some of that cash to buy another car. Even after he finds out the car has a hole in the radiator, he gets it patched up instead of buying another car.

One more use of the credit card and he finally wises up on that front.

Last faux pas. Our ex-Marine on the run from the Cartel drives straight into Chicago via an interstate. Of course, there are people looking out for him.

The ending is a bit depressing. I won’t tell you what it is, but will give one spoiler. Okay, maybe not such a spoiler, but the kid does get to his family in Chicago.

One other oddity, at one point Jim tells the kid that there is no heaven, that it’s only a place we’re told about to make us feel good. However, he later says something about his wife watching over what he’s doing and Rosa watching over Miguel. Odd theology going on there.

The movie was rated a 6/10 on IMDB. I’d agree with that rating. Not Neeson’s best movie, but good enough to keep me watching it.

On the content side. It’s PG-13, mainly for some violence. No sex. Some profanity, but not much. Considering Cartel killers involved, pretty clean.

Commission earned

The post The Marksman – a review first appeared on B.D. Lawrence.

Happy Thanksgiving

I am thankful and appreciate fiction readers. Especially readers of stories about justice, vengeance, and redemption.

I hope you enjoy the stories I’ve published so far. There will be more.

And coming in January will be the first Lefty Bruder novel, An Angel and a One-Armed Man. Half the profits from sales of this novel will go to an organization that helps rescue girls from sex trafficking.

And who is Lefty Bruder you ask? Check out A Vigilante and a Two-Armed Man: The Lefty Bruder origin story.

And coming in December will be the first Lefty Bruder private eye case – The Finger Snatcher and a One-Armed Man.

I pray you’ll have a crimeless Thanksgiving and a great time wherever you are and whatever you do.

God bless.

B.D. Lawrence.

The post Happy Thanksgiving first appeared on B.D. Lawrence.

A Vigilante and the Two-Armed Man

A Vigilanted and a Two-Armed Man

The Lefty Bruder Origin story

The press has dubbed him the Dirty Harry Pimp Killer.

The killer’s first five victims were pimps. But now the stakes are raised as this serial killer shoots an innocent man. St. Louis County Police Detective George Bruder, along with his partner Louis Gaines, must find the pimp killer before he murders another innocent person.

The two detectives have a witness, a prostitute who saw the victim get shot through the back. But she’s not talking, fearful of her pimp. Bruder isn’t convinced that’s her only reason for silence. There’s something else at play and he believes that reason will help lead to the killer.

Bruder and Gaines navigate through the St. Louis sex trade trying to determine who this killer is, why he’s killing pimps, and why the latest victim was outside a seedy motel known for prostitution. It’s not Bruder’s first case, but will it be his last? This case will change his life forever and lead him down a path he never would have anticipated.

When you read this story, post comments here about what you liked and didn’t like.

And coming in December will be the first Lefty Bruder private detective story.

I hope to hear from you.

 

The post A Vigilante and the Two-Armed Man first appeared on B.D. Lawrence.

Conversations About Life Podcast Interview

Will Jackson interviewed by on his podcast about my Christian walk. Touches some on my writing.

Click here for the interview:

Interview of B.D. Lawrence

The post Conversations About Life Podcast Interview first appeared on B.D. Lawrence.

Book Launch Team Forming – Are you Interested?

What is a book launch team? It’s a team of people dedicated to the success of the book they are launching.

We are looking for about 10 – 20 people who would like to see An Angel and a One-Armed Man succeed. The more books we sell, the more money we can give away to an organization that is working to rescue and/or help girls caught in human trafficking.

Basically, the book launch team is a group of people, who for 2 months, will use their social media platforms, email contacts, and any other contact forum to promote An Angel and a One-Armed Man.

The time committment will be minimal – probably minutes a day.

Click the link to go to the sign up form if you are interested. More details on the form.

Hurry, though, as we’ll be forming the team in the next couple weeks.

Join the book launch team!

The post Book Launch Team Forming – Are you Interested? first appeared on B.D. Lawrence.