Chuck Barrett's Blog, page 3

Crime Fiction & Crime Thriller Book Giveaway

Today, I have a fun surprise that I’d like to share with you.

I’ve teamed up with 60 crime fiction and crime thriller authors to give away a huge collection of novels to 2 lucky winners, PLUS  a Kindle Fire to the Grand Prize winner!

You can win my novel BLOWN, plus books from authors like Joseph Finder and Pam Callow.

Enter the giveaway by clicking here: bit.ly/crime-fic-may-17

Good luck, and enjoy!

Chuck

The post Crime Fiction & Crime Thriller Book Giveaway appeared first on Chuck Barrett.

Weekend Picks for Book Lovers — February 25, 2017

Even as a violin prodigy, Olivia Klein courted trouble. But when her marriage to high-stakes investor Rob Van Doren takes another wrong turn, Olivia acts out once too often. A night of bad behavior results in community service hours. Time is to be served with Theo McAdams, an inner-city teacher whose passion for music eclipses Olivia’s. As she inches toward a better place, life surprises Olivia in the form of her first husband—baseball legend Sam Nash.

Years ago, Olivia fell in love with Sam. Their impulsive marriage imploded with a fateful car crash and harsh parting words. Olivia never expected to see him again. But now Sam is back, and he wants her forgiveness. He also wants to recapture their volatile love affair. Olivia is torn between rekindling romance and saving her marriage. To her surprise, it’s the presence of the young music teacher—and the lessons from a reckless past—that may bring harmony to Olivia’s off-key life.

 

 

As the son of a great Irish warrior, Faolán Burke should have inherited vast lands and a beautiful castle, Glencurragh. But tensions grow in 1634 Ireland, as English plantation systems consume traditional clan properties, Irish families are made homeless, and Irish sons lose their inheritance. Encountering the beautiful heiress, Vivienne FitzGerald, Faolán believes if they were to marry, together they could restore his stolen heritage and build a prosperous life. But, because the Earl of Cork protects her, abduction seems to be his only option.

Best friend Aengus O’Daly narrates as he and the brothers Thomas and Sean Barry help Faolán to complete the deed, and hasten to the Earl of Barrymore, who has promised to negotiate the marriage settlement. But Vivienne clearly has a mind of her own, and the adventure that began as a lark takes a dark turn when one man is injured, another is killed, and their plans for Barrymore’s support go awry.

Faolán now finds himself in the crossfire between the four most powerful men in Ireland—the earls of Clanricarde, Cork, Ormonde, and the aggressive new Lord Deputy of Ireland, Thomas Wentworth—men who use people like game pieces to be moved about for their own benefit. And other forces threaten their plans, and even their lives. With the course of events now beyond their control, will Faolán and Vivienne ever realize the dream of Glencurragh?

Stealing Time is a “Breathtakingly original” time travel adventure that will keep you on the edge of your seat. As Hurricane Charley churns a path of destruction towards Orlando, Florida, Ronnie Andrews and her best friend, Stephanie McKay, scramble to prepare for the storm. Ronnie seeks shelter at her boyfriend’s weather lab while Steph heads back to her house.

During the peak of the storm Ronnie is hurtled back in time to eighteenth-century London where she is caught in a web of superstition, deception, and lies in a life and death struggle to return to her own time.

Steph is thrust into the middle of the hurricane, but it quickly turns into a living nightmare as she is faced with losing everything. Stealing Time: Book 1 in the Stealing Time Trilogy.

 

 

PRE-ORDER NOW!

Some say the Cold War never truly ended

A rising threat is upon us— the New Cold War

Spies of old are back, bearing secrets from the past

The battle to reveal the truth might be the most treacherous warfare of all

Julia Bagal’s life has hit rock bottom. A murder in her duplex, a missing body, and then, her hated supervisor is strangled. Only this dead body was found in Julia’s cubicle.

Now, sitting in a police station, she is scared she might be a suspect…or worse yet, the intended victim.

She suspects who might be involved, but before she can question her, the woman disappears. Entangled in a web of deceit, Julia is afraid the missing woman is in danger and searches to find her. With the clock ticking, she’s forced to accept the help of a man she believes is dangerous. A man trained to kill by the best, the U.S. Army. Julia finds herself drawn to the man who seems to know too much about her.

Suddenly, Julia uncovers a terrifying secret. A bungled CIA operation twenty-three years ago has put her on a deadly collision course of vengeance and betrayal.

One leading all the way to the White House.

There are two types of people: those who have been hacked and know it, and those who have been hacked and don’t know it.

Former Naval Intelligence Officer turned secret operative Jake Pendleton finds himself in a pulse-pounding race to stop a cyber-terrorist from releasing a string of the most heinous cyber-crimes the world has ever seen. Crimes that could render the world’s advanced technology useless.

Jake teams with his partner, Francesca Catanzaro, to track down their only lead, a white-hat hacker in Italy known only as The Jew. A man who might hold the key to stop a group of black-hat hackers from causing worldwide chaos—tag named Disruption.

After a search of the hacker’s flat in Rome turns up empty, Jake and Francesca follow the clues—a trail of dead bodies that leads them across Europe. Along the way, Jake discovers a possible link between recent hacks and a Malaysian airliner that mysteriously disappeared.

In the final adrenaline-charged moments before Disruption, Jake and Francesca find themselves in a high-voltage race to stop these cyber terrorists from unleashing destruction against their sworn mortal enemy.

The post Weekend Picks for Book Lovers — February 25, 2017 appeared first on Chuck Barrett.

An Open Letter to All Indie Authors.

A Guest Post by Mike Pettit~

One of the best-kept secrets in the publishing business is how many authors use Amazon to publish their work. The number of published Amazon books is around 3 million plus, but the number of authors is not known. Just using basic math suggests there are 3 million authors assuming one book per author, but many of us have more than one published Amazon book ( I have 28). So, I arbitrarily use the 1 million figure when doing comparisons.

With a million authors fighting for attention, how does one break out of the pack?

It is not good enough to just write a good book and wait to become famous. That doesn’t happen. You must write a good book AND market yourself. New York published authors will tell you that the road to success is through New York. Meaning that one must have an agent and that agent (think sales Rep) will find you a publisher. This is not true. The road through New York is filled with speed bumps, roadblocks, detours, traffic jams, and fatalities. Comparatively, there are as many “New York” failures as there are Indie Author failures. At least an Indie Author get’s her book published, where a “Traditional” author may wait for months or years before they know their books fate. Over ninety percent of self-published Indie Authors fail because they do not know how to Brand and Market themselves and their book(s). An Indie will sell a few books to family and friends and then her writing career is over because she doesn’t know how to take that next step.

A “Traditionally Published” author is at the complete mercy of the Publisher and its stockbrokers. An example; If a publisher wants a Best Seller in the fourth quarter of the fiscal years, who would he publish, Michael Connelly or Jane Doe? DUH!

In the writing and publishing world, Indie Authors are looked down upon as “Not really authors because they are not Traditionally Published.” How insulting. A case in point; I can not be a full member of the prestigious Mystery Writer’s of America because I am not on their ‘Approved Publisher’s list.” I can be an associate member but I can’t vote on Edgar nominees. How ridiculous. I have more books published and make more money a year than 90% of these members and yet I can’t be a full member.

The Industry is changing, The Big Five Publishers are beginning to feel the pinch. They know that they can’t push out a Best Seller Thriller anymore for $25.00 + when the reader can by an Indie Best Seller off of Amazon for a few bucks. To counter this, many of the Traditional Published Authors are converting their books to e-books.

The bottom line is that an Indie Author MUST learn to Brand and Market herself if she wants to become a Best Selling Author.

Get your name and mug out there holding your book every day…. never stop selling, or writing.

~ Mike Pettit

The post An Open Letter to All Indie Authors. appeared first on Chuck Barrett.

Weekend Picks for Book Lovers — Feb. 18, 2017

The thriller that launched lawyer Kate Lange into the hearts of a quarter of a million readers–and into the hands of a serial killer…
Haunted by the death of her sister and wounded by her ex-fiancé’s accusations, lawyer Kate Lange throws herself into her new career at a high-powered law firm.
When the grandmother of a lonely private school student seeks her counsel, Kate thinks it’s just another custody case. But then the teen is brutally murdered. And it isn’t only Kate who wonders if her legal advice led to the girl’s death.

Put on notice by Randall Barrett, the firm’s charismatic managing partner, Kate must fight for her career, her reputation–and for redemption.

Unwilling to live with the damage she may have caused, Kate pursues the case on her own and unearths some chilling facts.

Facts that lead straight to the heart of a legal conspiracy.

Facts that lead Kate directly into the surgically skilled hands of The Body Butcher.

 

All private eye Jaxon Jennings wanted was a vacation— just a few days to lie under the warm Caribbean sun with a cold beer. A much-deserved break from tailing cheating spouses, ex-cons, and insurance scammers.
But Jaxon’s hopes for time off are upended when his friend Max’s strange behavior lands the poor guy in the middle of an island murder investigation.

Jaxon works hard, and fast, to clear his friend’s name but makes a startling discovery: Max is a man with a dark past.

Unfortunately, someone from that dark past wants Max in prison or dead or both—along with anyone who tries to protect him.

Desperate for answers, Jaxon races to save Max from a killer—and a murder rap.

Can Jaxon exonerate his friend in time, or will the killer find him first? Is Jaxon next on the hit list?

From the first page of his latest Jaxon Jennings thriller, Eye Strain, author Richard C Hale mashes the gas and refuses to let up. A pulse-pounding manhunt that hooks you in and refuses to let go, Eye Strain will keep you guessing to the very end.

Sarah Keller is a skip tracer, tracking criminals who have gone on the lam. She’s also a single mother to five-year-old Zoe, living quietly in small-town Oklahoma—until an accident sends Zoe to the ER, and their life changes in a heartbeat. Medical tests reveal a desperate secret Sarah has been hiding for years: Zoe is not her daughter, but rather a girl once rescued from a nightmare of murder, vengeance, and harrowing family ties she can’t possibly remember. Sarah does. And someone wants to make sure she never forgets.

Now Sarah must abandon her carefully constructed life and take Zoe on the run. Using her knowledge as a skip tracer to stay off the grid, she must remain one step ahead of her pursuers if she is to stay alive, save Zoe, and bury the past once and for all.

 

 

 

 

“We cannot be conscious of what we are not conscious of.” Julian Jaynes. The Origin of Consciousness in The Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind.

“Before there was just me now, there was a bunch of other stuff that I don’t remember. People keep telling me I should remember, but maybe if you can’t remember there is a reason.” Thus begins Lara’s story as she escapes from a mental Institution. Who is she? What reality should she believe?

In a crowded marketplace in Haifa, Lukas’s body is wrapped in a bomb, his hand on the detonator. But then, the young man has an awareness of all the lives of those around him, the possibilities, their hopes, their dreams and Lukas doesn’t detonate the bomb. Whisked away to a black site, the interrogators brutally try to find out why. Only to discover he has identical DNA with a patient in a mental Institution in the United States:Lara.

But this is impossible.

A psychological thriller traveling into the intimate and infinite realm of time and parallel worlds, in the genre of Westworld.

Is Lara’s reality the one where she’s holding a bloody knife and her family has been slaughtered? Is it the one where she’s in the mental institution against her will, being experimented upon? Is it the one where’s she working as a gardener for a woman who has secrets of her own?

There’s an even more frightening possibility with even more potential: That all of them are true.

The powers-that-be think they can dig for the answer. By sending her to the Fourth Floor.

That’s a mistake. Because there is a Fifth.

PRE-ORDER NOW!

Some say the Cold War never truly ended

A rising threat is upon us— the New Cold War

Spies of old are back, bearing secrets from the past

The battle to reveal the truth might be the most treacherous warfare of all

Julia Bagal’s life has hit rock bottom. A murder in her duplex, a missing body, and then, her hated supervisor is strangled. Only this dead body was found in Julia’s cubicle.

Now, sitting in a police station, she is scared she might be a suspect…or worse yet, the intended victim.

She suspects who might be involved, but before she can question her, the woman disappears. Entangled in a web of deceit, Julia is afraid the missing woman is in danger and searches to find her. With the clock ticking, she’s forced to accept the help of a man she believes is dangerous. A man trained to kill by the best, the U.S. Army. Julia finds herself drawn to the man who seems to know too much about her.

Suddenly, Julia uncovers a terrifying secret. A bungled CIA operation twenty-three years ago has put her on a deadly collision course of vengeance and betrayal.

One leading all the way to the White House.

There are two types of people: those who have been hacked and know it, and those who have been hacked and don’t know it.

Former Naval Intelligence Officer turned secret operative Jake Pendleton finds himself in a pulse-pounding race to stop a cyber-terrorist from releasing a string of the most heinous cyber-crimes the world has ever seen. Crimes that could render the world’s advanced technology useless.

Jake teams with his partner, Francesca Catanzaro, to track down their only lead, a white-hat hacker in Italy known only as The Jew. A man who might hold the key to stop a group of black-hat hackers from causing worldwide chaos—tag named Disruption.

After a search of the hacker’s flat in Rome turns up empty, Jake and Francesca follow the clues—a trail of dead bodies that leads them across Europe. Along the way, Jake discovers a possible link between recent hacks and a Malaysian airliner that mysteriously disappeared.

In the final adrenaline-charged moments before Disruption, Jake and Francesca find themselves in a high-voltage race to stop these cyber terrorists from unleashing destruction against their sworn mortal enemy.

The post Weekend Picks for Book Lovers — Feb. 18, 2017 appeared first on Chuck Barrett.

Weekend Indie Picks for Book Lovers — Feb. 11, 2017

Our Sins Define Us.

Or do they?
Jaxon Jennings, private eye and brand new father, sees the world in a new light. One where he and his wife, Victoria, can raise their young daughter sheltered from the sins of this world, from his own sins and past mistakes. He has responsibilities and priorities. He has a new life. And his daughter Michelle is the center of it.
So, when a pro
minent local business owner—who had hired Jaxon for his private investigative services—ends up with his throat cut, the victim of a killer whose methods seem familiar to a case Jaxon had put to bed over twenty years ago, Jaxon’s past, once again, rears its ugly head to haunt him.
Reynolds Maubry, a psychopath who used a short, curved blade to take his victims’ lives, was serving a life sentence in Virginia. Jaxon had seen to that as a young homicide detective in Washington DC. Maubry’s methods were distinct and the evidence he left behind, unique. So, how could he be in sunny north Florida, taking lives again?
A copycat could be the only answer. But when Jaxon discovers that things are not as neat and tidy as they seem, he must face the mounting evidence that he and his family are in danger. And from a place he would never have suspected.
Jaxon badly wants to live this new life. But he can’t escape his past sins. To keep himself and his family safe, he must sin again. But who will survive?

** WINNER: 1st Place Idaho Author Awards (2016 Fiction) **
** FINALIST: Best Book Awards (2016 New Age) **
A BLIND GIRL’S TERRIFYING “GIFT” ALLOWS HER TO REGAIN HER EYESIGHT–BUT ONLY AS SHE FERRIES THE RECENTLY DECEASED INTO THE AFTERLIFE.
Loreena Picket thinks she knows herself. A blind young woman who lives with her uncle, a reverend at a small-town church, she’s a dutiful niece and talented pianist for the congregation.
But they’re both hiding a terrible secret. Loreena can kill people with the touch of her hand.
While her uncle sees her as an angel of mercy, helping usher the terminally ill members of his flock into the afterlife, Loreena has her doubts.
Torn between doing her uncle’s bidding and the allure of the fleeting moments when her eyesight returns on the journey to the other side, Loreena cooperates with her uncle until her troubled older brother returns to town. When she reveals her power by saving him from a local drug dealer, she is drawn into a sinister and dangerous world that will test the true nature of her talent and force her to consider how far she is willing to go to survive.
An exciting debut that crosses fantasy and literary fiction, Loreena’s Gift is a thought-provoking meditation on life and death and what ultimately lies beyond this world.




It might sound like a joke, but there’s nothing funny about three beautiful women murdered in an Irish pub in Syracuse.
The cops think it’s an open and shut case, pointing the finger at the dead guy with the gun, bar owner James John Smith. But when a mother of one of the victims hires her lover, Bill “Free Willy” Tedesco, an ex-stripper and karaoke star turned PI to investigate, the secrets of the dead surface and the question of who pulled the trigger becomes more important than why.









OVERSTOCK SALE!!!   Signed Trade Paperback only $8.00 + s/h

Gregg Kaplan is not an ordinary man, but a man with special skills, courtesy of the United States Government.
His assignment is to stay off the grid when he innocently stumbles into a blown witness protection detail in Little Rock, Arkansas. He simply could not walk away from the impending mayhem.
After the dust settles, a mortally wounded Deputy U.S. Marshal makes him promise to personally deliver the witness to a U.S. Marshals Service safe site.
Not just a promise, an oath. A pledge between ex-Army Delta Force comrades.

A trust that could not be broken—Once in, never out.
Kaplan soon suspects the witness he vowed to protect has secrets of his own; secrets that go beyond his testimony for the U.S. government. When he discovers the witness is being tracked, Kaplan teams with a WitSec Deputy U.S. Marshal assigned to recover the witness, but soon realizes some merciless people are dead set on preventing the witness from reaching the safe site.
But the witness has a hidden agenda of his own—One that could cost Kaplan his life.


PRE-ORDER NOW!
Some say the Cold War never truly ended

A rising threat is upon us— the New Cold War

Spies of old are back, bearing secrets from the past

The battle to reveal the truth might be the most treacherous warfare of all

Julia Bagal’s life has hit rock bottom. A murder in her duplex, a missing body, and then, her hated supervisor is strangled. Only this dead body was found in Julia’s cubicle.

Now, sitting in a police station, she is scared she might be a suspect…or worse yet, the intended victim.

She suspects who might be involved, but before she can question her, the woman disappears. Entangled in a web of deceit, Julia is afraid the missing woman is in danger and searches to find her. With the clock ticking, she’s forced to accept the help of a man she believes is dangerous. A man trained to kill by the best, the U.S. Army. Julia finds herself drawn to the man who seems to know too much about her.

Suddenly, Julia uncovers a terrifying secret. A bungled CIA operation twenty-three years ago has put her on a deadly collision course of vengeance and betrayal.

­­­One leading all the way to the White House.

The post Weekend Indie Picks for Book Lovers — Feb. 11, 2017 appeared first on Chuck Barrett.

Weekend Indie Picks for Book Lovers! Feb. 4, 2017

Are you a book lover? Voracious reader? Then check out these awesome indie authors’ books—

 

Click a book cover for more information:

Available for Pre-order

And for kids….

The post Weekend Indie Picks for Book Lovers! Feb. 4, 2017 appeared first on Chuck Barrett.

Weekend Indie Picks for Book Lovers!

Are you a book lover? Voracious reader? Then check out these awesome indie authors’ books—

 

Click a book cover for more information:

Available for Pre-order

And for kids….

The post Weekend Indie Picks for Book Lovers! appeared first on Chuck Barrett.

By Special Request: Reading Order Explained

 

Over the course of the past few months, I’ve received numerous emails, Facebook messages, and tweets asking about the reading order for the Jake Pendleton series books. Some confusion might be that on my website the latest release is listed first, putting them in reverse order. I have also had readers ask which Chuck Barrett book they should read first. And a few who have asked which is my favorite. Hopefully, I can answer these questions and set you on a path to enjoyable reading.

Jake Pendleton series

The order of writing and the order of reading can be the same or different depending on your personal preference. The order of writing AND chronological order of the Jake Pendleton series is this:

The Savannah Project
The Toymaker
Breach of Power
DISRUPTION

Now, let’s look a little deeper. Think of The Savannah Project & The Toymaker as one story broken into two books. It is one long story with the same underlying theme running from one to the other. As a matter of fact, The Toymaker picks up right where The Savannah Project ends. Regardless of which order you read the others, I think the best enjoyment will come from reading The Savannah Project and then The Toymaker without taking a break or reading something else in between. It is literally a 700-page story. It is also the bulk of character growth for the protagonist, Jake.

Now, that brings us to Breach of Power & DISRUPTION. Both are stand-alone stories and may be read in any order. I do, however, suggest you read The Savannah Project & The Toymaker before reading either of the other two. The main reason for this suggestion is so you, the reader, will understand how Jake got to the point he is in life. Many readers only like to read books in order. I, personally, think that’s the best way to read a series. You can connect with the main characters better and watch them grow from book to book. Readers who love to read series have an investment in the main characters…that’s what draws them to series reading.

Which Chuck Barrett book should you read first?

Easy enough to answer, I think. If you are a big Lee Child/Jack Reacher fan, then read BLOWN first. It is the first in the Gregg Kaplan series and one I’m certain you’ll enjoy. If you’re more of a David Baldacci, Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler type of fan, then start with the Jake Pendleton series and read them in order.

Which is my favorite book?

I’ve had this asked of me so many times I lost count…and it keeps getting worse. Every book is near and dear to the author’s heart. They all have a special meaning for us…that’s why we wrote them. To ask an author which book they wrote is their favorite is like asking which child is their favorite.

So, my answer to them…and to you…is my favorite book is the one I’m working on now!

(Full disclaimer: I didn’t come up with that line. I heard fellow author Bob Mayer say it once and have used it ever since)

I hope this helps.

HAPPY READING

The post By Special Request: Reading Order Explained appeared first on Chuck Barrett.

This.is.DISRUPTION!

Imagine a world:



—Where global banking systems are locked down and held for ransom.

—Where all cellular and land line communications are shut off.

—Where global transportation is halted. Airlines, shipping, trains, automotive…

—Where hospital rooms are hacked and life support systems disabled.

—Where all defense satellites are rendered inert.

—Where power grids across the globe are shut down.

Imagine a world where the Internet has been turned off and the conveniences of modern technology no longer exist….

—Where the cyber-attacks of October 21, 2016 seem minuscule in comparison.

 

That world is DISRUPTION!

 

Read it today… http://chuckbarrettbooks.com/books/disruption/overview/

 

 

 

 

The post This.is.DISRUPTION! appeared first on Chuck Barrett.

First Amazon review of DISRUPTION

Check it out, my first Amazon review of #DISRUPTION by lq— A FIVE-STAR!

“Loved this book! It takes a basic premise: that everyone has been hacked and is divided by those that know it and those that don’t know it. From that premise, the author has created a complex thriller spanning continents and surrounding the ultimate hack.

If you enjoy thrillers, you will love this book. The author has created descriptions of the various locals that make you feel as though you’re there. He has then blended in a great deal of relevant religious history and customs and mixed with political espionage and one county’s goal to exterminate an entire nation. This is a sobering glimpse into evil. Yes, it is fiction, but the actual motivations of the antagonists are very real.

This is a must read for fans of the genre. The author is on my must read authors’ list and this novel demonstrates why he is on that list.”

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