L.A. Starks's Blog, page 5

Review is live!

"The industry in-fighting and power plays against each other are tense and dramatic. Understandably so, because at the core of every conflict here is money. Whomever comes out on top and controls the revolutionary new technology can dictate the world’s production, use, and price of oil/gas. "

Read John Murray's whole Independent Book Review here, now live!
https://independentbookreview.com/202...

West Texas signing

West Texas area mystery and thriller readers are invited to a Winner's Curse discussion and book signing at the Midland Barnes & Noble Saturday, 2PM. Here are mentions in the Midland & Fort Worth newspapers.
https://www.mrt.com/things_to_do/arti...

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/st...

Excerpt BookLife Critic Report

"Plot/Idea: 9 out of 10
Originality: 9 out of 10
Prose: 8 out of 10
Character/Execution: 8 out of 10
Overall: 8.50 out of 10

"Originality: Winner's Curse is singular. In addition to an unusual setting/industry, Stark takes the reader all over the world: Texas, Chicago, London, Barcelona, Murmansk, etc. Her knowledge of the field is obvious from the first, and she does a fine job educating the reader on subjects ranging from forensic geology to the U.S. electric grid.

"Prose: Starks wastes no time ramping up the excitement, beginning with the first paragraph.

"Character/Execution: Lynn is intelligent, brave, and capable, and does not suffer fools, gladly or otherwise. She and her family/allies come across as fully fleshed individuals."
--Critic’s Report, The BookLife Prize 2024

Kirkus!

Good review for Winner's Curse from Kirkus! Excerpt:
"an energy executive finds herself entangled in international corruption . . . obstacles abound in the tension-packed narrative as a person close to Lynn works against her, a killer tries to cover their tracks, and acts of sabotage prove deadly . . . A measured but gripping tale of malfeasance on a global scale."

Crime Cafe

Debbi Mack's Crime Cafe blog features the first chapter of Winner's Curse! Read it here

https://debbi.substack.com/p/august-s...

OK bestseller

Winner's Curse topped an Oklahoma bestsellers' list! https://www.tulsapeople.com/about-tow...

Another review!

Readers looking for a new book may want to see this new review of Winner's Curse from Independent Book Review!

https://lastarksbooks.com/wp-content/...

Wow! Great PW Review

I'm so excited to receive an excellent review from Publisher's Weekly for Winner's Curse! Here's what the reviewer said:
"Takeaway: Gripping sprint through the make-or-break oil and gas industry."
"Fast-paced and dramatic, Starks’s novel offers a slew of fascinating characters, including spies, estranged fathers, and both upstanding and morally corrupt politicians, all while establishing Dayton as a strong female lead . . . Dayton’s undertakings are as risky as they are critical, but Starks offsets the danger with hefty character-driven scenes that will resonate with readers."

You can see the entire review here: https://booklife.com/booklife-review/...

Jenny + LAS

Jenny Milchman's newsletter has a cool focus on her upcoming book--and a short feature on Winner's Curse: A Lynn Dayton Thriller. You can read it here:
https://jennymilchman.com/newsletter/55

The Big Thrill

Thanks to Jose Bogran & International ThrillerWriters for the feature article in THE BIG THRILL about just-published Winner's Curse: A Lynn Dayton Thriller! You can read it here:

https://www.thebigthrill.org/2024/08/...