L.A. Starks's Blog, page 5

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/...

Fictional Cafe intvw

I very much enjoyed this interview with Jack Rochester at The Fictional Cafe on pub day, August 20! Includes the first two chapters.

https://www.fictionalcafe.com/winners...

GMT interview clip

Fortunate to talk about Winner's Curse on pub day with Jane McGarry, star host of ABC Channel 8 (Dallas) Good Morning Texas.

https://www.wfaa.com/article/entertai...