I Have to Get it Right

Patrick Steele #1

by David L. Atkinson

Patrick Steele is an accountant with training for various physical skills. He has made himself a self-styled Robin Hood available to right the wrongs of society using his skills as an accountant and a man of violence. The Gurentai, a sub-group of the Japanese Yakuza, employs him to prevent the incursion of the Mafia into England - specifically the northeast. The Mafia have blackmailed, or so it seems, a member of the local government planning committee to give contracts to a building firm under their control. That is James Thompson, but his wife Janice is hiding a secret! The Gurentai set Steele up with a Swiss bank account with sufficient remuneration to purchase an empty factory unit and set it up as a training facility and garage for himself. He also is to follow Aikido training to hone his skills in hand-to-hand combat and to adopt the spiritual attitudes of the Gurentai. The action begins near the Thompson household and at a building site operated by the Italian sponsored building firm. He indulges in some property sabotage and minor wounding of one of the hierarchy of the building firm. This does not have the desired effect however, and in an effort to discover the prime movers heads after the source of the funds, to The Marche, a region on Italy's east coast. Here Steele discovers the 'family' responsible for the fraud that is taking place in England and assassinates the member who controls all family business. He is caught twice in getting away but manages to escape himself, the second time with the help of two members of the Gurentai, Sumisu and Misaki. They fly him out to their HQ in Osaka, Japan and he learns more of the group he has been employed by. They, Steele, Mr Sumisu and Misaki, return to England to finish the job they had started. There is a modicum of love interest between Steele and Misaki that ends in tragedy later on in the story when Misaki is killed. Steele tries again to put the 'frighteners' on James Thompson but to no avail. Thompson is then assassinated in his front hall and shortly afterwards the Thompson females escape heading for the Newcastle quayside. Steele takes Janice off a cargo vessel and while being watched by Misaki escapes but then Misaki is killed. In the ensuing chase Steele catches up with Janice and her party and ends the matter. Throughout the story Steele is struggling with his newfound wealth and the morality of what he is required to do. The twist at the end concerning Janice Thompson is intended to heighten the suspense.

194 pages, Paperback

First published August 26, 2011

About the author

Born in Sunderland many years ago I went to college in Bradford and trained to be a teacher, a profession I followed for 34 years. Then I worked in a bank for 6 years before retiring completely. I remained in Yorkshire and that is where I write. I have always had the ambition to write and eventually began in 2009 and have completed six novels since then and I'm working on a seventh. I blog daily on http://david-latkinson.blogspot.com and there are short stories, poetry and recipes as well as commentary on the writing process.

Reviews

[Euan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gripping story, Patrick Steele should be my accountant, particularly like the way he deals with dodgy Planning Officers. Well worth giving this a read

[Reet Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast-paced, Imaginative, Different!

[David Atkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Patrick Steele is an accountant with training for a variety of physical skills. He has made himself a self-styled Robin Hood available to right the wrongs of society using his skills as an accountant and a man of violence.

The Gurentai, a sub-group of the Japanese Yakuza, employs him to prevent the incursion of the Mafia into England – specifically the northeast. The Mafia have blackmailed, or so it seems, a member of the local government planning committee to give contracts to a building firm under their control. That is James Thompson, but his wife Janice is hiding a secret!

The Gurentai set Steele up with a Swiss bank account with sufficient remuneration to purchase an empty factory unit and set it up as a training facility and garage for himself. He also is to follow Aikido training to hone his skills in hand-to-hand combat and to adopt the spiritual attitudes of the Gurentai.


A great read with a novel concept as a central charater and a compelling style