The Madam

by Doug Booth

Women are abducted every day, their tragic dilemmas headlining the local news until more important events hit the 6PM newsroom. We murmur “Oh, not another one.” We gasp and listen in horror believing we can imagine their fear. But we don’t really care. They’re just gone. Out of sight, out of mind. What happens to them is beyond our mind’s eye. We’re too nice, or so we believe, too innocent to conceive images of the unthinkable. They’re just gone. But Mercedes isn’t a naïve Spring Break pass-around; she isn’t a cheating wife looking for love on a bar-stool where she doesn’t belong. She’s a young mother and wife, innocent and afraid. She knows he will find her, terrified that he will loathe her for what she let happen to their daughter.Manuel is a US Marine sniper returning from war. For the first time he’s anxious to kill. He’s the best, and he’s angry. Still, he knows about patience, about lying in wait for the One Shot, the One Kill. **The doorbell rings. She’s innocent and kind; she opens the door to the glaring Atlanta sun. They speak to her of love, faith and goodwill. Manuel wants a better life for his wife and little Sofia, despising that he can’t find work, enduring the heartache of seeing Mercedes suffer long, demeaning days as a hotel maid. He knows only one way to change how their new country sees them. Several months and100 perfect kills later, he arrives home from another man’s war to give his family a better life. Instead he’s greeted with vivid remnants of violence scarring their humble home. She’s gone, taken from him. He's angry. He’s resentful, and he's trained to kill. Killing is all that he knows as he trades a futile war for one that gives him strength.She’s been gone one year, yet Mercedes feels that strength, still certain he will find her before her obligation as a Preferred Girl in Atlanta’s most secret bordello is terminated. Until then she must survive to save her daughter. She must give Manuel the time he needs. She must never be sent to the vault, her premier client crucial to her plan, unaware that William and Manuel have joined together. William accepts his fate. To save Mercedes he must now confess to a desperate husband who’s made the Marine creed his One shot, one kill, and William’s the target.

517 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2011

About the author

Soon after completing Split Verdict, his premiere novel written in countless hotel suites across the Southeast, Doug Booth abandoned the world of industry.
He began writing The Madam, leaving behind an enviable career to those who don’t mind dragging themselves from warm beds into the chilly and stark ambiance of airports every Monday at 3:00 AM.
To-date he has penned one creative non-fiction and eighteen novels, the common theme being retribution, storylines based on the simple and incontrovertible premise that each of us will sooner or later commit the illegal, the morally wrong, the bad or indifferent. Because that is the inescapable human condition.
What makes his writing different is the realism of his characters and the believability of their predicaments. They are people you would want to know, or do know, unexpectedly confronted by the tragedy and dread of unthinkable events.
Most of them are sexy and charming. After all, novels are about escapism and who wants to escape into the unattractive world we already dwell in? Each with a distinct personality and a vivid personal story to share as they struggle to survive through to their own unique closure.
His genres are Mystery, Suspense and Thriller for an adult market, with requisite elements of Murder, Deception, Intrigue, and, of course, the quintessence of Romance. Some might say racy.