Sunday, December 28, 2014

Corrupt Connection by D.R. Shoultz

Title:  Corrupt Connection
Author:  D.R. Shoultz
Published:  July 2/12 by Createspace
Length:  368pgs
Format:  paperback
Genre:  romantic suspense
Shelf:  giveaway
Rating: ★★★★

Back Cover Blurb:

Corrupt Connection is the story of an October love struggling to endure as it confronts corporate greed, blackmail, death threats, and ruthless killings.

The year is 2025. Sam Stone is a seasoned businessman at MemOne, a cutting-edge technology firm in Tampa. At 48, he’s at the peak of his career, recently widowed, and losing interest in life. His future immediately is transformed when he meets Britney Young, a beautiful and brilliant PhD, who rekindles passions he thought were only in his past.

Money, power, and violence are being wielded by a Central American drug cartel intent on raiding MemOne's innovations, gaining access to its high-tech biological meds. If successful, the bold move would revolutionize the underground drug world.

Under the veil of an undisclosed U.S. corporation, the cartel prepares for a hostile takeover of MemOne. Britney becomes their target as they seek vital information. With her life threatened and a former colleague brutally murdered, Britney reluctantly confides in Sam, exposing him to the looming danger she’s facing. To protect his new love and to shield MemOne from an enemy it’s unaware even exists, Sam knows he must stop whoever is behind the Corrupt Connection.

Britney and Sam are self-effacing yet competent, vulnerable yet courageous, as they draw the reader into their tale of love, fear, pain, and hope.

My Review:

You know that novel that’s been sitting on your shelf forever. The one that you really want to read, but somehow keeps getting set aside to read something else first? The one that you keep telling yourself you’ll read next, and when you finally do you can’t put it down and wonder why you hadn’t read it sooner? For me, this is that book.

There is lots of character and world building at the beginning of this novel that allows the rest of the story to flow unhindered through the action and suspense. And this novel was very suspenseful. At the same time, it was an intellectual novel. The various technologies as well as business practices were fantastic. I love this author’s straightforward writing style. I found it easy to connect with. It’s as if the narrator takes a step back and lets the characters tell their own story. The clearly marked progression of time gives a sense of permanence and inevitability to all of the events. There is also an underlying current of tension throughout, both from the budding relationship and the business dealings.

I enjoyed how Shoultz’s multitude of separate yet well-developed characters, all with their own stories, come together slowly throughout this novel, working towards the explosive conclusion. I found it quite easy to form an emotional connection with the main characters in this novel. The high pressure lives of these characters keeps you riveted, even before you get to the heart of the story. The way that the author shows the characters’ thought processes was quite inviting. You get to know them on the inside and the outside. I also appreciated Biscuit and that way that he was the first and last priority of the day. The fact that the characters didn’t just have a dog so that there was a dog in the story and that he was just a plain old companion was great.

Shoultz definitely made me gasp in surprise, curse in anger, and cry like a baby. I was also left with a feeling of ‘I knew it’ and ‘what now’ at the end of the novel. Not only was the suspense in this novel breathtaking, but I found the bioengineering aspect very interesting in its own right. This was a brilliant read that I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to recommend it to others.

|  Goodreads  |  Shelfari  |  Amazon  |

No comments:

Post a Comment