#BlogTour A Stolen Memory by David Beckler

Antonia Conti returns in the explosive sequel to A Long Shadow! Don’t miss A Stolen Memory by David Beckler.

About the Author

Born in Addis Ababa in 1960, David Beckler spent his first eight years living on an agricultural college in rural Ethiopia where his love of reading developed. After dropping out of university he became a firefighter and served nineteen years before leaving to start his own business. David began writing in 2010 and uses his work experiences to add realism to his fiction. 

The first in his Antonia Conti series, A Long Shadow, was inspired by David’s concerns about the growing role corruption and privatisation play in public life, and was published in October 2022. David lives in Manchester, his adopted home since 1984. Follow @DavidBeckler1 on Twitter, Visit davidbeckler.com

About the book

London, the near future. GRM, a shadowy company running private prisons, has introduced a programme to alter prisoners’ memories, removing those that led to their criminal behaviour. When journalist Antonia Conti hears rumours that the technology has deadly side effects, she decides to investigate.

Antonia has looked into GRM’s corrupt dealings with the government before – and she knows they are merciless. It’s not long before she finds herself narrowly escaping a horrific car accident that leaves a whistle blower dead. 

She enlists her old friend DI Russell Chapman to check out the supposed ‘accident,’ and discovers that he’s already investigating three other deaths that appear suspiciously linked to her own investigations.

But the deeper Antonia probes, the more her friends and colleagues are at risk. Whatever sinister experiments GRM are conducting, they are determined to keep them secret – by any means necessary. Can Antonia and Chapman thwart them before anyone else loses their mind – or their life? 

Review

Looking for solutions when it comes to criminal behaviour, seems like such an obvious thing to back and support. The current methods or justice system doesn’t appear to be working – time for new solutions, right. The idea sounds very dystopian and a way to address quite a few deviant and violent behaviours. Erase the memories, reduce triggers that cause the behaviours – it all seems so simple.

Yeh, aside from the fact nothing is ever that easy I’m sure it would be a very profitable venture for any company. The real problem is that if you can manipulate people that easily, and their behaviour, then someone is going to use the technology for nefarious purposes. Enter this premise stage left.

This is the sequel to A Long Shadow, and I think it is fair to say both Conti and the author are just getting started. Corruption, greed and power is a very deep and endless source of material. The question is how Antonia is going to keep herself from being swallowed up by the pit.

The author gives us the kind of premise that can become a bit of a moral dilemma, in the sense that a lot of people could be persuaded to ignore the clear negative aspects of this idea and the collateral damage, because of the profit margin and many ways this can used to control, but also because the conscience of the do-gooders in society will be easily swayed by an easy-fix. A little bit like when everyone thought a lobotomy was an insta-fix for every and any illness.

This main character is getting a bit of a reputation for being fearless and relentless. Can’t wait to see where this series goes next.

Buy A Stolen Memory at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher Thomas & Mercer, pub date 19th January 2023 | £8.99 | Paperback Original. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour The Profit Motive by David Heckler

It’s my turn on the BlogTour The Profit Motive by David Beckler.About the Author

David Beckler – ‘I write fast-paced action thrillers populated with well-rounded characters.

Born in Addis Ababa in 1960, I spent my first eight years living on an agricultural college in rural Ethiopia where my love of reading developed. After dropping out of university I became a firefighter and served 19 years before leaving to start my own business.

I began writing in 2010 and use my work experiences to add realism to my fiction.

The Mason and Sterling series centre on two ex-Royal Marines, Byron who now runs a security company and Adam who is a firefighter. A strong cast of characters support my protagonists. Long Stop Books published Brotherhood, the first novel in the series, in September 2019 and will be publishing the second, The Profit Motive, on December 16th 2019. Brotherhood is set in Manchester and The Profit Motive in Manchester and Wenzhou, China.

I live in Manchester, my adopted home since 1984. In my spare time I try to keep fit—an increasingly difficult undertaking—listen to music, socialise and feed my voracious book habit.’

Follow @DavidBeckler1 on Twitter, on Facebook, on Goodreads, on Bookbub, Visit davidbeckler.co.uk, Buy The Profit Motive

About the book

How do you deal with an implacable foe in an alien land…?

Manchester, England, and Wenzhou, China, 2001

When firefighter Adam Sterling arrives at the scene of a horrific car crash, little does he imagine it will lead him back to his mother’s homeland.

Kate, the woman he pulls from the wreckage, needs his help. Her father has been left for dead after a hit-and-run, in Wenzhou, China. She suspects it wasn’t an accident and so does Jie Gang, the senior policeman investigating the case, and whose efforts are obstructed from on high. When events escalate, Kate employs Adam and Byron Mason, Adam’s best friend and fellow former Royal Marine, to go with her to China.

Catapulted into an alien environment, and unable to trust anyone, Mason and Sterling face escalating challenges. The struggle becomes personal, and Adam has to confront a ruthless enemy determined to destroy him and Kate.

The Profit Motive is the second crime novel in the Mason & Sterling thriller series: gritty, hard-boiled page-turners with an urban setting.

Review

This is the second book in the Mason and Sterling series, both can be read as standalone novels.

The contrast between their experience, training and the reality of their normal every day problems serves as a reminder of their humanity. They are just men who have their Achilles heels and vulnerable moments too. It gives Mason and Sterling, and the series, a more humane side. It’s also a bit of an anchor in a story that starts with a tornado like gusto and and continues on throughout with the same speed.

I liked the way the two storylines, set respectively in China and England, seemed to have no connection at first and yet intersected cleverly as the read progressed. Heckler also takes the time to weave in the often subtle cultural differences in both countries, which often determines both action and reaction in the story.

Also the juxtaposition of the crime in China and the trouble in England, and the way Mason and Sterling cope with both of those. It was a little bit like ex-pats suddenly being surprised by the fact colonialism doesn’t automatically insert itself into each country they enter.

It’s a fast-paced thriller with greed at the core.

The author has a certain stoccato style when it comes to writing – it can seem disjointed and confusing when the story goes from one storyline to the other. It depends on whether you like that kind of feel to your reads.

Buy The Profit Motive at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Long Stop Books; pub date 16 Dec. 2019. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour Brotherhood by David Beckler

It’s a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour Brotherhood by David Beckler. It’s fast-paced urban crime fiction combined with military exploitation.

About the Author

David writes crime thrillers full of fast-paced action.

Born in Addis Ababa in 1960, he spent his first eight years living on an agricultural college in rural Ethiopia where his love of reading developed. After dropping out of university he became a firefighter and served 19 years before leaving to start his own business. He began writing in 2010 and uses his work experiences to add realism to his fiction.

The Mason and Sterling series centre on two ex-Royal Marines, Byron who now runs a security company and Adam who is a firefighter. A strong cast of supporting characters support his protagonists. Sapere Books are publishing Brotherhood, the first novel in the series, in late 2018.

David lives in Manchester, his adopted home since 1984. In his spare time he tries to keep fit—an increasingly difficult undertaking—listens to music, socialises and feeds his voracious book habit.

Follow @DavidBeckler1 @SapereBooks on Twitter,Visit davidbeckler.com

Buy Brotherhood

About the book

An ex-Marine is forced to confront his troubled past…

Manchester, England, 1998 – When Byron Mason’s estranged nephew, Philip, rings him out of the blue in desperate need of help, he knows he must put his personal feelings aside to protect his family.

A teenage boy has been murdered, and Philip is one of the suspects.Worse than that, the dead boy was the nephew of Ritchie McLaughlin – a local thug who Byron has clashed with in the past – and Philip has now gone missing. Desperate to clear Philip’s name, Byron enlists the help of his old friend Adam Sterling to track down the real killers.

Is Philip in danger? Can Byron and Adam find him before the police do? Or has Byron’s violent past with McLaughlin come back to haunt him…?

This nail-biting new thriller series will have you on the edge of your seat! Perfect for fans of Lee Child, J. B. Turner, Mark Dawson and David Baldacci…

Review

The first chapter sets the tone for the rest of the book. It is non-stop conflict and action from the very beginning. Adam Sterling and Byron Mason work diligently to try and save a young man, who sees his friend being brutally slaughtered and becomes the next potential victim.

Although the focus is on Philip, the young nephew of Byron Mason, there is a second storyline in the book, which influences the first one. The story of Mugisa, the child soldier from Africa.

Nearly every chapter has a flashback to Mugisa’s life before he became the criminal he is today. The boy who sees friends, loved ones and innocent people tortured and slaughtered. The child who is taken and trained to kill without compunction, to live as a killer and to disassociate himself from the violence he condones and perpetrates.

It’s an interesting way to go about it, because the author wants readers to see and experience the child, and not just the brutal killer who wants to eliminate the witness to his heinous deeds. You get an extreme contrast between the helpless child and the ruthless killer. The reader feels compassion for the child and simultaneously disgust for the machete wielding man.

It’s fast-paced urban crime fiction combined with military exploitation. In a way Beckler shows the parallels between Mugisa’s life as a child soldier and how he has become the adult who recruits the young to become his urban foot soldiers. Doomed to repeat his own tragic history, but with himself in the position of power this time. The Brotherhood continues on different soil with new soldiers, but with the same ruthless mindset.

Buy Brotherhood at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Sapere Books: pub date 7 Feb. 2019. Buy at Amazon com.

Read an extract of Brotherhood

Prologue

A six-foot-high steel spike fence topped off with coils of razor wire guarded the scrapyard. A gap in the fence made room for a pair of gates fashioned from a frame of scaffolding poles bolted into rough rectangles. Random pieces of sheet steel welded together in a patchwork of rust filled the spaces between the poles. The gates stood open, a heavy chain and padlock hanging from the centre of one of them. Piles of crushed and rusting vehicles occupied the yard, its patched concrete surface covered in a thin layer of mud infused with old motor oil.

The Range Rover rolled forward through the gap. A chorus of barking and snarling broke out. Behind the fence, two large, unkempt Alsatians leapt to their feet. Separated from the rest of the yard by a wire barrier, they threw themselves against it, showing their canines in greeting.

Summoned by the barking, a grey-haired figure strode out of the opening at one end of the container. He advanced, wearing a scowl. The men in the car waited until he came closer, then, at a signal from their leader, all four threw their doors open and leapt out.

The grey-haired man hesitated for an instant before he recognised them and ran to the container, shouting a warning.

In response to his shout, two younger men emerged from the container. Each carried a scarred baseball bat with thick tape covering the business end. Although outnumbered, they didn’t appear cowed. One of the men from the car produced a sawn-off shotgun. The two parties faced each other across the filthy concrete.

The dogs became more frenzied until the larger of the two leapt the fence. The gunman swung the barrel of the shotgun towards the snarling animal.

The discharge ruptured the morning air and the dog, hit in mid-leap, yelped before bouncing off concrete and landing in a heap in the muck. Shot in the chest, it lay twitching in a spreading pool of blood. The boom of the shot echoed off the surrounding buildings.

The leader of the invaders cursed and checked the street, then led his men back to the car. He paused at the car and shouted, “This isn’t over.”

The car reversed and shot out of the yard before spinning its wheels and, tyres screeching, raced away.

 One of the younger men threw his baseball bat at the car; it fell short, clattering on the road. The other helped his father to his feet. The older man shook off the helping hand and went to his dog, cradling its head as its eyes filmed over. He glared at the receding car, muttering, “I’ll make you pay.”