BookTrib Blog Tour: Review of Death Never Sleeps By E.J. Simon

You have reached the October 28 Book Trib Blog Tour stop for E.J. Simon's Death Never Sleeps.

Can the Dead Communicate?

One Halloween night in Queens, New York, Alex Nicholas, a bookie and a loan shark, is shot at his favorite restaurant as he is on the phone with his younger brother, Michael. As he is dying, Alex tells himself that Michael with figure it out.

While Alex and Michael grew up in the same home, they are nothing alike. Alex has been married three times, has had mistresses, runs illegal businesses, and has friends that carry weapons and scare people.  His brother, Michael, on the other hand, is squeaky clean and living the American Dream. He is CEO of a financial management company and has a beautiful wife, a daughter in college, and million dollar home in Connecticut. 

At Alex’s funeral, Michael receives a text. It is a picture of his brother behind his desk with the words “Life is a dream and death is waking up.” Michael later finds out his family is in danger due to Alex owing money to mobsters who would stop at nothing to collect what is owed to them.  Michael soon finds himself with a gun aimed at him and within hours, he starts searching for the millions of dollars that Alex has hidden.

Michael receives other messages including one while he is at his brother’s graving asking, “What are you doing here?” And another, with GPS coordinates to the cemetery where his brother is buried. While this seems strange, it gets stranger when Skinny Lester, one of Alex’s employees, tells Michael about an artificial intelligence program that Alex had installed on a hidden laptop.  The program is supposed to allow Alex to live forever. And so, in a way, Alex does.

About the Author: 

E.J. SIMON was CEO of GMAC Global Relocation Services and the Managing Director of Douglas Elliman, the largest real estate company in New York.  He is a consultant to many leading private equity firms and has held senior level positions at prominent financial services companies. He is a world traveler, food enthusiast and lives in Connecticut. DEATH NEVER SLEEPS is his first novel.

You can purchase Death Never Sleeps on Amazon.com

I did not receive any compensation for this review. I did, however, receive a free copy for my review from Veronica Grossman at Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, Inc.

Blog Tour: Review of RASPUTIN’S SHADOW By Raymond Khoury

Welcome to the October 22 Book Trib Blog Tour stop for Raymond Khoury’s Rasputin’s Shadow.

I am a new reader to Raymond Khoury and the main character of Rasputin’s Shadow, FBI agent Sean Reilly.  Rasputin’s Shadow is a thriller that takes place in two different places and timelines – present day New York City and Russia in the early 20^th century. 

One winter day in 1916, a mining pit in Sibera becomes a bloodbath after miners are attacked.  To hide what has happened, Gregory Rasputin and a scientist blow up the mine to get rid of the bodies.

In present day New York, Sean Reilly is trying to figure out why Russian diplomat falls out of an apartment window to his death.  Reilly is also searching for the residents of that apartment, husband and wife, Leo and Daphne Sokolov. Moreover, the bodies are piling up in New York City and a killer is on the loose.

Sokolov is a former Russian scientist who defected and Russia is looking for him as well.  And there is also an assassin who has his own plans. The New York murders and the old Russian tragedy soon start to connect.   It also soon becomes clear that Sokolov has been living a double life and he has ties to what happened in 1916.

Raymond Khoury has an edgy but tasteful writing style. It is very interesting how the two stories in Rasputin’s Shadow connect.  Khoury is a very talented writer that keeps you on the edge of your seat with the many suspenseful twists in Rasputin’s Shadow.

About the Author: 

Raymond Khoury was born in Beirut, Lebanon and is the youngest of three children. When he was 14, civil war broke out in his birth country and his family moved the United States.  He currently resides in London with his wife and his two daughters.  His books have been translated into over 40 languages and one, The Last Templar, was made into a TV movie.  For more information on Raymond Khoury, visit the author’s website at http://raymondkhoury.com. Rasputin’s Shadow is currently available for purchase in your local bookstore and at several online retail websites. 

Review of Dr. Phil’s Life Code: The New Rules for Winning in the Real World

I recently had the pleasure of listening to Dr. Phil’s audiobook Life Code: The New Rules for Winning in the Real World.

Excerpt from the book: The rules for living in the real world have changed, because the world we live in has changed. Much of the conventional wisdom the last generation has passed on just doesn’t apply like it once did. If you want to win, and win big, and, more importantly, keep what you work so hard for, you need a crystal-clear view of how the real world works — not how you wish it worked, but how it actually works.

In this book, Dr. Phil tells us to change our thinking about the world and shares the truth about users, abusers and bad guys in all of our lives. He tells us that we need to be aware that the world isn’t as it should be.  He reveals the secrets of the bad guys including how they think and how they get to you and your loved ones to exploit you.

Dr, Phil shares that we all have BAITERs (Backstabbers, Abusers, Imposters, Takers, Exploiters, Reckless) who we need to protect ourselves from.  In doing so, we need the right tools and Dr. Phil shares these.  He gives you the identifiers so you can see them coming as well as their secret playbook, containing their tactics to exploit and take what is yours. Last, he shares with you the life code that you need to win in the real world.

I loved Dr. Phil’s advice but it was probably controversial.  Dr. Phil did what he does best by going away from the norm to show you how you can get what you deserve.  These are his lessons in winning at the game. 

Hardcover, First, 244 pages

Published February 12th 2013 by Bird Street Books (first published January 1st 2012)

ISBN 0985462736 (ISBN13: 9780985462734)

Book website: www.drphil.com/shows/page/LifeCodeBook

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Review of Love Gone Mad by Mark Rubinstein

ABOUT THE NOVEL: I have nothing but good things to say about Love Gone Mad. Mark Rubinstein constantly left me on the edge of my seat as he dived into the mind a criminally insane man.  Please excuse the all caps but YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK!  It is one of the best I have read in a very long time.

Conrad Wilson is the ex-husband of Nurse Megan Haggarty.  Megan leaves Colorado to escape her abusive ex and starts a new life in Connecticut. Adrian Douglas is a heart surgeon at the same hospital that Megan works in Connecticut.

Days before Megan and Adrian even met, Conrad starts to stalk both of them and Conrad is an insanely brilliant and crafty stalker. He will more than complicate their lives and they find themselves fighting for their lives.  He thinks that his and Megan’s six year old daughter is actually Adrian’s even though Megan and Adrian just met.  He believed his ex-wife cheated with Adrian while they were married even though she couldn’t have.  The fact is, things are never as black and white as they seem.

Once Conrad is put way, Megan and Adrian believe their nightmare is over.  However, Conrad is not one to go away and he spends nearly two years pulling a plan together on how to kill Megan and Adrian.  Conrad will be back but this time Megan and Adrian have an ally in their corner.

Love Gone Mad is a spine-tingling thriller that will leave you at the edge of your seat until the very end. Mark Rubinstein is a gifted writer and Love Gone Mad is about love and madness.  Because he is a psychiatrist, Rubinstein is able to take his novel to a believable level on insane love.  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Mark Rubinstein grew up in Brooklyn, New York.  After earning a business degree from NYU, he served in the U.S. Army. After his discharge, he went to medical school and became a doctor and then a psychiatrist. Being a forensic psychiatrist, he was often called an expert witness for many trials.   His first thriller was Mad Dog House, and before writing fiction, he co-authored several books on psychological and medical topics.  He is a contributing blogger for Psychology Today and the Huffington Post. He resides in Connecticut with his wife and is currently working on his next novel. 

Don't forget to check out Mark Rubenstein's blog. 

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DEATH NEVER SLEEPS LIVE CHAT AT BOOKTRIB

About The Book

DO THE DEAD HAVE SMARTPHONES?

The problem with Alex Nicholas is that he won't stay dead.

Alex Nicholas was the consummate Queens bookie: fast cars and even faster women, and friends in all the wrong places. As an illegal sports betting and loan shark king in New York City, Alex was fearless-until the night his luck ran out and someone leveled the silver barrel of an automatic on him and pulled the trigger.

Michael Nicholas was everything his brother Alex was not: a powerful, married straight-arrow corporate CEO living the American Dream. Their two worlds collide when Michael discovers his brother's secret laptop.

As Michael crosses the globe to find his brother's murder, can he avoid his brother's fate? And can the information contained in the laptop help Alex reach out to help Michael-from beyond the grave.

About The Author

E.J. SIMON was the CEO of GMAC Global Relocation Services (a division of GM) and the managing director of Douglas Elliman, the largest real estate company in New York. He is a consultant to many leading private equity firms and has held senior-level positions at prominent financial services companies. He is a world traveler, food enthusiast and lives in Connecticut. DEATH NEVER SLEEPS is his first novel.