Making a killing in business is one thing - doing it for real is another.
Private Investigator Sam Dyke turns down a job that would require skills that he doesn't have - patience, computer-literacy, tact. Then he finds that the skills he does have - tenacity, aggression, street-smarts - are exactly the ones he needs for his next case - hunting down a cold-blooded murderer who seems to know what his every step will be.
To solve the case Sam must negotiate with his ex-wife, cement a relationship with a new love, unravel an office-based financial fraud and fight off an arrogant murderer armed only with a pen-knife. Altered Life is fast-paced, bitterly comic and introduces a tough new English private eye who knows what he wants and, usually, how to get it.
This book has been free on Amazon and other sites for about a year now. It usually hovers around No.10 in the Amazon free rankings in the genre of Crime/Mystery/Hard-Boiled. Here are its rankings in the Amazon US site as I write, 3rd October, 2014:
#10 in Kindle Store > Books > Crime, Thriller & Mystery > Mystery > Hard-Boiled
#11 in Kindle Store > Books > Crime, Thriller & Mystery > Crime Fiction > Action & Adventure
It's currently being made into an audiobook for completion before the end of 2014.
I WISH I COULD say that the first time I met Rory Brand I knew he was a dead man walking.
But I can’t.
At that moment he was just another client eager to get me on his side.
‘Dyke, thanks for coming,’ he said, pumping my arm vigorously. I didn’t want to be outdone, so I matched the strength of his grip and watched him react with a swift competitive grin.
‘Nice grip,’ he said.
‘Call me Sam,’ I said.
He was a stocky man a head shorter than me with cropped dark hair peppered with grey. His actions were purposeful and confident, his body language practised at being in charge. He had vitality and life, like most entrepreneurs I’d met. He closed the door behind me with a casual swipe of his arm, then directed me into the room, a small airless office with two large windows and chairs either side of a wooden table. I had the sense that he was used to people doing what he wanted. Well that wasn’t going to work with me—not without a good retainer anyway. ‘I hope we can get one thing straight right now,’ he said. ‘Rumour’s a bastard in this business so nobody else is to find out we talked, is that clear?’
‘I agreed to that yesterday,’ I said.
‘So call me paranoid. I don’t care. You obviously have more faith in people than I do.’
His manner suggested that my opinions of humankind were in fact of no interest to someone as important as he was. So I said nothing. I looked out of the window at the blue rooftops of Waverley, wondering what it must be like to live in a place where your only concern was which colour carpet to lay in the loft.
‘Did Carol offer you a drink?’ Brand asked.
‘I’ve drunk enough coffee to float a yacht, Mr Brand,’ I said.
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Portuguese
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Already translated.
Translated by Natalia Orosco Ferreira and Aline Tomasuolo Souza
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Author review: Wonderful translation and worked very quickly. Can't recommend Natalia highly enough! Excellent work. |
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Spanish
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Already translated.
Translated by Marina Fernández Rosique
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Author review: Great working with Marina - very professional and very focused on getting the translation right. Plus, she finished the translation very quickly. Lovely working with her! |
