If you’ve read my author bio somewhere on the Web, you know that I live on a mountain ranch in Colorado and have a rather spirited Golden Retriever named Shelby. She follows me everywhere and wouldn’t give me a moment of solitude if I didn’t periodically assert my rights to be an independent being and do things like going to bathroom by myself. But I also have a wife who enjoys kanoodling with me from time to time, and it isn’t very romantic if a Golden Retriever is simultaneously licking your face. Fortunately, the young lady has her own, comfy bed on the floor. That would be the dog, by the way, not my wife.

As a writer, I clearly spend a lot of time at my desk, and Shelby is always nearby. She spends most of her time in the media room adjacent to my study staring out the French doors, monitoring our property for the multitudes of deer who frequently chow down on our landscaping. If I hear Shelby whining or barking in there, I know exactly what’s going on, and I’ll jump from my desk to let her out so she can chase them away. When she returns, she usually opens the door to let herself in and trots into the study looking like she had just saved the world from a nuclear holocaust.

You would think, since pushing down the door lever is a piece of cake for her, she’d also let herself OUT, but she doesn’t quite have the knack of pulling the door open yet. It’s so much easier to push from the outside. Then I have to get up and close the door again.

But Shelby’s favorite little caper is to come into the study periodically throughout the day and stare at me with a very clear message in her eyes: “Dad, I don’t know what you’re doing in here, but it’s quite boring, and I need you to stop it. Let’s go outside and do something far more entertaining like barking at things that don’t exist.”

These visits happen more frequently as the day goes on since we’re getting closer and closer to “quitting time” (or at least dinner time if I plan to return to work afterwards). Usually, after I spin around in my chair and see her staring me down, I’ll call her over and spend a couple of minutes giving her vigorous petties. That will pacify her for some indefinite period of time, after which she comes back for an encore performance, clearly hoping I’ll listen to reason this time.

I’m not saying we don’t take occasional breaks during the day to play, take a hike, exercise, or go for a ride in the car. We do all that. But I still adhere to a regimented work day, which means no less than 8 hours (and often 10 or more) at my desk, and that’s a lot of sedentary time for a dog to endure. Sometimes she’ll goof around outside without me for a while, especially if chipmunks or other nefarious creatures are in need of chasing around. But in no time she’s back at the study, and I need to get up and close the door, hopefully before those dastardly chipmunks scurry inside.

Oh, if you’re wondering why I harbor such contempt for chipmunks, just check out my author blog at GoodReads.com and read about our cutting-edge chipmunk relocation program. Then you’ll understand.

So it’s safe to say that Shelby has no understanding of why I fiddle with a four-screen computer workstation all day (I trade stocks, too), and I’m sure she thinks we’d both be better off if I did something else for a living. But my former career was in structured finance, which often entailed 60 to 80-hour work weeks with barely enough time outside the office to eat and sleep. If I went back THAT life, she would hardly ever get to see me, and I doubt that’s what she has in mind.

Sometimes puppy dogs just don’t think things through.

In this fourth action-packed thriller, Jack travels to Denmark for a business venture, but what seems to be a textbook transaction turns into a nightmare after he gets involved with Katarina, a vivacious Danish girl who apparently lacks a moral compass, not to mention an off button. After naively believing their liaison was just a random encounter, Jack discovers she’s connected to his business deal, and there’s a dangerous political group with skin in the game, too.

Katarina makes a convincing case of being a victim, not part of the conspiracy, but can Jack really trust her?

The firestorm gets out of control as Jack digs deeper, unearths the convoluted plot behind it all, and discovers that innocent people are being heartlessly killed. He’s not only horrified by the reason why it’s happening, but how it’s being done, and there appears to be no way to stop it from occurring again.

Then the scheme’s real objective emerges, launching Jack into action with intelligence operatives to prevent it. But that’s not so easy with assassins on Jack’s tail, forcing him to struggle for survival while trying to prevent Katarina from getting caught in the crossfire.

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Genre – Action, Mystery, Suspense

Rating – R

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