Madison’s Avenue
by Mike Brogan

Lighthouse Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-692-00634-4
343 pages, hardcover
$19.95

Madison McKean’s life is on a full-speed collision course with disaster. Her father, an advertising agency CEO, is accused of embezzlement and promptly kills himself (or so the police say), which puts his daughter in charge of the agency. As the new CEO, Madison finds herself at odds with many of her employees, and the target of a devious assassin being financed by some very high rollers. And then things get worse.

Author Mike Brogan has weaved a tale of intrigue set in the world of capitalism, corporations, and their criminals. His knowledge and expertise of international business give Madison’s Avenue an air of authenticity, and his skills keep the tale from being overbearing and predictable. He also keeps you on your toes until the very last pages and hits you with an ending you can't see coming.

Summer is approaching, and this book is a good way to spend some time while soaking in the sun. It’s got all the trappings of a seasonal read: romance, adventure, murder, and a healthy dose of subterfuge. Brogan may not yet be a household name, but this novel puts him one step closer to becoming one. — D. BRUNELL 4/11

 

 

Leviathan’s Master
by David M. Quinn

David M. Quinn (iUniverse)
ISBN: 978-1-4401-5535-2
107 pages, softcover
$10.95

Leviathan’s Master is one of those books that is far better than you'd expect it to be, with  author David M. Quinn providing a compelling fictional version of a real event: the wreck of the world’s largest sailing ship.  The captain of said ship was a distant relative of Quinn’s, and the story does not always paint the man in the best light, nor does it let him off the hook for the questionable decisions he made.

The T.W. Lawson was a four-hundred-foot schooner with seven masts, and on its first transatlantic crossing it carried over two million gallons of kerosene earmarked for London.  What happens to the ship is the stuff of nightmares, as it encounters a series of brutal storms and then becomes trapped off the coast of Britain in an area that destroyed many a vessel.

In an incredibly small number of pages the author paints a very complete picture of a devastating incident. He successfully humanizes a tragedy that few people have ever heard of, and he does it in the most interesting of narrative styles. Consider this a must-read for fans of nautical adventures and maritime history.— D. BRUNELL 7/11

 

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