Collateral Damage
by Gwenan Haines
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Romantic suspense
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
For three
years Laura Drake has watched Senator Pete Worthington promote a series of
gorgeous women while she sits in a forgotten corner answering constituent
letters on an outdated computer. When Worthington asks her to find an elusive
file one Friday night he sets off a series of events that brands her as a
killer and puts her life in jeopardy. The path she sets out on forces her to
confront not only the nature of evil but the ghosts from her past that have
never been set to rest.FBI Agent Dalton Ross transferred from Chicago to
Washington to escape his own ghosts. When his investigation leads him to Laura
he's torn between his desire to keep her safe and the need to protect his own
heart. As the mystery that surrounds them deepens, Laura and Dalton race to
save themselves and the nation from someone willing to sacrifice anything to
protect a secret.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT:
Dalton
checked his gun and opened the driver’s side door as quietly as possible.
“Appearances can be deceiving.”
She
opened her door too. “You leave me here, I’m gone when you get back.” She
flashed an object in front of his face. “And I’ve got the key.”
“Do
you have a death wish or something?” How had she managed to get hold of the
key? He was sure he’d put it in his wallet, which was tucked away in the glove
compartment. He would have remembered it if she’d opened it. “I thought you
said you were dull.”
“I
am.” She deposited the key down the front of her dress. “But I’m kinda getting
the hang of this adventure thing.” A grin tugged at the corner of his mouth,
but he suppressed it. She was charming, no doubt about that. And damn
mysterious, too. As she stood there smiling with cat-like satisfaction, he had
to resist the urge to take her in his arms and kiss her. Just the idea of
pressing his lips to hers was making him hard. The trouble was Laura had no
idea what she was up against. She thought of all this as an exciting change
from her ordinary life. But this was real life, and real life was full of
people whose sole purpose was to inflict as much pain as they possibly could.
It was all too easy to go about one’s business without ever seeing the dark
side of things—he’d done it for years, and in a way, he wished he could go back
to being that twenty-year-old kid who signed up for an interview with the FBI
mostly to impress his buddies. But after more than a decade spent hunting
killers he knew that like all fairy-tales, the happily-ever-after of suburbia
had its monsters.
In
real life, people died.
A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR
A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR
1.When did you first realize you wanted to become a writer?
2.Besides yourself, who is your favorite author in the genre that you write?
3.What are reading right now?
4.Which one of your characters is most like you?
5.Which of your books is your favorite? Why?
2.Besides yourself, who is your favorite author in the genre that you write?
3.What are reading right now?
4.Which one of your characters is most like you?
5.Which of your books is your favorite? Why?
- It feels as if I’ve
always wanted to be a writer. Recently my mom cleaned out her attic and
came across a scrapbook from when I was in grade school. When I was in
fifth grade I apparently took one of those “What Do I Want to Be When I
Grow Up” questionnaires and checked off “mother” and “nurse,” but penciled
in “writer” at the bottom of the sheet (I guess this field wasn’t
considered realistic enough to be one of the typed options!). So my love
for writing, and my desire to make a living at it, goes pretty far back.
- Tough question. There are
a lot of romance and suspense authors I love. I’m crazy about Laura
Griffin’s Tracer series and am addicted to Iris Johansen’s Eve Duncan.
Lately I’ve been in love with Kate Morton’s gothic novels, especially The Forgotten Garden. And this
answer wouldn’t feel complete if I didn’t mention Karin Slaughter, whose
suspense novels floor me. Not too long ago I finished Pretty Girls and thought it was fantastic. Her novel Criminal, which alternates between
the present day and Atlanta in the 1970s, is also a great book. While not
all these authors are romantic suspense authors, there are elements of
romance in every one of these novels. I’m rooting for Slaughter’s Will
Trent and Sara Linton.
- I just started Jennifer McMahon’s
The Winter People. It’s about a
woman who whose body is discovered in a field behind her house not long
after her daughter dies in 1908. I love books that weave past and present,
which this one does. I tried to do the same thing in my novel first romantic
suspense novel Vertigo, which is
set in the present and in Maine in the twenties.
- I’m going to go with Blake
Cartwright, the main character in Vertigo
(which, by the way, is on sale for 99 cents this month with Amazon Encore.
Here’s a link if you’re interested: http://www.amazon.com/Vertigo-Gwenan-Haines/dp/1612178111).
Blake is better than me in so many ways, but I identify with some of her
life choices. She left behind a career in New York City to renovate an old
lighthouse when a body falls from the tower one night. Earlier in my life,
I worked in Washington (like Laura Drake in Collateral Damage) and traveled around the world for a few
years. I went to Moscow multiple times, as well as Germany, France, Spain
and even Pakistan. But ultimately it wasn’t what I wanted, so I moved back
to New England. Now I live in an old Cape house with my daughter and a
Siberian husky.
- I like all of them for
different reasons. I’m usually fondest about whatever I’m working on at
the moment. In the fall I finished Collateral
Risk, the follow-up novel to Collateral
Damage, which tells the story of scientist Mia Lindgren. Mia studies
deadly viruses and ends up caught in a terrorist plot while working with
FBI counter-terrorism expert Nick Doyle (Dalton’s boss from Collateral Damage). I’m working on
edits for that novel now and am pretty excited about it.
I live in an old Cape house
with my daughter, too many books, and a red-and-white Siberian husky born on
Halloween. After working in Washington, D.C. for several years and traveling to
Russia, Europe and Pakistan, I moved back to New England. I’m the author of the
romantic suspense novel Vertigo, which is available as an E-book from Amazon
Encore and in paperback from Wild Rose Press. Collateral Risk, the follow-up
novel to Collateral Damage (which features Dalton’s boss Nick Doyle and
scientist Mia Lindgren), is forthcoming from Wild Rose Press. When I’m not
working on fiction, I write poetry, teach literature and am still trying to
learn how to cook.
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Author Page
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Gwenan Haines
will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter
during the tour. Use the link below to enter.
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this excerpt :)
ReplyDeleteWhat did you enjoy most about writing this book?
ReplyDeleteGreat cover
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great comments! And thank you for having me. :)
ReplyDeleteMai - I loved getting caught up in the story. It was a lot of fun to write.
Enjoyed the post and excerpt, sounds like a fascinating read, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I really enjoyed reading it :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great read.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the post.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the interview! Thanks for the giveaway opportunity.
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed reading the excerpt, thank you!
ReplyDelete