Tuesday, April 5, 2016

The Shadow Cartel (The Dominic Gray Series) - Teaser Tuesday and First Chapter / First Paragraph

    I enjoy reading books that are set in places I've visited or towns where I've lived. So when I saw that The Shadow Cartel was set in Miami, where I lived for many years, I knew I had to read it, even though the story is outside my usual genre. 
    I've just started reading the book, and I'm enthralled by the story! The author obviously knows the city inside and out. He even mentioned the neighborhood where my husband and I once lived. From the venerable Tobacco Road bar to the high rise office buildings along Brickell Avenue, I'm enjoying my virtual visit back to South Florida. 
   The Shadow Cartel is Book #4 in the Dominic Gray Series.



First Paragraph:
Peoples Temple Agricultural Project,
Northwest Guyana
November 18, 1978
     The man known as John Wolverton cocked his head at the sound, a faint thwap that echoed through the vines and trees. He reasoned the shot had come from a poacher's rifle.
     Surely it hadn't come from the Port Kaituma airstrip. From Congressman Ryan's delegation, sent to investigate the conditions of Reverand Jones's utopian cult that had set up shop in the middle of the Guyanese jungle. Reverend Jones was a sociopath, but he wasn't suicidal, and the doctors agreed the two were mutually exclusive.


Teaser (from 21% on my Kindle):
[Here's a character's description of Miami from her memories. Yes, it's only two sentences.]
   She could still draw a map of the Fairchild Botanical Gardens, picture the evening light sinking into No Name Harbor, and tell friends visiting the city where to find the best ceviche, the most authentic sangria, the perfect little wine shop hidden in the maze of Cuban bakeries on Coral Way. She loved the smell of roasting coffee, the sexy fashion boutiques, the day trips to the Everglades and the weekend trips to the Keys, the serendipity of a peacock sighting on the way to the grocery store, the delight of biting into one of the mangoes weighing down the limbs of neighborhood trees in summer.

Genre: Thriller
Book Length: 434 Pages
Amazon Link: The Shadow Cartel
Author Website: Layton Green

Synopsis:
The sins of the past always return...
    The General.  A name whispered in hushed tones among the criminal underworld, from Miami to Buenos Aires.  A name even the drug cartels fear.  
    Yet the General is a man without a face.  There are no fingerprints on file, no known base of operations, not even a biographical sketch.  He operates in the shadows, but somehow controls a vast criminal empire.
    And he has never made a direct incursion onto U.S. soil -- until now.
    In Miami, disgraced DEA agent Fred Hernandez is called to investigate a bizarre crime scene, where the bodies of four drug dealers are sprawled around an iron cauldron.  Even stranger is the mysterious 'blue lady' that a drug-addled witness claims killed the men.
    Lana Valenciano, an ambitious CIA operative, informs Agent Hernandez that the murders might be connected to a legendary South American criminal known as the General.  Lana claims the General has become a threat to national security -- but has no idea how to find him.
    The government's best hope?  Private investigators Dominic Grey and Viktor Radek, who might be the only people alive with the skills to unravel the General's tangled web.  
    Thrown together on a covert manhunt, Grey and the two agents delve into the darkest reaches of international drug trafficking, only to unearth a sinister chapter in the history of the CIA that has spilled into the present -- and put them in the crosshairs of an underworld puppeteer with a frightening reach.

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Jenn of Books and A Beat. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please!

First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile By The Sea. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.



Twitter: @SandyNachlinger
Facebook: sandy.nachlinger

27 comments:

  1. I love books with a familiar place which is almost like another character. I would keep reading.

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  2. I too like to read books set in a familiar place.

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  3. I'd read more - leaves me curious. Hope you enjoy this one.

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  4. I find it hard to resist books with setting of places I have been. I would read on.
    sherry @ fundinmental My TT

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  5. I love it when books are set in places I know, too. Just recently picked up a cozy mystery because it takes place in south FL where I am spending the winter. Hope you enjoy this one!

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  6. It does help to give one a visual when set n familiar places. I like that!

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  7. I like the opening and especially the teaser! I can see why you're enjoying this book. I'd keep reading!

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  8. Sounds good. I haven't read any in this series but think I'd enjoy them. This week it is an historical romance - Luck Is No Lady by Amy Sandas - on my adult blog. Happy reading!

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  9. Not sure about this one...the blurb sounds like it should be one for me but the opening didn't grab me...I will have to ponder in this one.

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  10. I also love books in settings I've visited....and I loved this teaser, which is almost like a little journey through some favorite places. It made me want to go there.

    Thanks for sharing...and here's mine: “FRICTION”


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  11. I enjoy reading books about places I have lived or visited too. It makes the setting come all the more to life, I think. This sounds like such an interesting book!

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  12. What fun to have a setting where you used to live! I haven't read anything by this author before.

    Thanks for stopping by mine this week for City of Darkness and Light (Molly Murphy #13) by Rhys Bowen at http://wp.me/pZnGI-uv

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  13. Sounds like a compelling read. Love the description of Miami through sight and smell.

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  14. I agree, Catherine. I saw peacocks more than once on neighborhood walks, and mango and avocado trees were all over our neighborhood. There were many things to like about Miami, but I like the Pacific Northwest (where I'm living now) even better.

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  15. Glad you are finding this such an enjoyable read - it is always a bonus to find books about your home patch... My TT this week is all about running away from demons - https://sjhigbee.wordpress.com/2016/04/05/teaser-tuesday-5th-april-2016/

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  16. I enjoy stories that are located in places I know too. How fun that it even mentions your neighborhood! Sounds like quite the thriller too.
    Thanks for stopping by my teaser:)

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  17. I'm always more easily drawn to a book that is set in a place I know well - I hope this one lives up to its opening!

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  18. Nice teaser! Totally new to me read! Thanks for visiting my blog!

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  19. I'm with you and the others...reading a book that talks about places I know is pretty cool! Have you read the first three books in this series? I tend to be on the OCD side and prefer to start with book one if there is a series with the same character(s). My teaser is from the first book in a cozy mystery series I just discovered by Nancy Atherton. It's been a very enjoyable read! http://abookaddictsview.blogspot.com/2016/04/teaser-tuesday.html

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  20. I always love it when a book is set in a place I know well; it can bring back great memories. It sounds like a very enjoyable read! :)

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  21. I also like to read books set in places I've lived in. I like the summary. I'd like to read more.

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  22. I love the second paragraph and the very vivid descriptions of place. I have a book I read years ago that was a fun read because it described a town that doesn't exist, but I knew exactly where it was supposed to be located- just 10 miles down the road from where I was living in Upstate New York. In A Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer- I seem to remember it was a good mystery and the first in a series. I'll have to check them out again. Fleming.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/113002.In_the_Bleak_Midwinter

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  23. That is a great teaser. Definitely sets the scene and you feel like you are there!

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  24. Mmmmm mangoes. I feel like eating some now!

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  25. Oh that's a great description! Makes me want to go for a visit! Hope you're enjoying it! Thanks for sharing (:

    Cyn @ Bookmunchies

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  26. You had me hooked before I even read the synopsis! I couldn't agree more. When a book takes you on a trip down memory lane, it is the most wonderful experience. Your teaser has me wanting to head to Miami right now. :)

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  27. First of all, let me apologize for commenting back so late. It seems this past week was busier for me than usual....

    I don't normally read this type of novel, but I'm interested in this particular one, because I happen to live in Miami! All of the places you've mentioned in your post (except for No Name Harbor; I've never heard of that) are familiar to me! So I know I would enjoy reading about them all! Hmmmm....I wonder if Bayside is mentioned. I haven't been down there in a while, but every time I go, I feel like a rich tourist. Lol.

    In short, I'm pretty sure I'll give this one a try. Thanks for featuring it!!! Thanks as well for dropping by and commenting on my own Tuesday Intros post!! :)

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