Please give a warm welcome to Suzanne Burke who is sharing her book cover here today. I have my copy preordered!

Hello, and welcome to the Cover Reveal of my New Psychological Thriller.

“The Reckoning Squad.”

The Reckoning Squad

By

S. Burke

Available to Pre-Order NOW.
Release Date: Monday FEBRUARY 24th, 2020.
Mystery>Psychological Thriller & Suspense >

It is such an exciting time for an author when releasing a new book! I would be remiss in not sharing my heartfelt thanks to the marvelous people who gave of their time so readily to beta read my latest book. Their valuable insights helped me enormously when crafting “The Reckoning Squad”

At long last, I’m able to share the cover and blurb for “The Reckoning Squad” my latest Psychological Thriller.

“The Reckoning Squad ” is due for release on Monday, February 24th, 2020.

It is NOW available for Pre-Order.

I have many good friends sharing this cover across the blogosphere today and tomorrow, so you’re likely to see it pop up in various places. Thank you to everyone participating in my cover reveal splash, and to everyone dropping by to share in my excitement. Here’s my new baby . . .

With much gratitude to Eeva Lancaster at The Book Khaleesi for the cover creation.

Cover Created by Eeva Lancaster at The Book Khaleesi

Presenting “The Reckoning Squad” A Psychological thriller.

“The Reckoning Squad“

BLURB:

The Reckoning Squad was the new name being whispered in the darkened corridors of the powerful in Washington. The name was whispered with awe, and the whispers grew louder.

Twenty people had been carefully vetted and recruited to undergo specialized training. Training engineered to break them utterly, intended to shatter everything they once believed themselves capable of surviving. Only the best of them made it through the twelve weeks of hell. They now formed a cohesive black-ops unit, known as The Reckoning Squad.

Their facility is breached, and the team’s numbers are decimated. The survivors know that they’re in a fight for their lives. They have been betrayed from within. Trust has now become a rare commodity. They want answers.

The betrayers don’t understand just what they’ve unleashed.

But they are about to find out.

The Reckoning Squad are coming, and they have just rewritten the rules.

#

Here’s an extract from the Prologue.

Prologue.

New York: November 8^th, 2003.

Chastity Adams checked the time, ran a brush through her long blonde curls and hurriedly grabbed her school books. She shoved them into her backpack and slipped on her gloves. One quick look from her bedroom window was enough to tell her just how windy it was outside. The last of the fall leaves still clung bravely to the branches all the while knowing it was futile. The others swirled in small angry spirals across her backyard. She grabbed her coat, pulled on a beanie, and loosely draped a scarf across her shoulders. Chastity was unaware of how pretty she looked with her long curls falling in a soft curtain around her. Her mind was too busy to cloud it with vanity.

She suddenly recalled a decision she’d made yesterday.

Chastity hurried down the hallway to her brother Nathan’s room and knocked on the door.

Nathan stood looking down at her from his 6ft 3ins, rubbing his eyes and leaning on the wall. “What’s up, squirt?”

Chastity ignored the nickname, she’d be thirteen in a couple of days then she’d ask her big brother to quit using it, “I was just wondering if you had some gloves and maybe a beanie or scarf you don’t ever wear.”

“Why would you need them?”

Chastity flushed a deep shade of pink, “There’s this boy at school, he kinda always looks cold. He’s still wearing the same stuff he was wearing back in June. It’s way too cold now for shorts and a tee-shirt. So, I figured maybe his folks just didn’t have enough money to buy him some warmer stuff, you know? I mean he could have one of mine, but he already gets picked on enough and adding bright girl colored stuff would just make it worse.”

“You off on another one of your missions to save the world, squirt?”

“I’m not! But it just doesn’t seem right that some folks have too much and some folks never have enough. That’s all.”

Her brother looked at her closely and nodded. “Okay. I guess I have some stuff I don’t really need.”

His sister flung her arms around him. “You are the best brother ever! You wouldn’t maybe have an old hoodie as well?”

Nathan knew he’d lose an argument with his kid sister. He had never been able to deny her anything. And the little minx knew it.

His eyes followed her as she left the room with her donated bootie. He tried to shrug off the thought that his friends may start looking at his kid sister a little differently, and soon.

Then he grinned and was comforted by the knowledge that the squirt was capable of laying them out flat on the ground, courtesy of the karate lessons she’d undertaken since the age of five. If she didn’t dissuade them they’d have to come through him. That wasn’t about to happen. This whole big brother thing had suddenly altered in a way he hadn’t anticipated happening quite so soon.

***

Travis Wilson shivered as he stepped outside and hurriedly locked the front door behind him. The baggy shorts and tee-shirt he was wearing gave him no armor to fight off the cold November wind. He steeled himself to brace it, picked up his violin case and hurried to catch the school bus.

He climbed on and made his way quickly down to the back corner and grabbed the window seat. He spoke to no one and kept his eyes averted, but he couldn’t shut his ears off from hearing the nasty comments from the other kids that sat nearest to him. “You going away to a beach somewhere, freak? Don’t much like your choice of swimwear.”

The guy had secured himself a good laugh with that one.

Then the other comments started. Kids seemed to grow braver when they formed a pack. Travis knew they weren’t all cruel, not normally, but the need they had to belong trashed all over their distaste at what they were doing. Driven by the desire to be considered popular inspired them to be as cruel as they could be. Their words lacerated his already damaged soul and Travis felt his face darken with the shame of it. He didn’t respond either by word or action, knowing they’d soon become bored with their bullying of him and move their spiteful tongues on to some other kid they deemed to be weak and an easy target.

He looked out the window and sighed with relief when he spotted Chastity Adams and her best friends readying to climb onboard at the bus stop. Chastity was different from the rest of them. He always felt a little better about his day when she’d seek him out and give him a smile. He looked across at her then, just as she turned. He knew she had caught the wistful look on his face. She simply smiled across at him and turned back to her chattering best friends.

He caught the smile and burned it into his memory. He would remember it when the darkness descended again. It would help keep him warm.

***

Purchase The Reckoning Squad on Amazon.com

Again my grateful thanks to the generous folks sharing my Cover reveal with you today.

I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Suzanne Burke Amazon Author Page

On TWITTER.

My Blog

As a child, the night scared me. I imagined all sorts of evil lurking in it. The light became my defender of this darkness. Although I mostly outgrew this, sometimes the darkness reminds me of its power. I had one of those nights this last week. The only thing that resolved that moment was getting out of my safe bed and satisfying myself that the house was secure. Then, I turned on the hall light that cast a glow pushing the shadows away. From this irrational fear came creativity, trying to explain the unexplainable. When dark meets light and good vs. evil is a common theme in my writing. This is the place it comes from, so I accept those moments, knowing the light is never far away. Although I grant wary respect to that darkness and what may be lurking. Here’s a poem from that night.

SOAK

I soak up my surroundings slowly

It’s dark, dense, and full of doom

My hand clasps my comforter like a clamp

My breath grasping for balance or bliss

My heart reaches for heaven and hope

It’s an empty effort as darkness fills my eyes

So, I softly soak up the silence waiting for the light.

NOTE: I’m looking for Beta Readers for my latest book “This Last Chance” (I’m planning on it being the final book in the evildwel/angel saga unless the characters have a different idea.) It should be ready to read in a couple of weeks. I’m furiously editing it right now. Email me at d.l.finn.author@gmail.com if you are interested. Thanks:)

Watch for a special edition blog tomorrow:)

Embrace that inner child with a good book! D. L. Finn

This is my first 2020 reflection post on what the new year might bring. Last year I was hopeful going into 2019. It was to be the year of me being a leader, but it led me instead. 2020 came in more quietly, and I was cautious seeing what it might bring. Instead of leading it’s the year of landing on my feet — good thing I’ve had some practice sticking those landings. Then things started breaking around me, like a two-year-old stove that’s been deemed unfixable and not under warranty, the washing machine sits waiting for a repair that may or may not be under warranty (a definite pattern so far) and my car in the shop are a few examples.

So, all I could do is use my griddle, do laundry at my daughter’s house, and I enjoy being housebound for now. It’s the little stuff, I know, but for some reason, it felt heavy this time. Things breaking were weighing me down as I talked about getting rid of household clutter. Maybe I needed to be more specific on what I wanted to rid myself of, but I do know that I’d rather it be things breaking other than people.

So, I took this as a time to regroup. What I realized was we can survive anything if we do it together. This doesn’t seem to be a common theme lately in families, the workplace, or society. We don’t seem to be in this wonderful life together; it seems like we are at war with each other—even ourselves. I will be trying to figure out how to bridge this idea of togetherness as I let go of things I no longer need. It will be an interesting year and decade, but I have faith we can work through our problems together and clutter-free.

My end of the year poetry reflects my going into a new decade with no resolutions only hope. 

ROAD

2019 was to be the year of the leader

A shining star surging into existence

Instead, the year led me shivering down a dark road

Alone, I hastened my stride on the solid surface

Squinting into the darkness, I scanned for light

There was none, so I kept walking

Hoping my flashlight wouldn’t fail me

With its narrow beam of light urging me forward

Scared that I couldn’t see where I was going

I cautiously made my way into the night

Breathlessly I reached the top of a peak

Where I was greeted with a distant glow.

Forward I treaded to iridescent hope

At the edge of darkness.

The road was suddenly bathed in light

Now I could see I wasn’t alone

Others were in the distance on their roads

I wondered if they were making the same journey

I glanced back at the road I had traveled

But it had merged into the darkness

I shrugged and pushed on into the new year

Guided by only what could-be

Leaving what-was where it belonged.

Maybe authors can share our example of helping one another with the rest of the world. 😊 Embrace that inner child with a good book! D. L. Finn

How Did You Get into Writing? I’ve been writing most of my life. But when I was given 6 months to live in 2009, I promised myself I would publish. I started with poetry which were actually journal entries of my life. In 2015 I began publishing fiction.

What’s Your Favorite Genre to Write? Mystery/Contemporary Fiction

Is there a genre you’ve always wanted to write in that you haven’t yet? HEA Romance. LOL, I’m a cynic.

Who are some of your inspirations? Interesting question. Elizabeth Gilbert. Paulo Coelho. Daniel Silva. Lee Child. David Baldacci. Dan Brown.

Do any of your stories have personal experiences in them? Yes, absolutely all of the 16 books I have written draw from my life and from acquaintances and lovers.

Who are some of your favorite authors to read? The same as the ones who inspire me.

What’s your writing process look like? (Outline or go with the flow of your character) I outline a rough plot. Then if I get stuck, I know my plot is wrong. I let my Muse step in with a surprise or two and then my book takes off. I call it the “magic happens.”

What are some of your hobbies? Photography. Travel. Food. Chocolate. Adventure. Learning new things.

Have you attended any signings? If so, what was your favorite thing about it? No. Mainly because I started publishing while living in Mexico.

When reading reviews, what is something you love to see written? I love when I’ve entertained the reader or inspired. The reviews that make me laugh or feel a sense of touching someone’s life–those are the reviews that matter to me. I don’t like negative hurtful reviews because although I appear to be a bad-ass, I’m very sensitive and put my heart and soul into my passion for writing.

If you could spend the day with one of your characters, who would it be and what would you do? I would love to spend a day with Luke Raven. That’s because my friends and some fans know he’s based on a real person who has a terminal injury from his life as “Luke Raven.” He lives in a hospital. He’s my hero and I feel him all around me when I write the Code Raven books.

What are you currently working on? I’m about to start three projects. 1. Code Raven 8. When you read The Istanbul Conspiracy, I will let you in on a secret: the ending was a complete surprise to me! So, I know I have to continue to see what happens next!! After the success of LOVE, the Beat Goes On–my memoir on “healing from a 6-months-to-live diagnosis,” I know I want to write the Next Chapter. I’ve been traveling all this year and am currently living in Istanbul, Turkey. There’s a tremendous message in everything that I’ve done over the last 10 soon to be 11 years. I need to share that with those who need to be motivated and inspired. And third, I have hundreds of pages emails from a friend who died in 2011. He was a Navy SEAL, and never married. I loved him and feel him around me all the time. His story is meant to be told. He’s already a character in Code Raven, but his personal story is very moving. He died suddenly while in South Sudan and he left me his journals, but his ex-team, after a year of emails back and forth, refused to release them to me. I have enough of him in his writings to tell his story. And I think I’m ready to do this now.

What’s your writing routine? This past 11 months I’ve been traveling, doing a lot of photography, and living my life fully. I didn’t write as much as I have in the past. But I’m now back to a routine of yoga/news/writing/blogging/eating/social-median/shopping/hanging out with my boyfriend/Netflixing. I try to get to sleep before 2:AM and one of these days, I will! But I’m like a kid on permanent vacation and I’m loving every minute of my life right now.

Do you have a superstition when it comes to writing? If so, what? No. Maybe. I do believe that 50% or more of what I write flows through me. It comes from a place so deep inside me that sometimes I actually find myself crying. That’s actually funny when you think about it because I write fast-paced stories that read like movie scripts.

What is the best writing advice you’ve ever received? It came from another author who writes mystery/suspense. He said, “make an outline!!” I use excel. And the second piece of advice came from a book I read on writing: Stop writing as if your mother is reading over your shoulder!

Where do you find the names for your characters? A lot of times the name just fits the character I have in my mind. Some are actual names of people I know.

What is your favorite book made into a movie/tv show? JACK REACHER

Anything else you want your readers to know about you? I’m wild, a bit crazy, always up and high on life. I’m older, much older, and I’m single although I’m currently dating a very young Turkish guy and I’m not afraid to talk about it!

If you won the lottery what would you do with the money? I think my life is pretty close to perfect right now. I suppose lottery money gives you a certain sense of financial security. I would travel more. And give away more. And surprise and spoil the people I love.

In your everyday life how do you give back to the world? You might remember a site called MySpace. I think it was the first really successful social media online site. I had tons of followers and posted a lot of poetry, etc. My name on that site was LIGHT & LOVE. I don’t care how bad things are in the world, it’s my mission to spread light and love. When I began this epic voyage early February 2019, I called it my #weareallone journey. From Israel to India to Turkey to Malaysia, we are all one. We all live, and love and want to be happy. I spread that message in my writing, in my blogging, in every aspect of my life. I LIVE that message and I feel passionate about uniting the world in peace and love. I was never a hippie, although that’s my generation. I guess I’m a late bloomer!

If you could give your younger self one piece of writing advice, what would it be? When you know this is what you are born to do, follow your heart and just do it.

The wedding of DJ Turk and the daughter of the Minister of Defense is about to take place on a mega-yacht on the Bosphorus in Istanbul. Hours later the much-anticipated photos show corpses lined up along the dock and a bride covered in blood.
Was this a random act of terror, a targeted assassination of the Turkish political elite, or an attack on DJ Turk who leads a double life?
Luke and Samaar of the Raven Group have their own wedding to attend but it’s called off at the last minute when they uncover a breach in their security. Instead of returning to Paris, they come to the aid of the Turk to get to the bottom of this horrific event.
The conspiracy they uncover must be prevented before the balance of power in the world is perilously reversed.

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