Book
Title: You
Killed My Brother
Author: Keith Rommel Release Date: May 21st, 2013 Genre: Mystery/Suspense Length: 182Publisher: GMTA Publishing LLC
Presented by: Enigma Press
Author: Keith Rommel Release Date: May 21st, 2013 Genre: Mystery/Suspense Length: 182Publisher: GMTA Publishing LLC
Presented by: Enigma Press
SYNOPSIS
How far would you go to make someone pay for hurting a loved one?
Rainer
is a successful doctor and father of two. He's a celebrated member of
the community for his exceptional care and charity work. Brick is a
local street thug that can't keep his nose clean. When fate brings
the two together through tragedy, the life of Rainer is changed
dramatically, setting into motion events that change communities.
Glenn
is a seasoned cop and Rainer's younger brother. Trusting the justice
system, he keeps his desire for revenge in check as Brick is brought
to trial. But when the jury hands Brick a lean sentence, Glenn sets
out to avenge his family's suffering. But what he forgets in his rage
is that for every action, there is a reaction.
BOOK
LINKS
EXCERPT
Chapter
One
If murder were legal, there would be dozens of bodies left in Jennifer’s wake.
“Damn
it,” she whispered, and heaved a sigh. She stared at the caravan of
cars that inched forward and squeezed the steering wheel. They went
on as far as the eye could see, hardly moving. She rested her elbow
on the armrest and pushed taut fingers through her hair.
“Mom?”
Jennifer
looked into the rearview mirror and both Emily and Hannah stared
back.
“Yes?”
Jennifer said with the most patient voice she could muster.
“You
shouldn’t say words like that mommy,” Emily said.
“You’re
right, I shouldn’t. I’m sorry.”
“Do
you think we’re going to be late, is that why you’re mad?”
Emily said.
The
clock on the car radio read 4:00.
“I
hope not,” Jennifer said, but deep down inside she didn’t think
their tardiness was avoidable. She clamped her eyes shut and tried to
ignore a deep pain that pulsed and hid tactfully behind her eyes.
“Are
you not feeling well, mommy?” Hannah said.
“Mommy’s
fine,” she said. “I am just worried that we are going to be late
and that will make me and your daddy late for the event.”
“It’s
okay,” Hannah said and looked out the side window. “You shouldn’t
worry so much. Daddy is the star and they can’t do anything without
him.”
Jennifer
laughed. “I suppose you’re right.” She watched a car that rode
the shoulder all the way to the next exit.
“Mommy,
you should follow him,” Emily said, and pointed at the car that
Jennifer watched. “He’s going fast!”
“I
. . . ” Jennifer thought to protest the suggestion, but knew it was
the only way. The risk of getting a ticket was worth the time she
could save. She cut the wheel hard right and stepped on the gas. The
powerful car raced up the shoulder and approached another long line
of cars that led to a blinking traffic light. She pressed the brake
pedal hard and stopped the car just short of the vehicle in front of
her. The force of the abrupt halt pushed everyone forward in their
seats and snapped them back.
“I’m
sorry,” Jennifer said. “I didn’t mean to do that.”
“You
don’t think daddy will leave without you, do you?” Hannah said,
her eyes wide with the question.
Jennifer
laughed. “No, I don’t suppose he would.”
The
vehicles ahead of her managed to merge their way into traffic quicker
than she anticipated.
“I
know that because he loves you too much to do that,” Hannah said.
“He tells you that all the time.”
“You
are very smart,” Jennifer smiled.
She
had tried to organize the events of this day in advance and believed
she had given herself plenty of time to complete her tasks and ready
the children before her husband arrived home. She had intended to
have everyone ready for the evening’s event prior to the
babysitter’s arrival. That way there would be no stress and the
perfect tone would be set for the night.
“Something
going perfectly, imagine that . . . ” she whispered and chuckled at
the thought.
“Mommy,
what did you say?” Emily said.
“Nothing,
honey. I’m just talking to myself.”
Her
day had started off with a routine checkup at the dentist’s office.
From there she had gone directly to the woman’s health clinic
because she hadn’t been feeling well the last few weeks and her
appetite had grown substantially.
“I
just knew it,” she said, and rubbed her belly.
She
couldn’t wait to share the news with her husband, Rainer, but had
already decided that she would wait until tomorrow to do that. This
was his day and he deserved the attention without anything taking
away from it. He worked hard and gave so much of himself to everyone.
Jennifer
inched the car to the blinking light and she looked left and then to
the right. A steady flow of cars came from both directions.
“Mommy?”
Jennifer
looked in the rearview mirror. Emily had unbuckled her harness and
had climbed out of her booster seat. She was standing between the
driver and passenger seats.
“Emily!”
Jennifer said, and quickly turned and faced her daughter. “Get back
in your seat!”
“But
mom!”
“Now!”
“But
. . .”
“No
buts, Emily. Do what I’m telling you to. Do it right now!”
Jennifer
put the car in park and grabbed Emily by the arm and forced her into
her seat.
“I’ve
told you never to do this!”
“You
hurt my arm!”
“It’s
better than you going flying through the windshield! I told you
getting out of your seat is dangerous and you can get hurt!”
Emily’s
face reddened and her eyes welled with tears. Her bottom lip curled
and her expression contorted into something horrible.
“You
hurt me mom!”
“Why
can’t you stay in your seat like your sister?”
Honk.
“Why?”
Jennifer said, her frustration turning to anger.
Emily
looked at her twin sister and she was buckled in her seat. She looked
at her mother with a blank stare. She rubbed her arm.
“Do
you want a policeman to come and take you away from me?”
Emily
shook her head and began to pout. “Uncle Glenn wouldn’t do that
to me.”
“He
would if he found out what you were doing.”
Honk.
“Stop
beeping your damn horn!” Jennifer yelled, staring out the back
window.
Emily
folded her arms across her chest. “No, he wouldn’t!”
“Yes,
he would.”
Emily
kicked the back of her mother’s seat. “And I said he wouldn’t!”
Honk.
Jennifer
glared at her daughter. “Don’t you dare talk back to your mother
like that. I’ll take the television away from you for a week.”
“I
don’t care!”
Jennifer
swiped an open hand across Emily’s cheek.
A
boiling wail erupted from Emily. Hannah looked at her sister and she
started to cry. A chorus of shouts filled the vehicle and brought
Jennifer’s headache to a whole new level.
“I’m
telling daddy you hit me!”
“And
I’m not going to tell you again. Don’t you dare get out of that
seat!”
Jennifer
buckled her in and sharply turned her attention to Hannah. “And you
have nothing to be crying about.”
Jennifer faced forward and stomped the
gas pedal and the car lurched into the middle of the intersection. In
a moment of clarity, Jennifer noticed a bluish colored car that
skidded towards her and she started to scream. It approached at a
speed and angle that seemed impossible to avoid.
AUTHOR
RECOMMENDATIONS
I
was immediately drawn into the characters in Keith Rommel's well
written & absorbing book, "You Killed My Brother".
Every act of friendship & brotherly love, evidence of family
bond, courage, desperation, revenge & chaos, has created an
emotional & exciting plot. The surprises just keep coming and
this reader could not put it down! Well done, Keith, Well done.
~~Janet
Van Mol
You
started it, how are you going to finish?
As
I pushed through the first draft of You Killed My Brother, I started
to doubt the story was good enough. I had always written in
psychological suspense with elements of horror, and never
psychological crime. I wanted to jump genres to prove that I could do
it. So when I started the editing process and began to work out the
finer details of the plot in You Killed My Brother, I got about
halfway through when I placed my red pen down (yes, I handwrite my
manuscript as well as my edits). That is when I gave up on the story.
For
the first time in my writing career, I was battling self doubt and
questioning my capabilities as a writer. What I had written was crap
and I needed to get away from it. Forget it ever existed.
Working
on the same story day after day for months, writing, revising, and
making sure all parts of the plot are connected can be grueling.
There is no doubt it is the most important part of the writing
process, and it exposes every flaw. Every page was filled with red
pen, spilling onto the back of the page as well. Frustrated and
knowing I was looking at entire rewrite, I decided was going to break
away from You Killed My Brother, I shifted my focus to a new idea. It
felt refreshing to be back in psychological horror; after all, it’s
where I am most comfortable. The intricate plot and creepy scenes of
the new story challenged my imagination. But I had a distraction that
was quite literally nagging at me
The
idea that I had spent months, had lost hours upon hours of sleep, had
chosen THAT story to write and I abandoned it was nothing short of
quitting. That bothered me. I’m not a quitter. That’s not the
trait of a writer. We put our time in, bleed out an array of
emotions, work out painstaking details and hope our readers connect
with what we do.
I
needed to see that with this novel. I started something, but allowed
frustration to get the better of me. I abandoned it and thankfully it
was calling me back. But how was I going to finish it and not fall
into the same trap?
I
stumbled across old outline notes on You Killed My Brother and saw
that although some of the details of the story had changed, the
original story concept and theme had remained intact. It was a
powerful message about revenge. It is a story I purposely geared
towards a broader audience than my prior two novels. I wanted people
to see what would happen when criminals collided with the wealthy and
make it as real as possible.
Seeing
my initial passion for the story rekindled my flame, and in a period
of time about a month long, I finished the rewrite and completed the
novel. And I’m glad I did. It seems the ending has left people a
little surprised and I’ve had multiple reader requests for a sequel
which I’m currently considering.
So
now I’m curious, what have you done that might have helped you
through a similar situation?
Keith Rommel is a native of Long
Island, New York and currently lives with his family in Port Saint
Lucie, Florida. Keith is a retail manager and has enjoyed collecting
comic books since he was a child (a hobby inspired by a teacher in
grade school to help overcome a reading comprehension disability).
Keith Rommel is the author of the critically acclaimed dark suspense
Thanatology Series entitled The Cursed Man and the Lurking Man. His
newest novel: You Killed My Brother is a fast-paced suspense thriller
with crime and some rather unorthodox police work. Keith has had
several writer how-to articles published and has appeared on numerous
radio shows and at many signing events. Keith is currently hard at
work on the third novel in the Thanatology Series due out summer
2013.
AUTHOR
LINKS
Giveaway
No comments:
Post a Comment