The HBS Author's Spotlight SHOWCASES Dianne Krogh's Saga: Life in a Peacock Nest.
Dianne is a self-published Contemporary author of saga fiction novels.
Saga
Life in a Peacock Nest
Crimes of Greed and Ego are Rarely Punished
Author: Dianne Krogh
AVAILABLE
Amazon
From a new storyteller comes a engaging and light-hearted novel. A powerful boss with a Stage 4 case of greed and ego. People eager to crowd into his orb. But, can anyone survive there?
Scarred from growing up in a small town where the children from a clique of wealthy families were always favored, Alan Dravel begins a vengeful search for his own wealth and power. He barges into the technology boom of 1980’s corporate America with an idea. Over his head but never in doubt, he unleashes his greed and ego in a self-serving climb to success which turns destructive.
Alan’s quick thinking, he considers it a special kind of genius, keeps him a step ahead of his failures. He shuns contact with the common herd and disregards the opinions of people who wear rubber-soled shoes, but those are the people he turns to when he needs scapegoats.
With a handsome face, a quick mind and a lack of ethical or moral considerations to restrain him, Alan drags a Kansas farm family, a country church and associates of a high-flying corporation together in his widening web of failures – all while being honored as one of the country’s top business leaders.
Those caught in the slipstream of Alan’s wild ride to power struggle to hang on for the rewards they believe association with Alan can provide. Power and ego prevail as Alan orchestrates the most unimaginable twists and turns to entangle his victims and save himself. Those who survive find justice in the last place they think to look.
Life in a Peacock Nest is a captivating saga that probes the strength and weakness of the human spirit. It is a story about the nature of people, with characters so memorable you won’t want to let them go.
Excerpt from Life in a Peacock Nest
Tom Wallace
Day 1, A December Thursday, 1984 The First Thread Unravels Tom Wallace looked at Alan Dravel’s face staring back at him from the magazine cover on his tray table. The guy looked a little cold. Square jaw. Square glasses. All hard lines. Intimidating not warm. He didn’t look like the kind of guy you could pin your last hope on, but that was what Tom had to do.
Tom thought about reading the Business Weekly article again, but he had read it three times since his 727 left the ground in Phoenix. Instead, he let his head fall against the headrest on his plane bound for Minneapolis and closed his eyes.
It was about nine o’clock back in Phoenix. Lindy would be taking their two boys to swimming lessons at the country club about now. She would be barreling down the long hill in her red Mustang. If it was even a little warm, she would have the top down and the heater going full blast, and all three would be laughing as their dark hair stirred in the wind.
Lindy and the boys were counting on him, and he wasn’t going to let them down. If he could only impress Alan Dravel today, it could be in time to keep their lives from unraveling. He was down to the wire.
Nothing could go wrong today. But even as he tried to avoid any more problems on this December day, one was moving stealthily into his garage in Phoenix, two hours by air behind him.
A tall silent man dressed dark and carrying a long oddly shaped piece of metal skirted the corner of the Wallace house and moved fast through the open garage door. He skimmed past the golf clubs and stepped over a bicycle lying training-wheels-up before the turning of a handle on the door between the house and garage stopped him cold against the hanging rakes.
There was no way Tom could know Lindy was later than usual this morning because 3-year-old Kevin couldn’t find his swimsuit. No way for him to know that when Lindy opened the door to the garage, she heard Kevin yelling from the kitchen, “Mom! Ryan hid my swimsuit. Make him give it to me!” No way for him to know she closed the garage door and turned back without ever seeing the dark stranger whose immobile face appraised her from next to the garden spade on the other side of her red Mustang.
At the closing of the door, the man moved soundlessly with swift purpose. His greasy hand with ragged cuticles and broken nails closed around the door handle of the Mustang and felt the locked door resist. The metal tool he carried pressed easily between window and door, the door popped open, and he slid across the white leather seat.
“I did not hide it, mom. He just lost it. It’s Kevin’s stupid fault we’re going to be late,” 4-year-old Ryan wailed. “You can check my room if you want!”
The man’s ears beneath his hooded sweatshirt recorded every sound and movement coming from the house, as his fingers pressed another tool over the ignition lock on the Mustang and pumped methodically, twice. The lock came off in his grimy hand, and he jerked it free of the ignition wires. He was aware of the handle on the door to the house turning again, aware of the turmoil of little boys pushing and still arguing as the door rattled against its hinges, but his concentration was fixed on twisting two of the loose wires in his hand together.
“Oh, shut up, Ryan. You’re the one who’s gonna get in trouble. You hid the …”
“Boys, let’s not fight and let’s not say shut up. Just get in the car. Maybe we can still make it on time.” Lindy began as she held the kitchen door open for them.
Ryan reached their car first. He grabbed for the handle of the passenger door, but the realization of a figure inside sitting on the seat behind the wheel made his chest begin thumping.
The man revealed no face as he stirred only slightly beneath the navy-blue hood of his sweatshirt to bring the wires in his hands together.
Author Genre: Contemporary, Fiction, Saga
Website: The Authors Pub
Author's Blog: The Authors Pub
Twitter: @kroghdianne
Facebook: Check Out Facebook
Amazon Author Profile
Author Description: I’ve always loved words. Their power to elicit emotion. To tell a story. To create understanding. Or to persuade. I’ve used them for all those things over the years.
After getting a degree in journalism and a master’s degree in communication, I spent many happy years writing advertising copy, producing corporate communications, and creating publications for clients of my public relations group.
Now with time to let the words flow in whatever direction my mind takes me, I have published my first novel, Life in a Peacock Nest.
My mind is off on another journey already. So, I am working on a new book. Stay tuned.
Author Recommended by: HBSystems Publications
Publisher of ebooks, writing industry blogger and the sponsor of the following blogs:
HBS Author’s Spotlight
Indie Author's Corner
Mystery Reader’s Circle
No comments:
Post a Comment