Title: Trapped
Author:
George A. Bernstein
Genre:
Romantic Suspense
The
darkness is still, silent. Jackee Maren’s heart pounds reverberating through
her body as fear sears her veins. Someone’s
coming. No way out. This time they will kill me. Her breath is short, her
chest burns. Must run. Faster. Faster!
Her eyes fly open, her heart still racing with blinding fear. Jackee breathes
deeply with relief and stares at the ceiling desperately trying to calm
herself. The same dream. Something, someone is watching… and waiting.
A
tragic car accident leaves beautiful, vibrant Jackee Maren completely
paralyzed, mentally alert but trapped in “Locked-in Syndrome,” able to move only her eyes. Jackee’s husband, Phil, is
devastated and her two young boys left with nothing but a shell for a mother,
but still, Jackee senses the foreboding of an evil presence and knows time is
short.
Slowly,
Jackee learns to communicate with her physical therapist, Kevin, by blinking
her eyes. As evidence comes to light that her car accident was no accident,
Jackee knows she must expose the person who wants her dead before they get a
second chance.
While
Jackee works her mind to put all the clues together, she discovers she has the
ability to sense the thoughts of others, but she hides this talent from everyone but
her sons, not knowing whom she can trust. By actively exercising her new
psychic ability, Jackee finally learns who masterminded the accident but seems
helpless to stop them from trying to kill her again.
Slowly
a psychic plan forms to not only ensure her boys are safe forever, but to exact
revenge on her would-be murderer. Jackee vows not to rest until this
would-be-killer understands what it is to be TRAPPED! But she must hurry, with
only a year to live.
Author Bio
George Bernstein is a
youthful seventy-seven-year-old, with a B.A. from Northwestern University,
now living in south Florida with Dolores, his wife of 54 years. He is the
retired president of a publicly held Chicago company.
George's main interest now is as a serious novelist. He has attended numerous writers’ conferences and seminars, including that of famous fiction agent, Donald Maass, and he has worked with independent editor, Dave King, all with the goal of improving his craft.
George's first novel, Trapped, is published by TAG Publishers, after being a finalist in their Next Great American Novel contest. Dee Burks and her staff really love the story, and have put a lot of effort into comprehensive editing and revision suggestions, making Trapped the best it can be. Trapped was also a finalist at the 2012 Florida Writers Association RPLA fiction contest, and has since acquired over seventy 4 & 5-Star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.
George's main interest now is as a serious novelist. He has attended numerous writers’ conferences and seminars, including that of famous fiction agent, Donald Maass, and he has worked with independent editor, Dave King, all with the goal of improving his craft.
George's first novel, Trapped, is published by TAG Publishers, after being a finalist in their Next Great American Novel contest. Dee Burks and her staff really love the story, and have put a lot of effort into comprehensive editing and revision suggestions, making Trapped the best it can be. Trapped was also a finalist at the 2012 Florida Writers Association RPLA fiction contest, and has since acquired over seventy 4 & 5-Star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.
George has also recently released his 2nd novel, A
3rd Time to Die, which has been received with several 4
& 5-Star reviews. The most common comment for both novels is: “I couldn’t
put it down.”
Links
Excerpt
Turn signal flashing, she eases into the right lane in
front of a large, battered pick-up, with less than a half-mile to the Old
Orchard Exit Ramp. Jackee Maren rarely drives so aggressively, but first
delayed by her two sons’ late departure from school, and then navigating around
a minor fender bender on Dundee Road, she is already ten minutes behind, and
she’s never late. The Northern
Illinois Chapter of the United Way won’t start their planning session without
their chairwoman, and Jackee hates the idea of keeping so many busy people
waiting.
Peeling onto the ramp, her attention is drawn to her two
boys, bickering and shoving in the back seat. Glancing back at the road, a
ridge of goose bumps cascades down her spine. They’re hurtled toward a string
of glaring taillights… cars unexpectedly stopped by a red light at the first
intersection off the expressway.
Jamming a foot on the brakes, she’s stunned when the big
Mercedes slews sharply right, smack into the path of the huge pickup truck,
which had exited behind her. It slams into the rear fender of the sedan,
sending it careening off the road, the seatbelts gouging her shoulder, crushing
the breath from her lungs.
“Hang on boys,” she gasps. Oh God! My sons! They can’t die here.
They spin down the embankment like an eccentric top,
ricocheting off a bridge column. The wheel torn from her grip, the air filled
with the screech of rending metal and the stench of burning rubber, the car
rears like a great angry beast, its rear legs hamstrung. Slamming down, it
hurtles backward into the culvert, bucking and skipping along the steep
embankment.
Despite seatbelts, Jackee is flung around like a rag
doll in the jaws of some huge terrier. The air bag erupts in the midst of their
tumultuous downward plunge, rushing out at 200 MPH, just as frontal impact
slings her forward.
Her face catches the brunt of the blow, skewering lips
on her teeth, smashing her nose. A searing bolt of pain fires across her brain,
igniting a burst of red heat behind her tearing eyes. A sharp pitch right
crushes her left cheek against the window, knocking her momentarily senseless.
The sedan teeters, enveloped in a cloud of dust, hunkering precariously on its
haunches before crashing down on its wheels, coming to a thunderous, grinding
stop.
She awakens to wailing and blubbering from the two small
boys in the rear seat.
“Mommy!” The call gasped through ragged breathing.
“Mommy!” Now a frantic screech.
“I’m…I’m here.” We’re
alive! Thank God, we’re all still alive.
She sags against the seatbelt, every joint singed with
agony, unable to will herself into action.
Help should be
coming. She moans. Gotta hang on… She slips out of
consciousness.
Thanks for hosting TRAPPED on you blog during my VBT. We authors know how much effort and time goes into one of these, and we really appreciate the effort. I hope you had an opportunity to read TRAPPED and enjoyed it as much as the seventy-some 5 & 4 star reviewers. I'd be happy to answer any question or respond to comments from any of your followers. Many people have questions about Locked-in Syndrome, and I did tons of research on that scary condition.
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