Friday, January 22, 2016

The Runner and the Robber by Robert Sells Review, Book Sale, Excerpt & Giveaway


The Runner and the Robber
by Robert Sells

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GENRE: Young Adult

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BLURB:

His father is dead. Grandfather has Alzheimer’s. Mom can just pay the bills. And, Bill Taylor can’t run track and cross-country anymore. Could it get any worse? How about being threatened by an ex-con, fighting with a football player twice his size, and being involved with two murders?
One day, running back home from school Bill was nearly run over and accosted by a strange man. “Tell the old man he damn well better give up some of that the money. I want my cut and I’m coming to get it.”

Thus begins a search for three million dollars missing from a Brinks’ robbery twenty years in the past. Billy makes friends with Sarah Seeley, a classmate as impetuous as she was attractive. Sarah and Bill put the pieces of the puzzle together relying on a few clues and the fragmented memory of the addled brain of Gramps. Billy’s life gets even more complicated after encounters with the mafia who also have an interest in the money. Then there’s this problem with a serial killer. Billy is faced with one paramount question: will he and Sarah be the next victims?

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Excerpt One:

The librarian, an ancient creature with white hair, cleared her throat and glared at us over her glasses. The library had always been a quiet place to study, for decades apparently.

“No, read right here.” I whispered.

Sarah pressed against my shoulder looking at the page. I didn’t scoot away.

“Cool, maybe the missing money was buried somewhere around here.” Sarah said excitedly. The librarian cleared her throat again.

“Buried money? Why did you say that?” I whispered, pretending to look at the screen.

She thought a moment and then answered so quietly that my head inclined closer to her. “I don’t know. A robbery, missing money. A buried treasure is cool, I guess.”

I turned to her.

“Buried treasure?” I shook my head. “Sarah, it was an armored car robbery.”

Her brow furrowed (very cute).

“Oh, that’s right, I forgot the rules. If it was an armored car robbery, then criminals aren’t allowed to bury the money,” she hissed.

“No. Yes. All right, maybe. But unlikely. It’s more likely some criminal has the money and probably spent it all.”

“Did it say that in the article?” Her voice might be audible to the next table (no one was there), but who knows what the white-haired crone forty feet away could detect. She was watching us, a hawk studying mice.

I shifted in my seat and coughed. At the end of the cough, I whispered, “Not so loud.”

Sarah was quiet.

 “The mafia was involved and the article implied that someone in the mafia might have taken the money,” I whispered barely moving my lips.

“Then how do you know it isn’t buried?”

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

I attended college at Ohio Wesleyan where I struggled with physics. Having made so many mistakes in college with physics, there weren’t too many left to make and I did quite well at graduate school at Purdue.   
I worked for nearly twenty years at Choate Rosemary Hall, an exclusive boarding school in the heart of Connecticut. More often than not, students arrived in limousines. There was a wooded area by the upper athletic fields where I would take my children for a walk. There, under a large oak tree, stories about the elves would be weaved into the surrounding forest.
Returning to my home town to help with a father struggling with Alzheimer’s, the only job open was at a prison. There I taught an entirely different clientele whose only interaction with limousines was stealing them. A year later Alfred State College hired me to teach physics. I happily taught there for over ten years.
My wife’s boss, the superintendent of a rural school in western New York, begged me to teach physics and earth science. Helping young high school students was particularly appealing to me at this point in my career and the salary was more than reasonable, so I find myself happily teaching at Mt Morris Central School.
Five years ago, my wife pestered me about putting to “pen” some of the stories which I had created for the children and other relatives. I started thinking about a young boy and a white deer, connected, yet apart. Ideas were shuffled together, characters created and the result was the Return of the White Deer. This book was published by the Martin Sisters.
Years ago I gave a lecture on evolution. What, I wondered, would be the next step? Right away I realized that silicon ‘life’ had considerable advantages over mortal man. Later this idea emerged as the exciting and disturbing story called Reap the Whirlwind.
Two years ago I stumbled upon an old article in the local paper about a Brinks’ robbery in 1992.  Apparently over ten million dollars were stolen and most of it was never recovered. Although the mafia was peripherally involved in the heist, it was unlikely they took the missing millions. This was the seed which has now grown into the young adult novel, The Runner and the Robber
I have many other stories inside my mind, fermenting… waiting patiently for the pen. Perhaps someday I will even write about those elves which still inhabit the woods in the heart of Connecticut.
The Ebook can be purchased for $0.99 during the tour.

http://www.amazon.com/Runner-Robber-Robert-Sells-ebook/dp/B00YHWZYK8/

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My Review:
Every once in a while I read a book, and I think to myself, what a great idea for a mystery. Missing money, and a witness with Alzheimer's. As bodies piled up, Bill got closer to the truth, but when was it too close to the mob? There were times in the book when I was really worried, like the snake bite. I kept guessing where the money could be as well. I really enjoyed how Bill thought that the fates were making knots in the fabric of his life. It made me giggle. The ending was good, and I liked how the author tied the last line back to the mob. I also found the information on Alzheimer's and the letters from the author informative. I am giving this book a 4/5. I was given a copy to review, however all opinions are my own. 

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

Robert Sells will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.


32 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. You're welcome, 'son'. Take a look at my other books. I think you may be a "Reap the Whirlwind" man.

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  2. thank you for the chance to win :)

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    1. You're welcome, Lisa. If you like a unique mystery and a bit of romance, try The Runner and the Robber.

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  3. Thnaks for giving the chance to win. The book sounds interesting. I hope that I win. Bernie W BWallace1980(at)hotmail(d0t)com

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    1. Bernie, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. The book is interesting. Based on a true story. Three men, just out of prison, contact a fourth who hid the money. The only problem? He forgot where he hid the money!

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  4. If you could travel to a different country, where would you go?

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    1. Hi Becky. I would go to Russia. Actually I did go back in 1985 when it was the Soviet Union. The authorities were not very nice. Plenty of disturbing stories about them. However, the people of Russia, though initially suspicious of me, were very much like us... in looks and behavior. I enjoyed the people of Russia very much.

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  5. Replies
    1. I can't pick one. Dickens... Tale of Two Cities is one of the best stories ever. Thomas Hardy. Joseph Conrad is fantastic. You can often grab a sentence from one of his stories and frame an entire story around the sentence. His writing is rich in flavor like lobster in butter. Most of the writers today are more like fast food. Tasty, but quickly forgotten. Of today's writers, try Greg Illes.

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  6. Thank you for informing me about this book.

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    1. Sara, give the book a peak. It's a pleasant read. Exciting in parts and neatly tied together.

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    1. Bit of a love story. First love, actually. Also a story about a boy coming to grips with family responsibilities. All woven into a good mystery.

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  8. This is a must read for me. Now I have to know where the money might be.

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    1. I'm sure you will enjoy it. If so, please write a review on Amazon.

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  9. I have enjoyed learning about the book. Thanks for sharing it.

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    1. It's a good story. I don't think of myself as a novelist. Rather I'm a storyteller. All my novels are simply good stories, unique and interesting. If you don't try this one, I hope you try another.

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  10. sounds like a great book! Thanks for the giveaway.

    rounder9834 @yahoo.com

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    1. It was the easiest of the three books to write. I've dealt with teenage kids all my life so I knew my subject matter. Once completed, I still had to edit the book around ten times... fixing mistakes, changing a line here or there, cutting unnecessary words. I'm a poor writer, but a good storyteller. That means I have to work harder at making sure my novels past muster.

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  11. I enjoyed the excerpt and review, thank you! I also enjoyed reading your bio-interesting! The closest I've come to a limo is when I happen to see one pass and that has not been very often! However, I'm quite happy with my Subaru-dependable and great in the snow and I have a bit of snow right now with more on the way!

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    1. I presume you are near the east coast. My wife and I live near Buffalo. That area, surprisingly enough, is spared much snow this time. We are wintering in Florida so presently I am just suffering from a few rain storms. I'm with you on the Limo. I only had one ride. An off-duty driver took us to a restaurant about a mile from a hotel. For free! Happened in Vegas. Basically a fancy taxi.

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  12. Thanks for the giveaway! I like the excerpt. :)

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    1. Hard to choose a good excerpt. Tried to show the romance side of the story and the mystery side at the same time. However, it's a story about a young man coming to grips with life... learning that life is not always going to be fun and games.

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  13. Sounds like a great book. Thanks for the giveaway.

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  14. Sounds like a great book. Thanks for the giveaway.

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  15. Replies
    1. You're welcome, Anna. Hope you win! Either way, try the book. Nice romance, good mystery.

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  16. Replies
    1. It is a good read. Billy, the focus of the story, has a tough row to hoe. He has to take care of grandfather who has Alzheimer's while trying to fit into a new school in a new region. Hard for anyone, but especially hard for a teenager. The fact that some criminals are after the grandfather doesn't help.

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  17. I enjoyed reading the excerpt. This book sounds like a very interesting read! Looking forward to checking out this book!

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