Dick Thornby is not Hollywood’s idea of a spy. In his rough and tumble job there are no tailored Italian suits, no bimbos eager to please, and no massive underground fortresses built by evil overlords seeking world domination—just an endless series of sinister threats to the safety and security of the billions of mundane citizens of the planet. Sure, Dick’s tough and he knows a few tricks to help him get out of a tight spot, even if his boss accuses him of over-reliance on an abundance of explosives. But he’s also got a mortgage, a wife upset by his frequent absences on “business” trips, and an increasingly alienated teen-age son who spends way too much time playing in gaming worlds on the computer.

When a mission to bust up an arms exchange in New Zealand goes spectacularly bad, Dick is forced to partner with an espionage neophyte to battle evil on multiple fronts, leading to a final confrontation that incorporates real-world conspiracy theories and cutting-edge technology.

In the end, Dick can save his partner, save his marriage, save his son, or save the world, but he can’t do it all.

*****

“5.0 out of 5 stars: Superlative Spy Thriller” –B.R. Robb, Author of River Ghosts

*****

Best known as the world’s top-ranked player of classic role-playing games for fifteen years, Donald J. Bingle is an oft-published author in the science fiction, fantasy, horror, thriller, steampunk, romance, and comedy genres, with two previous published thrillers (Forced Conversion; GREENSWORD) and about thirty stories, primarily in DAW themed anthologies and tie-in anthologies. A number of his stories have been collected in his Writer on Demand™ Series, including Tales of Gamers and Gaming and Tales of Humorous Horror. His story “Gentlemanly Horrors of Mine Alone” was the ninth story in Mike Stackpole’s Chain Story Project.Donald J. Bingle is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers, the GenCon Writers Symposium, and the St. Charles Writers Group.

To learn more about Donald, please visit his website.

ITW