Tuesday, July 8, 2014

"Three Strikes and You're Dead" by Michael Draper

Hi All,
I finished my second novel and send the copyedited manuscript to the publisher this week. Horray!
This is the synopsis that will be written on the back cover of the novel. I know it's too long and will shorten it.

                                                                     *

Baseball goes on strike. As following baseball is the main avocation of many people, there is a great deal of discontent.

A chat group is formed: Friends against the baseball strike.

One member is a terrorist wannabe and he is able to manipulate a gullible man who has no life to obey his wishes. He tells the man, who takes on the name, The Vindicator, he should strike back against the sport. Baseball used to be the sport of the common man but now with the multi-million-dollar contracts, regular people can't afford the price of admission. It can cost hundreds of dollars for a man and wife to bring their children to a baseball game and get some food.

The gullible man uses the name The Vindicator on the chat site. The other man uses the name The Advocate. No one has paid much attention to him (The Vindicator) in the past so he wants to please The Advocate. He decides to take action and kill the highest paid player on each team. Each killing will be in a different way and there will be a message to end the strike.

After the first killing, the FBI becomes involved and the Baseball Commissioner's Office hires a group of private investigators to show they are proactive. The group consists of a young woman and two men who are being trained by a retired state trooper.

As more ballplayers are killed, the trio of private investigators decides to challenge the killer using social media. They put a notice on Facebook to see if they can get the killer to go after one of them, who will be armed.

The private investigators are working with the FBI and able to get video surveillance tape from the hotel where the first killing took place. Together with the tape from the airport car rental, there is enough for facial recognition but it is hazy. The photo is placed in the newspapers and the private investigators get a lead.

There is a major confrontation at the Union Station in Washington. This is between the killer, the man who manipulated him, a man with a bomb and the FBI and private investigators.


3 comments:

Kelly said...

Congratulations!

skkorman said...

Congratulations, Mike—you must be so excited!

Woo-Hoo!
Sheila

Unknown said...

Hi Kelly and Sheila,
Thanks for your comments, you bet I'm excited. It's almost like having another child but a different kind of labor pain.

Mike

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