The new thriller releases this Monday, August 30, 2021
By Alan McDermott
Read this brief sample:
“Two days to the Ecuadorian border, another to Quito,” Sonny mused as he put a frosted bottle of beer and a menu in front of Eva. “If we’re gonna be travelling so much, I think we should consider another form of transport.”
“You wanna buy a plane?”
Sonny beamed. “That would be cool, wouldn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Eva grinned, “but it’s not happening.”
“I know. I was thinking more along the lines of a boat. Sail up the coast at our own pace, drop anchor wherever we want.”
“Nice idea,” Eva conceded, “but too dangerous. In a car, we can take a side street and lose a tail. At sea, there’s nowhere to run. If the coast guard takes an interest in us, we’re sitting ducks.”
“There is that,” Sonny said, and chugged his drink. He held up his bottle and licked his lips appreciatively. “I’ll say one thing for the locals: they sure know how to make a decent beer.”
Eva was studying the menu. “I’m gonna have the Lomo Saltado,” she said.
“I’ll have the same,” Sonny told her. He was a big fan of the local marinated beef dish.
There didn’t appear to be any table service, so Sonny returned to the bar to place their order. As he waited to get the bartender’s attention, three men walked in. The first was huge, with shoulder-length black hair and a formidable build. The giant’s two companions were smaller but looked equally menacing.
The young bartender acknowledged them with a nod of the head and popped the tops on three bottles of beer. He placed them on the bar and put three glasses and a bottle of whiskey next to them before returning to the person he’d been serving.
Sonny waited patiently for his turn, then ordered the food and a couple more beers. When he turned to take the drinks back to the table, he saw the giant and his friends hovering around Eva.
He was used to guys hitting on her, but this time it was different. The way the bartender had dropped everything and rushed to serve the trio suggested they had influence, and as they didn’t look or dress like politicians or officials, that left only one explanation: they were trouble.
Most men walked away when they discovered that Eva was with him, but Sonny expected it would be different this time. The three newcomers looked like they could handle themselves, and he suspected they were used to getting what they wanted.
Sonny decided to use his two-stage approach to the problem. He’d hit them with the Baines charm, and if that didn’t work, he’d resort to swift and extreme violence. Despite being outnumbered, he had the advantage of surprise. They wouldn’t see him as a threat because of his size, and he figured he could take two out before the third knew what was happening.
He just hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Though the idea of a barroom brawl was tempting, Sonny was starving.
“Hey, guys,” Sonny smiled as he approached the table. “What’s happening?”
The trio looked at him, but Sonny’s eyes were on Eva. He saw her point a foot at one of the men, indicating which one she would take if things kicked off. That left Sonny with two targets, one of them being the big man. He was obviously the ringleader, and Sonny figured that if he took him out first, the others would soon cave in.
“We want to buy the lady a drink,” the big one said.
Sonny knew he had more than that on his mind. He held up the two bottles. “She already has one.”
One of the goons stepped between Sonny and Eva. “Go now, while you can.”
The decision was made, and it was the outcome Sonny had expected.
Dinner would have to wait.
Sonny brought his left hand up and smashed the bottle against his opponent’s teeth. Blood erupted from the mouth, and Sonny followed up with a punch to his throat. The man fell, clutching his neck, and Sonny turned to the next one, the leader of the trio.
He was a fraction slow.
When Death Strikes
Eva Driscoll and Simon ‘Sonny’ Baines are living the good life. They have money and each other, but most importantly, their enemies think they are dead.
Their new life is shattered when a bar room brawl thrusts them back into the spotlight, and they must evade a psychotic cartel boss and his skilled tracker if they are to survive. But those are not the only dangers they face. Eva and Sonny must battle their way through unforgiving landscapes, but just when they think they are safe, their world turns upside down once more.
Tom Gray and his daughter, Melissa, are keeping their heads down in a small Canadian town. Life is good, if not a little boring, until Melissa is targeted by a school bully. That seemingly innocuous encounter leads the ESO to Gray, and this time there’s nowhere to run.
When Death Strikes is the fourth instalment of the gripping Eva Driscoll series from million-copy bestseller Alan McDermott.
It launches on August 30, 2021 at Amazon.
Alan McDermott
is a full time author from the south of England, married with beautiful twin daughters. He used to write critical applications for the NHS, but now he spends his days writing action thrillers.
His debut novel, Gray Justice, has been very well received and led to the 10-volume Tom Gray series. He was subsequently picked up by Thomas & Mercer, who published his first 10 books.
Alan’s seventh title, Trojan, is a spinoff featuring MI5 agent Andrew Harvey. It was shortlisted for the ITW Best E-Book Original Novel award 2018.
His latest series is the Eva Driscoll thriller series: Run and Hide, Seek and Destroy, Fight to Survive, and soon, When Death Strikes. He has also written two stand-alone thrillers, Motive and Fifteen Times a Killer.
Find more about Alan at: