In association with Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours, Jersey Girl Book Reviews is pleased to host the virtual book tour event for The Damned Lovely by Adam Frost!
ASIN: B09WGFVXYD
BNID: 2940161031155
I took a sip and checked my phone. Waiting for the screen to siiiing. Praying. Hoping.
She held her ground and I lost the fight.
The empty telephone. Reminding me, I had no excuses. To be in a better place. To be successful.
I was an American.
I was white.
I grew up safe and surrounded by love.
There was money for birthday parties and proper schools.
I had a college degree in communications.
I’d traveled to Southeast Asia. Seen Europe. Touched down in South Africa. I had a sweet girl who liked to cook and wanted a ring. We had an apartment in West Hollywood with good light.
I’d found a marketing gig early and wrote ad copy for seven years. Logos. Corporate promos. Internet ribbons. Microcopy drawl. Quippy garbage that paid the rent and then some.
I was on the right track.
Until I broke. Crashed the cart and pulled the plug on my world of California lies.
Staring into those smiling faces across a Doheny dinner table one night.
The masquerade of happiness.
The Instagram sham.
There was no substance. No truth. No intent for anything more than gain.
I had sealed the truth for years. Locked and bottled that depression south, convinced I could kick it. Convinced the gnaw would pass.
Things are great, I kept saying. Things are great.
But something about those faces on that very Doheny night popped the cork and shattered the glass. I called it out. I let it rip ugly. These weren’t my friends. They were assets. Nothing more.
This wasn’t love. This was compliance on rails.
I needed something pure. Something with purpose and mine all mine. That I truly adored.
So I quit the girl who liked to cook. Lost the apartment with the light and moved to Glendale. Where it was cheaper. Where there was no good light.
And worst of all. I was compelled by a force inside my bones to write something real. Something long and from the heart. Something maybe even wise.
This, more and more it seemed, may have been a grave mistake.
It was in no way working out.
Still, I refused to believe in misery. An honest rut is all. It’ll turn around soon. It has to. Because when you’re going through hell in Glendale, keep going. Right?
So. Soldier on. Live with intent and drown those voices out.
Drown. Them. Out. Soldier!
Swish. Swish.
A red Trojan alpha bro was swipin’ right at the bar. Americana run off sipping a sea breezer with a skinny lime. Slice and I shared a healthy glare of disdain when Jewels crossed behind me and nodded to stool 9.
“She’s baaaack,” Jewels cooed.
And there she was. Hiding her green eyes under a black felt fedora and a worn-out paperback of To the Lighthouse. She had dark brown hair pinned low at the back. Wore a simple tight white V-neck tee exposing that soft skin around her collarbones. She sat straight. With her legs crossed in black jeans that pinched in at her waist and exposing a band of flawless smooth lower back. She kept her face down. Never spoke to a soul beyond ordering a drink. And never looked at her phone. Not once. Not once had I seen her look at her phone. Instead, she just buried her eyes in that book. Drowning out the world with a Negroni and Woolf’s words like some kinda mystery from a different era. She’d been in four times now by my count. And it was consistent. Early in the afternoon. Same drink. Same book. Alone. Like an oasis in this godforsaken Glendale desert.
***
Excerpt from The Damned Lovely by Adam Frost. Copyright 2022 by Adam Frost. Reproduced with permission from Adam Frost. All rights reserved.
The story centers around Sam's amateur sleuth adventure, as he is drawn into investigating the murder of an intriguing bar patron in a black fedora named Josie Pendleton, a twenty-two year old woman who sits at the bar and reads a novel, not talking to any of the other bar patrons. Josie was abducted in Glendale after spending time at the bar, and was found raped and strangled to death in a stolen car by a jogger. Police investigation thinks there is a connection to Josie's murder with two other recent murders of women in their early twenties, a similar MO that could possibly be the work of a serial killer they dub the Glendale Grabber. Sam's interest in Josie leads him to look into her life, and he falls down the rabbit hole into a dangerous investigation that challenges the police's theory of how she died. Sam's obsession in finding the truth into Josie's murder leads him to finding danger around every corner, even in the dark seedy dive bar that has become his second home. Learning that he can't trust anyone, follow along as Sam puts the pieces of the puzzle together and finds out the truth behind Josie's death.
The reader is easily drawn into this riveting dark noir crime story with its richly descriptive plot. It is filled with enough drama, secrets, motives, possible suspects, and intriguing twists and turns that definitely keeps the reader guessing until the surprising conclusion.
This was a really intriguing story to read! Sam takes the readers along on his investigation with daily journal style chapters within a three month timeline from Monday, July 6th to Tuesday, October 20th. The story provides a fascinating cast of characters, a dive bar deep with history and character, enough clues to engage the reader, suprising twists and turns, and danger around every corner, especially when there are people who don't want the truth to come out. I found myself so caught up on following Sam's investigative pursuit of putting the pieces of the puzzle together and solving Josie's murder, while also learning the pasts of Sam and the other bar patrons, it's like a bar full of broken and down-n-out people that form a tight little bar family. Through Sam's obsessive investigation, he learns valuable life lessons as the truth is uncovered. I was absolutely stunned by the conclusion!
RATING: 4 STARS
This is a giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Tours for Adam Frost. See the widget for entry terms and conditions. Void where prohibited.
