We’re back again to take a more in depth look at what Vivian Zabel writes. You can check out some of her books on my little bookshelf to the left. As we noted on Thursday, Vivian has over 15 books she can call her own, well, today we’re going to take see more about Vivian Zabel’s latest book Midnight Hours –
Publisher: 4RV Publishing LLC
http://4rvpublishingllc.com/
Genre: Mystery/suspense/thriller
ISBN-13: 978-0-9797513-3-2
ISBN-10: 0-9797513-3-0
Pages: 228
Starting Price: $27.99
2nd place in the OWFI unpublished manuscript competition, May 2008
Martin Rogers, a homicide lieutenant, positions his power chair at the end of the parallel bars in the therapy room. Over the past months, those bars have become an enemy that cannot be conquered, but which creates agony and despair. He glares at his enemy as they silently wait to conquer him again. An orderly in white stands beside the left side of the bars. Martin fights to overcome the damage caused by a bullet in his back.
After Martin returns from another “wasted” therapy session, the whish of the power chair’s wheels on the carpet and the low hum of the computer create the only sounds in the room as he positions himself at the desk. He closes his eyes before laying his fingers on the keys to type in the code which would connect him to the refuge he so needed. The Internet and the game room give him an escape from constant pain. The woman he met and visits nightly adds to the ability to flee.
Midnight always appears around midnight each night. She tantalizes him, giving him little information about herself; although, she finally tells him her name, Norma Fields. After Martin threatens to cut off the months-long cyber relationship, she offers to send him a picture of herself. She sends an email attachment: a picture of a beautiful woman.
Martin’s interest changes to one that’s professional. An identical copy had been found, folded in the pocket of a paraplegic who had gone over the rail of a hotel room balcony. As soon as he sees the picture, he calls his friends and fellow detectives, Kyle Stone and Frank Thomas.
The three men meet at Martin’s for breakfast and discuss the photo. Kyle mentions that the woman looks familiar. The men decide to find what information they can about the case and about Midnight, Norma Fields.
After Kyle and Frank return to Martin’s house after their shift, the doorbell rings. Kyle answers the door and invites a young woman to join them. Martin gasps as Midnight walks into the room. Kyle introduces Assistant District Attorney Lisa Harris, telling the others, “I told you the picture reminded me of someone.”
Lisa studies the photo and agrees the head and face are hers but not the rest of the body. She joins the investigation.
In the days that follow, the “Midnight team” discover that several men with large accidental death insurance policies, all with Norma Fields as the beneficiary, have “accidentally” died. The search for Midnight intensifies.
And here’s an excellent review to go along with the description –
Reviewed by Brian L Porter
Police detective Martin Rogers is recovering from a shooting, working hard to regain the use of his legs. To fill in the long hours of inactivity, Rogers spends time in an internet chat room, playing cards with a regular group of surfers. That is until the witching hour, when he and the mysterious woman known only as Midnight connect via cyberspace and disappear into their own virtual world. Martin finds himself becoming more and more intrigued and enamoured by the elusive woman, who seems to find him strangely attractive despite his disability. When Midnight refuses to reveal any personal details about herself, despite Martin being openly honest with her, he begins to suspect that the woman he is falling for may not be all that she seems.
Martin confides his concerns to two of his fellow detectives, and soon he and his colleagues are joined by Assistant District Attorney Lisa Harris as a web of previous suspicious deaths of disabled victims emerges, all of whom appear to have been in contact with the mysterious Midnight.
A task force is set up to investigate the murders, and soon Martin, Lisa, and the team are involved in a case so complex, and so baffling, that they begin to feel as though they are chasing a shadow, a clever and resourceful criminal who they describe as being “like fog that disappears in bright light.”
When police dispatcher Denise Woods is attacked and almost killed by the murderer, the police finally believe they are on the trail of Midnight, only to find yet more clouds of mystery as they attempt to penetrate the veil of the elusive killer.
What links Midnight with the name Norma Fields, and is Norma connected to the oddly named Norm Able? What connection does the reportedly dead sailor J.R Olson have with the case?
Vivian Zabel has crafted a beautifully and hauntingly compelling crime drama that leads the reader down one blind alleyway after another as Martin Rogers attempts to unravel the mystery. The tension is wonderfully wracked up as the storyline builds towards its shattering conclusion. Without doubt, this is one for the crime fiction aficionados, a book that cries out to be read, and one which I found very hard to put down once I’d begun. The characters are believable, the underlying romance that builds between Martin and the beautiful Lisa is tenderly and realistically handled, and the fear that things could go disastrously wrong for the heroes of this tale, right up to the end, is so palpable one can almost reach out and touch it.
A great read, tension personified, wonderfully written!
Brian L Porter
Author, A Study in Red – The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper, Avenue of the Dead, Purple Death, and the award-winning The Nemesis Cell.
Next, we are going to take a look at a very short article about internet predators, a very important subject –
Many articles, stories, and media reports have covered children and women who became prey to Internet predators. The problem is serious, and no matter how many warnings are given, the number of victims doesn’t disappear.
The theme of Midnight Hours includes an Internet predator, but the author takes the reader on a twisted path: The predator preys on disabled men. The theme isn’t one that’s normally found in stories dealing with online villains, but it is one that is possible.
The message of the novel is the same as with any story about predators: beware.
Beware of Midnight, because she offers loves and gives a grave to men who fall into her trap.
Here are a few important links of Vivian Zabel’s –
Website: http://viviangilbertzabel.com/
Blogs: http://vivianzabel.blogspot.com/ Brain Cells & Bubble Wrap
http://vzabel.multiply.com/ Vivian’s Site
http://viviansmystery.blogspot.com/ Vivian’s Mysteries
4RV Bookstore
All books http://4rvpublishingllc.com/Store-Books.html
Amazon.com
Prairie Dog Cowboy http://tinyurl.com/5s4uqw
Midnight Hours http://tinyurl.com/5wwgzm
Plus local book stores and Barnes & Noble.com
Thank you for allowing us to take a look at your books, and learn more about you, Vivian, it was a real pleasure!
http://4rvpublishingllc.com/
Genre: Mystery/suspense/thriller
ISBN-13: 978-0-9797513-3-2
ISBN-10: 0-9797513-3-0
Pages: 228
Starting Price: $27.99
2nd place in the OWFI unpublished manuscript competition, May 2008
Martin Rogers, a homicide lieutenant, positions his power chair at the end of the parallel bars in the therapy room. Over the past months, those bars have become an enemy that cannot be conquered, but which creates agony and despair. He glares at his enemy as they silently wait to conquer him again. An orderly in white stands beside the left side of the bars. Martin fights to overcome the damage caused by a bullet in his back.
After Martin returns from another “wasted” therapy session, the whish of the power chair’s wheels on the carpet and the low hum of the computer create the only sounds in the room as he positions himself at the desk. He closes his eyes before laying his fingers on the keys to type in the code which would connect him to the refuge he so needed. The Internet and the game room give him an escape from constant pain. The woman he met and visits nightly adds to the ability to flee.
Midnight always appears around midnight each night. She tantalizes him, giving him little information about herself; although, she finally tells him her name, Norma Fields. After Martin threatens to cut off the months-long cyber relationship, she offers to send him a picture of herself. She sends an email attachment: a picture of a beautiful woman.
Martin’s interest changes to one that’s professional. An identical copy had been found, folded in the pocket of a paraplegic who had gone over the rail of a hotel room balcony. As soon as he sees the picture, he calls his friends and fellow detectives, Kyle Stone and Frank Thomas.
The three men meet at Martin’s for breakfast and discuss the photo. Kyle mentions that the woman looks familiar. The men decide to find what information they can about the case and about Midnight, Norma Fields.
After Kyle and Frank return to Martin’s house after their shift, the doorbell rings. Kyle answers the door and invites a young woman to join them. Martin gasps as Midnight walks into the room. Kyle introduces Assistant District Attorney Lisa Harris, telling the others, “I told you the picture reminded me of someone.”
Lisa studies the photo and agrees the head and face are hers but not the rest of the body. She joins the investigation.
In the days that follow, the “Midnight team” discover that several men with large accidental death insurance policies, all with Norma Fields as the beneficiary, have “accidentally” died. The search for Midnight intensifies.
And here’s an excellent review to go along with the description –
Reviewed by Brian L Porter
Police detective Martin Rogers is recovering from a shooting, working hard to regain the use of his legs. To fill in the long hours of inactivity, Rogers spends time in an internet chat room, playing cards with a regular group of surfers. That is until the witching hour, when he and the mysterious woman known only as Midnight connect via cyberspace and disappear into their own virtual world. Martin finds himself becoming more and more intrigued and enamoured by the elusive woman, who seems to find him strangely attractive despite his disability. When Midnight refuses to reveal any personal details about herself, despite Martin being openly honest with her, he begins to suspect that the woman he is falling for may not be all that she seems.
Martin confides his concerns to two of his fellow detectives, and soon he and his colleagues are joined by Assistant District Attorney Lisa Harris as a web of previous suspicious deaths of disabled victims emerges, all of whom appear to have been in contact with the mysterious Midnight.
A task force is set up to investigate the murders, and soon Martin, Lisa, and the team are involved in a case so complex, and so baffling, that they begin to feel as though they are chasing a shadow, a clever and resourceful criminal who they describe as being “like fog that disappears in bright light.”
When police dispatcher Denise Woods is attacked and almost killed by the murderer, the police finally believe they are on the trail of Midnight, only to find yet more clouds of mystery as they attempt to penetrate the veil of the elusive killer.
What links Midnight with the name Norma Fields, and is Norma connected to the oddly named Norm Able? What connection does the reportedly dead sailor J.R Olson have with the case?
Vivian Zabel has crafted a beautifully and hauntingly compelling crime drama that leads the reader down one blind alleyway after another as Martin Rogers attempts to unravel the mystery. The tension is wonderfully wracked up as the storyline builds towards its shattering conclusion. Without doubt, this is one for the crime fiction aficionados, a book that cries out to be read, and one which I found very hard to put down once I’d begun. The characters are believable, the underlying romance that builds between Martin and the beautiful Lisa is tenderly and realistically handled, and the fear that things could go disastrously wrong for the heroes of this tale, right up to the end, is so palpable one can almost reach out and touch it.
A great read, tension personified, wonderfully written!
Brian L Porter
Author, A Study in Red – The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper, Avenue of the Dead, Purple Death, and the award-winning The Nemesis Cell.
Next, we are going to take a look at a very short article about internet predators, a very important subject –
Many articles, stories, and media reports have covered children and women who became prey to Internet predators. The problem is serious, and no matter how many warnings are given, the number of victims doesn’t disappear.
The theme of Midnight Hours includes an Internet predator, but the author takes the reader on a twisted path: The predator preys on disabled men. The theme isn’t one that’s normally found in stories dealing with online villains, but it is one that is possible.
The message of the novel is the same as with any story about predators: beware.
Beware of Midnight, because she offers loves and gives a grave to men who fall into her trap.
Here are a few important links of Vivian Zabel’s –
Website: http://viviangilbertzabel.com/
Blogs: http://vivianzabel.blogspot.com/ Brain Cells & Bubble Wrap
http://vzabel.multiply.com/ Vivian’s Site
http://viviansmystery.blogspot.com/ Vivian’s Mysteries
4RV Bookstore
All books http://4rvpublishingllc.com/Store-Books.html
Amazon.com
Prairie Dog Cowboy http://tinyurl.com/5s4uqw
Midnight Hours http://tinyurl.com/5wwgzm
Plus local book stores and Barnes & Noble.com
Thank you for allowing us to take a look at your books, and learn more about you, Vivian, it was a real pleasure!
4 comments:
Thank you, Heather.
Wonder why none of the images show up?
I love Vivian's characters. They are believable, and I truly care about them.
I'm not sure why the pictures aren't showing up. I linked them from your VBT file. I just relinked them again, but they haven't appeared to change. Maybe the VBT file is corrupted? I'm not sure, but I'll see if I can save it into my computer and upload it that way.
Heather, send me your email, and I'll send you images. Just let me know which you want.
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