WINNER OF SILVER FALCHION AWARD FOR BEST COMIC ACTION THRILLER 2023
President Wilhelm Hickory Richter, a bloated septuagenarian from Jacksonville with erectile dysfunction and a young, contemptuous, cat-collecting wife, is facing financial ruin and prison. His daughter Cody, a pistol savvy motorcyclist, and his son Billy, a tech wizard at 13, are about to finger Richter for the murder of his first wife, Lulubelle. Meanwhile, drug-addled, bickering thieves have decapitated Richter's lawyer and split with his billion-dollar fortune. What to do? Sniff some coke, pop a few burgers and deploy Lenny and Tiny, mismatched thugs supplied by a corrupt Russian ambassador, to hunt and kill the kids. Engage The Actuary, a hipster hitman from Brooklyn, to track down the cash and whack the thieves. The result is droll chase and combat through the Okefenokee Swamp, Miami, Washington, Paris and Arles, leading to an explosive night at Ponte Vedra on the Fourth of July.
Kirkus Reviews: "This is a brilliantly conceived parody. A sprawling, cleverly imagined spoof of political culture and the miscreants it spawns."
Diane Donovan, Senior Editor, Midwest Review: "[A]n excellent romp through politics, individual lives, and the ironies of holding office and wielding power, moving through a host of influences, from insider trading to Russian intrigue and warped family relationships."
To read the opening chapter, click here.
THE KINGDOM OF
HATCH NOW AVAILABLE
Arlo Hatch, a young attorney in a white-shoe New York law firm, is facing an identity crisis: A lucrative partnership is dangling within grasp, and he’s fallen for a beautiful, New York-centric philanthropist, but he feels he’s wasting his life. He’s just shuffling money around from one corporation to another, and he’s sick of his own clients—a corrupt pharma company pushing risky boner pills, a media baron catering to the lunatic fringe, and a sketchy oligarch targeted by Russian agents after absconding with $8 billion. Arlo’s tired of guitar-thumping neighbors, microdosing muggers, and an ethics-challenged boss. He dreams of chucking New York, of returning to his idyllic boyhood home in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, to ski, grow saffron, and practice a little law amidst beautiful mountains and bedazzling maple trees, but he hesitates. He can’t quite make the leap.
When Russian thugs hunting his oligarch client attack Arlo and threaten his aging parents, he’s forced to make a decision, but now there’s another question: Will he survive?
Kirkus Reviews: "Manning’s story is immediately humorous; when readers meet Mikey, he’s hanging upside down, casually conversing with his victims-turned-tormentors. There is a delightfully punchy quality to the prose, which is fast-paced and crackles with evocative language: “A bottle-tan phony with a fake smile and an audience that skewed boat-parade boomer. Insincerity oozing from his makeup-packed pores.”
"A wild and enjoyable ride."
Diane Donovan, Senior Editor, Midwest Review:"Libraries and readers seeking a story replete with satisfying twists and turns that’s hard to easily categorize and easy to love will find The Kingdom of Hatch spins an attractive yarn of discovery, changes, and threats that’s difficult to set aside, once begun.
It’s especially highly recommended for readers seeking nonstop action, strong characterization, and multifaceted stories that specialize in going in new directions. Its outcomes neatly draw all characters into symbiotic relationships that simmer with intrigue and transformation."
To read the opening chapter, click here.
Copyright©2022, All Rights Reserved