Today I’m shining a spotlight on the new thriller Fall Out by M. N. (Mark) Grenside. Read on for an exclusive excerpt from the book. Thanks to Kelly at LoveBooksTours for inviting me to join the tour!
Fall Out by M.N. Grenside
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Urbane Publications
Publication Date: May 2020
About Fall Out
The Player meets Get Shorty in this thrilling debut from Mark Grenside.
An LA screenwriter is killed shortly after completing his latest script, FALL OUT – a thriller destined to be a blockbuster but written with a secret double purpose. Echoing events from the past the screenplay is sent to a very specific group of people and will change their lives forever. All are connected to a movie that had abruptly stopped shooting in the jungles of the Philippines years before. FALL OUT exposes the truth about a conspiracy and murder that led to a half-a-billion-dollar fortune for a select few.
Follow the story of Producer Marcus Riley, who sets out on an increasingly dangerous quest to get FALL OUT made. From a powerful Agent’ s office in Hollywood, hidden treasures in Belgravia and a remote chalet in the Swiss Alps to murder at the Cannes Film Festival, Marcus teams up with designer Melinda (Mako) de Turris as they and the other recipients of the screenplay are pursued by an assassin from the past. With clues cleverly concealed in the screenplay, Marcus and Mako unravel a lethal puzzle that for some will bring death, others the truth and ends in a cave with a shocking secret…..
Read an exclusive excerpt from Fall Out
THE CAVE, PAGSANJAN, PHILIPPINES
PROLOGUE
Major Ito Okobudo reminded himself that when the time came, he should put his fingers in his ears. It was not to block out the screams of the dying men, which was a sound he was well used to, but rather to protect his eardrums from the staccato crack of machine-gun fire as it ricocheted and echoed off the unforgiving stone walls. In such a confined space he was pretty certain it would damage his hearing.
He looked disdainfully at the assembled crowd. All he had to do was nod. The six guards behind him would snap back the tarpaulin covering the tripod mounted machine gun and the carnage would begin.
“Congratulations to you all,” the Major beamed, immaculately attired in his formal dress uniform, his swagger stick in his leather gloved hand, his close-cropped hair already dripping with sweat. Three hundred and seventy haggard faces gazed blankly back at him; a labor force mainly drawn from Australian, American and British prisoners of war. The majority did not understand Japanese and those that did gave scant regard to the thanks. As if there had been any choice?
“We are all gathered here today as a final mark of respect to the completion of our work; forever a testament to Japanese dedication and skill….” Next to the POWs the Japanese engineers repeatedly bowed, bobbing as if ducking for apples while murmuring gratitude for the praise being bestowed upon them by the Major.
Buy Fall Out by M.N. Grenside!
To read more, purchase Fall Out on Amazon (see link above), or read more about it on the Fall Out page on Urbane Publications website.
About Mark Grenside
Mark Grenside began his working career straight out of school at Lloyds of London, specializing in Kidnap, Ransom and Extortion Insurance. At 25 it was time for a career change and to dump the suit and tie so he started his media career working for Jim Henson and The Muppets. From that moment on he has been involved in Entertainment and nearly every aspect of it. Mark then went on to create and produce a number of television series and mini-series. At the same time he started a music management company launching million seller artist Neneh Cherry. In 2004 he arranged a $250 million buy-out of the Hallmark Channel International which was then successfully sold to NBC. He returned to producing a number of movies and mini-series.
He has recently somehow morphed into a serial entrepreneur and is now a co-founder of seed to shelf CBD producer Dragonfly Biosciences (www.dragonflybiosciences.com) and a founder in two separate digital companies…. but has also seen a very good return from his love of cooking in an expanding waistline.
A probably unhealthy amount of time and money is lavished on a collection of classic cars that he has raced all over the world. He enjoys risk and has parachuted in New Zealand, scuba dived in the Pacific, hang-glided in the Himalayas and even tobogganed down the Cresta Run. In nearly every case chasing after his wife who is utterly fearless!
He is now writing the follow up to Fall Out, entitled The Bastion. In addition he writes also puts out a humorous blog with subscribers in more than 40 countries. www.andanotherthing.com. Mark has two grown sons, two daughters in law, three grandchildren and lives with his wife, a pug and a French bulldog in Malta.
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