Aqua Vitae

by Anthony F. Lewis

Wildlife biologist Jackie Bannon may have found just the job to jump-start her stalled career. A potential client with seemingly bottomless pockets and plans for an unorthodox business venture has invited her to his private Caribbean island to discuss her coming on board.

At first glance, the place seems a textbook tropical paradise: glistening white sand beaches, lush highland forests, every inch teeming with exotic flowers and wildlife. But a closer look reveals widespread abnormal behavior among the native animal species; behavior that Jackie recognizes as deeply problematic.

Despite her misgivings, she wasn't about to turn down a high-paying job on a luxurious private island, especially one that could remake her career, and she relished the independence she would be allowed. But with that independence would come responsibility, and she could already see that there was much more to this island than meets the eye...

Kindle Edition

First published December 3, 2012

About the author

I started my first novel sometime in mid-2000, on a Metro-North commuter train traveling into Manhattan, writing on my then new Mac Powerbook. The title stuck—The Third Revolution—but the rest of the work I'd completed was tossed out in early 2002 when I started the project anew. I completed that manuscript, found and worked with a professional editor, and, after spending about a year learning how not to attract a literary agent, I eventually took a chance on the then cutting edge publish-on-demand technology and got the book "out there." The first paperback edition of The Third Revolution appeared on Amazon (as well as in several local bricks-and mortar bookstores) in May of 2004. I have to admit, I liked the feeling.

Better than a decade later, the Mac has finally been retired (recently replaced by a new Dell Inspiron 7000 running a hot i7 processor) and I've somehow managed to write and publish six novels (The Third Revolution, Middle America, Little Birdies!, The Last Bartender, The Cenacle Scroll and Aqua Vitae). A seventh book, tentatively titled Free State, is presently in the works.

In my pre-MBA days, a time when I had ready access to fast motorcycles and sympathetic women, I worked as a bartender at the historic Peter Luger Steakhouse in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan, the El Morocco Club (Elmer's) on Second Avenue (circa 1981, when it was operating as a steakhouse), the infamous Diamond's Whisky Parlor in Flushing and poured shots-and-beers (and kept my head down) through several stabbings and the occasional gunfire at Pirate's Pub in Kew Gardens, Queens. I re-entered the industry in 2011, working the bar at Frogs End Tavern within the elegant Glenmere Mansion, an exclusive eighteen-room boutique hotel in Chester, NY, and from behind the stick at the President's Bar at the venerable Powelton Country Club in Newburgh, NY. For most of 2012 I was at The Cellar Door Bistro in Ridgefield, CT. and at the MTK Tavern in Mount Kisco, NY.

I was last found plying my trade at the King Street Restaurant & Bar in Chappaqua, NY, which, unfortunately, closed its doors during the summer of 2014. During that time I also worked the busy Sunday brunch shift at the Bissell House in Ridgefield, CT (apparently now the Dog and Pony, under the same management), and picked up a few lunch shifts at the still popular Hideaway, also in Ridgefield. The motorcycles and women have yet to reemerge, but I remain ever hopeful in that regard.

Reviews

[David Valente · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read & fascinating story line

I have read other Lewis books before, but this was a bit of a departure from the others, but he can write one hell of a story. Will definitely read other books by Lewis. You should too.