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Ahead of the Game
Ahead of the Game by Suzann Ledbetter released on Aug 25, 2004 is available now for purchase.
384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 1, 2004
54 people want to read
About the author
Suzann Ledbetter
25 books18 followersFifteen or twenty minutes of intense Website surfing suggests that biographical segments are usually devoted to former vocations, titles published and awards won. The latter two categories seem redundant to additional electronic buttonry labeled Book List, to homepages advertising current tomes, and mentions elsewhere of honors bestowed, humbly received and treasured in perpetuity.
As for the former, having not been gainfully employed in return for weekly paychecks since 1976, I assume a brief, intervening stint as a water-filled shoe insole salesperson doesn't rank right up there with the legions of doctors-, lawyers-, educators-, captains of industry-, or CIA operatives-turned-scribes.
Second to vocational pursuits are avocations, which for others range from gardening, needle-arts, molecular biology and NASCAR fanatacism to scuba-diving, astronomy, world travel, and running for miles absent a pack of rabid wolves snapping at one's heels.
The fiction writer in me yearns to invent hobbies of that ilk, as one would attribute to a novel's protagonist to make him or her interesting. The nonfiction side advises the truth, or an interpretation of it based on available research. My inner humorist struggles to keep a straight face.
Henry David Thoreau disparaged the unexamined life as unworthy of sustained respiration. Valid or not, I'll give it a whirl . . ..
When I'm not writing or speaking about writing, I'm either reading, or asleep. I adore my husband and most of the time, our children. Our basic 3bd./2 ba. home is shared with two greyhounds, two fat, hirsute cats and thousands of books--the majority shelved and probably having a scoliotic effect on the floor joists and foundation.
At work or during recess, I drink too much coffee, alternating with room-temperature Cokes slugged straight from the bottles. Caffeine, for me, is its own food group and when focused on what I'm writing, suffices for the chewable variety I'm too distracted or lazy to prepare. Habitual meal-skipping isn't recommended, but in theory, should be a literal lean cuisine. Alas, it is not.
Finishing a book, fiction or non-, induces a compulsion to rearrange the furniture. Or move. Why, I'll leave to mental health professionals. I suspect it seems easier to Dumpster the crap accumulated over the longish haul and transport items dear to my heart somewhere new and unsullied, than to clean what months of neglect hath wrought.
All in all, I suppose sedate is a nice term for this life as lived and breathed. From an exterior perspective, boring might be more appropos. An observer couldn't comprehend any better than I can explain what it is to ply a keyboard and metamorphose into whomever I want--real or imagined--residing wherever I so desire, in whatever era I choose. For richer, for poorer, for better, worse and downright tragic, until deadlines do us part.
If life and a livelihood get any better than that, I'm not aware of it. Nor, upon fleet examination, would I trade a minute of mine for someone else's better paid, cooler, infinitely more exciting and nutritious one.
In many respects, being a writer is a job, like any other. Except it isn't what I do. It's who I am.
As for the former, having not been gainfully employed in return for weekly paychecks since 1976, I assume a brief, intervening stint as a water-filled shoe insole salesperson doesn't rank right up there with the legions of doctors-, lawyers-, educators-, captains of industry-, or CIA operatives-turned-scribes.
Second to vocational pursuits are avocations, which for others range from gardening, needle-arts, molecular biology and NASCAR fanatacism to scuba-diving, astronomy, world travel, and running for miles absent a pack of rabid wolves snapping at one's heels.
The fiction writer in me yearns to invent hobbies of that ilk, as one would attribute to a novel's protagonist to make him or her interesting. The nonfiction side advises the truth, or an interpretation of it based on available research. My inner humorist struggles to keep a straight face.
Henry David Thoreau disparaged the unexamined life as unworthy of sustained respiration. Valid or not, I'll give it a whirl . . ..
When I'm not writing or speaking about writing, I'm either reading, or asleep. I adore my husband and most of the time, our children. Our basic 3bd./2 ba. home is shared with two greyhounds, two fat, hirsute cats and thousands of books--the majority shelved and probably having a scoliotic effect on the floor joists and foundation.
At work or during recess, I drink too much coffee, alternating with room-temperature Cokes slugged straight from the bottles. Caffeine, for me, is its own food group and when focused on what I'm writing, suffices for the chewable variety I'm too distracted or lazy to prepare. Habitual meal-skipping isn't recommended, but in theory, should be a literal lean cuisine. Alas, it is not.
Finishing a book, fiction or non-, induces a compulsion to rearrange the furniture. Or move. Why, I'll leave to mental health professionals. I suspect it seems easier to Dumpster the crap accumulated over the longish haul and transport items dear to my heart somewhere new and unsullied, than to clean what months of neglect hath wrought.
All in all, I suppose sedate is a nice term for this life as lived and breathed. From an exterior perspective, boring might be more appropos. An observer couldn't comprehend any better than I can explain what it is to ply a keyboard and metamorphose into whomever I want--real or imagined--residing wherever I so desire, in whatever era I choose. For richer, for poorer, for better, worse and downright tragic, until deadlines do us part.
If life and a livelihood get any better than that, I'm not aware of it. Nor, upon fleet examination, would I trade a minute of mine for someone else's better paid, cooler, infinitely more exciting and nutritious one.
In many respects, being a writer is a job, like any other. Except it isn't what I do. It's who I am.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 16, 2013
I read this book last year, so I couldn't really remember what it was about. Since there is no description on here, I thought I'd help out other readers by including one I found on the author's website:
Sometimes you have to play by your own rules...
Zoey Jones, the divorced mother of a teenage daughter, neither expects, nor particularly welcomes a reunion with her unrequited high school flame, Detective Hank Westlake. When the couple's "not a date" to go bowling ends in Zoey's father's arrest for murder, it's the worst, most terrifying day of Zoey's life. Or so she thinks ... until her daughter goes missing.
and one from fictiondb:
LIFE IS EASIER WITH A GOOD PAIR OF RUNNING SHOES.
After her life was downsized by a divorce and a pink slip, Zoey Jones moved back home to Blytheville, Missouri. Now tending bar at her uncle's watering hole, Zoey is working overtime to keep her rebellious teenage daughter and her eccentric parents out of trouble.
Naturally, Blytheville's sexy top cop Hank Westlake picks this time to start rekindling old fires. But their tentative first date is a bust -- literally -- when Hank is forced to book Zoey's own father for murder. Sure, Charlie has been acting strange lately, but could he really be the bumbling burglar behind three convenience-store robberies? Actually, yes...but he has a very good reason. And did he murder clerk Joe Donny in cold blood? No. Not a chance.
Determined to find the real killer, Zoey begins her own investigation, knowing that in life, and in love, it's good to stay on your toes and ahead of the game.
Sometimes you have to play by your own rules...
Zoey Jones, the divorced mother of a teenage daughter, neither expects, nor particularly welcomes a reunion with her unrequited high school flame, Detective Hank Westlake. When the couple's "not a date" to go bowling ends in Zoey's father's arrest for murder, it's the worst, most terrifying day of Zoey's life. Or so she thinks ... until her daughter goes missing.
and one from fictiondb:
LIFE IS EASIER WITH A GOOD PAIR OF RUNNING SHOES.
After her life was downsized by a divorce and a pink slip, Zoey Jones moved back home to Blytheville, Missouri. Now tending bar at her uncle's watering hole, Zoey is working overtime to keep her rebellious teenage daughter and her eccentric parents out of trouble.
Naturally, Blytheville's sexy top cop Hank Westlake picks this time to start rekindling old fires. But their tentative first date is a bust -- literally -- when Hank is forced to book Zoey's own father for murder. Sure, Charlie has been acting strange lately, but could he really be the bumbling burglar behind three convenience-store robberies? Actually, yes...but he has a very good reason. And did he murder clerk Joe Donny in cold blood? No. Not a chance.
Determined to find the real killer, Zoey begins her own investigation, knowing that in life, and in love, it's good to stay on your toes and ahead of the game.
January 2, 2026
Good writing .. but not a nice story flow so slog set in.
October 8, 2023
Zoey Jones has gone through a rough time. Recently divorced, she has also been laid off from her job as an assistant manager in the technology service department of a firm in Kansas City. No longer able to afford her expensive home, she has packed up her things and with Clare, her teenage daughter in tow, moved back to her hometown in Blytheville, a small town in Missouri. She finds work at her Uncle’s bar and a place to live near her parents’ home, where she is trying to raise her rebellious daughter who is a handful. Meanwhile her mother hovers around trying to improve Zoey’s living space with a multitude of reno projects while Zoey is more concerned about her father’s failing health.
Zoey runs into Hank Westlake, a boy she knew from high school. Back then he was a shy awkward seventeen-year-old who struggled to express himself. Many years later, some things have changed, but others have not. He is now a confident young detective in the homicide division of the local police department. What has not changed are his feelings for Zoey and he hopes to rekindle their friendship. But a wrench is thrown into his plans when the police arrest Zoey’s father Charlie for a string of robberies and the murder of a store clerk. Zoey knows her father is not capable of committing such terrible crimes and sets out to work with Hank and Clare to clear his name and track down the killer. But as the three work together to solve the crime, the more the evidence appears irrefutable. Meanwhile the relationship between Zoey and Hank, although initially stalled with Charlie’s arrest, falters, but survives.
This is a light easy read, but does not present anything remarkable in terms of plot, characters or tone. It is one of those books that helps pass the time if you are stuck in an airport waiting for a connecting flight. There is enough to hold someone’s attention, but not enough to lead me to recommend this book to others.
Zoey runs into Hank Westlake, a boy she knew from high school. Back then he was a shy awkward seventeen-year-old who struggled to express himself. Many years later, some things have changed, but others have not. He is now a confident young detective in the homicide division of the local police department. What has not changed are his feelings for Zoey and he hopes to rekindle their friendship. But a wrench is thrown into his plans when the police arrest Zoey’s father Charlie for a string of robberies and the murder of a store clerk. Zoey knows her father is not capable of committing such terrible crimes and sets out to work with Hank and Clare to clear his name and track down the killer. But as the three work together to solve the crime, the more the evidence appears irrefutable. Meanwhile the relationship between Zoey and Hank, although initially stalled with Charlie’s arrest, falters, but survives.
This is a light easy read, but does not present anything remarkable in terms of plot, characters or tone. It is one of those books that helps pass the time if you are stuck in an airport waiting for a connecting flight. There is enough to hold someone’s attention, but not enough to lead me to recommend this book to others.
July 10, 2023
This story us a great read with an ending that caught me by surprise and I frequently figure out the whodunit early. Well worth reading.
Read
September 13, 2024Bof
March 26, 2011
Fast read. Eye candy. :)
February 20, 2016
Didn't like this book
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews