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License: When the stakes are raised, the rules change.
Maxine Gold and Lionel Lane, lovers and Co-CEO’s, are social entrepreneurs flush with new cash. Young and ambitious, they finally have the right and the might to catapult their energy drink company, Double Vision, and disrupt the industry. But the titans of business and politics have other ideas.
Lionel partners with Chinese princeling Li Ning to launch an expansion in China . . . but their venture encounters brutal hardships and heartache among the remote cliffs of Tibet.
Their billionaire mentor’s Gulfstream goes up in flames, an obsessed Russian hacker cripples their product distribution via cyber attacks, and Maxine is forced to face a hostile Senate inquiry in Washington, D.C.
Skier Reddi Christiansen, the face of the company, is in emotional free-fall, as her final days to qualify for the Norway Winter Olympics tick away. . . while her boyfriend, ex SEAL and cyber-sleuth Trig Garcia, is stuck in a deadly special ops deployment near the Hindu Kush mountains.
Maxine discovers the only way to save their future is to face her painful past . . . a gruesome high school tragedy along the Potomac River, where the Secret Service ripped her ideals–and love–from her heart.
Lionel partners with Chinese princeling Li Ning to launch an expansion in China . . . but their venture encounters brutal hardships and heartache among the remote cliffs of Tibet.
Their billionaire mentor’s Gulfstream goes up in flames, an obsessed Russian hacker cripples their product distribution via cyber attacks, and Maxine is forced to face a hostile Senate inquiry in Washington, D.C.
Skier Reddi Christiansen, the face of the company, is in emotional free-fall, as her final days to qualify for the Norway Winter Olympics tick away. . . while her boyfriend, ex SEAL and cyber-sleuth Trig Garcia, is stuck in a deadly special ops deployment near the Hindu Kush mountains.
Maxine discovers the only way to save their future is to face her painful past . . . a gruesome high school tragedy along the Potomac River, where the Secret Service ripped her ideals–and love–from her heart.
523 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 7, 2016
246 people want to read
About the author
Paul Markun
3 books47 followersPaul Markun grew up in the Canal Zone of Panama. The youngest of four, his parents eventually moved to Washington, D.C. where he attended Sidwell Friends School. Paul met his wife Rachel, an attorney, when he was 18 and she was even younger at the University of Chicago.
His mother wrote a dozen children’s books and was a speech writer, but his parents’ stories of the Depression scared him so much he decided to be an entrepreneur first, make some money, and then pursue writing. That took longer than he planned. After three loving children, and thirty years in Silicon Valley, he finally figured it out.
License is his second novel. The Big Disrupter was the first in the series.
His mother wrote a dozen children’s books and was a speech writer, but his parents’ stories of the Depression scared him so much he decided to be an entrepreneur first, make some money, and then pursue writing. That took longer than he planned. After three loving children, and thirty years in Silicon Valley, he finally figured it out.
License is his second novel. The Big Disrupter was the first in the series.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 20, 2016
License by Paul Markum does well as a standalone. I had not read The Big Disrupter, the preceding book in this series but I never felt lost. There were a lot of characters for the first 100 pages but I took notes on the characters so I could remember them when they reappeared.
Two things drew me to this book, the entrepreneurs had developed and wanted to promote a high energy drink. They had one drink that did not have a lot of caffeine but the others were high in it. This is obviously a controversial subject. Are these drinks safe for young adults and children? I wonder if they are over the long run for the general population. The other draw was the Olympics. I don’t usually watch sports but I do watch a lot of the Olympics.
For me this is a great beach read. To me that means that the book does not go into depth of emotions or thoughts but keeps your attention and makes you turn the pages. It entertains.
The characters were interesting, my favorite was Reddi Christiansen who had been training for the Olympics and her last remaining parent dies. This means that she will need to be in charge of caring for her thirteen year old sister. The conflict is obvious. Can she entrust the care of her sister to someone who is not family or withdraw from the Olympics. There are many more conflicts for her and the other characters of this book. I also adored the ending.
I highly recommend License as a beach read.
I received an advanced copy of this book from the Publisher as a win from FirstReads but that in no way made a difference in my thoughts or feelings in this review.
Two things drew me to this book, the entrepreneurs had developed and wanted to promote a high energy drink. They had one drink that did not have a lot of caffeine but the others were high in it. This is obviously a controversial subject. Are these drinks safe for young adults and children? I wonder if they are over the long run for the general population. The other draw was the Olympics. I don’t usually watch sports but I do watch a lot of the Olympics.
For me this is a great beach read. To me that means that the book does not go into depth of emotions or thoughts but keeps your attention and makes you turn the pages. It entertains.
The characters were interesting, my favorite was Reddi Christiansen who had been training for the Olympics and her last remaining parent dies. This means that she will need to be in charge of caring for her thirteen year old sister. The conflict is obvious. Can she entrust the care of her sister to someone who is not family or withdraw from the Olympics. There are many more conflicts for her and the other characters of this book. I also adored the ending.
I highly recommend License as a beach read.
I received an advanced copy of this book from the Publisher as a win from FirstReads but that in no way made a difference in my thoughts or feelings in this review.
August 1, 2016
This is a fun and fast paced beach read that begins with an impactful prologue that draws the reader in. There's a lot that happens in this story that has a global reach and I found myself (in no particular order) shocked, happy, sad, outraged, tickled, and vexed while reading. The author makes some bold plot and character moves which I sometimes found frustrating, but overall served the story well. Rest assured, the roller coaster ride comes to a satisfying conclusion.
License is a follow-on to 2014's The Big Disrupter which is decidedly a business thriller. License adds a healthy dose of political intrigue to the mix widening the appeal and IMHO making it more interesting. License can be read as a stand-alone, but having read The Big Disrupter I was more invested in the cast of characters.
Because I can do spoiler tags here I'm going to vent a little.
I received a free advance copy of this book.
2016 reading challenge checks the box for 23. A book published in 2016.
License is a follow-on to 2014's The Big Disrupter which is decidedly a business thriller. License adds a healthy dose of political intrigue to the mix widening the appeal and IMHO making it more interesting. License can be read as a stand-alone, but having read The Big Disrupter I was more invested in the cast of characters.
Because I can do spoiler tags here I'm going to vent a little.
I received a free advance copy of this book.
2016 reading challenge checks the box for 23. A book published in 2016.
July 22, 2016
Exciting read. Cleverly created characters and story lines. Twists and turns are surprisingly inventive.
Full of drama, intrigue, and adventure. Very entertaining and well written.
Full of drama, intrigue, and adventure. Very entertaining and well written.
July 13, 2016
Wow, I was only going to read a few pages and get the opening act, so to speak. I wanted to see where it would lead from the previous book. Even with a very busy schedule this week, I could hardly put it down and read it in two days. Sometimes it is nice to have an appointment start 45 minutes late – more time to read!
Lots of conflict to follow and figuring out who the bad guy was behind all the layers of minions was tough. Throwing in an alias really kept me guessing. Glad to see Reddi and Wolfie were still in the cast of original characters and tears flowed over the retired character. Also, some new characters joined the show on both sides of the fence.
Complex situations with money and power at the forefront. Maxine Gold makes a great female character with tough business acumen while keeping a focus on winning, she still shows integrity.
I received an advanced copy of this book for review and I give it five stars. If you’re looking for a new book, this one won’t disappoint, even if you haven’t read the previous book “The Big Disrupter”. License is an engaging tale and will send the author climbing up to stand beside the greats in the “Thriller” category.
Lots of conflict to follow and figuring out who the bad guy was behind all the layers of minions was tough. Throwing in an alias really kept me guessing. Glad to see Reddi and Wolfie were still in the cast of original characters and tears flowed over the retired character. Also, some new characters joined the show on both sides of the fence.
Complex situations with money and power at the forefront. Maxine Gold makes a great female character with tough business acumen while keeping a focus on winning, she still shows integrity.
I received an advanced copy of this book for review and I give it five stars. If you’re looking for a new book, this one won’t disappoint, even if you haven’t read the previous book “The Big Disrupter”. License is an engaging tale and will send the author climbing up to stand beside the greats in the “Thriller” category.
July 12, 2016
If you're a fan of the original Robert Ludlum and Trevanian thrillers, then Markun's second book is for you. European and US agents are pitted against everyday people working for a west coast start-up. The action shifts quickly between California, Washington, China and Eastern Europe, with a climatic finale involving the Olympics in Norway. This is a very well written page turner, a great summer or holiday read that you won't be able to put down. Very highly recommended.
July 19, 2016
I know the author and was asked given an advanced copy for an honest review. What a great book, this the perfect summer vacation read what will keep you intrigued while spanning across the globe in the perfect computer criminal novel. I thought that I would start to read this book at night right before bed and I am been caught up in the suspenseful story that I read it in a few days and couldn't put it down.
I can highly recommend the book
I can highly recommend the book
July 18, 2016
I won this on goodreads. My first book by Paul Markun. A good story that covers politics, corporate manipulations and throws in romance and a good mystery to bring it altogether.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews