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The Rose Garden Arena Incident #5
Stalker Fan
Stephanie Banner is twenty years old the night Dakota Shane stands center stage while six bullets ring out through the stadium. Five deaths occur from those shots, although only four ever go on record.
All four are women.
It happens in Portland, Oregon, at the Rose Garden Arena. The show is a sellout. Twenty-two thousand seats gone in less than four hours.
For the eight days leading up to the concert, a handful of disparate lives intertwine as their world unravels. Their sanity, their relationships, their work, their children, the law, and even death hangs in the balance. Among them the learning-disabled black kid from East St. Louis trying to move past having his little sister die in his arms when she and his Momma become collateral damage during a drive-by; the quick-witted black man who, after losing control of his car on his way to visit family in Portland, finds himself duct-taped to a chair, a hostage to a meth-addled lunatic wanted for a double homicide; the Latino son now desperately struggling to rise above his abusive father and help his mother and sister move on to a better life, while unable to let go of the tremendous guilt he bears over the fate of the other sister he once had; the slash-punk singer who manages to score her band the best gig of its career, only to learn she may not have a band left to play it; the Korean psychiatrist finally confronting how much of her life has slipped by her—how many years she lost—while focussing on far less important things; the ex-LAPD detective now working for the Portland PD finally facing the ghosts that still linger from the time of the Rodney King riots—a past that forced him to drag his family up out of LA; the bitter ex-wife of a disc jockey who still secretly listens to her ex-husband’s midnight radio show as she drinks herself into a whiskey coma; the out of control daughter having unprotected sex with strangers hoping that pregnancy might draw the attention of parents unable to see past themselves…
And then, Dakota chart-topping superstar with a dark secret, caught in a media and tabloid frenzy full of rumor, speculation, and lies. She’s off her meds and grappling to find any semblance of herself that might still exist inside an identity forged over the past five years by an extremely successful record company’s marketing department.
Each of these lives is a story and the stories collide with each other like silver balls bouncing off bumpers on a pinball machine.
But in the end, The Rose Garden Arena Incident is a tale about passion, about bravery, about redemption, about fixing those things in the world that are fixable and learning to live with the things that are not—A heartbreaking story of tragedy, despair, and loss that still somehow leaves you with a glimmer of faith, love, and hope.
The Rose Garden Arena Incident is a “serial thriller." The story takes place over seven separate books, each encompassing a full day or more leading up to the Dakota Shane concert.
All four are women.
It happens in Portland, Oregon, at the Rose Garden Arena. The show is a sellout. Twenty-two thousand seats gone in less than four hours.
For the eight days leading up to the concert, a handful of disparate lives intertwine as their world unravels. Their sanity, their relationships, their work, their children, the law, and even death hangs in the balance. Among them the learning-disabled black kid from East St. Louis trying to move past having his little sister die in his arms when she and his Momma become collateral damage during a drive-by; the quick-witted black man who, after losing control of his car on his way to visit family in Portland, finds himself duct-taped to a chair, a hostage to a meth-addled lunatic wanted for a double homicide; the Latino son now desperately struggling to rise above his abusive father and help his mother and sister move on to a better life, while unable to let go of the tremendous guilt he bears over the fate of the other sister he once had; the slash-punk singer who manages to score her band the best gig of its career, only to learn she may not have a band left to play it; the Korean psychiatrist finally confronting how much of her life has slipped by her—how many years she lost—while focussing on far less important things; the ex-LAPD detective now working for the Portland PD finally facing the ghosts that still linger from the time of the Rodney King riots—a past that forced him to drag his family up out of LA; the bitter ex-wife of a disc jockey who still secretly listens to her ex-husband’s midnight radio show as she drinks herself into a whiskey coma; the out of control daughter having unprotected sex with strangers hoping that pregnancy might draw the attention of parents unable to see past themselves…
And then, Dakota chart-topping superstar with a dark secret, caught in a media and tabloid frenzy full of rumor, speculation, and lies. She’s off her meds and grappling to find any semblance of herself that might still exist inside an identity forged over the past five years by an extremely successful record company’s marketing department.
Each of these lives is a story and the stories collide with each other like silver balls bouncing off bumpers on a pinball machine.
But in the end, The Rose Garden Arena Incident is a tale about passion, about bravery, about redemption, about fixing those things in the world that are fixable and learning to live with the things that are not—A heartbreaking story of tragedy, despair, and loss that still somehow leaves you with a glimmer of faith, love, and hope.
The Rose Garden Arena Incident is a “serial thriller." The story takes place over seven separate books, each encompassing a full day or more leading up to the Dakota Shane concert.
100 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 22, 2017
8 people want to read
About the author
Michael Hiebert
28 books99 followersMichael Hiebert is the award-winning author of many books and short stories. He is the author of Dream with Little Angels, the first book of his acclaimed Alvin, Alabama Mystery Series. His recent work includes The Rose Garden Arena Incident (A Serial Thriller in Seven Parts) and Sometimes the Angels Weep, his first collection of short stories. He won the Surrey International Writers’ Conference Storyteller Award two years running, and his story My Lame Summer Journal by Brandon Harris, Grade 7 was listed by Joyce Carol Oates as one of the top fifty most distinguished mystery stories published in The Best American Mystery Stories. He lives in British Columbia, Canada, with his three children and dog, Chloe.
Be sure to check out his website at http://www.michaelhiebert.com and sign up for VIP access and be eligible for all sorts of free stuff. Michael can be contacted by email at michael@michaelhiebert.com
Be sure to check out his website at http://www.michaelhiebert.com and sign up for VIP access and be eligible for all sorts of free stuff. Michael can be contacted by email at michael@michaelhiebert.com
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 20, 2016
This is another "quiet" book, giving the reader a chance to catch his breath, a chance to further absorb all that has come before, gather new information, and -- in what I truly hope is NOT gonna happen (but most likely will) -- prepare for what is to come.
Author Michael Hiebert continues to weave the tapestry of the events leading up to the Rose Garden Arena Incident and I wonder how many bits I've overlooked in trying to figure out the whos and whys and hows in this gripping serial thriller.
I received an advance copy from the author in exchange for my honest review.
Author Michael Hiebert continues to weave the tapestry of the events leading up to the Rose Garden Arena Incident and I wonder how many bits I've overlooked in trying to figure out the whos and whys and hows in this gripping serial thriller.
I received an advance copy from the author in exchange for my honest review.
February 4, 2017
Stalker Fan is back on track!
I had a difficult time getting through the previous installment (Ballads), as it was a lot of backstory and a bit of a slog for me at times. While I enjoy the characters (for the most part) that Hiebert has ably created, the backstory felt unnecessarily long in Ballads. But that's a review for another book. (here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... to be exact). This installment, however, was significantly faster paced.
It's clear that the plot is moving forward, we're coming out of the backstory dump that involves Benny Martin, his father Detective Martin, as well as his wife, and even the backstories of Karma Ackerman and others. We're getting into the second half of the story, and it's heating up. Everyone is entering a sort of crisis or a turning point in their lives, and it's fascinating to see them decide which path they will take. Really, nothing is going right for anyone, and that's exactly where we should have all our characters at this point in the story. So the next installment should be great fun to see how bad things get before the climax hits and before all hell breaks loose.
*I was provided an advance review copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.*
Genre: serial thriller
Rating: 4/5
I had a difficult time getting through the previous installment (Ballads), as it was a lot of backstory and a bit of a slog for me at times. While I enjoy the characters (for the most part) that Hiebert has ably created, the backstory felt unnecessarily long in Ballads. But that's a review for another book. (here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... to be exact). This installment, however, was significantly faster paced.
It's clear that the plot is moving forward, we're coming out of the backstory dump that involves Benny Martin, his father Detective Martin, as well as his wife, and even the backstories of Karma Ackerman and others. We're getting into the second half of the story, and it's heating up. Everyone is entering a sort of crisis or a turning point in their lives, and it's fascinating to see them decide which path they will take. Really, nothing is going right for anyone, and that's exactly where we should have all our characters at this point in the story. So the next installment should be great fun to see how bad things get before the climax hits and before all hell breaks loose.
*I was provided an advance review copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.*
Genre: serial thriller
Rating: 4/5
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews