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Corrupt Connection
This is a new cover edition for original ISBN13: 9781470192709.
The year is 2025. Sam Stone is a seasoned businessman at MemOne, a cutting-edge technology firm in Tampa. At 48, he’s at the peak of his career, recently widowed, and losing interest in life. His future immediately is transformed when he meets Britney Young, a beautiful and brilliant PhD, who rekindles passions he thought were only in his past.
Money, power, and violence are being wielded by a Central American drug cartel intent on raiding MemOne's innovations, gaining access to its high-tech biological meds. If successful, the bold move would revolutionize the underground drug world.
Under the veil of an undisclosed U.S. corporation, the cartel prepares for a hostile takeover of MemOne. Britney becomes their target as they seek vital information. With her life threatened and a former colleague brutally murdered, Britney reluctantly confides in Sam, exposing him to the looming danger she’s facing. To protect his new love and to shield MemOne from an enemy it’s unaware even exists, Sam knows he must stop whoever is behind the Corrupt Connection.
Britney and Sam are self-effacing yet competent, vulnerable yet courageous, as they draw the reader into their tale of love, fear, pain, and hope.
The year is 2025. Sam Stone is a seasoned businessman at MemOne, a cutting-edge technology firm in Tampa. At 48, he’s at the peak of his career, recently widowed, and losing interest in life. His future immediately is transformed when he meets Britney Young, a beautiful and brilliant PhD, who rekindles passions he thought were only in his past.
Money, power, and violence are being wielded by a Central American drug cartel intent on raiding MemOne's innovations, gaining access to its high-tech biological meds. If successful, the bold move would revolutionize the underground drug world.
Under the veil of an undisclosed U.S. corporation, the cartel prepares for a hostile takeover of MemOne. Britney becomes their target as they seek vital information. With her life threatened and a former colleague brutally murdered, Britney reluctantly confides in Sam, exposing him to the looming danger she’s facing. To protect his new love and to shield MemOne from an enemy it’s unaware even exists, Sam knows he must stop whoever is behind the Corrupt Connection.
Britney and Sam are self-effacing yet competent, vulnerable yet courageous, as they draw the reader into their tale of love, fear, pain, and hope.
Paperback
First published July 2, 2012
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About the author
D.R. Shoultz
19 books125 followersAn author of mystery/crime novels, D.R. (Donn) Shoultz hails from Delavan, a small town in central Illinois, but has resided in the Southeastern U.S. most of his adult life. Donn and his wife Claudia have recently moved from their longtime residence in the Carolina Mountains to a home atop the Cumberland Plateau in Crossville, Tennessee. Claudia continues to share her considerable editing experience in shaping Donn's novels. In their free time, they both enjoy traveling and hiking nearby wooded trails with their dog, Milo.
Donn began writing fiction more than a decade ago following a sales and marketing career that took him across the world. His early work featured Miles Stevens, a time-traveling CIA agent, sent back from 2050 and his home in Langley, Virginia to intercept historic tragedies already in the history books.
Donn’s recent focus is adding stories to his Mountain Mystery Series. In each Mountain Mystery, tension rises quickly. The mystery (usually a murder) makes an early appearance. Hometown heroes spring into action, searching for clues, often competing with local law enforcement as they move closer and closer to danger. The stories are set in fictitious mountain communities with the Blue Ridge Mountains as a backdrop. Clues are sprinkled throughout with twists keeping readers off balance. These books are great for weekend reads, offering crisp, fast-moving chapters and up-all-night suspense.
If you’re looking for a mystery series with legs, this is it. Your favorite sleuths from the initial stories return in future novels, making them a series within the Mountain Mystery collection of novels.
In order of publication, his books include:
Miles Stevens Series
* Melting Sand
* Cyber One
* Gone Viral
Mountain Mystery Series
* At the River's Edge (Emily Edwards #1)
* Butcher Road (Jack Fowler #1)
* Fallen from Sight (Ryan Nelson #1)
* A Town Divided (Luke Maxwell #1)
* A Town in Fear (Luke Maxwell #2)
* Dark River (Emily Edwards #2)
* Road to Justice (Jack Fowler #2)
* Rising River (Emily Edwards #3
* Border Town (Luke Maxwell #3))
Donn's short stories, which he interweaves between writing novels, are an eclectic collection of tales looking at the lives of lovers, schemers, everyday people, and even pets. Each includes a twist and is designed to bring a tear and/or a smile to the reader. His stories have received national contest recognition, including from Writer's Digest magazine. His short story collections include:
* It Goes On
* Most Men
You can find more about Donn and his writing at DRShoultz.com.
Donn began writing fiction more than a decade ago following a sales and marketing career that took him across the world. His early work featured Miles Stevens, a time-traveling CIA agent, sent back from 2050 and his home in Langley, Virginia to intercept historic tragedies already in the history books.
Donn’s recent focus is adding stories to his Mountain Mystery Series. In each Mountain Mystery, tension rises quickly. The mystery (usually a murder) makes an early appearance. Hometown heroes spring into action, searching for clues, often competing with local law enforcement as they move closer and closer to danger. The stories are set in fictitious mountain communities with the Blue Ridge Mountains as a backdrop. Clues are sprinkled throughout with twists keeping readers off balance. These books are great for weekend reads, offering crisp, fast-moving chapters and up-all-night suspense.
If you’re looking for a mystery series with legs, this is it. Your favorite sleuths from the initial stories return in future novels, making them a series within the Mountain Mystery collection of novels.
In order of publication, his books include:
Miles Stevens Series
* Melting Sand
* Cyber One
* Gone Viral
Mountain Mystery Series
* At the River's Edge (Emily Edwards #1)
* Butcher Road (Jack Fowler #1)
* Fallen from Sight (Ryan Nelson #1)
* A Town Divided (Luke Maxwell #1)
* A Town in Fear (Luke Maxwell #2)
* Dark River (Emily Edwards #2)
* Road to Justice (Jack Fowler #2)
* Rising River (Emily Edwards #3
* Border Town (Luke Maxwell #3))
Donn's short stories, which he interweaves between writing novels, are an eclectic collection of tales looking at the lives of lovers, schemers, everyday people, and even pets. Each includes a twist and is designed to bring a tear and/or a smile to the reader. His stories have received national contest recognition, including from Writer's Digest magazine. His short story collections include:
* It Goes On
* Most Men
You can find more about Donn and his writing at DRShoultz.com.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 9, 2016
You know that novel that’s been sitting on your shelf forever. The one that you really want to read, but somehow keeps getting set aside to read something else first? The one that you keep telling yourself you’ll read next, and when you finally do you can’t put it down and wonder why you hadn’t read it sooner? For me, this is that book.
There is lots of character and world building at the beginning of this novel that allows the rest of the story to flow unhindered through the action and suspense. And this novel was very suspenseful. At the same time, it was an intellectual novel. The various technologies as well as business practices were fantastic. I love this author’s straightforward writing style. I found it easy to connect with. It’s as if the narrator takes a step back and lets the characters tell their own story. The clearly marked progression of time gives a sense of permanence and inevitability to all of the events. There is also an underlying current of tension throughout, both from the budding relationship and the business dealings.
I enjoyed how Shoultz’s multitude of separate yet well-developed characters, all with their own stories, come together slowly throughout this novel, working towards the explosive conclusion. I found it quite easy to form an emotional connection with the main characters in this novel. The high pressure lives of these characters keeps you riveted, even before you get to the heart of the story. The way that the author shows the characters’ thought processes was quite inviting. You get to know them on the inside and the outside. I also appreciated Biscuit and that way that he was the first and last priority of the day. The fact that the characters didn’t just have a dog so that there was a dog in the story and that he was just a plain old companion was great.
Shoultz definitely made me gasp in surprise, curse in anger, and cry like a baby. I was also left with a feeling of ‘I knew it’ and ‘what now’ at the end of the novel. Not only was the suspense in this novel breathtaking, but I found the bioengineering aspect very interesting in its own right. This was a brilliant read that I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to recommend it to others.
There is lots of character and world building at the beginning of this novel that allows the rest of the story to flow unhindered through the action and suspense. And this novel was very suspenseful. At the same time, it was an intellectual novel. The various technologies as well as business practices were fantastic. I love this author’s straightforward writing style. I found it easy to connect with. It’s as if the narrator takes a step back and lets the characters tell their own story. The clearly marked progression of time gives a sense of permanence and inevitability to all of the events. There is also an underlying current of tension throughout, both from the budding relationship and the business dealings.
I enjoyed how Shoultz’s multitude of separate yet well-developed characters, all with their own stories, come together slowly throughout this novel, working towards the explosive conclusion. I found it quite easy to form an emotional connection with the main characters in this novel. The high pressure lives of these characters keeps you riveted, even before you get to the heart of the story. The way that the author shows the characters’ thought processes was quite inviting. You get to know them on the inside and the outside. I also appreciated Biscuit and that way that he was the first and last priority of the day. The fact that the characters didn’t just have a dog so that there was a dog in the story and that he was just a plain old companion was great.
Shoultz definitely made me gasp in surprise, curse in anger, and cry like a baby. I was also left with a feeling of ‘I knew it’ and ‘what now’ at the end of the novel. Not only was the suspense in this novel breathtaking, but I found the bioengineering aspect very interesting in its own right. This was a brilliant read that I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to recommend it to others.
July 5, 2013
This was a fun read, but had some flaws. The premise feels a little thin, as it's hinged on a few relationships and actions that don't ultimately feel grounded. Some of the areas where they are manipulating the corporate system to research information felt a little overlong, for a thriller. I like that style of anticlimactic action better, personally. The action scenes made sense for the story, and were grounded in the characters' strengths, rather than descending into cartoonish movie or video game silliness.
Though I didn't always care for the characters, there was obviously a lot of care placed in establishing their motivations. My biggest complaint was with the portrayal of Britney. It seemed like she was never really given a chance to show her brains, and most of the time when she was in the scene, it was either to wring her hands until her boyfriend came up with a plan, or to allow Sam to speculate about her beauty and sensuality. There were elements to the way that she was written, both in the physical descriptions, and in her emotional paralysis, that felt more juvenile than you'd expect from a 37 year old scientist.
One thing that jumped out at me as oddly disconnected-
The story didn't feel entirely organic- the characters sometimes made decisions that didn't feel logical, and the plot felt a bit leading, in places. It was crisply written though, and I had fun reading it. Isn't that what counts in the end?
(I received a free copy of this in exchange for my honest, non-reciprocal review. Thanks, D.R!)
Though I didn't always care for the characters, there was obviously a lot of care placed in establishing their motivations. My biggest complaint was with the portrayal of Britney. It seemed like she was never really given a chance to show her brains, and most of the time when she was in the scene, it was either to wring her hands until her boyfriend came up with a plan, or to allow Sam to speculate about her beauty and sensuality. There were elements to the way that she was written, both in the physical descriptions, and in her emotional paralysis, that felt more juvenile than you'd expect from a 37 year old scientist.
One thing that jumped out at me as oddly disconnected-
The story didn't feel entirely organic- the characters sometimes made decisions that didn't feel logical, and the plot felt a bit leading, in places. It was crisply written though, and I had fun reading it. Isn't that what counts in the end?
(I received a free copy of this in exchange for my honest, non-reciprocal review. Thanks, D.R!)
September 4, 2013
D.R. Shoultz has written a book that is full of action and excitement. The story line is credible and the characters believable. I found the book easy to read in that I was drawn into the next page constantly wanting to know what would happen next.
The story follows Sam Stone, a businessman at a technology firm through the challenges of chasing a relationship and combatting corporate intrigues, raids and dangers. He finds himself at odds ends between his employer, his new love and his integrity.
Although there were a few minor proofreading errors, this is a fine story - especially considering it is the author's first work. It has all the elements of a good read; money, power, violence…and love.
The story follows Sam Stone, a businessman at a technology firm through the challenges of chasing a relationship and combatting corporate intrigues, raids and dangers. He finds himself at odds ends between his employer, his new love and his integrity.
Although there were a few minor proofreading errors, this is a fine story - especially considering it is the author's first work. It has all the elements of a good read; money, power, violence…and love.
November 28, 2013
Promising first novel by D.R. Shoultz. The book's gripping plot and romantic subplot had me mesmerized until the very end. Shoultz paints a chilling tale of corporate espionage into which his main character, widower Sam Stone, and Sam's sweetheart Brittney Young, find themselves unwittingly immersed. A great read!
May 8, 2013
I must say I was very skeptical reading this book but I am very happy that I did. Great story, great characters, and the twists will make you go back and re-read a little to find out how you didn't see them coming. I look forward to more books by D.R. Schoultz.
August 14, 2013
I'd liken this book to a rollercoaster ride. Don't worry with your seatbelt for the first third, but after that, you'd better be strapped in because it picks up pace. Oh, and there's a vertical drop for a plot twist... but I'm not going to spoil it by saying what or where.
What I enjoyed was the basic premise of biological computing being taken to its ethical and moral extremes - the possibility of controlling mental illness for example, against the more troubling possibilities of mind control or hallucinogenic effects. I wonder however if D.R. should have spelled out the mechanisms a little more for the average reader. The main character Sam came across as believable. I can't say the same for his love interest Britney, who seemed placed in the story more for her body than for her intellect - although she's supposed to be a PhD. Once the Big Bad Corporate Guys started doing their thing, ie. picking on, manipulating and threatening the Little But Good Guys, the story really picked up pace and held its tension well all the way through. A couple of unexpected plot twists added to the enjoyment.
What I enjoyed less was the pace of the first third of the book. Lots of setup and information delivery, but not enough action and tension for a thriller. Like another reviewer I found the placement in the year 2025 was not supported by the content or technology. For me this book could have been a 4-star read but the proofreading errors were a constant distraction, also several out-of-place authorial comments and switching of tense sometimes within a sentence. I fear some readers would be mired in the first third and never make it to the fun parts.
I received a free copy in exchange for my honest, non-reciprocal review.
What I enjoyed was the basic premise of biological computing being taken to its ethical and moral extremes - the possibility of controlling mental illness for example, against the more troubling possibilities of mind control or hallucinogenic effects. I wonder however if D.R. should have spelled out the mechanisms a little more for the average reader. The main character Sam came across as believable. I can't say the same for his love interest Britney, who seemed placed in the story more for her body than for her intellect - although she's supposed to be a PhD. Once the Big Bad Corporate Guys started doing their thing, ie. picking on, manipulating and threatening the Little But Good Guys, the story really picked up pace and held its tension well all the way through. A couple of unexpected plot twists added to the enjoyment.
What I enjoyed less was the pace of the first third of the book. Lots of setup and information delivery, but not enough action and tension for a thriller. Like another reviewer I found the placement in the year 2025 was not supported by the content or technology. For me this book could have been a 4-star read but the proofreading errors were a constant distraction, also several out-of-place authorial comments and switching of tense sometimes within a sentence. I fear some readers would be mired in the first third and never make it to the fun parts.
I received a free copy in exchange for my honest, non-reciprocal review.
April 1, 2013
Great book. I like to say thanks to Good Reads as well to Mr.Shoultz for winning this book and after reciving it i start to read. Well the first 10 pages werent so easy to get into. I dont know if was me or what but that what it was. Then i decided to give it a secound chance and i must say i didn't regret it. This book is BEAUTHIFUL. Has everything in it:drama,murders,romance,love,crimes...around the middle has a switch that will make you wonder whats next. Well as soon you leave the book you will like to return and see whats next. I'm so glad Sam and Britney survived and start their forever after...
September 27, 2018
This is an excellent beginning for D. R. Shoultz!! This story has lots of corporate espionage, murder and even a sweet romance!! I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys intrigue!!
April 8, 2013
Corporate espionage, bioweapons, big bad guys mixed in with love, makes for a page turner.
The main character, Sam Stone is a very likable, good guy. You will definitely be rooting for him. I couldn't get through his journey quick enough.
I did enjoy this book, but I didn't understand why this book was placed in 2025. Besides the bioweapon (which probably is in development for decades), there was nothing futuristic about the plot. Cell phones, cars, the internet—well they were described as they are now today. When I read something that is future based I expect to read about futuristic products and ideas. This story lacked the future elements which was disappointing.
Other idea I found to be a little of a stretch is that the relationship of Britney and Fred Smith. After one dinner date and a job recommendation Fred expected Britney (who is starting her career) to turn into a corporate spy for basically a stranger? Fred is an executive with power and smarts, why wouldn't he have made a better bet than the unknown MIT graduate?
Although this book isn't perfect, it is an enjoyable, quick read.
I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway from the author.
The main character, Sam Stone is a very likable, good guy. You will definitely be rooting for him. I couldn't get through his journey quick enough.
I did enjoy this book, but I didn't understand why this book was placed in 2025. Besides the bioweapon (which probably is in development for decades), there was nothing futuristic about the plot. Cell phones, cars, the internet—well they were described as they are now today. When I read something that is future based I expect to read about futuristic products and ideas. This story lacked the future elements which was disappointing.
Other idea I found to be a little of a stretch is that the relationship of Britney and Fred Smith. After one dinner date and a job recommendation Fred expected Britney (who is starting her career) to turn into a corporate spy for basically a stranger? Fred is an executive with power and smarts, why wouldn't he have made a better bet than the unknown MIT graduate?
Although this book isn't perfect, it is an enjoyable, quick read.
I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway from the author.
September 1, 2013
I found this book to be interesting. It was over before I realized it, but I didn't what it to end. The action, twists and turns, and the interesting & diverse characters kept pulling me to the next chapter. I found the first half of the book was slower moving, but set the stage for the more active second half. I will definitely look for future novels by D.R. Shoultz.
February 24, 2013
The book is set in the high tech business world of ten years in the future. The characters are likable and their decisions are believable. The book is very suspenseful and has plot twists that keep you guessing!
February 18, 2013
I loved this book and not just because my son-in-law is the author. It is a page turner once you get past the first chapter, which is technical, but necessary to the plot. Finished it in two days.
August 7, 2013
Shades of John Grisham. In this, his first novel, Shoultz has spun an exciting web of mystery and intrigue which keeps reader entranced until exciting conclusion.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews