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Victims
The trick is to save one without becoming one
Young lawyer Sam Williams is riding high. He's got a job he loves, a girl he wants, and the brain to win out every time.
But Sam's about to find out that he's got enemies, too. And figuring out which one wants to hurt him most isn't as easy as it seems.
Victims introduces Sam Williams, hero of international bestseller The Art of Staying Dead and the upcoming thriller Dead North, ten years younger than we last saw him, and a lot less wise.
Please note that Victims is a novella, not a full length novel. Also included are the first two chapters of The Art of Staying Dead.
Praise for The Art of Staying Dead, the first full-length Sam Williams novel
"A great thriller with a strong plot, original and intelligent, with great characters, flawed, likeable, detestable, human, with some nice chewy thematic elements...taut, lean and witty prose... The Art of Staying Dead is a 5 star treat." - John Bowen, International Bestselling Author of "Where the Dead Walk", "Vessel" and "Death Stalks Kettle Street"
"Fans of fast-paced thrillers will love this book. There is certainly one twist towards the end which literally made my jaw drop open" - Sarah Hardy, By The Letter Book Reviews
"A well-planned thriller full of conspiracy, politics, murder and violence. The highly descriptive plot sucks you right into the action from the first page" - Victoria Goldman, Amazon Top 1000 reviewer, Off-the-shelf book reviews
"It was thrilling, suspenseful, and I found myself holding my breath" - Noelle Holten, CrimeBookJunkie
Young lawyer Sam Williams is riding high. He's got a job he loves, a girl he wants, and the brain to win out every time.
But Sam's about to find out that he's got enemies, too. And figuring out which one wants to hurt him most isn't as easy as it seems.
Victims introduces Sam Williams, hero of international bestseller The Art of Staying Dead and the upcoming thriller Dead North, ten years younger than we last saw him, and a lot less wise.
Please note that Victims is a novella, not a full length novel. Also included are the first two chapters of The Art of Staying Dead.
Praise for The Art of Staying Dead, the first full-length Sam Williams novel
"A great thriller with a strong plot, original and intelligent, with great characters, flawed, likeable, detestable, human, with some nice chewy thematic elements...taut, lean and witty prose... The Art of Staying Dead is a 5 star treat." - John Bowen, International Bestselling Author of "Where the Dead Walk", "Vessel" and "Death Stalks Kettle Street"
"Fans of fast-paced thrillers will love this book. There is certainly one twist towards the end which literally made my jaw drop open" - Sarah Hardy, By The Letter Book Reviews
"A well-planned thriller full of conspiracy, politics, murder and violence. The highly descriptive plot sucks you right into the action from the first page" - Victoria Goldman, Amazon Top 1000 reviewer, Off-the-shelf book reviews
"It was thrilling, suspenseful, and I found myself holding my breath" - Noelle Holten, CrimeBookJunkie
78 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 21, 2017
14 people are currently reading
33 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 2, 2019
Introducing Sam Williams, A Lawyer With More Enemies Than He Knows...
A thoroughly enjoyable short story where we meet Sam Williams, a young lawyer trying to make his name in a firm where he has a rivalry with another. Things change in a hurry as when out with comrades for a drink after work, he feels a sharp blade at his neck and a warning is issued, 'Don't get involved'...He notes several hooded men in tracksuits, but has no idea what this is about, and everyone quickly forgets it. Is it about the girl he awaits, who has told him horrible stories about her recent boyfriend..
A quick moving story, with an ever changing landscape as Sam realizes there is so much going on that he didn't know! Sam is playing the knight in shining armour, but is the young lady playing Him?! You must read to find out!!
A thoroughly enjoyable short story where we meet Sam Williams, a young lawyer trying to make his name in a firm where he has a rivalry with another. Things change in a hurry as when out with comrades for a drink after work, he feels a sharp blade at his neck and a warning is issued, 'Don't get involved'...He notes several hooded men in tracksuits, but has no idea what this is about, and everyone quickly forgets it. Is it about the girl he awaits, who has told him horrible stories about her recent boyfriend..
A quick moving story, with an ever changing landscape as Sam realizes there is so much going on that he didn't know! Sam is playing the knight in shining armour, but is the young lady playing Him?! You must read to find out!!
February 14, 2018
I have read a couple of this author’s books before, one being The Art of Staying Dead, where Sam Williams plays a mighty cool role in it. Well this novella is a story about Sam only ten years before, when he was a little bit wet behind the ears and a lot more gullible. So I took a step back to meet a much younger Sam with a strut to match another up and coming Lawyer like him. Both working within spitting distance of each other. They both wanted to make a name for themselves and battled to get the cream of the cases.
Sam is pretty happy with himself as he waits for his new stunning girlfriend to arrive at the pub, filled with other yuppies like him. The tables turn when his life is threatened but he has no idea by who or why, only that the very direct message was meant for him. He is pretty sure who the message is from.
Now to say that this is a novella it is tense, exciting and thrilling on every page not a word is wasted. I can’t help but really like Sam he is the Knight in shinning armour that everyone wants to know because this guy is willing to take one for the team, his girl or a stranger. He is one of the good guys that everyone cheers on until the tables turn then they see nothing. Hero to victim and every man for himself.
If you haven’t met Sam before then start here before you go on to the big guns of The Art of Staying dead but do read them both. Sam is a fascinating character, sensitive, clever and with a mind that will battle anyone to the ground.
Sam is pretty happy with himself as he waits for his new stunning girlfriend to arrive at the pub, filled with other yuppies like him. The tables turn when his life is threatened but he has no idea by who or why, only that the very direct message was meant for him. He is pretty sure who the message is from.
Now to say that this is a novella it is tense, exciting and thrilling on every page not a word is wasted. I can’t help but really like Sam he is the Knight in shinning armour that everyone wants to know because this guy is willing to take one for the team, his girl or a stranger. He is one of the good guys that everyone cheers on until the tables turn then they see nothing. Hero to victim and every man for himself.
If you haven’t met Sam before then start here before you go on to the big guns of The Art of Staying dead but do read them both. Sam is a fascinating character, sensitive, clever and with a mind that will battle anyone to the ground.
November 5, 2018
A fab story that lost nothing through being a novella thoroughly enjoyed the pace, plot and flawless writing that keeps you needing just one more page.
I loved The Art of Staying Dead, this slick novella is set ten years earlier and is a great introduction for it's hero Sam Williams, a very ordinary man who has to deal with extraordinary situations.
Cannot wait for the next full length novel featuring Sam - it's been too long a wait!
4.5 stars
I loved The Art of Staying Dead, this slick novella is set ten years earlier and is a great introduction for it's hero Sam Williams, a very ordinary man who has to deal with extraordinary situations.
Cannot wait for the next full length novel featuring Sam - it's been too long a wait!
4.5 stars
December 6, 2023
A good, well written, unique style of prose, that didn't wow me but hooked me, and the book being short of a full length novel was great.
3.5* rounded up
3.5* rounded up
June 9, 2017
Written to set up his hero, Sam Williams, and his series that kicks off with The Art of Staying Dead, the author does a masterful job of both with this novella. On display is his signature style of blending genres so seamlessly you watch the book, inch by inch and page by page, transcend each genre label and rise into something that’s perhaps too good for any of them. Made up of equal parts psychological thriller, legal thriller, conspiracy thriller, action-thriller…
One of the unifying forces holding the story together is the very distinct reality that at any given time, anyone, could be caught up in a situation so far beyond them that it would take a miracle to survive it. We may not want to believe it, but just that easily, our lives can turn upside down, and there’s not a damn thing we can do to prevent it. And the terror of that reality, as well as the nature of figuring out how to extricate oneself from it, just doesn’t fit that neatly into these little boxes genre fiction sometimes leads us to believe it does.
Whatever the overall theme of the book, I loved the one of the average joe surrounded by nefarious types, possibly way smarter than he is, all too happy to use him as a pawn in their despicable dramas for which they should spend the rest of their lives in jail—not the ones they setup to take the falls, not the pawns. So our hero, who is surprisingly the victim in this story—despite being the one typically called in to play a hand in rescuing victims—has no choice but to get smarter, shrewder, more cunning in a hurry under the kind of pressure that makes most people fold like a house of cards. I love this theme because it’s a formula for drama that is impossible to distance oneself from, and which most anyone can relate to. If you’ve ever held a corporate job where the competition is always gunning for you, or ever owned a business of your own and tried to survive in a cutthroat world marketplace where unknown players in league against you are always smarter, more aggressive, more well-informed… Hell, even if they’re all playing nice, far less unscrupulously, good luck. And that is indeed the situation most of us are in anymore. And when we try to personalize that drama, put faces to the players, get inside their heads, do our research until we can identify more clearly the threads that are meant to ensnare us… well then, you end up with this curiously universal story whose ubiquitous appeal unfolds as the particulars of the story, the rind of the fruit, is pulled back. This is Victims. A very specific, unique drama that no one will want to relate to because no one likes seeing themselves as a victim, but that no one will be able to put down.
It starts with a woman no man can resist.
One guy’s determination to do the right thing by her, when playing hero is just stupid, and will most likely get him killed.
He’s a good guy, determined to act selflessly, and to face his demons. He’s the guy we all want to be in that situation, but we do have to wonder, how much of us really are. But through him, this one time, we can feel this right with ourselves and with the world; we can be that guy, that hero. We can go through hell and back to make the world a better place, to uplift the life of another, and to feel better about ourselves.
It’s the to-hell-and-back part that follows were most of us get lost. Will our hero?
Enjoy getting your mind blown. I know I did.
One of the unifying forces holding the story together is the very distinct reality that at any given time, anyone, could be caught up in a situation so far beyond them that it would take a miracle to survive it. We may not want to believe it, but just that easily, our lives can turn upside down, and there’s not a damn thing we can do to prevent it. And the terror of that reality, as well as the nature of figuring out how to extricate oneself from it, just doesn’t fit that neatly into these little boxes genre fiction sometimes leads us to believe it does.
Whatever the overall theme of the book, I loved the one of the average joe surrounded by nefarious types, possibly way smarter than he is, all too happy to use him as a pawn in their despicable dramas for which they should spend the rest of their lives in jail—not the ones they setup to take the falls, not the pawns. So our hero, who is surprisingly the victim in this story—despite being the one typically called in to play a hand in rescuing victims—has no choice but to get smarter, shrewder, more cunning in a hurry under the kind of pressure that makes most people fold like a house of cards. I love this theme because it’s a formula for drama that is impossible to distance oneself from, and which most anyone can relate to. If you’ve ever held a corporate job where the competition is always gunning for you, or ever owned a business of your own and tried to survive in a cutthroat world marketplace where unknown players in league against you are always smarter, more aggressive, more well-informed… Hell, even if they’re all playing nice, far less unscrupulously, good luck. And that is indeed the situation most of us are in anymore. And when we try to personalize that drama, put faces to the players, get inside their heads, do our research until we can identify more clearly the threads that are meant to ensnare us… well then, you end up with this curiously universal story whose ubiquitous appeal unfolds as the particulars of the story, the rind of the fruit, is pulled back. This is Victims. A very specific, unique drama that no one will want to relate to because no one likes seeing themselves as a victim, but that no one will be able to put down.
It starts with a woman no man can resist.
One guy’s determination to do the right thing by her, when playing hero is just stupid, and will most likely get him killed.
He’s a good guy, determined to act selflessly, and to face his demons. He’s the guy we all want to be in that situation, but we do have to wonder, how much of us really are. But through him, this one time, we can feel this right with ourselves and with the world; we can be that guy, that hero. We can go through hell and back to make the world a better place, to uplift the life of another, and to feel better about ourselves.
It’s the to-hell-and-back part that follows were most of us get lost. Will our hero?
Enjoy getting your mind blown. I know I did.
August 18, 2017
How I discovered this book: Amazon browse, but I leapt on it because I've loved other books by this author. I downloaded it on Kindle Unlimited.
Victims is a novella to introduce Sam Williams, the lawyer star of The Art of Staying Dead, which I read eighteen months or so back, and thoroughly enjoyed. In this story, Sam becomes involved with a woman he shouldn't, and a dangerous gang who are after one of his clients...
I loved this, I was absolutely glued to the pages. It knocks the spots off many other you'll-never-guess-what's-going-to-happen-next type thrillers that I've read in the last couple of years, and Joel Hames's writing is first class. So witty, and sharp, and intelligent, and realistic... and I liked that he totally gets the 'impromptu pub sesh' syndrome. The atmosphere of young professionals in London is perfectly portrayed, and this book is just so well written.
It ends at 70%, after which there are the first couple of chapters of the novel mentioned above, and if you haven't read that, you're in for a treat. Go on, fork out 99p or download it on Kindle Unlimited. You'll be glad you did.
Victims is a novella to introduce Sam Williams, the lawyer star of The Art of Staying Dead, which I read eighteen months or so back, and thoroughly enjoyed. In this story, Sam becomes involved with a woman he shouldn't, and a dangerous gang who are after one of his clients...
I loved this, I was absolutely glued to the pages. It knocks the spots off many other you'll-never-guess-what's-going-to-happen-next type thrillers that I've read in the last couple of years, and Joel Hames's writing is first class. So witty, and sharp, and intelligent, and realistic... and I liked that he totally gets the 'impromptu pub sesh' syndrome. The atmosphere of young professionals in London is perfectly portrayed, and this book is just so well written.
It ends at 70%, after which there are the first couple of chapters of the novel mentioned above, and if you haven't read that, you're in for a treat. Go on, fork out 99p or download it on Kindle Unlimited. You'll be glad you did.
May 25, 2017
Sam Williams is in the very early stages of a relationship with a new girl and learns she’s been abused by a previous partner. This man is still pulling her strings and Sam agrees to help. He has an enemy at work, too, and as the plot progresses, we find out that nothing is really as it seems.
This makes an excellent ‘amuse bouche’ for the longer and more complex story, The Art of Staying Dead, which takes place ten years later. The style is slick and clever and the characters feel well-rounded, not easy to do in a short work. Be aware that the last 30% is the first chapters in The Art of Staying Dead. I prefer a link, myself, as I never read teaser chapters out of context. Nevertheless, in its own right, Victims is a small but beautifully proportioned gem of a story.
This makes an excellent ‘amuse bouche’ for the longer and more complex story, The Art of Staying Dead, which takes place ten years later. The style is slick and clever and the characters feel well-rounded, not easy to do in a short work. Be aware that the last 30% is the first chapters in The Art of Staying Dead. I prefer a link, myself, as I never read teaser chapters out of context. Nevertheless, in its own right, Victims is a small but beautifully proportioned gem of a story.
August 10, 2019
Intriguing from the first page, this is a great read. Human Rights Lawyer, Sam Williams is enjoying a quiet night in his local, about to meet a girl, when the next thing he knows he has a knife at his throat. He is about to take on a case surrounding the mysterious and unexpected attack on a drug dealer but what follows is a journey into a dark and seedy world of control and deceit - but who is the real victim? This novella is filled with suspense and the characterisation is superb! I loved Sam William's character from the start the way the story is depicted through his head comes across as mysterious, thought-provoking and witty. I will definitely be reading more from this author.
January 20, 2018
Sam Williams is an up and coming attorney at a law firm. He is trying to make a name for himself and there is a case there that will do that if he can get it. Problem is, there is another attorney that wants the same case for the same reason. Sam meets a girl that he falls for...only he shouldn't. Sam gets into all kinds of trouble..personally. But when it comes down to the very end, who really is the victims in this story? A very good thriller.
July 1, 2017
Sam Williams is back!
Joel Hames just keeps getting better. This is a terrific new novella for the well-loved Sam Williams. ‘Victims’ is a satisfying story that leaves us wondering what new adventures await the character in the future. I’m looking forward to next novel.
Joel Hames just keeps getting better. This is a terrific new novella for the well-loved Sam Williams. ‘Victims’ is a satisfying story that leaves us wondering what new adventures await the character in the future. I’m looking forward to next novel.
January 8, 2019
My first Joel Hames book. I don't usually read, or like, novellas. And I really don't much like fiction written in the first person. Surprise! Downloaded this book out of curiosity ... enjoyed the writing style from the first page and hooked from the first chapter.
December 26, 2020
3.5 rounded up. This legal thriller was the first book that I have read by this author. There wasn't much character development. The ending seemed very abrupt.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews