2026: BOTM: July - "Winner's Curse" by L.A. Starks > Likes and Comments
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Synopsis of Winner's Curse:Winner’s Curse is a pulse-pounding new thriller that will hurl you through the eye-opening and unexpectedly dramatic world of the energy sector. While taking you from the desolate, windswept plains of West Texas to the salons of Hungary, Starks expertly infuses her insider knowledge of this trillion-dollar industry into a thriller that seamlessly blends action/adventure, conspiracy, and techno/science fiction thriller sub-genres.
Just chosen to lead the drilling division of TriCoast Energy, protagonist Lynn Dayton is determined to prove herself capable but finds herself facing more than just the usual water-cooler backstabbing.
Undercutting her at every turn is former TriCoast Executive, Henry Vandervoost, who blames her for his humiliating fall from power. Ruthlessly competing with Lynn for control of Bradshaw Energy, his own playboy son’s company that has revolutionary energy technology, Vandervoost enlists the help of attractive young chemist Hannah Bosko to assist him in taking over the company.
Lynn must battle Vandervoost and international power players who conspire to eliminate her and her colleagues, foil conspiracies to sabotage natural gas plants, and complete a merger that will ensure that the technology remains in the hands of those who will use it to benefit the world.
Winner’s Curse is an action/adventure thriller that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.
Winner's CurseA few details from the author, L. A. Starks
The series: The Lynn Dayton thriller series features up-by-her-bootstraps engineer Lynn Dayton who must find and stop sabotage in the trillion-dollar energy businesses in which secretive conflicts threaten thousands of lives across the globe.
Fun fact: Working more than a decade for well-known energy companies and consultants in engineering, marketing, and finance, from refineries to corporate offices, prepared L. A. Starks to write global energy thrillers.
Another fun fact: “Winner’s Curse” refers to the likelihood, first observed for offshore oil leasing auctions by some of Starks’ co-workers, that the winning bidders have probably overestimated the value of the lease they have won. Essentially, they have paid far too dearly.
Winner's Curse: A Lynn Dayton Thriller by L. A. Starks:Copied msg from Schedule and Offers to here too.
Special offer for early readers of Winner's Curse, A Good Thriller Book of the Month pick for July 2026. You can buy your limited-edition signed copy now from Starks' favorite independent bookstore: Brace Books and More of Ponca City, Oklahoma. Brace's will ship to you! Celebrate Independent Bookstore Day (April 25) in style. Here is the link:
https://bracebooks.indielite.org/sear...
For those new to the book, here's a short video book trailer to start, along with a link to the e-book page.
https://youtu.be/K7oBmA7hpxs?si=nz9k2...
https://www.amazon.com/Winners-Curse-...
Here is my 4.25 rounded to 4 stars review of Winner's Curse by L.A. Starks.This is one of our BOTMs for July.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Energy Technothriller / Espionage / Terrorism
Book 4 in the Lynn Dayton thriller series
Suspenseful and gripping with pulse-pounding scenes as well
Winner's Curse
As always, I enjoyed spending time again with Lynn Dayton. Thanks for a great read.
PamG wrote: "As always, I enjoyed spending time again with Lynn Dayton. Thanks for a great read."Thank you, Pam!
Delighted to note that Winner's Curse has just won a Book Readers Appreciation Group (B.R.A.G.) medallion. And, clues/remarks/hints for Goodreads BOTM readers!
1) (minor) bad guy as big and tough as Norwegian (soccer) striker Erling Haaland? Yes, indeed. Can spot him in Winner's Curse? Big hint: chapter 2.
2) Where does Hannah Bosko first meet Henry Vandervoost? Answer in chapter 8 of Winner's Curse.
3) What and where is Dark Skies in Texas? Try chapter 13...
L.A. wrote: "Delighted to note that Winner's Curse has just won a Book Readers Appreciation Group (B.R.A.G.) medallion...."Congratulations!
It's fascinating to learn more about the energy industry through your books.Here are a few questions for you.
What types of books do you read for fun?
What is the most difficult part of your writing process?
What are you excited about writing next? Can you share any details?
First, a note about a new review. Second message: answers to Pam's great questions.Very glad to see a new review at BookBub of Winner's Curse by lynguy. "Overall, this energy technothriller was a suspenseful, gripping, and pulse-pounding novel that is innovative and immersive. I’m looking forward to reading more by this author." Full review here: https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/30632...
L.A. wrote: "First, a note about a new review. Second message: answers to Pam's great questions.Very glad to see a new review at BookBub of Winner's Curse by lynguy. "Overall, this energy technothriller was a..."
The Bookbub review is mine. I use lynguy1 as my user name on Bookbub, The StoryGraph, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.
1 of 3 The kinds of books I read for fun are, no surprise, mysteries and thrillers, most recently, those set in Europe and Japan, with some very occasional non-fiction thrown in. Just a few of my favorite authors include Michael Connelly, Michael Pronko, and Patricia Cornwell. Every six months, I summarize my top picks for newsletter subscribers, like here: https://lastarksbooks.com/2026/03/05/... Of course, my reading list is also on Goodreads, here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
L.A. wrote: "First, a note about a new review. Second message: answers to Pam's great questions.Very glad to see a new review at BookBub of Winner's Curse by lynguy. "Overall, this energy technothriller was a..."
THANK YOU!!!
2 of 3 The most difficult part of my writing process: all of it? Typically, I am not under deadline--but deadlines are, for me, a useful prod. I am most interested in current energy issues (think Strait of Hormuz) yet my goal is always to write a book with not just an engaging, global, high-stakes plot, but engaging characters facing their own personal, key challenges. Getting the action right is always important. I have always worked with great editors. From the very first book, the challenge for me as an author after doing many revisions is to see the book as a reader does--an experienced third-party editorial perspective is invaluable. And, for physical book production tasks like formatting, proofing, cover design, and PR, it's better for me, the books, and readers' experiences if I bring in experts to help. I am lucky to know several.
3 of 3 I have written a couple of short stories for possible acceptance into anthologies--curious about those. In the next Lynn Dayton thriller, I expect to incorporate some new energy realities and locations. Lynn, of course, will have new personal, as well as professional challenges to face. From books 1-4 in the series, I have developed quite an interesting group of characters, if I say so myself, so I will secondarily be thinking about who shows up in book 5, their interactions with each other and Lynn, and the challenges they, too will face. In other words: I still have a big plot and character outline job ahead.
Thanks for answering my questions. I enjoy the mix of personal and professional challenges that Lynn faces in the books. I'm looking forward to seeing which characters show up in book 5.
PamG wrote: "Thanks for answering my questions. I enjoy the mix of personal and professional challenges that Lynn faces in the books. I'm looking forward to seeing which characters show up in book 5."Hi Pam--I, too, am interested to see who will be leaping into book 5!
LAS
Chapter 14--the sand silo--was a chapter I really dug into, so to speak. As any thriller writer, or honestly, parent of a young child, knows--to see a situation or process is to imagine all the ways it can go dangerously, harmfully wrong.
L.A. wrote: "Chapter 14--the sand silo--was a chapter I really dug into, so to speak. As any thriller writer, or honestly, parent of a young child, knows--to see a situation or process is to imagine all the way..."The sand silo situation reminded me of grain silo incidents. They tend to range from grain entrapment & suffocations to toxic gas (nitrogen dioxide and carbon dioxide) accumulations to structural collapses to mechanical machinery incidents to fall hazards.
Read chapter 25 and salivate over barbecue burnt ends!
I actually did a little research on barbecue burnt ends since I wasn't familiar with them. I thought it was interesting to find there are two approaches to them: one that focuses more heavily on a savory black-pepper "bark" and one that is a sweet tomato-based sauce.
Now I'm really salivating! Which approach do you like better?
Chapters 25 & 26: Candelilla wax comes from plants in northern Mexico and the southwestern US. It is typical that hydrocarbon wax (and lubricating oils) are separated and sold as small-volume, high-value specialty products from very large oil refineries. But here, what fascinated me was that so many of these small native plant wax refineries used to be a feature of south Texas. Indeed, at the time I was writing Winner's Curse, friends of ours we visited in south Texas showed us their renovations of a building that had once housed a tiny wax refinery: they were turning it into a residence.
I think I would prefer the savory black-pepper "bark". The candelilla wax information was new to me and caused me to go more research on it. I was surprised that two of the major refiners were in Great Britain and Japan. It was also interesting to read about the historic micro-refineries along the US border.
I agree--bark is great. Chapter 30. Think of South Side neighborhoods in Chicago without heat in the bitterest winter weather. Disaster.
L.A. wrote: "I agree--bark is great. Chapter 30. Think of South Side neighborhoods in Chicago without heat in the bitterest winter weather. Disaster."
BTW, what sort of timing and format should I and participants expect for tomorrow, 7/31 in the Q&A?
It's hard to say. Since the group is global, there could be questions at any time during the day. Some people ask one question. Others ask multiple ones. Usually the author will copy the question into a thread and then answer it. This can be done with multiple questions answered in one comment to prevent being locked out by the comment limit that GRs has (within a particular timeframe).
Okay, yes, I did use a rather standard fate (alas) for in the last chapter of the book for my Russian character, Zaitsev. Which readers noticed what it was?
L.A. wrote: "....Okay, yes, I did use a rather standard fate (alas) for in the last chapter of the book for my Russian character, Zaitsev. Which readers noticed what it was?"
(view spoiler)
Here are a few questions for you:Do you outline everything first, or do you discover the story as you write?
Did any character completely change their name, look, or role from your original outline or thoughts?
What was the hardest scene to write?
When you finish a book, do you immediately start writing another one or do you take some time away from writing?
What was the most challenging technical detail to translate into a fast-paced thriller?
Did you always know what would happen to Zaitsev or did the scene evolve as you finalized the ending?
PamG wrote: "Here are a few questions for you:Do you outline everything first, or do you discover the story as you write?
Did any character completely change their name, look, or role from your original outl..."
That has changed. In my first book, 13 Days: The Pythagoras Conspiracy, I just wrote scenes as they occurred to me and then fit them together. This led to writing into blind corners or spending too much time on developing backstories of minor characters. And the parts did not fit together well. So that took many, many revisions. In subsequent books, including Winner's Curse, I knew generally what I wanted to write about, often driven by locations (First Nations in Oklahoma, northern California tech combined with New Orleans area flair), and the books came together as I developed the characters and their conflicts, especially for the protagonist. Although now I start with an outline, in revisions--and with the advice of a professional editor--the outline does change during rewrites.
In terms of complete character changes: Vandervoost, who also shows up in earlier books, especially the first one, 13 Days, actually became more sympathetic as I wrote him. Indeed, one of the hidden themes in the book is fathers: Hannah trying to find out what happened to her father, and of course, Vandervoost and his son, Joost Bradshaw. On a minor note, it "turned out" that the Egyptian engineer had gone to the same French technical university as Robert Guillard, the antagonist in the first book. The school is Ecole Polytechnique, and this is actually realistic. Finally, Rowan Daine, somewhat of necessity, actually became a much worse human being as I was writing.
What was the hardest scene to write?When you finish a book, do you immediately start writing another one or do you take some time away from writing?
Any scene is which a character dies is hard to write. The scene in frozen Midland between Vandervoost, his son, Lynn, and Hannah was difficult because I knew what would happen to Vandervoost. The scenes between Joost and Hannah were tricky--they were not, could not be, instantly a couple.
After I finish a book, I reread it and edit it as much as I can stand to, although usually by that point I can no longer approach it as needed--as a first reader. Then editing, which helps enormously--my editor brings a great perspective. Since I'm responsible for cover, production, and marketing, once the book is finished, I have to swing into a completely different mindset and series of activities, although believe me, I am grateful for every bookstore meet-and-greet that's offered to me. It's not unusual that I find my way back to the next book by writing a short story or two in the interim. Very often these spring from more complete backstories for characters than what I can include in a book that has to drive forward with action.
What was the most challenging technical detail to translate into a fast-paced thriller?Did you always know what would happen to Zaitsev or did the scene evolve as you finalized the ending?
Weirdly, it was the main water recycling technology, because that was not the tech I started with. There's another, even more valuable one that I had written into the initial draft, but realized--with some anxiety--it would overlap too much and too suspiciously with a real-world legal case one of my relatives was handling. As it happens, though, water-recycling technology is a big, big deal in US oil drilling: wells can produce 2-3 times as much water as oil. And, this is very "dirty" water--lots of metals, salts, and solids, much more than ocean water, that is quite expensive to make usable, let alone drinkable.
I really wound up liking Zaitsev a lot. He's every overworked middle manager, and in fact, in my notes, I created the long to-do list that he had received from the Russian prime minister. As to the end, I'm afraid that is all too typical for real-life energy officials, Russian or not, who get crosswise with the boss. They "fall" out of windows. Or, in at least one non-Russian case of which I'm aware, had to leave Russia before they were poisoned completely to death.
And by the way, I want to note that I started writing Winner's Curse in 2021-2022, (it was published in August 2024), months before Taylor Sheridan's Landman streaming series started in November 2024. For sure, the stakes around West Texas oil--financial and physical--make for good drama, no matter what the medium.
Pam, Thanks for hosting Winner's Curse for an enjoyable and interesting BOTM adventure for A Good Thriller group in Goodreads.
LAS
L.A. wrote: "Pam, Thanks for hosting Winner's Curse for an enjoyable and interesting BOTM adventure for A Good Thriller group in Goodreads.
LAS"
You're welcome. Thanks for answering all of my questions and making the read interactive.
Great, thoughtful questions. I enjoyed participating!
This energy technothriller takes readers to the dramatic world of the oil and gas sector.
Goodreads Information:
Published: 20 Aug 2024
Kindle Edition: 294 pages
Paperback: 308 pages
Virtual Voice Audiobook
Please allow Author L.A. Starks to make the first comment.
Thank you