I am happy to be able to spotlight Keith Raffel as the first MADDERLY REVIEW featured author. I found him quite by accident several years ago (thank you Ebooks) and have enjoyed his writing in each book that I have read.
Keith's life is almost as interesting as the lives of his characters. He served as counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee overseeing the CIA, NSA and other clandestine agencies. He worked on legislation with Senators Kennedy, Goldwater, Bayh and then Senator Biden. He left the Senate and returned to California to run for Congress. He lost his election and instead began working for a high tech firm in Silicon Valley.
All of this led up to his first book, DOT DEAD. Of course the protagonist, Ian Michaels, has a high powered job in a hot new tech firm and a great future ahead of him. Things go off course when he comes home to discover a beautiful young woman stabbed to death in his bed. Ian is a character that you root for from day one, and I was thrilled to find him return in Raffel's second book, SMASHER. As good as the first one, SMASHER left me waiting for more.
His next book introduced a new character, Stanford professor Sam Rockman, who loses his wife in an airport bombing. Keith has his character seek revenge by accepting a job in the Senate Intelligence Committee and hunting down the terrorists. His familiarity with these surroundings makes this book as interesting as it is exciting.
A FINE AND DANGEROUS SEASON came next. All I will say here is though fictional, one of the main characters is President Kennedy who enlists the help of his old college friend, Nate Michaels to help open a back channel to defuse the threat posed by Soviet Missiles in Cuba. As always in his books, Raffel softens the story with a touch of romance and an easy to like protagonist.
I highly recommend all four of these books and look forward to book five. To find out more about Keith Raffel, go to his web site: www.keithraffel.com.
Keith's life is almost as interesting as the lives of his characters. He served as counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee overseeing the CIA, NSA and other clandestine agencies. He worked on legislation with Senators Kennedy, Goldwater, Bayh and then Senator Biden. He left the Senate and returned to California to run for Congress. He lost his election and instead began working for a high tech firm in Silicon Valley.
All of this led up to his first book, DOT DEAD. Of course the protagonist, Ian Michaels, has a high powered job in a hot new tech firm and a great future ahead of him. Things go off course when he comes home to discover a beautiful young woman stabbed to death in his bed. Ian is a character that you root for from day one, and I was thrilled to find him return in Raffel's second book, SMASHER. As good as the first one, SMASHER left me waiting for more.
His next book introduced a new character, Stanford professor Sam Rockman, who loses his wife in an airport bombing. Keith has his character seek revenge by accepting a job in the Senate Intelligence Committee and hunting down the terrorists. His familiarity with these surroundings makes this book as interesting as it is exciting.
A FINE AND DANGEROUS SEASON came next. All I will say here is though fictional, one of the main characters is President Kennedy who enlists the help of his old college friend, Nate Michaels to help open a back channel to defuse the threat posed by Soviet Missiles in Cuba. As always in his books, Raffel softens the story with a touch of romance and an easy to like protagonist.
I highly recommend all four of these books and look forward to book five. To find out more about Keith Raffel, go to his web site: www.keithraffel.com.
Click on the following links to order these Keith Raffel books: