Blog Tour: VINDICTIVE TOO by Ryan Lawrence

Vindictive Too

by Ryan Lawrence

 

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GENRE:   Thriller/LGBT

 

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BLURB:

 

The best revenge never includes forgiveness. To truly punish the guilty, something worse must be done to them.

A chain of vengeful events is set in motion when a man's brutally murdered body is found in an alley behind a seedy bar. Inspector Declan James is put on the victim's case, only to discover his intimate connection to the slain man. After a not-by-chance meeting with the mysterious Véronique, a woman on a mission to right a terrible wrong, Declan finds himself mired in an intricate web of corruption, lies, and coverups.

Marie and Jacques Bergé, the owners of the internationally renowned Château Bergé, act publically as the pinnacle of society and wealth, but behind closed doors, their lives are in turmoil. From Marie's erratic behaviour and bizarre disappearances to Jacques's not-so-secret love for another woman, Fairporte's "it" couple teeters on the edge of destruction.

In the shadows, a bearded man, powerful and dark of heart, secretly orchestrates his machiavellian manoeuvres from a place of sadism and despair.

From the bustling core to the rustic outskirts of Fairporte, ON, secrets, suffering, and rage are found everywhere. As the cruel desire pain, the wronged seek retribution, and the fragile break, will anyone get their revenge before death or madness claim them?

 

 

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Excerpt One:

 

The alley was off Vanier Avenue in a less-than-savoury section of Fairporte continuously ignored by developers, including the Bergé family and Cartell Worldwide. Plans for gentrification had yet to be proposed by city officials. Declan was familiar with the area, having frequented several of its local watering holes.

 

This part of the city was home to many of Fairporte’s undesirables and unwanted. The seedy bars, the strip clubs, and most non-white collar criminals thrived here.

           

Declan was looking for anything he might have missed. He had a feeling, a hunch that something small but pivotal during the initial lookover had remained unnoticed. He had to find that obscure piece of evidence. Declan made it his mission, his responsibility.

 

He recalled the male victim’s clothes were nothing but tatters of fabric: slashed, ripped, and bloody. They held no discernible shape or style to offer aid in identifying the poor bugger. Even the tags and labels had been removed.

 

Severely beaten, the body had been robbed of all identification and personal belongings. All digits had had their pads burnt off. Declan thought that was excessive, but it could suggest a professional hit. Worst of all, the victim had been shot in the face and skull several times.

           

His detective prowess exhausted, Declan considered the body currently unidentifiable. He had faith that Forensics would eventually discover its identity.

 

It? Declan quickly corrected himself. Him! While a lack of respect for a victim’s corpse had infected many of his colleagues, Declan refused to give in to that dehumanization. He fought to stay compassionate, and sometimes he failed, but he refused to stop trying.

          

 

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 GUEST POST

What Makes Your Book Different From Others in the Genre?

 

While entrenched in the Thriller Genre, Vindictive Too diversifies itself by adding elements of melodrama, an active queer voice, and a Canadian setting.

 

Having read many traditional, often one-note Thrillers and Crime Fiction novels, ones that focus almost exclusively on gritty urban settings, morally flawed protagonists, and bleak endings, I wanted to write something that could move the needle forward and explore broader narrative elements. I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel here (well, not too much, LOL), but I want to expand what novels in these genres can deliver by incorporating more camp humour, wider emotional variance, and clever wit into the text. I'm always striving for the passion of a telenovela but filtered through the lens of Twin Peaks’ cleverness. And finding the right balance is challenging, but I feel the payoff is well worth the effort.

 

Also, providing a place for queer voices in contemporary Thriller and Crime Fiction allows for more inclusive story-telling featuring marginalized voices too often ignored or misrepresented in fiction. As an L(G)BTQ+ person, I want more diversity in these genres where queer characters have agency and play an active, thoughtful role in the story arc. In these gritty, noirish, mystery thrillers, queer people need to be far more than caricature villains, disposable victims or the protagonist's token gay bestie or roommate who still usually gets killed! (I'm laughing while also shaking my head.) In Vindictive and my latest novel, Vindictive Too, queer characters definitely play prominent, active parts in the narrative.

 

As for having a distinctly Canadian setting for my novels? Well, growing up in Guelph, Ontario, I read many books set in non-Canadian cities, from Charles Dickens's London to James Baldwin's Paris to Anne Rice's New Orleans to countless books set in New York. I rarely got taken to a Canadian backdrop. Canada has a remarkable landscape: Saskatchewan's rural prairies, Ontario's quaint small towns and metropolitan cities, the bucolic countryside of Quebec, and the Maritime provinces' seascapes. With the Vindicive books, I wanted to reflect a landscape close to my own urban upbringing. I've always yearned to read stories where a location I was more familiar with was brought to the forefront and made modern, not another gumshoe period piece. I think I've accomplished this with my Vindictive novels through my fictional city Fairporte, Ontario, its surrounding countryside, and my incorporation of Québécois characters and vernacular.

 

 

 

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Ryan Lawrence was born and raised in Guelph, ON, and he is a graduate of the University of Guelph in English Literature. Ryan lives in London, ON, with his husband, Todd, their cat Dora, and his massive comic book collection that once fell on Todd. He's okay.

 

Ryanlawrenceauthor.ca

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Ryan Lawrence Author | London ON | Facebook

 

Amazon buy link:

https://www.amazon.com/Vindictive-Too-Ryan-Lawrence-ebook/dp/B0BPYGP6W1/

 

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GIVEAWAY :

 

Ryan Lawrence will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. a Rafflecopter giveaway