TUESDAY EXCERPTS: “29 SECONDS”

Welcome to another Tuesday celebrating bookish events, First Chapter/Intros, originally hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea and now hosted by I’d Rather Be at the Beach; and Teaser Tuesdays hosted by The Purple Booker.

Today’s feature is a NetGalley ARC that will be released on 9/10:  29 Seconds, by T.M. Logan.

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Intro:  (For my Mum and Dad)

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves…(Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus)

There were three conditions.

She had 72 hours to provide a name.

If she said no, the offer disappeared.  Forever.

And if she said yes, there was no going back.  No changing her mind.

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Teaser Tuesday:  Suddenly she thought:  That was the other thing I was supposed to do.  The SIM card.  Oh shit, I didn’t take the SIM card out.

Too late now. (51%)

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Synopsis:  Give me one name. One person. And I will make them disappear.”

Sarah is a young professor struggling to prove herself in a workplace controlled by the charming and manipulative Alan Hawthorne. A renowned scholar and television host, Hawthorne rakes in million-dollar grants for the university where Sarah works—so his inappropriate treatment of female colleagues behind closed doors has gone unchallenged for years. And Sarah is his newest target.

When Hawthorne’s advances become threatening, Sarah is left with nowhere to turn. Until the night she witnesses an attempted kidnapping of a young child on her drive home, and impulsively jumps in to intervene. The child’s father turns out to be a successful businessman with dangerous connections—and her act of bravery has put this powerful man in her debt. He gives Sarah a burner phone and an unbelievable offer. A once-in-a-lifetime deal that can make all her problems disappear.

No consequences. No traces. All it takes is a 29-second phone call.

Because everyone has a name to give. Don’t they?

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What do you think?  Would you keep reading?

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