A Little Taste of a Brand New Thriller

It is the 23rd century. Humankind has reached the stars, building a tentative empire across a score of worlds. Earth’s central government rules weakly as several clusters of planets continue their efforts toward independence. Shadow organizations hide in the midst of the political infighting. Their manifestations of power and influence are beholden only to the highest bidder. The most powerful, insidious and secret of these, The Lazarus Men, has existed for decades, always working outside of morality’s constraints. Led by the enigmatic Mr. Shine, their agents are hand selected from the worst humanity has to offer and available for theright price.

Gerald LaPlant lives an ordinary life on Old Earth. That life is thrown into turmoil on thenight he stumbles upon the murder of what appears to be a street thief. Fleeing into the night, Gerald finds himself hunted by agents of Roland McMasters, an extremely powerful man dissatisfied with the current regime and with designs on ruling his own empire. In order to do so, McMasters needs the fabled Eye of Karakzaheim, a map leading to immeasurable wealth. Unknown to either man, Mr. Shine has deployed agents in search of the same artifact and will stop at nothing to obtain it.

Running for his life, Gerald quickly becomes embroiled in a conspiracy reaching deep into levels of government that he never imagined existed. His every move is hounded by McMasters’ agents and the Lazarus Men. His adventures take him away from the relative safety of Old Earth across the stars and into the heart of McMasters’ fledgling empire. The future of the Earth Alliance at stake. If Gerald has any hope ofsurviving and helping saving the alliance he must rely on his wits and awakened instincts while foregoing the one thing that could get him killed more quickly than the rest: trust.

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https://www.inkshares.com/projects/the-lazarus-men

The inspiration of the novel comes from a variety of sources. Certainly most of all would the works of Elmore Leonard, Phillip K. Dick, and Dashell Hammet. I am already established as a fantasy/ science fiction author with nearly twenty titles already published but this is a new direction for me. You can find out more about the fantastic worlds of my imagination by visiting: http://christianfreed.wix.com/christianwarrenfreed.

Several of my novels have topped various Amazon bestselling lists and my short The Purifying Flame won an award from the L. Ron Hubbard Writer’s of the Future Contest in 2012. I’ve grown up reading Edgar Rice Burroughs, Terry Brooks, David Gemmell, Dennis L. McKiernan, L.E. Modesitt Jr. and most recently Steven Erickson and Ian C. Esselmont. All of these great authors, and dozens more I didn’t mention helped shape and influence my work.

I’ve managed to take a successful Army career and real time combat experience to make the sequences more believable and faster paced. Hopefully you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing.