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A Psychological Suspense Thriller From The Bestselling Author of The Volunteer and The Ninth Step, Barbara Taylor Sissel’s The Last Innocent Hour – Indulge in a Web of Family Secrets, Suspense & Murder … 4.3 Stars And Just $2.99

The Last Innocent Hour

by Barbara Taylor Sissel

4.3 stars – 15 Reviews
Or currently FREE for Amazon Prime Members Via the Kindle Lending Library
Text-to-Speech and Lending: Enabled

Here’s the set-up:

Something twisted is stalking the Cunningham family. It lurks at the periphery of Beth’s vision. Her husband Charlie can’t help, if she could even remember him; he’s doing time for a murder he didn’t commit. The small child Beth was found with, whom she doesn’t know either, was taken to foster care. There isn’t much time now. If Beth doesn’t recall the hideous events that stole her memory soon, the killer will strike again, and someone else will die.

Reviews

This is a plot worthy of Daphne du Maurier … a compelling tale of innocence lost. ~The Houston Chronicle

A circumstantial crime, a local conspiracy and no convenient Perry Mason. In The Last Innocent Hour, Sissel’s writing is strong and the characters and their motivations clearly drawn. ~ Bev Vincent, author of The Road to the Dark Tower and The Stephen King Illustrated Companion

The Last Innocent Hour is a taut psychological suspense thriller, exciting and quite dark with no light in sight adding an almost gothic feel. ~ Midwest Book Review

Sissel’s first novel is a worthy achievement … along the lines of Iris Johansen. Frightening … poignant. Sissel’s strength lies in her multi-dimensional characters … that make the reader react–with fear, with relief, with anger, with tenderness. ~ Book Browser Review

The Last Innocent Hour will ensnare you in a web of family secrets and suspense, powerful crisp writing and characters so real you’ll think you’ve met them. ~ Colleen Thompson, bestselling author of The Salt Maiden and Phantom of New Orleans

About  The Author

At the heart of every crime, there’s a family…. That fact is what drives Barbara’s fiction. It’s issue oriented, threaded with elements of suspense and defined by its particular emphasis on how crime effects families, the victim’s family, the perpetrator’s family. She indie published her first novel, The Ninth Step, in August of 2011 and she hasn’t looked back since. The Volunteer came out in October of 2011 and in November 2011, The Last Innocent Hour, originally published by Panther Creek Press in trade paper was digitized for release as an indie e-book.

Currently Barbara is represented by the fabulous Barbara Poelle of the Irene Goodman Literary Agency and under contract with MIRA/Harlequin for Evidence of Life, which will make its print debut in April 2013, and a second novel that will appear in 2014.

Although she once lived on the grounds of a prison facility in Kentucky with her then prison warden husband, (A fact that might explain the nature of her writing.) she now resides near Houston, Texas. An avid gardener and reader, Barbara is the mother of two wonderful sons, who are an endless source of learning, laughter and joy.

For more about Barbara you can visit her website here.

(This is a sponsored post.)

KND Fave & Kindle Bestselling Author Barbara Taylor Sissell’s Psychological Thriller The Volunteer –A Story About Families, How They Are Made And How They Can be Broken – 28 Rave Reviews & Now Just $2.99 or Free via Kindle Lending Library

The Volunteer

by Barbara Taylor Sissel

4.1 stars – 36 Reviews
Text-to-Speech and Lending: Enabled
Here’s the set-up:

In the fall of 1999, psychologist Sophia Beckman is compelled by the court to give testimony on behalf of a death row inmate that results in his sentence being overturned. Haunted by secrets from her past, she avoids the media spotlight as much as possible, but soon, other prisoners’ families come seeking her assistance. One family in particular, the wife, children, and brother of Jarrett Capshaw, is especially insistent. Forty-one days ago Jarrett’s request to die was granted by the State of Texas, and he became a dead man walking, a man they call a volunteer.

Jarrett’s crimes were unusual, involving the theft of precious Mayan antiquities. Murder was never part of the plan, but murder is what happened. He pulled the trigger, and as little as he feels prepared for it, as much as he struggles with matters of the soul, he’s ready to die. It is the only way his family and the families of his victims will be free to move on. While Jarrett labors to find the words to say good-bye to those he has loved, Sophia finds herself drawn into a relationship with his wife and oldest son. It is Jarrett’s family she can’t resist and there will be a price to pay. But not even Sophia could have foreseen the outcome when the brutal truth is exposed, the unalloyed facts that, incredibly, will deliver Jarrett’s fate straight into her hands.

The Volunteer is a story about families, how they are made, and how in one single, horrifying instant, they can be broken. It is a story about mothers and the lies they tell to protect their children, to keep them from being hurt. But what happens when the truth comes out anyway and nothing and no one is spared? Sometimes the truth has the power to break your heart, and in Sophia’s case it will also endanger her freedom and threaten everything she has ever believed about her life

Reviews

“THE VOLUNTEER is a satisfying read, and that’s enough in itself, but I think book clubs will find a whole additional dimension for discussion. Beyond the big questions that gray the core topic of capital punishment, there’s the complicated realm of family relationships, the definition of “the honorable thing” and whether or not it’s even possible to redeem oneself by living or dying for a private cause. ~ Joni Rodgers, NYT bestselling author of Crazy for Trying, Sugarland and memoir, Bald in the Land of Big Hair

“THE VOLUNTEER is a story of so many things that are not talked about — you can only learn about them by noticing the empty shape that people talk around. It’s exactly like negative space in art, when you depict the object by drawing the space around it.” ~ Darla Tagrin, Artist

Sissel writes “… a plot worthy of Daphne du Maurier …” ~ The Houston Chronicle

About The Author

Barbara Taylor Sissel is a freelance writer, book reviewer, and editor, and the author of two other novels, The Ninth Step and The Last Innocent Hour. A one-time editor for a small regional press, Barbara has written extensively for the public relations field. Her short stories and articles have appeared in a number of venues.

An avid gardener, Barbara is currently working with numerous clients on a variety of projects and writing a new novel. She has two sons and lives in The Woodlands, Texas. For more information on past and forthcoming books, you can visit her website at www.barbarataylorsissel.com

(This is a sponsored post.)

Barbara Taylor Sissel’s The Ninth Step is Our eBook of the Day, just $2.99 or Currently Free Via the Kindle Lending Library, with 4.4 Stars on 37 Reviews, and Here’s a Free Sample

Here’s the set-up for Barbara Taylor Sissel’s The Ninth Step,  just $2.99 or Currently Via the Kindle Lending Library::

Livie Saunders is fluent in the language of flowers; she taught the meanings to her fiancé, Cotton O’Dell, but then Cotton vanishes without explanation on their wedding day forcing Livie to learn the language of desolation.

Heartbroken, she buries her wedding gown beneath a garden pond and resolves to move on, but there are nights when she slips . . . into a sequined red dress and a pair of stiletto heels, a stranger’s bed, a little anonymous oblivion that is not without consequence.

Still, she recovers a semblance of ordinary life and imagines she is content. But then, six years later, Cotton returns and her carefully constructed world shatters. The old questions bite like flies. Questions that Cotton O’Dell prays he can answer. He prays that Livie, whom he has never stopped loving, will be moved to forgive him. But there is more than Livie to be concerned about.

There is Cotton’s act of cowardice that caused him to become a fugitive in the first place . . . that crime he committed for which the legal clock is still ticking. That thing he did that will shock Livie to her core once she learns of it.

Livie is desperate to trust Cotton, but then he goes missing again. Time telescopes, avenues of escape close, and as lives hang in the balance, choice dithers between mercy and revenge. And a decision that will take only a moment will carry the consequences of a lifetime.

THE NINTH STEP is a story of redemption, of being brought to your knees in the sober light of day to face a monstrous error and yet somehow finding the strength to stand up, to try and make it right. Even if that decision breaks your heart, endangers your freedom and ultimately threatens your life.

From the reviewers:

“This was a very interesting plot. ” – Cat Lover | 7 reviewers made a similar statement

“Ms. Sissel is good at conveying her character’s emotions. ” – J Morgan | 10 reviewers made a similar statement

Wow! What a great find! I’m always amazed to find indie authors who can write with this quality and wonder how is it that the rest of the world doesn’t know about them. Barbara Taylor Sissel has the talent to keep readers interested, to prevent boredom and certainly avoids the risk of readers putting the book down and wandering to another story. Another to add to my list of favorites! –  Pauline

Barbara Taylor Sissel’s The Ninth Step is well-plotted and superbly written. It’s a Jodi Picoult-style story of unforgettable loss, forgiveness and redemption. – J. Morgan

“Barbara Taylor Sissel crafts a sure-handed, beautiful garden of a novel on ground tilled by Jodi Picoult and Anita Shreve. Firmly confronting issues of human frailty, redemption, and letting go, The Ninth Step is a story about what is, but it aches with the stories of what might have been as one man’s quest for forgiveness leads him to the impossible task of forgiving himself, and the lives of the people he’s wronged are drawn into a shattering spiral of events. Sissel’s vibrant voice, rich characters, and deft plotting draw the reader in and keep pages turning to the gripping, unexpected end.” ~ Joni Rodgers, NYT bestselling author of Crazy for Trying, Sugarland and memoir, Bald in the Land of Big Hair

“Heartfelt, compelling and unforgettable.” ~ Colleen Thompson, Bestselling author of Phantom of the French Quarter and The Salt Maiden

“A Hauntingly Beautiful Story of Choices, Loss, Forgiveness & Redemption.” ~ Kathleen Anderson, Jersey Girl Book Reviews

“Move over, Jodi Picoult, Barbara Delinsky, et al. There’s a new women’s fiction author in town, and her name is Barbara Taylor Sissel!” ~ Joan Reeves, Bestselling author of Just One Look and Jane I’m Still Single Jones

“A Novel of Extraordinary Beauty.” ~ Glen Cantrell, author of The Resume

“… a beautifully executed story that is poignant yet hopeful….” ~ Book Reviews and More by Kathy

“… filled with intense drama and emotions.” ~ The Book Diva’s Reads

 

Visit Amazon’s Barbara Taylor Sissel Page

At the heart of every crime, there’s a family…. That fact is what drives Barbara’s fiction. It’s issue oriented, threaded with elements of suspense and defined by its particular emphasis on how crime effects families, the victim’s family, the perpetrator’s family. She indie published her first novel, The Ninth Step, in August of 2011 and she hasn’t looked back since. The Volunteer came out in October of 2011 and in November 2011, The Last Innocent Hour, originally published by Panther Creek Press in trade paper was digitized for release as an indie e-book.

Currently Barbara is represented by the fabulous Barbara Poelle of the Irene Goodman Literary Agency and under contract with MIRA/Harlequin for Evidence of Life, which will make its print debut in April 2013, and a second novel that will appear in 2014.

Although she once lived on the grounds of a prison facility in Kentucky with her then prison warden husband (a fact that might explain the nature of her writing) she now resides near Houston, Texas. An avid gardener and reader, Barbara is the mother of two wonderful sons, who are an endless source of learning, laughter and joy.

Visit her her website at barbarataylorsissel.com

Best Selling Kindle Author Barbara Taylor Sissel’s Psychological Thriller The Volunteer – Over 20 Rave Reviews & Now Just $2.99 or Free via Kindle Lending Library

The Volunteer

by Barbara Taylor Sissel

4.1 stars – 30 Reviews
Text-to-Speech and Lending: Enabled
Here’s the set-up:

In the fall of 1999, psychologist Sophia Beckman is compelled by the court to give testimony on behalf of a death row inmate that results in his sentence being overturned. Haunted by secrets from her past, she avoids the media spotlight as much as possible, but soon, other prisoners’ families come seeking her assistance. One family in particular, the wife, children, and brother of Jarrett Capshaw, is especially insistent. Forty-one days ago Jarrett’s request to die was granted by the State of Texas, and he became a dead man walking, a man they call a volunteer.

Jarrett’s crimes were unusual, involving the theft of precious Mayan antiquities. Murder was never part of the plan, but murder is what happened. He pulled the trigger, and as little as he feels prepared for it, as much as he struggles with matters of the soul, he’s ready to die. It is the only way his family and the families of his victims will be free to move on. While Jarrett labors to find the words to say good-bye to those he has loved, Sophia finds herself drawn into a relationship with his wife and oldest son. It is Jarrett’s family she can’t resist and there will be a price to pay. But not even Sophia could have foreseen the outcome when the brutal truth is exposed, the unalloyed facts that, incredibly, will deliver Jarrett’s fate straight into her hands.

The Volunteer is a story about families, how they are made, and how in one single, horrifying instant, they can be broken. It is a story about mothers and the lies they tell to protect their children, to keep them from being hurt. But what happens when the truth comes out anyway and nothing and no one is spared? Sometimes the truth has the power to break your heart, and in Sophia’s case it will also endanger her freedom and threaten everything she has ever believed about her life

Reviews

“THE VOLUNTEER is a satisfying read, and that’s enough in itself, but I think book clubs will find a whole additional dimension for discussion. Beyond the big questions that gray the core topic of capital punishment, there’s the complicated realm of family relationships, the definition of “the honorable thing” and whether or not it’s even possible to redeem oneself by living or dying for a private cause. ~ Joni Rodgers, NYT bestselling author of Crazy for Trying, Sugarland and memoir, Bald in the Land of Big Hair

“THE VOLUNTEER is a story of so many things that are not talked about — you can only learn about them by noticing the empty shape that people talk around. It’s exactly like negative space in art, when you depict the object by drawing the space around it.” ~ Darla Tagrin, Artist

Sissel writes “… a plot worthy of Daphne du Maurier …” ~ The Houston Chronicle

About The Author

Barbara Taylor Sissel is a freelance writer, book reviewer, and editor, and the author of two other novels, The Ninth Step and The Last Innocent Hour. A one-time editor for a small regional press, Barbara has written extensively for the public relations field. Her short stories and articles have appeared in a number of venues.

An avid gardener, Barbara is currently working with numerous clients on a variety of projects and writing a new novel. She has two sons and lives in The Woodlands, Texas. For more information on past and forthcoming books, you can visit her website at www.barbarataylorsissel.com

(This is a sponsored post.)

Women’s Fiction Done Right … Bestselling Kindle Author, Barbara Taylor Sissel’s THE NINTH STEP – Filled With Intense Drama & Emotions, Sissel Confronts Issues of Human Frailty, Redemption & Letting Go – Over 25 Rave Reviews & Now Just $2.99 or FREE via Kindle Lending Library

The Ninth Step

by Barbara Taylor Sissel

4.5 stars – 32 Reviews
Text-to-Speech and Lending: Enabled
Here’s the set-up:

Livie Saunders is fluent in the language of flowers; she taught the meanings to her fiancé, Cotton O’Dell, but then Cotton vanishes without explanation on their wedding day forcing Livie to learn the language of desolation. Heartbroken, she buries her wedding gown beneath a garden pond and resolves to move on, but there are nights when she slips . . . into a sequined red dress and a pair of stiletto heels, a stranger’s bed, a little anonymous oblivion that is not without consequence. Still, she recovers a semblance of ordinary life and imagines she is content. But then, six years later, Cotton returns and her carefully constructed world shatters. The old questions bite like flies. Questions that Cotton O’Dell prays he can answer. He prays that Livie, whom he has never stopped loving, will be moved to forgive him. But there is more than Livie to be concerned about. There is Cotton’s act of cowardice that caused him to become a fugitive in the first place . . . that crime he committed for which the legal clock is still ticking. That thing he did that will shock Livie to her core once she learns of it. Livie is desperate to trust Cotton, but then he goes missing again. Time telescopes, avenues of escape close, and as lives hang in the balance, choice dithers between mercy and revenge. And a decision that will take only a moment will carry the consequences of a lifetime.

THE NINTH STEP is a story of redemption, of being brought to your knees in the sober light of day to face a monstrous error and yet somehow finding the strength to stand up, to try and make it right. Even if that decision breaks your heart, endangers your freedom and ultimately threatens your life.

Reviews

“Barbara Taylor Sissel crafts a sure-handed, beautiful garden of a novel on ground tilled by Jodi Picoult and Anita Shreve. Firmly confronting issues of human frailty, redemption, and letting go, The Ninth Step is a story about what is, but it aches with the stories of what might have been as one man’s quest for forgiveness leads him to the impossible task of forgiving himself, and the lives of the people he’s wronged are drawn into a shattering spiral of events. Sissel’s vibrant voice, rich characters, and deft plotting draw the reader in and keep pages turning to the gripping, unexpected end.” ~ Joni Rodgers, NYT bestselling author of Crazy for Trying, Sugarland and memoir, Bald in the Land of Big Hair

“Heartfelt, compelling and unforgettable.” ~ Colleen Thompson, Bestselling author of Phantom of the French Quarter and The Salt Maiden

“A Hauntingly Beautiful Story of Choices, Loss, Forgiveness & Redemption.” ~ Kathleen Anderson, Jersey Girl Book Reviews

“Move over, Jodi Picoult, Barbara Delinsky, et al. There’s a new women’s fiction author in town, and her name is Barbara Taylor Sissel!” ~ Joan Reeves, Bestselling author of Just One Look and Jane I’m Still Single Jones

“A Novel of Extraordinary Beauty.” ~ Glen Cantrell, author of The Resume

“… a beautifully executed story that is poignant yet hopeful….” ~ Book Reviews and More by Kathy

“… filled with intense drama and emotions.” ~ The Book Diva’s Reads

 

Don’t Miss These Great Titles From Bestselling Author Barbara Taylor Sissel:
Here’s The Set Up:

In the fall of 1999, psychologist Sophia Beckman is compelled by the court to give testimony on behalf of a death row inmate that results in his sentence being overturned. Haunted by secrets from her past, she avoids the media spotlight as much as possible, but soon, other prisoners’ families come seeking her assistance. One family in particular, the wife, children, and brother of Jarrett Capshaw, is especially insistent. Forty-one days ago Jarrett’s request to die was granted by the State of Texas, and he became a dead man walking, a man they call a volunteer.

Jarrett’s crimes were unusual, involving the theft of precious Mayan antiquities. Murder was never part of the plan, but murder is what happened. He pulled the trigger, and as little as he feels prepared for it, as much as he struggles with matters of the soul, he’s ready to die. It is the only way his family and the families of his victims will be free to move on. While Jarrett labors to find the words to say good-bye to those he has loved, Sophia finds herself drawn into a relationship with his wife and oldest son. It is Jarrett’s family she can’t resist and there will be a price to pay. But not even Sophia could have foreseen the outcome when the brutal truth is exposed, the unalloyed facts that, incredibly, will deliver Jarrett’s fate straight into her hands.

The Volunteer is a story about families, how they are made, and how in one single, horrifying instant, they can be broken. It is a story about mothers and the lies they tell to protect their children, to keep them from being hurt. But what happens when the truth comes out anyway and nothing and no one is spared? Sometimes the truth has the power to break your heart, and in Sophia’s case it will also endanger her freedom and threaten everything she has ever believed about her life.

&

THE LAST INNOCENT HOUR

Kindle Price: $2.99

4.2 Stars – 13 Reviews

Here’s The Set Up:

Something twisted is stalking the Cunningham family. It lurks at the periphery of Beth’s vision. Her husband Charlie can’t help, if she could even remember him; he’s doing time for a murder he didn’t commit. The small child Beth was found with, whom she doesn’t know either, was taken to foster care. There isn’t much time now. If Beth doesn’t recall the hideous events that stole her memory soon, the killer will strike again, and someone else will die.

 

About The Author

At the heart of every crime, there’s a family…. That fact is what drives Barbara’s fiction. It’s issue oriented, threaded with elements of suspense and defined by its particular emphasis on how crime effects families, the victim’s family, the perpetrator’s family. She indie published her first novel, The Ninth Step, in August of 2011 and she hasn’t looked back since. The Volunteer came out in October of 2011 and in November 2011, The Last Innocent Hour, originally published by Panther Creek Press in trade paper was digitized for release as an indie e-book.

Currently Barbara is represented by the fabulous Barbara Poelle of the Irene Goodman Literary Agency and under contract with MIRA/Harlequin for Evidence of Life, which will make its print debut in April 2013, and a second novel that will appear in 2014.

Although she once lived on the grounds of a prison facility in Kentucky with her then prison warden husband, (A fact that might explain the nature of her writing.) she now resides near Houston, Texas. An avid gardener and reader, Barbara is the mother of two wonderful sons, who are an endless source of learning, laughter and joy.

(This is a sponsored post.)

A Great Kindle Read for Mother’s Day: Barbara Taylor Sissel’s THE NINTH STEP is Our eBook of the Day at just $2.99, or Currently FREE Via the Kindle Lending Library, with 4.5 Stars on 26 Reviews, and Here’s a Free Sample!

“Books like this = why we love  to read.” – Steve Windwalker, Kindle Nation Daily

Livie Saunders is fluent in the language of flowers; she taught the meanings to her fiancé, Cotton O’Dell, but then Cotton vanishes without explanation on their wedding day forcing Livie to learn the language of desolation.

Heartbroken, she buries her wedding gown beneath a garden pond and resolves to move on, but there are nights when she slips . . . into a sequined red dress and a pair of stiletto heels, a stranger’s bed, a little anonymous oblivion that is not without consequence.

Still, she recovers a semblance of ordinary life and imagines she is content. But then, six years later, Cotton returns and her carefully constructed world shatters. The old questions bite like flies. Questions that Cotton O’Dell prays he can answer.

He prays that Livie, whom he has never stopped loving, will be moved to forgive him. But there is more than Livie to be concerned about. There is Cotton’s act of cowardice that caused him to become a fugitive in the first place . . . that crime he committed for which the legal clock is still ticking. That thing he did that will shock Livie to her core once she learns of it.

Livie is desperate to trust Cotton, but then he goes missing again. Time telescopes, avenues of escape close, and as lives hang in the balance, choice dithers between mercy and revenge. And a decision that will take only a moment will carry the consequences of a lifetime.

THE NINTH STEP is a story of redemption, of being brought to your knees in the sober light of day to face a monstrous error and yet somehow finding the strength to stand up, to try and make it right. Even if that decision breaks your heart, endangers your freedom and ultimately threatens your life.

From the reviewers:

“Barbara Taylor Sissel crafts a sure-handed, beautiful garden of a novel on ground tilled by Jodi Picoult and Anita Shreve. Firmly confronting issues of human frailty, redemption, and letting go, The Ninth Step is a story about what is, but it aches with the stories of what might have been as one man’s quest for forgiveness leads him to the impossible task of forgiving himself, and the lives of the people he’s wronged are drawn into a shattering spiral of events. Sissel’s vibrant voice, rich characters, and deft plotting draw the reader in and keep pages turning to the gripping, unexpected end.” ~ Joni Rodgers, NYT bestselling author of Crazy for Trying, Sugarland and memoir, Bald in the Land of Big Hair

“Heartfelt, compelling and unforgettable.” ~ Colleen Thompson, Bestselling author of Phantom of the French Quarter and The Salt Maiden

“A Hauntingly Beautiful Story of Choices, Loss, Forgiveness & Redemption.” ~ Kathleen Anderson, Jersey Girl Book Reviews

“Move over, Jodi Picoult, Barbara Delinsky, et al. There’s a new women’s fiction author in town, and her name is Barbara Taylor Sissel!” ~ Joan Reeves, Bestselling author of Just One Look and Jane I’m Still Single Jones

“A Novel of Extraordinary Beauty.” ~ Glen Cantrell, author of The Resume

“… a beautifully executed story that is poignant yet hopeful….” ~ Book Reviews and More by Kathy

“… filled with intense drama and emotions.” ~ The Book Diva’s Reads

 

Visit Amazon’s Barbara Taylor Sissel Page

In addition to writing novels, Barbara Taylor Sissel is a freelance writer, a book reviewer, and an editor. She is the author of the suspense novels The Last Innocent Hour and The Volunteer was, at one time, an editor for a small regional press.

Barbara has also written extensively for the public relations field and her articles and short stories have appeared in a number of venues. An avid gardener, she is currently working with numerous clients on a variety of projects and writing a new novel.

She has two sons and lives in The Woodlands, Texas. For more information on past and forthcoming books, you can visit her Amazon author page or her website at barbarataylorsissel.com

And here, in the comfort of your own browser, is your free sample of THE NINTH STEP by Barbara Taylor Sissel:

 


Kindle Nation Daily Bargain Book Alert: Barbara Taylor Sissel’s THE VOLUNTEER is our eBook of the Day at just $2.99, or Currently FREE Via the Kindle Lending Library, and Here’s a Free Sample!

In the fall of 1999, psychologist Sophia Beckman is compelled by the court to give testimony on behalf of a death row inmate that results in his sentence being overturned. Haunted by secrets from her past, she avoids the media spotlight as much as possible, but soon, other prisoners’ families come seeking her assistance. One family in particular, the wife, children, and brother of Jarrett Capshaw, is especially insistent. Forty-one days ago Jarrett’s request to die was granted by the State of Texas, and he became a dead man walking, a man they call a volunteer.

Jarrett’s crimes were unusual, involving the theft of precious Mayan antiquities. Murder was never part of the plan, but murder is what happened. He pulled the trigger, and as little as he feels prepared for it, as much as he struggles with matters of the soul, he’s ready to die. It is the only way his family and the families of his victims will be free to move on. While Jarrett labors to find the words to say good-bye to those he has loved, Sophia finds herself drawn into a relationship with his wife and oldest son. It is Jarrett’s family she can’t resist and there will be a price to pay. But not even Sophia could have foreseen the outcome when the brutal truth is exposed, the unalloyed facts that, incredibly, will deliver Jarrett’s fate straight into her hands.

The Volunteer is a story about families, how they are made, and how in one single, horrifying instant, they can be broken. It is a story about mothers and the lies they tell to protect their children, to keep them from being hurt. But what happens when the truth comes out anyway and nothing and no one is spared? Sometimes the truth has the power to break your heart, and in Sophia’s case it will also endanger her freedom and threaten everything she has ever believed about her life.

From the reviewers:

“If you love Jodi Picoult and Anita Shreve, read Barbara Taylor Sissel.” ~ Joni Rodgers, NYT bestselling author of Sugarland, Crazy For Trying, and memoir, Bald in the Land of Big Hair

“THE VOLUNTEER is a story of so many things that are not talked about … you can only learn about them by noticing the empty shape that people talk around. It’s exactly like negative space in art, when you depict the object by drawing the space around it.” ~ Darla Tagrin, Artist

It’s a heart wrencher.  … on the face of it I shouldn’t like this book because, it left me in tears and needing to catch my breath. BUT this lady writes simply and well and has a tender and sensitive ability to touch down into the emotional heart of her characters. She writes about ambiguity, loss, pain, love, betrayal and regret, Yet she carries that within a compelling story line that has a sense of urgency and inevitability that delivers the reader eventually into a space of some redemption and recovery.  –  Lorraine Benham

Barbara Taylor Sissel’s “The Volunteer” is a book of whole truths touching on hefty subjects such as executions of Death Row inmates, murder, artifact smuggling, fidelity, keeping secrets, and manipulation, among others. She conceals these serious subjects in a story with true-to-life characters (some likeable and some not), and deft plotting to make darker subjects more palatable. This author uses words like a surgeon uses a scapel–every word precise and on the mark, yet she does not preach or pander. Sissel’s books are charged with jolts of reality cushioned by unconditional love. Every book is a gem.  –  Wanda Dionne

 

Visit Amazon’s Barbara Taylor Sissel Page

Barbara Taylor Sissel was born in Honolulu, Hawaii and grew up at various locations, mostly in the Midwest. She has always been a lover of stories, the ones her big sister told to her and her younger brother, and the wild tales she related herself that often left her mother perplexed. They were too crazy to be from true experience the way Barbara claimed and yet they were vivid enough that they weren’t quite lies either.

Reading and admiring Wuthering Heights was the book that got her thinking about becoming an author and it was a dream that stayed with her through marriage, life as the wife of a prison warden in Kentucky and the births of two sons. It wasn’t until the last child was off to school that she finally sat down to write and then what came was influenced by her experience living with her family on the grounds of a prison.

Justice is a central issue in her stories. Justice and forgiveness. How far is it to unforgivable? Is it ever too late? These are the themes that resonate. What happens when an ordinary family is impacted by a sudden, extraordinary calamity?

Along the way to publication, Barbara has placed twice in the William Faulkner/William Wisdom writing competition. She works with a group of successful, talented authors and in addition to writing fiction, she also works freelance as an editor and writer. Her articles and short stories have appeared in several venues. Currently Barbara lives and writes in The Woodlands, Texas.

And here, in the comfort of your own browser, is our free sample of  THE VOLUNTEER by Barbara Taylor Sissel: