Sydney has worked hard to get her life back together after the death of her young son and the subsequent break-down of her marriage. She's not ready for her ex-husband to walk back into her life. But now Ethan Decker needs Sydney's help. Once an agent for one of the most secretive departments of the US government, Ethan's job had been to track ruthless international mercenaries and fugitives. After the loss of his son, Ethan had turned his back on his wife, his mission and his former life, to live in self-imposed exile in the desert. But Ethan's past catches up with him when he is visited by a former colleague who entrusts Ethan with the safety of two young children before being killed. The Spanish coin he finds under her tongue is a mark Ethan hoped never to see again: the mark of the assassin Ramirez. And if Ramirez is back then Sydney herself is in danger. The race is on: for Ethan and Sydney to stay one step ahead of Ramirez, whilst protecting their two young charges and attempting to unlock the mystery of why they also appear to be on Ramirez's hit list.
You see, I have a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science and spent twelve years with Big Blue (i.e. IBM, for the uninitiated). And that's not your usual path to a publishing career.
So how did I go from Computer Programming to writing thrillers?
Well, my first love has always been books. I started reading everything I could get my hands on as far back as grade school, wanting, even then, to rewrite stories my own way, either changing the endings or creating new adventures for the characters. However, I didn't actually start writing until high school. My first attempt was a serial story about a cowboy who was a cross between Cat Balou and Jesse James - the fictional character not the real outlaw. I'd write a chapter and pass it around to my friends, then write another. I never finished that story, which is probably a good thing. It was pretty bad. LOL!!
By college I'd graduated from writing westerns to science fiction short stories that bore a strong resemblance to Star Trek. Are you seeing a pattern here?
Funny thing though, during all that time, it never occurred to me that I could write for a living. In college, I didn't even consider majoring in Journalism or English. In my mind, I needed a technical degree to be self-sufficient. So, it wasn't until I'd been working for IBM about seven years that the writing bug bit again. I attended a writer's conference in Orlando and met dozens of people writing all different types of fiction and nonfiction. That weekend changed my life. Literally.
I came home and started writing in earnest. I also joined writer's organization, attended writer's conferences, read 'how-to' books, and generally immersed myself in the publishing world. It took me five years and writing three complete manuscripts to sell my first book in June of 1993. I left IBM a year later, and as they say, the rest is history.
Now, thirteen years, twelve books, and three pseudonyms later, I'm writing supense novels for Ballantine Books and loving every minute of it. It's what I've been working toward since that first conference in Orlando.
Patricia Lewin
Author Of BLIND RUN, OUT OF REACH, and OUT OF TIME
