FORTY YEARS LATER (David Grossman Series) [Kindle Edition]

Steven Jay Griffel (Author)

Book Description

#1 Amazon Best Seller in Music (March 2012, July 2012)
#1 Amazon Best Seller in Rock Music (March 2013)
#3 Amazon Best Seller in American Drama (March 2012)

Successful middle-aged publishing executive David Grossman risks everything to fulfill a promise to a woman he has not seen in forty years. When teen sweethearts and now aging Baby Boomers David and Jill reunite after four decades, sparks fly fast and furious, despite his long marriage to Allison and Jill’s reputation as a famous, former lesbian.

Jill Black, a “one hit wonder” Hollywood screenwriter, is consumed with a last chance to write and direct her own film. Success will reinvigorate her career. Failure will end it. When a pompous studio “suit” begins to undermine her authority and threatens to kill her project, the pressure forces her to spin from rage to murderous madness as she ensnares David in her plans.

Love and betrayal. Revenge and redemption. For some it ends happily. For others it all comes undone in this fast-paced drama of Baby Boomers trying to hang on to their lives, their families, and their Woodstock dreams. A riveting debut novel of suspense and humor, masterfully told by Steven Jay Griffel.

"Griffel's narrative is a rush - sharp, spot on, and funny as hell."
- Laurie Rozakis, Author, Editor & Public Speaker

"FORTY YEARS LATER is a great read. It's fast, edgy, but poignant. Steven Jay Griffel really captures the emotions of the Woodstock generation forty years later." - Les Kaye, Musician and Emmy Award winner

"Lost Dreams Redeemed...Everyone Wants A Do-Over...A Debut Novelist Worth Following."
- From the more than 60 Amazon customer 5-Star Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 742 KB
• Print Length: 225 pages
• Publisher: Schiller & Wells, Ltd. - A Division of Stay Thirsty Media, Inc. (October 14, 2009)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B002T44IEE
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #210,298 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Loved parts of it ... March 3, 2012

By Maryann Watkins

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

As a baby-boomer, I was really looking forward to this book. And, as a baby-boomer, it brought back some fine memories - and a look at my own regrets and "should haves" and "what ifs."

David Grossman is successful in the publishing world, except he's not happy. Then he makes contact with Jill Black, a woman from his past - a past that's 40 years old. The "what ifs" start to germinate and their email relationship starts to take hold. Their entire relationship is based on Woodstock and what could have been.

I found Jill to be a nauseating "me, me, me" woman who I couldn't like at all. Grossman ... well, I wanted to shake him! DO something, SAY something, MAKE a decision! And I think that's why I didn't enjoy the book as well as other readers did.

The story is well told and the author most certainly can write. The book resonates because we all look back and wonder "what if" and the 60s references are a delight to those of us who lived through that time. But my less than stellar response is based on the characters. I just couldn't like them even though I wanted to.

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Debut Novelist Worth Following December 9, 2009

By Dunya Dunne

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I did not want to like this book and ended up reading it in one sitting. Griffel's writing holds your attention, even when his protagonist annoys you most. What is most annoying about David Grossman, "successful publishing executive," is that he is like a lot of us: short on courage and self-knowledge, but long on yearning for something greater than himself. (Regrets, we've had a few. Roads not taken, or too many taken blindly.) Yet this very human, self-centered fellow draws you into his story and ultimately disarms you. Characters are developed, plots thicken. By the second half of the novel you are in for the count, as eager and curious as David is to see the events unfold. You read as if David's choices matter. In the end, they do. Now that's a mark of great storytelling.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing October 4, 2011

By Jezz

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I, too, purchased this ebook based on the prior reviews (all 5's except one). I expected a very good book, but instead, I thought it fell very short of the 5 star rating. Yes, people have regrets. Yes, people think of cheating. ...but I thought this book just went on and on. I kept thinking it would get better. In the end, I was very disappointed.

More About the Author

Having one life has always seemed too limiting for me. And so I write books to imagine other roads my life might have taken. In my novel FORTY YEARS LATER, a man faces a regret he has endured for four decades--and though it might cost him his marriage and implicate him in a murder--he decides to take a chance. In THE DEADLINE, a man has one year to fulfill a lifelong dream: a simple enough challenge--but that was before his scriptwriter friend, an Amazonian culinary genius, a dying mother, a corporate honcho sister, a priestess of the dark arts, and sinister agents from the Mob conspire to derail his destiny.