Sweat [Paperback]

Mark Gilleo (Author)

Book Description

Release date: August 28, 2012

When Jake Patrick took a summer internship at his estranged father’s corporation, he anticipated some much-needed extra cash and a couple of free meals from his guilty dad. He would never have guessed that he'd find himself in the center of an international scandal involving a U.S. senator, conspiracy, backroom politics, and murder. Or that his own life would hang in the balance. Or that he’d find help – and much more than that – from a collection of memorable characters operating on all sides of the law. Jake’s summer has turned into the most eventful one of his life. Now he just needs to survive it.

From the sweatshops of Saipan to the most powerful offices in Washington, SWEAT rockets through a story of crime and consequences with lightning pacing, a twisting plot, an unforgettable cast of characters, and wry humor. It is another nonstop thriller from one of the most exciting new voices in suspense fiction.

Editorial Reviews

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

As the van pulled away in a small cloud of dust, the senator inspected the main guard booth and the now present guard. Lee Chang took Peter by the arm and stepped away. The sweatshop boss dropped his voice to a whisper and looked over Peter’s shoulder as he spoke, “Interested in the usual companionship?”

Peter, in turn, looked over at the senator who looked back and nodded in approval to the conversation he couldn’t hear but fully understood. “Is Wei Ling available?” Peter asked as if ordering his favorite wine from the menu.

“Yes, of course. Wei is available. Shall I find a companion for the senator as well?”

“Yes, the senator would enjoy some company. Someone with a good command of English. I don’t think he wants to spend the evening playing charades,” Peter responded.

“No, I’m sure he wouldn’t.” Lee Chang smiled, nodded, and barked at Chow Ying in Chinese. The large subordinate walked across the front lot of Chang Industries, down the side of the main building, and vanished into the seamstresses’ two-story living quarters. The CEO, senator, and sweatshop ruler went upstairs to wait.

Traditional Chinese furnishings cluttered Lee Chang’s living room.

“Nice piece,” the senator said, running his hands across a large black cabinet with twelve rows and columns of square drawers.

Peter spoke. “It’s an antique herbal medicine cabinet. The Chinese characters written on the front of each drawer indicate the contents.”

“Tattooed reminders of a former life,” the senator said with poetic license.

Lee Chang stepped over and pulled open one of the drawers. “And now it holds my DVD collection.”

“Modernization never stops,” Peter added.

The three men found their way to the living room and Peter and Senator Day sat on the sofa. Lee took a seat on a comfortable wooden chair, small cylindrical pillows made from the finest Chinese silk supporting his arms.

The middle-aged woman who entered the room to serve tea didn’t speak. She had standing orders not to interrupt when her boss’s guests were wearing suits. The senator watched the woman skillfully pour tea from a blue and white ceramic teapot. He wondered if the woman was Lee Chang’s lover. Peter knew Lee’s taste ran much younger.

The intercom came to life on the wall near the door and Chow Ying announced that the ladies were ready. A brief exchange followed in rapid-fire Chinese before Lee Chang ended the conversation abruptly, flipping the intercom switch off.

“Gentlemen, if you are ready, the car is waiting.”

The senator took the front seat next to Chow Ying. Peter gladly sat in the back seat, squeezing in between the two beautiful Asian women. As he got comfortable in the rear of the car, Wei Ling whispered in his ear, her lips tickling his lobe. Peter smiled as his lover’s breath blew on his neck.

Shi Shi Wong, the senator’s date for the evening, looked up at the seamstresses’ quarters as the car began to move. She spotted several faces pressed against the glass of a second floor window and fought the urge to wave.

By the time the black Lincoln exited the gate of Chang Industries, Peter had one arm around each lady. He kept them close enough to feel their bodies move with every bump in the road. He leaned his torso into theirs with every turn of the car.

Peter Winthrop’s favorite table at The Palm was in an isolated corner next to a small balcony overlooking intimidating cliffs thirty yards from the back of the restaurant. A steady breeze pushed through the open French doors that led to the balcony, blowing out the candle in the center of the table as they arrived. Peter asked for recommendations from the chef and ordered for everyone. They had spicy barbecued shrimp for an appetizer, followed by a salad with freshly sliced squid that the senator refused to eat. For the main course, the party of four shared a large red snapper served in a garlic and lemon-based Thai sauce. Copious amounts of wine accompanied every dish.

Chow Ying waited subserviently in the parking lot for over three hours. He fetched two cups of coffee from the back door of the kitchen and drank them in the Lincoln with the driver’s side doors open. With his second cup of coffee, he asked the waiter how much longer he thought the Winthrop party was going to be.

“Another hour at the most,” came the reply.

On the trip back to the hotel, the honorable senator from Massachusetts threw his honorability out the window and sat in the backseat with the ladies. Flirtatious groping ensued, the senator’s hands moving like ivy on human walls. His Rolex came to rest on Wei Ling’s shoulder. His Harvard class ring continued to caress the bare skin on Shi Shi Wong’s neck.

Peter made conversation with Chow Ying as the driver forced himself not to look in the rearview mirror. Peter, never bashful, glanced at Wei Ling on the opposite side of the backseat, their eyes meeting with a twinkle, her lips turning up in a smile for her lover. Peter smiled back.

Wei Ling was beautiful, and a sweetheart, and intriguing enough for Peter to find an excuse to stop in Saipan when he was on business in Asia. He usually brought her a gift, nothing too flashy, but something meaningful enough to keep her compliant in the sack. A dress, lingerie, earrings. He liked Wei Ling, a simple fact tempered by the realism that he was a CEO and she was a third-world seamstress. Pure attraction couldn’t bridge some gaps. But Lee Chang was proud of the fact that Peter had taken a fancy to Wei Ling. It was good business. She was a company asset. He wished he could put her on the corporate balance sheet.

Chow Ying dropped the party of four off at the Ritz, an eight-story oasis overlooking the finest stretch of white sand and blue water on the island. He gave Wei Ling and her sweatshop roommate-turned-prostitute-without-pay a brief command in Chinese and followed with a formal handshake to the senator and Peter. He waited for the four to vanish through the revolving door of the hotel and then pulled the Lincoln into the far corner of the parking lot.

The senator and Peter weaved slightly across the lobby of the hotel. Wei Ling and Shi Shi Wong followed several paces behind. The concierge and hotel manager, jaws dropping momentarily, engaged in a seemingly urgent conversation and didn’t look up until the elevator doors had closed.

Product Details

• Paperback: 366 pages
• Publisher: Story Plant, The (August 28, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1611880513
• ISBN-13: 978-1611880519
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,412,049 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars International Thriller That Will Please! August 29, 2012

By Steve Capell

Format:Kindle Edition

The plot of this thriller brings the reader face to face with what life must be like working in a sweat shop and more importantly how life must be like for those that do find themselves gainly employed or should I say gainly imprisoned in a sweat job ? While this book is fictional it does bring to light how greed and politics can corrupt and destroy lives of innocent people and this allowed me to feel a multitude of emotions while turning the pages of this international thriller. The plot moves along at a very brisk speed and I found myself fascinated by the ongoing, "on the edge of your seat" suspense. I had trouble finding a place to stop reading as the overall plot kept me well engaged and always wanting more.

The voice and language is descriptive and believable. I really liked the following passage in Chapter 28 and this will give you a flavor of the descriptive language that makes up this novel:

"The old apartment was an orchestra of creaks and squeaks, groans and moans. The steps, the banister, the doors, the windows, all kept rhythm. The pipes to the sink, shower, and toilet hit all the high notes in various pitch. When the infamous D.C. summer thunderstorms blew in during the late afternoon and early evening, the whole building rattled and rolled."

The characters are complex, fully developed, and they fit together nicely where they were required to fit together and when they were on the opposite end of spectrum they played off each other like a great game of cat and mouse. I found some of the characters I loved and others ... well let's just say that maybe only their mothers could love them and that may be a stretch for some mothers.

Who should read this novel?

Anyone that likes fast paced thrillers with well developed characters will want to pick this one up. I am glad I took some precious reading time and read Sweat by Mark Gilleo. I am sure you too will enjoy this one.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary! August 28, 2012

By CMash

Format:Paperback

Sweat by Mark Gilleo
Published by: The Story Plant
Publication Date: August 28, 2012
ISBN-10: 1611880513
ISBN-13: 978-1611880519
Pages: 366
Review Copy from: The Story Plant
Edition: ARC Kindle
My Rating: 5

Synopsis:
When Jake Patrick took a summer internship at his estranged father's corporation, he anticipated some much-needed extra cash and a couple of free meals from his guilty dad. He would have never guessed that he'd find himself in the center of an international scandal involving a U.S. senator that was rife with conspiracy, back-room politics, and murder. Or that his own life would hang in the balance. Or that he'd find help - and much more than that - from a collection of memorable characters operating on all sides of law. Jake's summer has turned into the most eventful one of his life. Now he just needs to survive it.

From the sweatshops of Saipan to the most powerful offices in Washington, SWEAT rockets through a story of crime and consequences with lightning pacing, a twisting plot, an unforgettable cast of characters, and wry humor. It is another nonstop thriller from one of the most exciting new voices in suspense fiction.

My Thoughts and Opinion:
I was first introduced to Mark Gilleo when I read his debut novel, Love Thy Neighbor, back in March. You can read my review here. I was blown away with that novel on so many levels because it was not high on my list for plots, being in the espionage genre, having 400+ pages, which I read in a matter of a few days because I couldn't turn the pages fast enough and a debut novel that read as if it was written by a seasoned author.

Now comes his 2nd novel, which I couldn't wait to read but honestly was a bit skeptical because the bar was set so high. Could it be as good or better? Would it compare? The answer is a resounding Yes!! There are so many facets of his writing style that appeal to me. The dialogue between characters are so realistic and fluid that I have the feeling that I am eavesdropping on a conversation. The action is non stop from the first page to the last word. The characters three dimensional and animated. The "espionage" is not so detailed and deep, that I have to figure out the inner workings of a department where it would get boorish. The settings vivid. The story lines are fiction imitating reality or reality could be possible with imitating fiction.The plot was a page turner and heart pounding.

Sweat takes place over a 5 week time span traveling from Seattle, WA to Saipan and ending in Washington, D.C.. with a premise ripped from the headlines. A multi cat and mouse chase at the speed of a run away train. Sweat has it all and more, unethical politicians, kidnapping, murder, greed, bribery, assassination attempts, deceit, greed, truth, police procedural investigations, betrayals, forced labor, stake outs, organized crime, friendships, love relationships and an ending that will leave the reader wanting a sequel. Another amazing, white knuckle read!! Mark Gilleo is both talented and gifted when it comes to page turning story telling. A master!! Bravo!! A book not to be passed by!! Extraordinary!!!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Political Thriller November 7, 2012

By Regina E. Hott

Format:Paperback

What I liked: I loved that, even though this is not a genre I typically read, as soon as I began to read the book pulled me right into it's depths. Even when I wasn't reading I was wondering what was going to happen. I also, loved how Gilleo was able to make me completely detest as character but still want to know exactly what happened.
What I didn't like: Honestly, there were a LOT of characters and at times I did have some trouble keeping everyone straight.