Tainted Times 2: Novel two in the Angeline Porter Trilogy

by Valerie J. Brooks

Overview

Winner in the Thriller Division Book Excellence Awards

She's tough, cynical, and out for revenge. Can she capture her prize without sacrificing her last breath?

Kauai. Angeline Porter is worn to the bone. Hiding out with only a rescue dog for company, the disbarred defense attorney knows killing two mob bosses makes resurfacing impossibly risky. But when an undercover FBI agent offers to exchange a shocking family secret for her acting as bait, the driven woman can't resist the lure.

Digging into the twisted truths her parents kept hidden, Angeline is determined to save her newly discovered relative from an unthinkable fate. And as she travels down a trail of seduction and lies, she edges even closer to the vicious organization out for her head.

Will her quest to reconnect with her bloodline shatter her world forever?

Tainted Times 2 is the tense second book in The Angeline Porter Trilogy of noir thrillers. If you like complex anti-heroes, dramatic action, and psychological rollercoasters, then you'll love Valerie J. Brooks' hunt for justice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781732373228
Publisher:	Black Leather Jacket Press
Publication date:	08/25/2020
Series:	Angeline Porter Trilogy , #2
Pages:	318
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.71(d)

About the Author

Multi-award-winning author Valerie J. Brooks writes femmes-noir psychological thrillers where the women are badass and take center stage. The first in the Angeline Porter Trilogy Revenge in 3 Parts was a finalist for the Nancy Pearl Book Award and a winner in the International Readers' Favorites Thriller Awards. NY Times bestselling author Kevin O'Brien called her second novel in the trilogy Tainted Times 2 "... a real nail-biter from first page to the last."A lifelong writer and reader, she reads everything from Daphne du Maurier to the latest Scandinavian crime writers. Her English war-bride mom and artistic army officer dad raised her with my two siblings in ultra-conservative New Hampshire during the 1950-60s. Growing up in puritanical New England, she was drawn to the gothic, to secrets, mystery, and the dark side of human nature. As her English mum once said, "You're a good girl who wants to be bad." Now she has the perfect conduit for her "bad girl" side-writing noir.After studying film noir in college, she found her noir voice for fiction. She received an Elizabeth George Foundation grant and was the recipient of five writing residencies. She teaches classes and workshops in writing noir and creating plot twists, plus reviews mystery, suspense, and thriller novels, podcasts, and streaming shows on her blog.She's a member of Sisters in Crime (Columbia River Chapter), Pacific Northwest Writers Association, Oregon Writers Colony (past board member), Willamette Writers (co-founder WW Speakers Series) and Professional Women's Network of Oregon. Brooks lives in Oregon's McKenzie River Valley with her husband, Dan, and their Havanese pooch Stevie Nicks.

Editorial Reviews

In Valerie Brooks' scintillating new suspense novel Tainted Times 2, Angeline Porter, the tough but vulnerable Oregon attorney who first appeared in the author's remarkable debut Revenge In 3 Parts, continues to unravel the sinister narrative threads woven around her sister's tragic death. And once again Brooks keeps the pages turning by constructing an intricate and engaging story. From the first paragraph to the last, Tainted Times 2 unfolds at a breakneck pace, each startling new revelation about Angeline's troubled family adding to the book's genuine emotional depth. A muscular, laser-focused, compel-ling new entry in this one-of-a-kind trilogy.

-Tim Applegate, Flamingo Lane and Fever Tree

With Tainted Times 2, Valerie J. Brooks has delivered an intriguing thriller that crackles with tension. Amid the cast of fascinating characters, Brooks has created, disbarred attorney, Angeline "Ang" Porter emerges as a gutsy, likable heroine. You'll find yourself caring about her and rooting for her. Filled with clever plot twists, Tainted Times 2 is a real nail-biter from the first page to the last.

-Kevin O'Brien, New York Times Bestselling Author

"...a striking and complicated protagonist."

"...genuinely surprising plot turns."

"...a whirlwind of deceit, theft, blackmail,

and worse."

-Kirkus Review

"Beware of disguises and those who wear them. Val Brooks has crafted a cunning tale of revenge, grief and unwanted desire that lets you walk the streets of Paris, Portland, and Kauai as bereft sister, confident attorney, vengeful murderer, and confused lover. By the time you're done, you and your anxious narrator are left wondering which of those identities you'll need to go on living with yourself."

-Paul Skenazy, former thriller reviewer Washington Post, and author of James M. Cain

"The author treats you to a strong intelligent, gutsy woman who writes her own rules and throws herself into a dangerous situation of her own creation. As has been said, 'well-behaved women seldom make history'-or good novels."

-Wendy Kendall, "Kendall and Cooper Talk Mysteries" podcast

From the Publisher