The Alaskan Sting

by John Herold

Overview

The Alaskan Sting is the story of a young man from San Francisco who has two vices: drinking and women. His adventure starts when his cousin gives him a ten-day vacation to Alaska, but, on the way, he experiences several misfortunes. Find out what happens as this young man earns a moral conclusion as he gets caught in a government sting operation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781953584182
Publisher:	Lime Press LLC
Publication date:	08/31/2020
Pages:	238
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

John Herold is currently living in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. He is a widower with two adult daughters and three grandchildren. John's retired and formerly worked in aerospace. He loves watercolor painting and creating new inventions. In 1981, he wrote a script for Nash TV that was intended for the last season of the show. The script was accepted and was used for following season of the show instead of the original.

Editorial Reviews

2014-02-07
In Herold's debut novel, a young, womanizing boozehound struggles to catch up with his elusive Alaska-bound cruise ship. Young, single Tom Courier has just been gifted an all-expenses-paid trip aboard the Nordic Princess, courtesy of his cousin and co-worker, Scott. His objective: two weeks of bourbon-soaked, coitus-filled relaxation. Things seem on track after he achieves his objective an hour into his initial connecting flight. From there, however, his plans veer wildly off course: A bomb detonates on the plane's wing, forcing an emergency landing in Portland. Tom misses the Princess' departure, but his luggage finds its way on board and serves as motivation throughout the story for him to reach the ship. Unfazed, Tom seizes the opportunity to spend an erotic evening with Mandy—the "cougar" he met on the plane—in a secluded hideaway in the Oregon wilderness. Herold's ominous foreshadowing hints at Tom's impending misfortune, and trouble continues to lurk just below the surface for much of the novel. The author maintains sufficient momentum as his protagonist pushes on, inching ever closer to reaching his stateroom aboard the seafaring vessel. Yet an ensuing stream of uncannily coincidental mishaps keeps him perpetually one step behind. On his next layover, in British Columbia, Tom finds himself in another love affair, this time with a local surfing champion named Giata. In increasingly predictable fashion, this fling proves more urgent than catching the ship, of which Tom remains in tepid pursuit. Unfortunately, Tom's seemingly one-track mind accentuates his shallow depth of character and risks preventing many readers from relating to him. Following another airplane crash, Tom finds himself in the port town of Ketchikan, Alaska, engaging in yet another romance with a local beauty. There, he's hurled inexplicably into a two-man campaign to track down a mythical, luck-bringing sea beast. The story's rapid pace continues at the expense of character development, while typos throughout further distract from the more subtle plot threads Herold attempts to weave. Despite the lulling effect of its rhythmic, seemingly inevitable series of calamities, the story revives for a compelling final twist. A fast-paced, engaging trip to the heart of a bachelor, without enough plausibility or dimension.

Kirkus Reviews