Showing posts with label true crime. Show all posts
Showing posts with label true crime. Show all posts
Sunday, April 28, 2019
URL is ready
Hello my friends. Though my internet has been down (boo!) most of this week, I was able to purchase a new domain for this blog/website. I haven’t posted anything, not even picked out a theme, but it’s MINE and will very soon have original content, entertainment reviews, medical information, true crime, opinions, grammar tips, and more. So get ready! You will be able, within the next week or so, to subscribe to the feed and/or newsletter. Sadly I’m not the best technical person so I’m waiting for help from th hosting company to see my vision through - but I do have a vision ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ! I hope to see y’all there soon. Until then, have a happy GoT Sunday and we can discuss the bloody battle and commiserate over the sure-to-be dead soon.
Ah, the new site is https://www.TracyKarol.org
Thursday, November 18, 2010
What Kind of Writer Am I?
By Tracy L. Karol
I love fiction. I love reading it, I love creating it in my mind...I can't wait to pen that first thriller. In fact, I've got an entire series outlined based on the characters in the first book. I've even written the first few chapters.
But I won't lie. Nonfiction is easier to write. First, of course, you aren't creating an entire world out of your imagination. You are dealing with facts. It may be a book that almost reads like fiction, but still the basis is true.
That's where my mind was tonight when I thought, again, about my former jobs. There are crimes, cases, scenes, events that linger with me. Some even haunt me.
I was lucky enough to have a very satisfying career before I became disabled. First I was a print reporter, covering crime, health and education. I wrote mostly "hard news" stories on the crime beat, and features on health. I won some awards. I have a stack of cards from people thanking me for the job I did. The police respected me and the feeling was mutual. Sadly, the pay was horrendous. I soon applied for a job at the metro police department, basically doing the opposite of what I had been. I would go to crime scenes and deal with the media so the detectives didn't have to. I didn't expect to get the job, but it was about triple the income so I went for it.
Obviously I got that one, and I worked closely with detectives for years, seeing the worst of humanity. There's much more to the story, but I'll save it for the book.
That job changed me in a very fundamental way. I never became hard, though I did learn to use gallows humor, like everyone else. Still, there are nights when I can't sleep, thinking of the things I now know; things branded into my soul. After I left and my family suffered our own brutal crime, it seemed every crime I had been to tore through me at once. I saw them not from a police perspective, but from a victim's family. And I wonder, even today, what I might have said to make things worse for those families.
I am a strange mixture. I've reported on crimes. I've been to countless crime scenes and worked with detectives to keep the media informed (or not). And worst of all, I've gotten that phone call that someone I love was murdered.
As I stated, there are scenes that linger, that haunt me. Perhaps the best way to face them is to quit hiding. And so that gave me the idea for a new book. Obviously, I will maintain victim privacy. But there are some stories that just must be told. Will they make sense? I doubt it. But I remember my boss telling me that criminals don't think like us. Even the accidents, the most awful suicides...perhaps sharing them will help someone, or be a warning. At the least, I promise you won't be bored.
Please read this book, when published, not with excitement, but with the reverence due the topic. I lived this. It was my life, and in many ways still haunts me.
So...that's the story of how my second book will come to life. Another nonfiction, but vastly different from the first. Crime, true to life.
I love fiction. I love reading it, I love creating it in my mind...I can't wait to pen that first thriller. In fact, I've got an entire series outlined based on the characters in the first book. I've even written the first few chapters.
But I won't lie. Nonfiction is easier to write. First, of course, you aren't creating an entire world out of your imagination. You are dealing with facts. It may be a book that almost reads like fiction, but still the basis is true.
That's where my mind was tonight when I thought, again, about my former jobs. There are crimes, cases, scenes, events that linger with me. Some even haunt me.
I was lucky enough to have a very satisfying career before I became disabled. First I was a print reporter, covering crime, health and education. I wrote mostly "hard news" stories on the crime beat, and features on health. I won some awards. I have a stack of cards from people thanking me for the job I did. The police respected me and the feeling was mutual. Sadly, the pay was horrendous. I soon applied for a job at the metro police department, basically doing the opposite of what I had been. I would go to crime scenes and deal with the media so the detectives didn't have to. I didn't expect to get the job, but it was about triple the income so I went for it.
Obviously I got that one, and I worked closely with detectives for years, seeing the worst of humanity. There's much more to the story, but I'll save it for the book.
That job changed me in a very fundamental way. I never became hard, though I did learn to use gallows humor, like everyone else. Still, there are nights when I can't sleep, thinking of the things I now know; things branded into my soul. After I left and my family suffered our own brutal crime, it seemed every crime I had been to tore through me at once. I saw them not from a police perspective, but from a victim's family. And I wonder, even today, what I might have said to make things worse for those families.
I am a strange mixture. I've reported on crimes. I've been to countless crime scenes and worked with detectives to keep the media informed (or not). And worst of all, I've gotten that phone call that someone I love was murdered.
As I stated, there are scenes that linger, that haunt me. Perhaps the best way to face them is to quit hiding. And so that gave me the idea for a new book. Obviously, I will maintain victim privacy. But there are some stories that just must be told. Will they make sense? I doubt it. But I remember my boss telling me that criminals don't think like us. Even the accidents, the most awful suicides...perhaps sharing them will help someone, or be a warning. At the least, I promise you won't be bored.
Please read this book, when published, not with excitement, but with the reverence due the topic. I lived this. It was my life, and in many ways still haunts me.
So...that's the story of how my second book will come to life. Another nonfiction, but vastly different from the first. Crime, true to life.
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Wednesday, September 2, 2009
"The Hunted" by Brian Haig
[[ASIN:0446195596 The Hunted]]
In the opening pages of this book, Brian Haig pays homage to Nelson DeMille, calling him his favorite author (he also happens to be one of mine) and says that Nelson once gave him a piece of advice that went something like this: "You'll only write a certain number of books in your life. Make sure each of them are the absolute best they can be." I'm sure I've mangled that quote but I'm completely sleep deprived after staying up all night to finish "The Hunted." Let me just say that Brian Haig more than delivered.
This is a fact-based thriller based on a real-life couple (their last name is slightly changed in the book), Alex and Elena Konevitch. It starts out a bit slow, with KGB agents and others sitting around discussing the imminent fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of Boris Yeltsin. What they can't figure out is where Boris got the money to finance a campaign that actually succeeded in bringing democracy to the USSR. Finally they discover that a 22-year-old expelled student from Moscow University (Alex) bankrolled Boris, but managed to stay in the shadows.
Alex, it seems, was a capitalist in a communist country years before the Iron Curtain fell. He was running businesses out of his dorm room at Moscow University, but was turned in by a jealous classmate and expelled. No matter; he went on to build an empire and within a few years was worth millions. Somehow this very young man had a grasp of finance and business that would make Donald Trump green with envy. How the Soviet Union produced such a man is a mystery, but this actually happened. And Alex wanted to bring democracy to his country, so he helped Boris Yelstin win the presidency and toppled the Soviet Union.
Soon Alex meets Elena and they fall in love. He continues to grow his multitude of businesses and works with Boris. He is young and handsome and his wife is beautiful. But the KGB cabal has not forgotten him, and in a conspiracy they kidnap the young couple, horribly torture Alex, steal all his money and businesses and plan to murder the couple. Yet Alex and Elena manage to escape to America, where they are granted political asylum.
Without giving away too much of the plot, I will quickly summarize what happens next. Alex, working now with Elena (at her insistence), begin new lives and are soon making money hand over fist. Alex is simply brilliant with finances and knows the market. It is the beginning of the dot-com craze and he anticipates what to do. He also keeps in close touch with his immigration attorney, MP, who got the couple asylum.
But Alex's reputation back in Russia is in complete tatters. He has been framed for stealing from his own companies and making off with millions. The cabal that did this to him is already planning on their next victim, while Alex's original businesses are failing miserably under the control of the KGB man who ordered the frame. They want Alex and Elena back in Russia and dead. Yet Alex has taken precautions; he has left a false trail in America and is being hunted in the wrong city.
All his planning is for naught, though, when the FBI director decides he wants to expand the Moscow station. He promises to send Alex and Elena back to Russia to face trial for their "crimes" if he can do this. Of course he has no idea if Alex is guilty, nor does he appear to care.
This quickly turns into a nightmare for the young couple. Once again their money is gone (frozen this time), they are jailed, and a hit is put out on them. It is truly a tale of corruption in both countries, with some contemptible characters on each side and some honorable ones as well.
How Alex and Elena get through the next years, and the outcome of this tale, is remarkable. You absolutely must read this book. I guarantee that you won't be able to put it down once you are a few chapters into it. It turns out that Alex actually wrote a biography of the events himself and contacted Brian Haig with the story (which was quite public in the USA and Russia at one point), telling him he might be interested in it. While Brian Haig shortens the story into a novel and fictionalizes some characters, the basic story is true. However, from what I can determine Alex and Elena actually suffered even worse atrocities over a longer period. I will certainly buy the book written by Alex to get the full story.
If you read just one book this year, read "The Hunted." It is a thriller, a spy classic, romance, espionage, suspense -- everything, and it is absolutely riveting. I'm only awake long enough to write this review as I stayed up most of the night finishing the book. It truly is that good. Highly recommended. If I could give it more than five stars, I would.
In the opening pages of this book, Brian Haig pays homage to Nelson DeMille, calling him his favorite author (he also happens to be one of mine) and says that Nelson once gave him a piece of advice that went something like this: "You'll only write a certain number of books in your life. Make sure each of them are the absolute best they can be." I'm sure I've mangled that quote but I'm completely sleep deprived after staying up all night to finish "The Hunted." Let me just say that Brian Haig more than delivered.
This is a fact-based thriller based on a real-life couple (their last name is slightly changed in the book), Alex and Elena Konevitch. It starts out a bit slow, with KGB agents and others sitting around discussing the imminent fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of Boris Yeltsin. What they can't figure out is where Boris got the money to finance a campaign that actually succeeded in bringing democracy to the USSR. Finally they discover that a 22-year-old expelled student from Moscow University (Alex) bankrolled Boris, but managed to stay in the shadows.
Alex, it seems, was a capitalist in a communist country years before the Iron Curtain fell. He was running businesses out of his dorm room at Moscow University, but was turned in by a jealous classmate and expelled. No matter; he went on to build an empire and within a few years was worth millions. Somehow this very young man had a grasp of finance and business that would make Donald Trump green with envy. How the Soviet Union produced such a man is a mystery, but this actually happened. And Alex wanted to bring democracy to his country, so he helped Boris Yelstin win the presidency and toppled the Soviet Union.
Soon Alex meets Elena and they fall in love. He continues to grow his multitude of businesses and works with Boris. He is young and handsome and his wife is beautiful. But the KGB cabal has not forgotten him, and in a conspiracy they kidnap the young couple, horribly torture Alex, steal all his money and businesses and plan to murder the couple. Yet Alex and Elena manage to escape to America, where they are granted political asylum.
Without giving away too much of the plot, I will quickly summarize what happens next. Alex, working now with Elena (at her insistence), begin new lives and are soon making money hand over fist. Alex is simply brilliant with finances and knows the market. It is the beginning of the dot-com craze and he anticipates what to do. He also keeps in close touch with his immigration attorney, MP, who got the couple asylum.
But Alex's reputation back in Russia is in complete tatters. He has been framed for stealing from his own companies and making off with millions. The cabal that did this to him is already planning on their next victim, while Alex's original businesses are failing miserably under the control of the KGB man who ordered the frame. They want Alex and Elena back in Russia and dead. Yet Alex has taken precautions; he has left a false trail in America and is being hunted in the wrong city.
All his planning is for naught, though, when the FBI director decides he wants to expand the Moscow station. He promises to send Alex and Elena back to Russia to face trial for their "crimes" if he can do this. Of course he has no idea if Alex is guilty, nor does he appear to care.
This quickly turns into a nightmare for the young couple. Once again their money is gone (frozen this time), they are jailed, and a hit is put out on them. It is truly a tale of corruption in both countries, with some contemptible characters on each side and some honorable ones as well.
How Alex and Elena get through the next years, and the outcome of this tale, is remarkable. You absolutely must read this book. I guarantee that you won't be able to put it down once you are a few chapters into it. It turns out that Alex actually wrote a biography of the events himself and contacted Brian Haig with the story (which was quite public in the USA and Russia at one point), telling him he might be interested in it. While Brian Haig shortens the story into a novel and fictionalizes some characters, the basic story is true. However, from what I can determine Alex and Elena actually suffered even worse atrocities over a longer period. I will certainly buy the book written by Alex to get the full story.
If you read just one book this year, read "The Hunted." It is a thriller, a spy classic, romance, espionage, suspense -- everything, and it is absolutely riveting. I'm only awake long enough to write this review as I stayed up most of the night finishing the book. It truly is that good. Highly recommended. If I could give it more than five stars, I would.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
"If I Am Missing or Dead: A Sister's Story of Love, Murder, and Liberation (by Janine Latus)
Reviewed by Tracy L. Karol
I read this book several months ago and was really bothered by some of the reviews, which is why I finally decided to write my own. The author has been attacked for telling her own story and not much of her sister's, Amy, who was murdered. But that is a big part of the story. Amy hid what was happening to her and the results were tragic. Janine also does a great job at delving into their shared childhood and what led both sisters to the choices they made. Haunting, powerful and tragic. A reminder of what to watch for in our own lives.
I read this book several months ago and was really bothered by some of the reviews, which is why I finally decided to write my own. The author has been attacked for telling her own story and not much of her sister's, Amy, who was murdered. But that is a big part of the story. Amy hid what was happening to her and the results were tragic. Janine also does a great job at delving into their shared childhood and what led both sisters to the choices they made. Haunting, powerful and tragic. A reminder of what to watch for in our own lives.
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