Friday, August 9, 2013

Tainted Waters...


Title:  Tainted Waters
Author:  Maggie Thom
Publication Date:  April 30th


He didn’t commit suicide but who’s going to believe her...

Frustrated at being fired from her latest job and overwhelmed by her consolatory family, Sam decides to move to the family’s cabin at the lake. A place she hasn’t been since her dad committed suicide there twenty years before. Or did he? Snooping is something she’s good at but someone seems to be taking offense to her looking too closely at what has been happening at the lake. What she discovers is shocking. Now she must uncover what’s real and what’s not. All that she learned growing up, may be false. Keegan who has recently moved to the area to finish his latest book is also trying to find out if his grandfather, who’d passed away ten years before, died of natural causes or was murdered? The descendants of the four families who own the land around the lagoon are dying off. Since Sam and Keegan are the only ones questioning the deaths, they find themselves working together to seek the truth. Are people being murdered? Who would benefit from their deaths? Why would there be barricades and armed guards at the north end of the lake? To stay alive, Sam and Keegan must find the answers and convince others, before more people are killed... including them.


"This is a book that will have you on the edge of your seat. Just when you think the story is over, think again." Read Your Writes Book Reviews


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“Well, well. What do we have here?”
Her tongue felt thick and cottony but she managed to croak out, “who the hell are you?” If she’d been able to muster enough spit she’d have spat in his face. Maybe this is a nightmare. Praying that it was, she closed her eyes for a second and let her head drop forward. The next instant her head was snapped backwards, hard into the solid structure behind her. The man’s fingers pinching her chin. Something sharp was pressed to her throat.
“You’ve caused me nothing but headaches. You’re a royal pain in my ass.”
The fear was almost choking her, her whole body vibrated from the tension. Her mind was going a mile a minute. What the hell had she done to deserve this? How was she going to get out of this? And who was this nut case? As many thoughts passed through her mind, she tried to make sense of something and to pull herself back to the situation. To find some way of getting out of it.
The man’s lips were still moving so she assumed he was still talking but she couldn’t hear any of it. It was as he yanked his hand back that she got a good look at him. Or at least part of him. Her eyes widened in recognition. He pulled her to her feet.
“It’s starting to sink in.” The sound that came out of his mouth was the coldest, hardest, ugliest sound she’d ever heard. She wasn’t sure if it was meant to be his laugh but whatever it was, it sent chills through her body with sonic precision.
“Steele. How you making out with her friend?”
He stepped back and to the side, giving Sam a good view of the rest of the room. It was a large area; the outside walls were steel with the interior walls being drywall. Instantly she knew she was in the Quonset. And there wasnt really much options for escape. Two men stood by the door and one man was standing in front of someone tied to a chair, whose face looked like it had been fed through a meat grinder.
Blood ran down over his lips and dripped off his chin. From the bright red color of his shirt and the dark stain on his jeans, she’d have guessed he’d taken quite a beating. She bit hard on her lip to prevent herself from giving in to the urge to scream. She couldn’t stop herself though from closing her eyes. It was one thing for her to die, it was another to have dragged someone else into it. Her head snapped back as her hair was grabbed viciously. She glared at the man who had her at his mercy.

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Can you share the playlist you listened to while writing ‘Tainted Waters’ with us?

I love listening to music while I write. This is some of the songs that I played while writing it. The list would be too long if I wrote them all out. :)

Whataya Want From Me by Adam Lambert
The Power of Love by Celine Dion
Something’s Got a Hold on Me by Christina Aguilera
Blown Away by Carrie Underwood
Water in the Well by Spirit of the West
Brown Eyed Girl by Jimmy Buffet
If You Leave Me Now by Chicago
Bridge Over Troubled Waters by Simon and Garfunkel
Early Mornin Rain by Gordon Lightfoot
Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) by Beyonce

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Can you share your idea of the perfect soundtrack to ‘Tainted Lies’ with us?

Life After You by Daughtry
Reflection by Christine Aguilera
Put Your Records On by Corrine Bailey Ray
Sharp Dressed Man by ZZ Top
Drops of Jupiter by Train
Someone’s Watching Over Me by Hilary Duff
Love Somebody by Maroon 5
Wanted by Hunter Hayes
Rumors by Fleetwood Mac
The Guilty Will Pay by Steve Dawson
Love Will Keep Us Alive by the Eagles

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can you provide us with a short history/bio on the main characters?

Samantha gets fired from her latest job as a reporter. She’s not too happy as she was enjoying it and finally felt like she’d found her calling. She’s never been good at holding down a job mainly because she didn’t like the work or those who she had to work with. She’s struggled her whole life with figuring out who she is and what she wants. She’s never been one to back down from a challenge or been someone who takes any guff from others. She’s an in-your-face kind of person and has no problem telling others who she feels or what she thinks of them. As you can imagine this has gotten her into trouble more than once. She`s the middle child of five kids and has a pretty good relationship with her siblings and her mom but since she`s the only one who doesn`t have a profession or a steady job they are a little over the  top protective of her and on her case about it. To get away from her consolatory family, Sam decides to move out to the family cabin that hasn’t been used since her dad had committed suicide when she was seven. She never understood how he could do that, how he could leave her. Especially when they were best buds. She’s just starting to realize how much that has colored her life when she discovers someone wants her dead. 


Keegan is an author and has moved out to his great grandfather’s cabin at the lake for quiet so he can write his latest book. He grew up in a professional household, both his parents had phd’s and expected him to follow suit. He tried but realized that University wasn’t for him. So he followed his dream and started to write nonfiction books. He`s the youngest of three - an older brother and older sister, who have both run their own professional businesses. He`s never told his family that he had met his great grandfather at the age of twelve and had spent time getting to know him. He had left the cabin to Keegan along with a lot of boxes. When Keegan finally goes through them he learns that his grandfather may not have died of natural causes. He’s always wanted a close knit family so when he meets Sam and her family, he’s more than willing to help her figure out what’s going on.

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Maggie Thom took the challenge and leapt off, leaving a full time twenty year career in management, to write full time. After her initial panic that she might need a straight jacket,
she published her first book Captured Lies, October 2012. And now is excited to release her
second novel, Tainted Waters, April, 2013. Her third book, Deceitful Truths (sequel to Captured
Lies) available fall of 2013. An avid reader and writer her whole life, she decided to break the
monotony of wishing to be an author by making it happen. Married to her best friend, she is
learning that humor, love and patience help her navigate her way through her twins’ teen years.
Her motto: Escape to read and Read to escape. "Maggie Thom writes a fast paced thriller laced
with romance that keeps the reader interested and on edge!" InDtale Magazine


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1.)  In what moment did you know you wanted to be a writer?
I think always. I have always loved words. Loved books. Loved poetry. Loved the lyrics to music. I find it so cool that putting words together in a certain way, takes you on a journey. And the next person can use many of those same words but take you on a different journey.

2.)  What is your favorite genre to read?  Why?
 I read just about anything and everything. If it has a good story line I’ll read it. Having said that I love reading suspense. I love being pulled into a story never sure where it’s going but trying to guess what’s going to happen, who’s at fault and why they’re doing it.

3.)  What is your favorite genre to write?  Why?
I love to write suspense, probably in part because I love to read it. But I love writing the twists and turns and keeping people guessing as to what’s going to happen and why. I love plotting out why someone would act the way they do. I just love creating a puzzle that keeps people walking a labyrinth to figure out what’s going on and why.

4.)  What are some of your favorite activities besides reading and writing?
I love spending time:
with my family
outdoors - walking, hiking, cycling, kayaking, doing activities with my family
playing board games, card games
listening to music

5.)  Where did the idea for this story come from?
Tainted Waters was one of those ideas where there was a lightbulb moment. We had gone camping at a lake that turned out to be little more of a slough but it was nice. Quiet. Great for canoeing on. We had a beautiful, sunny day and had lots of fun. Then it became night. And I’m not sure if we just weren’t paying attention or what but lots of big trucks started driving up and down the road. They were headed to a plant that was about 2 miles away. Something else we hadn’t noticed during the day. So needless to say we didn’t get much sleep. But the good news is my mind went into overdrive and started to come up with ideas. So what if those trucks were delivering something sinister? What if it was a lake where not many people lived or visited? What could really be going on there? And out came Tainted Waters.

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