Dark Side of Valor: A Suspense Novel by Alicia Singleton
Child advocate Lelia Freeman saves children for a living. As the director of ChildSafe Shelters, she ventures to abandoned squats and crack houses to rescue teens from the hellish streets of Los Angeles. When she is summoned to Washington to serve on a committee that aids the children of a war-torn African nation, Lelia is kidnapped and becomes a political pawn in a sinister conspiracy. Oceans away from everything she knows, she must trust a mercenary to save her life, or die in the clutches of a psychopath.
Hunting, combat and staying alive are Elijah Dune's specialties. Vengeance is his passion. Haunted by past demons, he travels to the Motherland to collect a debt. A debt that demands one payment. Death. Caught in the crosshairs of a madman, Lelia and Elijah must survive the jungles of Zaire and the horrors of their pasts or be forever consumed by the DARK SIDE OF VALOR.
Dark Side of Valor Bookclub Review: Singleton deftly crafts a most interesting and complex storyline. She writes with the most magnificent prose that locks the reader in--hook, line and sinker. As I turned the pages, I was often wondering what would happen next and was pleasantly surprised at each outcome. It was as if the chapters left me on the edge of my seat, hungry to engross in more of the story. Not only were action and drama prominently present throughout the story, but a hint of romance that leads to an overall intriguing novel.
Readers, who love to be challenged, entertained, and to read a story that will remain with them long after the final page is turned, will not want to miss this novel! If I could give this novel more than 5 stars, I gladly would. Singleton has definitely solidified her place as a strong, emerging literary voice with this debut novel. -- Reviewed by Angelique, APOOO BookClub
Dark Side of Valor Chapter Excerpt
PROLOGUE
Rats.
Thick and well fed, they scurried along the moldy baseboard, and nosed through debris a few yards away from her feet. Lelia Freeman shifted her position, picked up the worn-down sole of an old shoe and tossed it toward the interlopers, then scoped the dank room once more.
A pile of urine-stained clothes adorned one corner, a pyramid of aluminum, ode to the beer can, lit another . A derelict wooden crate, blunt buds, and a broken crack pipe cluttered the floor. Someone managed to throw some fast-food wrappers into a mildewed box.
Lelia swiped her forehead with her sleeve. Boiling. It was one hundred degrees or better in the boarded row house. And she roasted.
Thick rubber bands shackled her jeans to her ankles, bit through the thick denim and knee-high socks, and held in the heat. She inched the bands down. A necessary evil. Better than roaches, mice or worse scampering up her legs.
She’d been there, in the squat, waiting for three hours. She’d give Megan another hour to show, then she’d head back to ChildSafe.
Megan’s father was flying in from Colorado that day, was supposed to pick the child up from the shelter in three hours. Megan had left her home eleven months ago. She didn’t flee from a hellish existence like most runaways. “I just wanted to be free from rules and live my own sixteen-year-old life,” she’d said.
Life sunk its teeth into that sixteen-year-old, bit back. Crack found another weak slave to control, ruin.
Who am I?
I’m the dejected mother trudging the unemployment line
I’m the old vagabond clutching the Wild Iris Rose Wine
I’m the runaway teen with no place to go
I’m the visage of desperation of sorrow and of woe
Who am I?
I’m the prosperous young lawyer
Who comes home to hellish abuse everyday
I’m the professor whose crack-addict child has surely lost his way
I’m the seasoned physician on the verge of mental breakdown
Yet you still ask me,
Who am I?
I’m the face of despondency
That you look through, as if I’m not there
I’m not a ghost
I’m not a specter
But do you even care?
I’m the brother or sister to your left or to your right
Who’s drowning in hopelessness and might not make it through the night
Will you miss your opportunity to share your love and your care?
That might pull that brother or sister through their gloom and despair
For you see, if my sister is crying, then my tears should be flowing through
And if my brother is in pain, then I should be hurting, too
But if my sister is rejoicing, then I’m shouting as well,
I’m not envious, I’m not jealous and I’m not raising hell
And you question, who am I?
Well, your man in the mirror is just one disaster away
From the man in the mirror that I see everyday
Yet in my torment I turn to you but you hastily look away
But your spirit whispers, who am I?
Oh I know, you have life to attend and goals you must pursue
But be careful beloved, God might up and flip that script
So that one day I will become you
And you become me
Then you’ll be the man your eyes never see
Who am I?
Who am I?
I am your keeper
My brother, I am you
My sister, I am you
Copyright 2005 by Alicia M. Singleton
Meet Author Alicia Singleton
Born and raised in Philadelphia, the Howard University graduate embraced the written word at an early age. She credits this to her loving, older sister whom, while they were youngsters, made the author eat lotion on a regular basis. Realizing the need to sound-out the ingredients on the lotion label, Alicia stopped the lotion-eating practice, but continued to read the labels of the concoctions her sister brought for her to try. This early necessity to read flowered to a passion; hence, a writer was born. Alicia resides in Maryland with her wonderful husband and son. Still an avid reader, label or otherwise, Alicia is completing her next novel.
Meet Author Alicia Singleton
By her sophomore year in college, Alicia Singleton knew she was born to be a writer. Too intimidated to change her major, she continued her nursing studies and received her Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing in 1987. From Johns Hopkins University Hospital to Howard University Hospital to Washington Hospital Center, and numerous other medical facilities in the Baltimore/Washington DC Corridor, the Howard University graduate practiced nursing for 12 years, but the passion to write never subsided.
Several years after graduating, she began taking writing courses, workshops, attending conferences, reading writing references and participating in writing organizations in order to educate herself on the writing process. The dream deferred became reality when her debut novel, Dark Side of Valor, won the Sistah Circle National Book Club Best Thriller Award. Alicia was also awarded the National Association of Women Writers Award of Excellence from the Maryland Chapter.
The buzz for the award winning author was contagious. She has appeared on WBAL News, CTV News, Carl Snowden’s television and radio program, ‘Up Front and Personal,’; WCLM’s ‘Speaking From the Heart,’ with Gloria Taylor Edwards; ‘Out the Box Radio Show,’ with Martha Kimbrough; WEAA’s ‘Sisters’ Circle,’ with Nalongo Siead; WYNN’s ‘Telling It Like It Is,’ with Wilma Cohn and Chris Allen’s Radio Talk Show, ‘Keeping It Real’.
Alicia has also been featured in The Washington Post, The Maryland Gazette, The Capitol, Our Insights and The Romer Review as well as being a dual panelist with Christine Lincoln at The International Miami Book Festival, a panelist at The Black Librarian’s Conference in Florida, a featured author at The Evening In the Stacks Gala and a panelist on The Artscape Author’s Panel in Baltimore, Maryland. Her writing credits include; being a book reviewer for Black Issues Book Review and being Editor-in-Chief of The Trumpeter. Alicia is a member of International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.
Her love for public speaking has afforded her the pleasure of presenting numerous workshops and speaking to readers and audiences around the country. Alicia resides in Maryland with her wonderful husband and son and is hard at work completing her next suspense novel.
Purchase Dark Side of Valor from Amazon, here.
www.amazon.com/Dark-Side-Valor-Alicia-Singleton/dp/1593093853
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