First, it looks like some of my more recent blogs may be missing. Let’s see if this one shows up as it’s supposed to do.
Now for the update. I’m well into Part 3 of the third book in the Sleeping Dogs series, The Year Of The Dog; probably a little more than halfway at 24,000 words. But you never know, as a “reformed” lawyer, I can be pretty verbose. As I’ve mentioned before, the Year of the Dog is one of the twelve years in the Chinese zodiac. In fact, 2017 is the next Year of the Dog. However, I plan to have this book completed, edited, and published by mid-summer, 2016.
What’s happening in Part 3? Well, I don’t want to create a spoiler for any of my readers, so let’s first do a brief review. In Part 2, three of the Dogs, Stensen, Kirkland, and Almeida, ended up in various slammers around the globe. Thomas fell into an alcoholic funk. Larsen became obsessed with killing Maksym and settled into Dingle, Ireland assuming Maksym would show up in an effort to kill, his brother, Brendan Whelan. And Whelan just wanted to run his B & B in Ireland and enjoy his family. Levell’s new bodyguard/chauffeur/assistant Nando was targeted for assassination by AGU as a means of pressuring Levell to back off. But Levell and Nando turned the tables on the would-be assassins. As a result, AGU’s leader, Harland Fairchilde ended up with two corpses in his front yard and cops in his sitting room. Forensic evidence showed the killer was Kirill Federov, but he was shot and supposedly killed by Levell at the end of Book Two, Endangered Species. Meanwhile, Maksym has forced a partnership on Zheng Bao Xun, the minister of finance for the People’s Republic of China who’s plotting to usurp power when AGU succeeds in creating global chaos and anarchy. Jihadists have encampments in Mexico just beyond the border with the USA, and are smuggling terrorists by the thousands into America. And, not to be overlooked, Levell received information from and old friend, the geneticist Dr. William Nishioki, that there is evidence that there may be another person who has the same genetic constructs as the six Dogs and Maksym—in Australia.
So, on to Part 3. Let’s face it, Levell and the SAS can’t leave the three Dogs in prisons. But getting them out will be next to impossible. Is there any value left in Quentin Thomas, or has Demon Rum ruined him? Given his obsession with Maksym, can Larsen be useful as a member of the Dogs? Can Levell and Whelan put together a sufficient team to stop AGU’s seemingly inevitable march to a one-world state? What about the rumor of another “Dog” in Australia? Should Levell send Whelan to check it out? Are the jihadists winning? After all, they’re already here in big cities and small towns all over America, just waiting for the word to strike a blow far greater than that of 9/11. And more are coming everyday, stretching the Border Patrol beyond effectiveness. The purpose of Part 3 is to answer these questions. And set up the denouement in Part 4.