Courier

by Terry Irving

Overview

Awards for Courier
First Place, Indie Excellence Award, Political Thrillers 2015
Runner Up, Wild Card Category, New England Book Festival 2014
Honorable Mention, Fiction Category, Hollywood Book Festival 2014
Honorable Mention, General Fiction, San Francisco Book Festival 2014
Honorable Mention, Wild Card, Beach Book Festival 2015

"Kudos to one of television's best producers for writing the thriller of the year."
--Sam Donaldson, former White House Reporter
"If the phrase 'a crackling good yarn' evokes an era before Twitter, Facebook, cell phones, videotape, DVD's or cable television, welcome to Terry Irving's fast-paced thriller."
--Ted Koppel, former anchor for ABC News Nightline
"An action-packed tale of murder and political intrigue set in the politically turbulent 1970s.... Irving portrays [courier Rick Putnam] as a classic pulp-fiction hero: a chiseled, chain-smoking ex-soldier who's always ready with snappy quips. ... Irving's story is relentlessly paced, punctuated by bursts of action and violence, and driven by artfully unfolding suspense.... An exciting and gritty, if uneven, thriller."
--Kirkus Reviews.
In his debut novel, Courier, author Terry Irving weaves an exhilarating and fast paced political thriller with a historical twist.
Rick Putnam is a Vietnam Vet and motorcycle courier for one of Washington D.C.'s leading television stations. The Vietnam War has taken its toll on Rick, after recovering from his war wounds, he suffers from PTSD and his method of escaping his demons and the memories of the war that continue to haunt him is by riding his motorcycle at breakneck speeds down the streets and alleys of the capital. When Rick picks up a roll of news film from a correspondent and news crew, he later finds out that the film contains the potential of a very hot and damaging story, and that the correspondent and news crew have been killed. What he doesn't realize is that he's next on the killer's list. With one fast motorcycle and a little help from friends, Rick is determined to figure out who is after him and why ... a discovery that will lead him all the way to the White House!
Courier is a gritty and gripping political thriller that takes the reader on one hell of a roller coaster ride. From Vietnam to the White House, Nixon to Watergate, author Terry Irving transports the reader back to 1972 Washington D.C., an era of turmoil in US history.
The author utilizes his past media experience to weave an intriguing tale that is rich in vivid descriptions and historical information. One can only wonder if the author instilled a bit of himself into Rich, as he is also a motorcycle enthusiast who began his career as a media motorcycle courier. I loved following Rich story's, he is a realistic and flawed man who the reader can easily relate to, you can't help but feel for him as he struggles with the residue of his time in Vietnam while trying to put his life back together.
With a fascinating cast of characters; witty dialogue and gripping interactions; and a riveting action packed storyline with chase scenes, danger, political drama, exciting twists and turns, and even a romantic love story thrown into the mix; Courier is a captivating historical political thriller that will keep you on your toes and turning the pages. I could easily see this novel being made into a movie, it is a must read that won't leave you disappointed!
--Jersey Girl Book Reviews

Product Details

BN ID:	2940152021349
Publisher:	Ronin Robot Press
Publication date:	07/03/2015
Series:	Freelancer
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	982 KB

About the Author

I moved to Washington DC in 1973 to kick around for a few weeks until I decided on a real career. I ended up riding a classic BMW R50/2 for ABC News during Watergate.

Carrying that news film was the beginning of a 40-year career that has included producing Emmy Award-winning television news, writing everything from magazine articles to standup comedy and developing many of the earliest forms of online media.

After producing stories in Beirut, Hong Kong, El Salvador and all 50 states, I still live right outside Washington, DC because my wife and my dog simply refuse to live anywhere else.

Editorial Reviews

Kudos to one of television's best producers for writing the thriller of the year."
-Sam Donaldson, White House Reporter

"If the phrase 'a crackling good yarn' evokes an era before Twitter, Facebook, cell phones, videotape, DVD's or cable television, welcome to Terry Irving's fast-paced thriller."
-Ted Koppel, anchor for NBC Nightline, now senior news analyst for National Public Radio and contributing analyst to BBC World News America, and NBC.

From the Publisher

2014-09-18
An action-packed tale of murder and political intrigue set in the politically turbulent 1970s.Irving is a writer and producer with an impressive resume, including four Emmys, three Peabodys and three duPont Awards working as a journalist for major television networks. His debut novel, set in 1972, opens suspensefully with an assassin—a "specialist in the restoration of silence"—planting a bomb on a car, which leads to the death of a prominent journalist and his co-workers. That journalist, Joe Hadley, had just scored a major break in his investigation into campaign finance illegalities by the pro-Nixon Committee for the Re-Election of the President, thanks to a bookkeeper who was suddenly willing to talk. Rick Putnam, a motorcycle-riding courier tasked with delivering film of the interview, is also targeted for assassination but narrowly manages to survive. Irving portrays Rick as a classic pulp-fiction hero: a chiseled, chain-smoking ex-soldier who's always ready with snappy quips. Although the original filmed interview is destroyed, Rick still possesses a copy, and he's hunted by assassins intent on making sure that it never makes its way into the news. Irving's story is relentlessly paced, punctuated by bursts of action and violence, and driven by artfully unfolding suspense. Sometimes, the book has the feel of a classic true-detective novel. However, it's somewhat overly packed with that genre's signature clichés; for example, Rick is a loner, haunted by flashbacks of his service in Vietnam. He also enjoys a second identity, thanks to a bureaucratic mistake when his original birth certificate was issued, although the explanation for this contrived plot point is incomprehensible. Also, the dialogue sometimes has a B-movie feel to it: "Being fucked up in the same firefight doesn't make us buddies." However, these minor missteps never slow the story's frenetic journey to its dramatic conclusion.An exciting and gritty, if uneven, thriller.

Kirkus Reviews