About the Books


VIRAL GAMES

Anita Tavares just arrived at the Santo Domingo airport in the Dominican Republic, and she is there on crucial business. Tavares is the powerful and highly visible face of a worldwide HIV/AIDS donor foundation. She’s in charge of funding in an effort to fight the disease, and she’ll stop at nothing to get the money she needs.

Someone has others plans for Tavares, however. Just after landing at the airport, she is shot and killed. Her attacker not only commits murder; he also escapes with two bags belonging to his victim. Officials are left with many questions: Who murdered this powerful woman? Was the crime really about her, or was it about the contents of her luggage?

So begins a whirlwind adventure into the depths of Caribbean politics and crooked pharmaceutical sales. Men of power now battle the powerless for information that only a dead woman knew. Greed and corruption rule the streets as the AIDS epidemic continues to spread, and criminals take control of secrets once held by Tavares. But is there a way to stop those who would do harm in a place where no rule is sacred?

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THE BRIDGE OF WHISPERS

The Bridge of Whispers explores the intricacies and virulence of social and cultural prejudice and bias as it plays in the atmosphere of international business. As dramatic events develop in Belgium and Japan out of age-old conflicts, beliefs and cultures, Natsumi Honma and Richard Van Pelt’s burning love fights all-consuming jealousy that is fueled by greed and cruel ambition.

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The Convenient Fund

Gloria Romero works with the Futuro Fund of US mining mogul Nate Silverman in a drug –and terrorism infested jungle area of Colombia to help protect the local population of a fishing village from crime, violence and cruel poverty. When her creative, realistic plans for development and her romantic pursuits clash with hidden interests inside and outside her own organization, she reacts in a spectacular way that sets in motion a chain of dramatic, violent events and deviously concocted intrigue. 

Explore the inner workings of financial and mining groups as they tout their community efforts as vehicles for their interests, and young, passionate entrepreneur Gloria Romero fights against high odds, risking her life, future and love, in the steamy, violent jungles and fishing villages on the equatorial Pacific Coasts of Colombia.

 

Ripping the Veil

In a room of a posh hotel in Punta Cana, the jewel of the Dominican Republic, Dr. Silvia Herrera takes a stand against ruthless, mafia-style extortion and violence.

 

Moments earlier, she discovered another victim of the brutal syndicate she works for. It’s the third corpse she’s encountered in two weeks, and she knows that she must draw a line in the sand.

 

Just days ago, one of her acquaintances was murdered for not paying the protection money the mob demanded. She knows that her bosses are an unpredictable gang of the worst criminals in the Caribbean, systematically exploiting AIDS patients and the resources sent to help them.

 

Despite the feeble protection of laws designed to stop just this sort of abuse, the people she works for assume themselves to be above those laws.

 

Sylvia decides to take a stand against corruption, against violence, against the hopelessness these men spread like a virus among the island’s weakest residents. But first, she needs to know who these crime lords are.

 

She and two friends embark on a wild and dangerous hunt for the criminals. It leads her and her friends through hidden corners of Santo Domingo and through jungles, cities, remote towns, and mysterious churches and convents in Venezuela.

 

Can Sylvia uncover the truth before her dangerous enemies bury her?

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Tennessee Tremors

Troy Mattingly has a new job as the construction manager for a large industrial plant in Dyersburg, Tennessee. Dealing with the demands of the project itself is almost as challenging as navigating the confusing culture of his new employer, a Belgian firm called Perfect Spring. Things are finally beginning to make sense for Troy—when he suddenly disappears.

 

His young wife, Janice, enlists the help of Barbara Cummings of the Chamber of Commerce of Dyer County and police detective Jack Beasley. Together, they soon uncover dark truths behind the Perfect Spring project. Troy may have been involved in some shady deals with local contractors, landowners, Belgian operators, consulting companies, and the powerful and arrogant good old boy network of Dyer County. The trio try to interpret how seemingly disparate clues—extortion, bribery, falsification of soil tests, attempts to fix construction contracts, and romantic affairs that may or may not be interwoven with business interests—may fit into the big picture. They find themselves ensnared in a perplexing web of international intrigue, jealousy, greed, and abuse of power—complicated further by a budding romance.

 

The list of suspects is long and heavy, and theories abound. As they unravel the mystery of Troy’s involvement and disappearance, a new mystery emerges. Is Troy really dead? If so, who killed him—and if not, where is he—and why is he hiding? What they learn will shake their community to the core.

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ALONE IN BOCA RATON

A young immigrant’s hopes of securing a green card are complicated by the appearance of his family and a growing romance with the daughter of his boss in Smolders’ (Tennessee Tremors, 2014, etc.) thriller. After finishing his studies in the United States, Mario Osorio finds himself working as a hotel valet in Boca Raton, Florida, while his visa approaches expiration and he contemplates his potential return to Mexico. A kind gesture toward Erin, one of the hotel’s wealthy patrons, yields the opportunity to gain not only a new career, but also a sponsor who could help him obtain a green card. Shortly after accepting Erin’s offer of sponsorship, the sudden appearance of Mario’s family threatens his prospects. Forced to flee Mexico to escape domestic abuse, Mario’s mother and siblings cross the border and turn to him for help. Meanwhile, Mario’s life grows more complicated. As he grows closer to Jenny, Erin’s beautiful daughter, he catches the unwelcome attention of Jenny’s boyfriend. Ted is immediately suspicious of Mario’s relationship with Jenny, and Mario believes Ted is involved in illegal activities. When Mario’s family is captured by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and his young brother’s abducted and held for ransom, Mario immediately blames Ted and appeals to Erin’s shady business partner for help. The novel touches on the struggles faced by undocumented people living in the U.S., as well as the hardships that face those working toward obtaining U.S. citizenship.

 

HARVEST OF WAR

World War ll. We are 1944. Summertime. Dr. Bruno Van Dam takes care of the citizens of the German-occupied town of Ramsel, Belgium, whatever their politics. Resistance fighters, collaborators, or just ordinary citizens, all get cared for by the doctor.

 

Secretly, however, he hides a Jewish orphan and two British pilots. Then his son Eric happens to be one of four youngsters who get picked up in town by the German military and forcibly transported to Germany, presumably to work in a work camp, where atrocious treatment and starvation are regular fare.

 

Matters get really complicated as the doctor fights huge odds to get his son freed. In the process, driven by his fatherly instincts, he establishes an indirect communication line to bribe the top German official in town to have Eric freed.

 

When the town is liberated, exuberance, vengeance and low instincts prevail. The doctor faces life-threatening accusations. He fights the battle. A rough and emotional one, a whirlwind sweeping him into the most unexpected corners.

Author Information


Jan Smolders, author of Viral Games, The Convenient Fund, The Bridge of Whispers, Ripping the Veil carries Belgian and USA passports, has lived in Belgium, Japan and Singapore, and resides in Florida. Read More...