lawson's bluff

About the Book

Book: Lawson’s Bluff

Author: Jeff Barganier

Genre: Contemporary action and adventure, contemporary romance

Release date: March 13, 20201

lawson Terrorists attempt a multi-million-dollar art heist while America’s media distracts the world with stories of Alabama hunters slaughtering hogs with dogs and knives. As fearless Jack Lawson is about to catch his thousandth boar, journalist Carla Frederick arrives to cover the hunt for the LA World News. Shocked by the uncivilized Alabamians with their bulldogs and razor-sharp knives, Frederick writes a grotesque, biased story about Jack that goes viral. Belatedly, she discovers the deeper story—deeper and darker than she could have ever known. Barganier has written an unlikely love story wrapped in twisting suspense.

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About the Author

JB Web site shot A former securities broker turned writer/designer, Barganier travels far and wide upon the slightest excuse for something interesting to write about. He’s published four books and his articles on a wide variety of subjects have appeared in newspapers, magazines and on blogs. He’s travel editor for BOOM! Magazine.

More from Jeff

I didn’t “come up” with the idea for Lawson’s Bluff. The idea found me after I published a piece about a hunter in Georgia who hunts wild boars with dogs and a knife. Like character Jack Lawson, he never carries a gun, preferring, instead, to tackle the hog and slay it the old-fashioned way. So, as with previous novels, I didn’t write this one either. The story wrote me. I had no clue where the story was going until informed … by the story. This approach is what makes life interesting, I think. And what makes novels interesting, too—twisting action and romance in unpredictable settings.

MY REVIEW

I knew as I read the first few pages that I would need to keep an open mind with this story. The author opens with a horrendous account of hunting and murdering feral hogs. Oh how I wanted to close my eyes and not read anymore. Just what was I getting into with this story? I am not a hunter at all and I really hate to read about animals hurt or killed, but I knew the author was trying to make a point. I trembled my head when he compared hogs to evil in the world and couldn’t quite grasp how he came to that conclusion.

A light clicked on suddenly as I saw where the story was heading. It was going to be a political type book where one man believed that the politicians , “have turned a blind eye to evil-are destroying my country, my land , it’s creatures, it’s beauty , and everything good and decent that our forefathers passed on to us to care for and protect, so that, someday , we might pass this heritage on to our children.” I got ready to put on my seatbelt and get ready to follow Jack as he tries to turn the country around.

Jack is very set in his thinking and I could almost feel anger come out as he explained to Carla how evil has taken over. Hogs are evil to him, bring disease and need to be stopped. Carla’s story about Jack makes a big splash across media which is very unflattering to Jack. This is where I really wanted to see how the author would handle this sensationalism. People love stories that portray evil and the frenzy it creates. I almost felt sorry for Carla as she regrets her story. She made a huge mistake of judging Jack and now the backlash begins.

The story tackles some political views that I didn’t quite agree with. There is an undertow of one group hyping up the story to persuade people to go protest. They talk about bringing in professional protesters which I felt was an underhanded way to brung up what the country has been seeing in the news lately about riots .

I really wanted to read more about Jack and his faith which is evident throughout the story. Even though there are some political talk in the book there is a much more important part that needs mentioning. Jack has been running from something and pushed it deep inside himself. Fear has overtaken him and he fights that fear by being the best hunter believing that killing hogs is really taking down the enemy.

There is a bit of terrorism in the story which did mention a few topics that were disturbing. I liked how the author gave us a suspenseful story at the end that made me like the book more. The ending is very good and caught me off guard. He leaves us with a great message of reminding us that God is in control.

I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.