Veronica Phoenix by Jim Proctor
Carl Wilkins, a successful man with a thriving business, loses everything and has to start over from scratch. His dogged determination quickly deteriorates when he finds that even his reputation is gone. With barely enough money to buy a cheap bottle of booze, and no prospects for employment, things look bleak until he receives an…
Carl Wilkins, a successful man with a thriving business, loses everything and has to start over from scratch. His dogged determination quickly deteriorates when he finds that even his reputation is gone. With barely enough money to buy a cheap bottle of booze, and no prospects for employment, things look bleak until he receives an unusual job offer from a stranger who turns up just as Carl hits rock bottom. The perilous space salvage job is more than just a chance to rebuild his broken life. It is also a chance to strike back at SACOM, the people who ruined him. Carl, the best space salvage operator in the star system, bets his life that he can complete the job. Setting out in the Phoenix, a specially modified space freighter, Carl begins a dangerous mission to find and collect missing cargo pods from the dense asteroid belt. Struggling to remain alive in the belt while avoiding detection by SACOM ships, Carl learns that he may have as much to fear from the people who hired him as he does from SACOM. His chance to rebuild his life turns into a desperate race across the galaxy in hopes of finding a safe haven where no one will ever find him.
“Fast paced, well written, with a surprise ending”
Five Star Review on Amazon By Brian Mary
A great story with a nice twist of an ending. It’s a quick read, I finished it over a weekend, but it’s quick because it keeps moving. Carl was a well rounded protagonist, came across like a regular guy. There weren’t those long shot plot devices where the main character keeps pulling a rabbit out of a hat, just in time to avoid certain death! Again!
I’d like to see Carl have another adventure, the ending makes it perhaps unlikely, but he’s a pretty resourceful guy so I wouldn’t put it past him. An excellent fast-paced story from a new author, very much worth a read!
About the Author
Jim Proctor has worked as a research engineer and scientist for more than 34 years. An avid reader of science-fiction and fantasy since high school, he began writing his first novel around 2009. He also enjoys writing short stories, and loves a good plot twist.