Check out J.T. Lewis’ new NA Action/Adventure…The Artifact Hunter!
“Secret societies, murder, and intrigue are just the start as the action starts rolling from the very first page in The Artifact Hunter!”
Official Release Date: November 28, 2013…..Thanksgiving Day!
NOW AVAILABLE!
NOW AVAILABLE!
Synopsis:
Finding an old yet infamous desk, Jesse Flanagan thinks he has died and gone to heaven when he also finds a mysterious old document hidden inside of it. Feeling like the luckiest man in the world, he turns to his old friend Abraham to have the items evaluated and put up for sale.
When he arrives at Abe’s shop the next morning however, he stumbles upon the gruesome sight of his friend…murdered!
Removing the items to his own warehouse, he can only assume that Abe has been killed during a robbery attempt until he suddenly finds his own life in peril!
Accidentally killing the man that was trying to kill him, Jesse must now go on the run as he tries to figure out who is after him…and why!
Reviews:
This is action/adventure story telling at it's best! I literally couldn't put it down. I highly recommend adding this to your TBR list, I promise you won't be sorry. JT Lewis has a flair for capturing your attention and drawing you into the story. Loved it!
~Author Garden Summerland
J.T. Lewis pins us to the wall with this awesome action adventure novel! Your heart will beat fast and hard as the story starts in 5th gear and stays there! The past and the present are dynamically weaved to keep you wanting more and more! Jesse is an unassuming entrepreneur and his character is loveable and well developed. You will relate to his strong but vulnerable side.
You will be impressed by this intriguing and amped up suspense novel!!
~Author K.R. Jordan
The Artifact Hunter is set in both the past and the present and the story comes together in the middle before coming to its conclusion. I don't typically care for stories that flip back and forth, I often lose track of who is who, however, this one was well written and both storylines are interesting and captivating. In one half of the story we follow the journey of a dispatch from the American Revolution, in the other, we follow Antique dealer Jesse Flanagan and what happens when he happens across the same dispatch in an old desk. Immediately people are dying, and it's unclear who Jesse can trust and who he can't. JT even has a small cameo. Almost right away, I couldn't wait to find out what was so important about the dispatch and the story kept me guessing, which I enjoy…it was an excellent story, and I strongly suggest it
~Author Jenna Hodge
Main Character:
Jesse Flanagan is a young, carefree antique dealer, enjoying both his entrepreneurship and making money. Confronted with the death of his friend, as well as an unsuccessful attempt on his own life, Jesse must suddenly throw himself into a life off the grid.
Hiding in an abandoned house, Jesse immerses himself in the case. Calling on some never-before-used skills that he has garnered from his library of action/adventure novels, he nevertheless hasn’t a clue as to what the killers are after…or even who they are.
Story Format:
The Artifact Hunter has a unique format as the reader follows both the current adventure, as well as glimpses into the path of the artifact as it travels through history.
The Artifact Hunter is set in both the past and the present and the story comes together in the middle before coming to its conclusion. I don't typically care for stories that flip back and forth, I often lose track of who is who, however, this one was well written and both storylines are interesting and captivating. In one half of the story we follow the journey of a dispatch from the American Revolution, in the other, we follow Antique dealer Jesse Flanagan and what happens when he happens across the same dispatch in an old desk. (Author Jenna Hodge)
The past and the present are dynamically weaved to keep you wanting more and more! (Author K.R. Jordan)
Excerpt:
The Artifact Hunter
By
J.T. Lewis
Copyright 2013 by J.T. Lewis
New York Colony
The man in the red uniform glanced around nervously, noticing the horse’s breath freezing in wisps of mist in the early morning light.
The night had turned cold again, dropping down below freezing after the sunny spring weather of the previous day. Sergeant James Turner pulled his wrap tighter around himself, breathing his hot breath into his gloved fists to try to warm his frozen hands.
“Blimey! Will this trek never end?” he mumbled to himself for the hundredth time.
Turner’s old mare tripped suddenly on a frozen clod of soil. Tensing quickly, the Sergeant gripped his legs tightly around the horse as he pulled back on the reins.
“Whoa Gertrude…steady there old girl.”
Regaining control, Turner glanced to his right, shivering at the thought of dropping into the partially frozen bog beside him.
Blasted country! he thought angrily as he tapped his heels into Gertrude’s flank, getting her moving again. Although he was dreadfully cold, James Turner was thankful for the frozen ground below him, preferring it to the slimy mud of the previous day.
Ordered by his major to make his way north along the Swamp Road for this special mission, he quietly questioned the logic of the plan and the sanity of the officer. The major had calculated that he would be less likely to be observed in the swamp, but he had to know that this route would take three times as long to traverse.
Didn’t he?
Turner shrugged his shoulders while trying to get comfortable on the saddle. He hadn’t obtained the rank of sergeant by questioning his superior’s orders, but sometimes he wondered why he cared.
The pompous and elitist Royals and their clans ruled the Army by the mere fact of their lineage. It was a system that had been in place for centuries, and even God himself couldn’t seem to change that fact, Turner thought testily.
His thoughts turned to the colonies and the people that lived within. He now believed that the citizens of this country must be the most determined lot he had ever run across, and he was in awe of their fortitude.
They call themselves Americans, he reflected with a smile, and they had the bollocks to challenge the king himself!
And don’t forget about the land!
Discounting his current location of course, the abundance of the beautiful and fertile commodity was mindboggling!
When the news had hit that the colonials were seeking independence from the mother country, his whole regiment had laughed at the thought. They had been certain that a quick foray across the Atlantic would quickly squelch such a notion.
So far however, this expedition had been anything but short. Now Turner himself was starting to have second thoughts on the matter.
Maybe these backcountry hill climbers had something going on here after all!
Turner continued to reflect on the vast expanses of farmland that could be had for a fair price, something unheard of in England. He had also noticed the industriousness of the people in the cities, proudly starting their own businesses and working at them with a fervor that seemed lacking back home.
But the biggest implement of change in Turner’s thinking were the actions of his army’s officers themselves. The longer the regiment stayed in the colonies, the farther the commanders of his unit seemed to slide away from reality.
“The colonials wouldn’t fight according to the rules,” he had heard them exclaim more than once.
Used to a standard of living based on royal privilege and comfort, the officers were now spending months at a time in the field. Being this far from the palatial estates where they were raised seemed to be more than any of them had bargained for.
Turner suddenly stopped his horse to listen.
Hearing something off to his left, he quietly eyed the sparse vegetation around him. Years in the field had taught him that even the smallest noise could be a threat. After a few minutes of hearing or seeing nothing however, he nudged Gertrude forward along the thin path.
He dismissed the thoughts of his idiot officers as he let a smile draw on his lips. He realized that he could do much worse than making a home here in the colonies. Though they had been in the back of his mind for weeks, this was the first time that he had allowed these treasonous thoughts to come to the fore.
If he lived long enough to make it back home, he would put in for separation from his unit and begin drawing his meager pension. He definitely had enough time, and no one would fault him for getting out after serving with distinction in the Colonial War.
Sergeant James Turner grinned. For the first time in his life he had a reason to look past his time in the service of the king!
While lost in these joyous thoughts, Turner didn’t hear the faint noise to his left.
The click that should have alerted him to the danger of the rifle’s hammer being cocked was ignored. Nor did he notice the flash of the primer in the pan as the hammer came down into it and filled the air with light. The old horse took yet another step before the boom of the ignited gunpowder escaped the muzzle, the hot gasses propelling the lead ball into the side of Sergeant Turner’s head.
In those last fleeting moments, as he was sliding off of the side of the horse his thoughts didn’t linger on regret. Instead, his final thoughts were of the newfound joy he felt over his decision.
Quietly slipping into the bog, the lips retained the smile. The now eerie grin was all that remained of the newborn freedom that he had so recently claimed during the last seconds of his life.
***
Present Day
Jesse Flanagan was in high spirits as he pulled in front of the old shop.
The mysterious voicemail he had received from his cantankerous friend late last night sounded promising, if not a bit cryptic.
Come down to de shop in the mornink me boy, I do believe aw have some good noos for you on both counts! I keep your package safe, heya in my shawp overnight, buried under Atlantic Avenuse.
Abraham always reverted to a weird combination of Hebrew- and New York-accented English when he was excited, but good noos in this business almost always meant good money. The cryptic reference to Atlantic Avenue still had Jesse stumped, however.
Jesse shrugged his shoulders. He usually dismissed most of Abraham’s rantings as a rule of thumb anyway. His friend’s advancing age combined with the large portion of time that he had spent alone had left Abraham Kohen more quirky than normal.
But Jesse had indeed left a package with Abe the previous day to see if the old man could come up with a value for two items of interest. One was an old document, the other a picture of a desk.
The aging Jewish antique dealer loved doing that kind of thing, plus he had a lot more patience than Jesse could ever muster for it.
Of course, Jesse paid him well for his valuations, as nobody did anything for free in this business. Truth be known however, that wasn’t the only reason he continued to bring work to the old man. Over the years, Jesse had actually come to truly like the cantankerous old man, seeing him as the closest thing to a father figure that he had ever had.
Humming happily as he turned off the van, Jesse unfolded his 5’10” frame out the driver’s door and made his way around the front of the truck. Flexing his lean muscles as he walked in an attempt to overcome the previous hour’s drive, Jesse saw something that caused him to stop in his tracks.
A small, jagged hole in the shop’s front door glass put him instantly on alert. Looking up and down the sidewalk to make sure he wasn’t being observed, he then crossed the sidewalk and slowly pushed inside the shop.
The place was a mess!
“Somebody’s cleaned him out,” Jesse exclaimed under his breath, knowing that it was but one of the many plagues of big city life.
Shrugging again, he called out to his friend.
“How bad of a hurt did they put on you, Abe?” he yelled as he walked farther into the front room of the store. Glancing around, he saw that several of Abe’s antiques had been severely damaged.
He was never going to hear the end of Abe’s ranting now!
“Hey Abraham! Where ya at, you cantankerous old sot? We already agreed on a price for the valuation you know, so don’t be expecting a bonus just because someone broke up all of your stuff!”
Although spoken with a smile, Jesse was beginning to get a little worried as he continued to walk through the front part of the severely damaged store. Having scoped out the whole of the shop, he decided to head to the rear of the store.
“You hiding out back here?” Jesse called out before making his way through the old fabric that Abe used as a door to the back room.
“Don’t be hitting me with that old baseball bat of yours either!”
He was laughing as he spoke this, but as the curtains dropped away from his face he almost lost his breakfast at the sight before him. Sitting on a stool in front of him sat Abe with his shirt covered in blood!
“Abe!” Jesse shouted as he moved quickly toward the old man. Laying his finger on the cold, dead neck of the man, he then realized Abraham was many hours past hearing him.
Jesse jumped back quickly with the frightening realization that he had touched a dead body.
It was his first.
“Aw Jesus, Abe,” he whispered softly as he backed away slowly, “Who’d ya piss off this time?”
About J.T. Lewis
Living in Southeast Indiana with his wife and daughter, J.T. has always loved a mystery. Striving to bring readers a story packed full of action, adventure, and suspense has led to his current selection of titles.
His first full length novel, Murder! Too Close To Home, has been voted #1 on Goodreads Best Debut Mystery Series list. The second in the series, Gabriel's Revenge, was released with much anticipation in July 2012. Both of these titles belong to the Adventures of Gabriel Celtic series.
His newest series is called The Adventures of Young Gabriel Celtic, a Middle Grade series that focuses on the misadventures of Gabriel Celtic as a youngster. Always inquisitive, he follows his intuition in search of mystery and adventure. Unfortunately, things don't always turn out quite like he planned.
Also look for JT Lewis' Pepper and Longstreet YA mystery series. Having been compared to the old Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries, Pepper and Longstreet at first seem an unlikely duo.
Having discovered Jacob Longstreet standing in her kitchen one day, the ghost of a Civil War soldier soon becomes Pepper's friend, as well as her partner in solving mysteries. Together, they find themselves in the most unlikely of situations as mysteries unfold around them.
An electrician by trade, at night JT Lewis morphs into a fictional detective with a keyboard, a transition
that suits his need for creating exciting stories for his ever-growing audience.
Book Links:
that suits his need for creating exciting stories for his ever-growing audience.
Book Links:
http://www.amazon.com/Artifact-Hunter-J-T-Lewis-ebook/dp/B00GTCAM2O
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-artifact-hunter-jt-lewis/1116913274?ean=2940045265058
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/357004
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18458452-the-artifact-hunter
Find J.T. Lewis at:
https://www.facebook.com/JTLewis.Author
https://twitter.com/JTLewis_Books
http://jt-lewis.blogspot.com
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