Tuesday, April 27, 2010

BUYING TIME: REVIEW and GIVEAWAY

GIVEAWAY ENDED
BUYING TIME

BY PAMELA SAMUELS YOUNG

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Waverly Sloan is a down-on-his-luck lawyer. But just when he's about to hit rock bottom, he stumbles upon a business with the potential to solve all of his problems.

In Waverly's new line of work, he comes to the aid of people in desperate need of cash. But there's a catch. His clients must be terminally ill and willing to sign over rights to their life insurance policies before they can collect a dime. Waverly then finds investors eager to advance them thousands of dollars—including a hefty broker's fee for himself—in exchange for a significant return on their investment once the clients take their last breath.

The stakes get higher when Waverly brokers the policy of the cancer-stricken wife of Lawrence Erickson, a high-powered lawyer who's bucking to become the next U.S. Attorney General. When Waverly's clients start dying sooner than they should, both Waverly and Erickson—who has some skeletons of his own to hide—are unwittingly drawn into a perilous web of greed, blackmail and murder.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Corporate attorney Pamela Samuels Young has always abided by the philosophy that you create the change you want to see. Fed up with never seeing women or people of color depicted as savvy, hot shot attorneys in the legal thrillers she read, the Compton Native decided to create her own characters. Despite the demands of a busy legal career, Pamela accomplished her ambitious goal by rising at four in the morning to write before work, dedicating her weekends to writing and even spending her vacation time glued to her laptop for ten or more hours a day. The Essence magazine bestselling author now has four fast-paced legal thrillers to show for her efforts.

Pamela’s debut novel, Every Reasonable Doubt (February 2006), won the Black Expressions Book Club’s Fiction Writing Contest, received an honorable mention in the SEAK Legal Fiction Writing Competition and was a finalist for USA Book News’ Best Books of 2006 awards in the mystery, suspense and thriller category. Her second novel, In Firm Pursuit (January 2007) was honored by Romantic Times magazine as a finalist for Best African-American Novel of 2007. Murder on the Down Low (September 2008), Pamela’s third release, was an “Editor’s Pick” by Black Expressions magazine and a finalist for the 2009 African-American Literary Awards in the mystery category. Pamela then published her first stand-alone novel, Buying Time (November 2009). The Black Caucus of the American Library Association honored Buying Time with its 2010 Fiction Award, calling the book "a captivating, suspenseful thriller." Her short story, Setup, was selected for the 2006 Sisters in Crime anthology, LAndmarked for Murder.

Courtesy of www.pamelasamuels-young.com, Ms. Young's website where you can find many more fascinating articles and information about writing and Ms. Young.

MY REVIEW:

BUYING TIME by Pamela Samuels-Young is a riveting action thriller, filled with blackmail, murder, politics, and even romance. It is centered around the main character Waverly Sloan who is a desperate man. A lawyer by profession, he is in trouble and about to be disbarred but panics about what will happen to his marriage if he doesn’t have the resources to keep his high-maintenance wife happy. Deidra is beautiful and enjoys living the life style she has become accustomed to and the main reason she married Waverly. When he meets someone who leads him to believe he can make easy money in the viatical business, Waverly is eager to get on board. At this point, he figures he has nothing to lose but that is his first big mistake.

The viatical industry is a relatively new form of insurance investing that allows for the sale of one’s life insurance in order to make life for the seller more comfortable and stress-free. With certain tax breaks and laws to keep it legal, it basically allows anyone diagnosed with less than two years to live, to sell their life insurance to use the money in any way they so choose.

Waverly becomes a broker who enables terminally ill clients in need of immediate cash to cash out. They sign over the rights to their life insurance policies for a percentage of the face value. Waverly then pays out to them the cash in exchange for being named the sole beneficiary of their life insurance policies upon their death. Waverly gets a large broker's fee on each deal and soon is making more money than he ever made as a lawyer. He tries to convince himself that he is giving hope to the terminally ill in order to soothe his conscience. In reality, Waverly is a very nice guy who just doesn’t want to lose his beautiful wife.

However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela Evans heads up a special task force to investigate the company that Waverly works for because his clients begin to die much sooner than expected and it raises some red flags. Evans uses her forces to set-up a plan to catch these cold-blooded businessmen by having an undercover agent pretend to be a terminally ill patient in need of immediate cash.

It was hard to put this book down as Samuels-Young is experienced in the subject as a lawyer herself and so the book certainly rings true as the reader tries to guess who is causing these earlier than expected deaths. She gives the characters depth and the plot the twists that keep the reader hanging on. I found myself trying to figure out who was the real villain. Luckily for me, Samuels-Young cleverly brings the story to conclusion with no loose ends which I REALLY like to see in a book. I have not read any of Pamela’s work before but will surely be on the look out for more now.


GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO PAMELA SAMUELS-YOUNG,
I HAVE 5 COPIES OF THIS SUSPENSE FILLED
NOVEL TO GIVE AWAY. BE SURE AND FOLLOW
THE "CLUES" AND ANSWER CORRECTLY SO
YOU CAN EARN A CHANCE TO WIN A COPY.

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SEPARATE IN ORDER TO COUNT
AS MORE THAN ONE ENTRY



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GIVEAWAY ENDS AT
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GOOD LUCK!

33 comments:

traveler said...

This unique novel and the topic which is different sounds compelling and extremely interesting. The characters and thei dilemmas are great. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

Anonymous said...

I would love to win,
Follower!

Brande
bookjunkie@ymail.com

Pamela Keener said...

I love the premise of this book. Please enter me in this giveaway. Your review makes me want to check this new to me author out.
Love & Hugs,
Pam
pk4290(at)comcast(dot)net

Stormi said...

I think its interesting that a terminally ill person can sale their life insurance like that..very interesting and sounds like it makes for a great plot.

Booklady2007[at]gmail[dot]com

Mitzi H. said...

Is this practice really legal? Wow, I had no idea it even existed. The story sounds very intriguing and one I would love to win.

I'm a follower

mitzihinkey at sbcglobal dot net

Martha Lawson said...

I found it interesting that terminally ill patients can sell their life insurance policies. I had no idea! This looks like a riveting novel that I'd love to read. Please enter me.

I follow

mlawson17 at hotmail dot com

Linda Kish said...

This sounds like an interesting tale. I like mystery and suspense.

lkish77123 at gmail dot com

Unknown said...

The books sounds intriging. I never heard of seeling ones life insurance. This sounds like one I'll add to my wishlist today.
aai don't really have any questions your review said it all clearly to me. I really liked it!

I'm a follower

Tweet:
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FB:
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Anonymous said...

I like that it deals with current events,(this insurance brokering is actually happening quite a bit), and the characters.
debp
twoofakind12@yahoo.com

g.g. said...

I had never heard of this viatical ? insurance thing so would like to read more about it especially in a mystery

anjamie4 AT gmail DOT com

By Book or By Crook said...

Viatical life insurance? For real? I have never heard of this before!

aksimmo at brainerd dot net

Margie said...

I found it interesting when the author couldn't find a women or people of color depicted as savvy, hot shot attorneys in the legal thrillers she read, she created her own. And...I always like books that are hard to put down!
mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com

Wickdogg said...

This sounds really interesting and timely. I didn't know you could legally sell your insurance like that.

wickdogg AT gmaildot com

Lisa Richards/alterlisa said...

tweeted-@alterlisa
http://bookinwithbingo.blogspot.com/2010/04/buying-time-review-and-giveaway.html

alterlisa AT yahoo DOT com
http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/

Lisa Richards/alterlisa said...

Wow! I didn't realize you could do that. I just love a good suspense/thriller book so got to have it.

alterlisa AT yahoo DOT com
http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/

Lisa Richards/alterlisa said...

Facebook--Lisa Ann Richards http://bookinwithbingo.blogspot.com/2010/04/buying-time-review-and-giveaway.html


alterlisa AT yahoo DOT com
http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/

Lisa Richards/alterlisa said...

blogged-http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/p/giveaway-memes-51-515.html

alterlisa AT yahoo DOT com
http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

tweet: https://twitter.com/Romantic73/status/13252409624

chirth7@yahoo.com

Unknown said...

Posted on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000641625482&v=wall&story_fbid=115467418485713#!/profile.php?id=100000641625482&v=wall&story_fbid=119468341404624&ref=mf

chirth7@yahoo.com

Unknown said...

Sounds like a really good book. The life insurance aspect is something I've never heard of.

chirth7@yahoo.com

MRWriter said...

I thought her background as a corporate attorney was interesting.

AlexDean03@yahoo.com

Debbie F said...

This does sound like a unique storyline. I would be interested in reading just to see how it plays out.

dcf_beth at verizon dot net

409cope said...

Pamela Samuel Young is a Corpoate Attorney.cardshark42(at)hotmail(dot)com

Margie said...

I am glad I became a BOOKIN' WITH BINGO II FB fan!

mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com

Susan said...

This will be interesting. I love reading books about the law written by lawyers. My sister works for a lawyer so after we both read a book about the law we have some lively discussionsby phone and email!!

susan56bft at gmail dot com

Carol N Wong said...

I am a GRF.


CarolNWong@aol.com

Carol N Wong said...

I have heard of this kind of deal before and have thought that it would lead to opportunities for crime so I am very interested in this book.


CarolNWong@aol.com

Marian Perera said...

I'd like to read this. I'm especially curious about what happens with clients who need money but who might prefer to leave at least part of the insurance to family members, beneficial causes, etc.

Marian

mdperera at hotmail dot com

Unknown said...

I am always looking for an interesting topic in books. I did not know the terminally ill had this option. Also, what would a person do to keep his spouse happy. Sounds like this attorny may have gotten in over his head. Please enter me I would love to find out how this all ends.

debraldufek AT hotmail DOT com

catss99 said...

tweet
http://twitter.com/catss99/status/13813105267
catss99@yahoo.com

catss99 said...

The stuff about buying out the life insurance of the ill sounds interesting as I've read in the news about people trying to do things like that.
catss99@yahoo.com

CherylS22 said...

I am glad I became a BOOKIN' WITH BINGO II FB fan.

megalon22 at yahoo dot com

CherylS22 said...

I found it interesting that Ms Samuels-Young is a corporate attorney. Where does she find the time to write novels?!

Thanks ~ megalon22 at yahoo dot com

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