Miss This at Your Peril #ASMSG

My first crime fiction novel, Peril, is on 99c / 77p sale today and featured at Kindle Books and Tips.

39 reviews on Amazon.com, here are a few samples of what readers say:

"My goodness, I enjoyed this. It had it all, drama, mystery, love gone bad."

"Love the twists and turns"

"A darned good read."

"Serious crime thriller yes, but only on one level; Peril by Ruby Barnes is so much more."

"It kept me turning the pages right up to the satisfying and appropriate conclusion."

"A train wreck you can't help watching through the cracks in your fingers."

"Shifty and shady ... one thing leads to another until it comes tumbling down around him."

"A walking invitation to vice and good-natured corruption."

"Tense, suspenseful read - the fast-paced story of a philandering jerk."

"The importance of being honest."

"It's a story of a drunk, nothing more. There are better stories about drunks." (well, not everybody likes everything!)

Peril by R.A. Barnes

Want to win a new Kindle? Marble City Publishing is giving away a Kindle Paperwhite plus leather cover in a free draw, visit their site to enter: http://www.marblecitypublishing.com

Picaresque? Learned I ain't!

The other day I had a writing friend make a very astute observation about my Ger Mayes series of crime novels (I can say series now since the second book was released on 15th June.) He said, "Well, you've written another picaresque novel." I had to wonder about his spelling and, considering Getting Out of Dodge: Peril 2 is set in the medieval Irish city of Kilkenny, I agreed that it might be considered picturesque. But, before I wrote back with my smart-arse comments, I thought I'd better go Google, as people do when they suspect that they're not as smart as they'd like to think they are.

This is what I found (courtesy of Wikipedia, similar definitions on Merriam-Webster, the free dictionary, Encyclopaedia Britannica and others):

The picaresque novel (Spanish: "picaresca," from "pícaro," for "rogue" or "rascal") is a popular sub-genre of prose fiction which might sometimes be satirical and depicts, in realistic and often humorous detail, the adventures of a roguish hero of low social class who lives by his wits in a corrupt society. This style of novel originated in 16th-century Spain and flourished throughout Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. It continues to influence modern literature.

Well, I always thought I was a learned type of guy but I had never heard of picaresque before. Sure, I recognise the character and it fits Ger Mayes to a T. What it made me realise, as I push into my second half-century, is that learned I ain't. I just have a very good memory for what I read and see. This humble pie tastes good. I've been calling Peril urban noir ever since a reviewer wrote that about it. The moral of the story, for me, is that sometimes you don't know what you've written until someone reads it and tells you. That's the beauty of reader reviews.

Getting Out of Dodge: Peril 2 is out now in your favourite reading format, be it epub, kindle or paper.
If you haven't read Peril then you can get that free by signing up to Ruby's News.

  
  
 

Want to win a new Kindle? Marble City Publishing is giving away a Kindle Paperwhite plus leather cover in a free draw, visit their site to enter: http://www.marblecitypublishing.com

New Release - Getting Out of Dodge: Peril 2 by Ruby Barnes

It's been two years since the launch of Peril but nine years have passed in the world of Ger Mayes. He didn't die but he did go to prison for his part in the biggest drugs heist Ireland has ever known. Now Ger's back on the loose, looking for love and finding trouble. Getting Out of Dodge: Peril 2 is the latest Ruby Barnes release in paperback and e-book from Marble City Publishing.

Here's the blurb:  

After nine years in maximum security prison for crimes against the state, Ger Mayes is on release. Free to try and recover the life he destroyed, free to rediscover love and normality.

"The worst criminal I have ever met," the judge stated at Ger's trial, and it wasn't a professional compliment. A decade of rubbing shoulders with Ireland's criminal elite hasn’t improved Ger's skills.  

Two weeks after release Ger sits on a Dublin park bench, the uniformed authorities to his right, the gangsters with their bad trousers to his left, a blonde woman's fragrant head in a bag at his feet. He should have got the hell out of Dodge when DI Andy McAuliffe told him to. How has it come to this? 

His wife is ex, his son estranged. The authorities have his number and so do the local criminal fraternity. A couple of choice decisions place Ger in the middle of a brothel turf war, and he decides to rescue somebody that he used to know. He chases his dreams but murder, kidnap and blackmail catch up with him. Fate hasn't had its fill of Ger but will his natural survival instinct win out again?

Peril has great reviews on Goodreads and Amazon, and fans are sure to enjoy Getting Out of Dodge.

Want to read more? Here's the first chapter:

He's Not My Son

Bad news. Turns out I'm not the father of the boy. After nine years estranged and wondering every day if I should have done more, I finally faced up to it and went on a surprise visit (a.k.a. stalked) my ex. The kid is a mini-me of her yoga instructor, Ciaran. No doubt he'll grow up to be just as flexible. 

The good news is it's just fiction. Getting Out ofDodge - the sequel to Peril. From Marble City Publishing.