Captured By Lies by Maggie Thom Book Tour, Interview, and Giveaway

Captured Lies

by Maggie Thom

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

She was kidnapped not once but twice and now someone wants her dead because of it....

Her life was a lie!

Bailey knew her upbringing wasn’t normal but she’s worked hard to stabilize her life. At 29, she finally has a good business, a stable home; her life is miles from that of her childhood. Then suddenly her mother dies, leaving a gaping hole and a discovery that they may not even be related. If Guy, the private investigator is to be believed, her life is a lie. Using the skills she learned on the streets, Bailey travels back through a sketchy and dangerous past, to find answers. Dodging bullets, staying ahead of those who want her dead and convincing Guy she can do it alone, are making it difficult to discover not only the secrets of her mother’s past but that of a family claiming she is theirs.

Everyone seems to have a story... but who’s telling the truth? And who wants her dead? Is Guy part of the solution? Or part of the problem? To discover the facts, she’ll have to untangle a web of deceit, lies, and secrets, dating back over thirty years.

But can she do it in time.....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excerpt:

Her door was yanked open. She jerked sideways, her arm coming up to shield herself, her foot lifting to lash out. Before she could make contact, a body pinned her and a hand reached across her, ripping out the keys. The scream that formed on her lips was swallowed, as she met a steely pair of blue eyes. He moved back but not before redirecting her foot to the floor mat. Her hand instinctively wrapped around the flash drive and slipped it into her pocket. Feeling faint with relief, she slumped back. Her door slammed and her would be thief was soon around the car and opening the passenger side. Sliding into the seat, Guy closed the door, leaned back and glared at her.

Too tired to move, she rolled her head sideways to meet the glower. Neither spoke. She waited him out. After a long period of time, she raised her eyebrows.

He folded his arms across his chest, and turned to look out the window. “Who was the guest at your house?”

“What?”

“Who was the nice man who was waiting at your home?”

“What were you doing at my mom’s place?”

“Looking for you.”

Since he wasn’t looking at her, she took the time to study him. He definitely had the cute bad boy down pat, all dressed in black, with his black leather coat and his hair looking windblown and falling over one eye. The scruffy beard thing was almost going too far.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Creating of Captured Lies

by Maggie Thom

The great thing about writing is that you can let your imagination go anywhere you want it to. You can use it to create situations, people, whole worlds, whatever you need to, to craft your story. With writing anything is possible. And almost anything goes.

Captured Lies was interesting to write because a lot was going on in my life at the time - I was working full time, I was taking a graduate level Coaching course, my dad died, we moved my mother-in-law who had been living with us for ten years into a lodge - whereby she passed away a few months later, my mom had a heart attack and I quit my job. A little bit of a wild ride, so for me, writing it was cathartic and a form of escape.

When I was coming up with Bailey and all of her troubles, a lot of things came together to create it. It started innocently enough, a plane flew overhead and I wondered what if it crashed. Then I was on a plane twice within three months. Very unusual for me. I am not scared of flying, in fact I love it, but there were a few people on my flights who were obviously not happy about being there. So of course the plane crashing came to mind, a few times. I wondered if anyone would survive. Could they? I wasn't sure. I guess it all depended on several circumstances. So I decided to create my own plane crash but have someone survive.

Around this time, I had gone to the local store, where they have posters up from anything for sale to missing pets but they also have a wall with several pictures of kids who have gone missing. Some have been suspected of being kidnapped by a family member and living under an assumed name. So I started to wonder what kind of lives those kids would have. Was it good? What would they do if when they were adults they discovered or remembered things about their childhood?

So the two ideas came together and out popped Captured Lies. I wanted Bailey not to have any memory of a childhood, so I made her a baby when the kidnapping took place. I wanted her to have a really tangled web to unweave. Then I started to wonder what would make it really difficult. And why would she have been kidnapped not once but twice. The elements kept building until I had an intriguing and compelling story.

Guy and Bailey aren't really based on any one person. When I build a character I will often take little bits of different people I know, have seen or heard about. So they are kind of an amalgamation of several people - their looks, their quirks, their habits. It's kind of cool to create new people.

Captured Lies was quite a journey to write but one that I am so glad that I took. It has been worth it.

Review:

On the day after her mother’s funeral everything changes for Bailey, she finds out life as she knows it is riddled with lies and someone is trying to kill her.  Bailey is on a cat and mouse hunt trying to find out the truth about her life while trying to lose the men that are following her. Guy, a private investigator, knows who Bailey really is but every attempt to convince her ends up with them being chased or her trying to figure it out on her own.   Can he convince Bailey that her life is surrounded in betrayal or will she figure it out on her own?

Captivating story, it was intricate and  every time you had it figured out a shift would happen adding another layer to the puzzling story.  Bailey was intriguing, she is torn between what Guy is telling her and putting her trust in the woman she  knows as her mother.  I had a hard time putting this one down, I wanted to know what really was the story about Bailey, excellent read.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Maggie Thom made the hard decision to leave her successful, twenty year career in management, to write full time. The leap was easy, the freefall was adventurous and very enlightening. When she’s not running her children around or spending time with her best friend, her husband, she’s writing - anywhere, anytime. Give her five free minutes and you’ll find her busy scribbling down ideas. She lives in the real world but loves to get lost in the lives of her characters - who live, love and laugh and are all figments of her imagination. She is thrilled to release her first novel - Captured Lies - filled with suspense, murder, mystery and romance - available October 2012. She is busy writing her second novel to be released, spring of 2013.  

She can be found at:

www.maggiethom.com

www.facebook.com/authormaggiethom

www.twitter.com/authormaggiethom2

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6549592.Maggie_Thom

Book is currently available through:

Amazon - http://tinyurl.com/cp2go24

Kobo - http://tinyurl.com/dxs82ld

Maggie will be awarding winner’s choice of a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour, and an autographed ebook copy to a randomly drawn host.

Leave a comment to enter.