Reader Friday – One Step Back

Patricia Bradley Reader Friday 23 Comments

This week I spent time with my agent, Julie Gwinn. We talked about my research, and she thought I should share this story with you.

I have a nurse on speed dial to help me with various plot complications…like how would a snake bite be treated and what would be the standard operating procedure in an ER. Those kinds of things. Well, this last book, I needed expert information on how to kill someone using insulin. We went back and forth, her telling me what I had planned wouldn’t work and me working out what would work. Finally, she sent me an email:

             Wouldn’t it just be easier to shoot the person?

I laughed and emailed her back:

What would be the fun in that??

Figuring out how to cause murder and mayhem is one of the perks of writing romantic suspense. Now for the book I’ve read this week:

It’s from The Kill Zone: Ten Deadly Thrillers: ONE STEP BACK, novella #5 by Luana Ehrlich. And if you’ve followed Titus Ray in his espionage thrillers, you’ll find out why he is the way he is.


When CIA intelligence officer Titus Ray attempts to recruit an Iranian nuclear scientist in Tehran, he puts himself in the crosshairs of the Iranian secret police and triggers a series of events leading to deadly consequences.

I really enjoyed getting to know Titus Ray–and don’t you just love that name! Luana is great at writing Middle East espionage, and the bad guys–wow, they are really bad. If you’ve never read any of Luana Ehrlich’s books about Titus Ray, this is a good primer.

So, what have you been reading this week? Leave a comment and be entered in a drawing for one of the books in my library.

[tweet_box design=”default” float=”none”]Reader Friday: A New Titus Ray Espionage Thriller from Award-winning Author Luana Ehrlich – Titus Ray attempts to recruit an Iranian nuclear scientist in Tehran and he puts himself in the crosshairs of the secret police![/tweet_box]

Comments 23

  1. Jan Ballard

    First of all, about the insulin…in the last few months I had a time, and recently my friend’s son had a time, when for one reason or another we could NOT get any of our required insulin!!! (Either the doctor was out of the country and I had only been given samples, so no prescription, or various road blocks.) So, I was thinking, maybe your killer could have some how “replaced” some other liquid in the vials, so the victim thought he was using insulin, but was in fact not?? Or replace the liquid in the vial with something that WOULD kill him? Just a thought. And, what did I read this week? As I’m going through my husband’s papers (he died a year ago) I have found some fascinating things. One was an old notebook that his mother had given to him between his 8th and 9th grades in school. She had a note in the front telling him to read this article (she had literally cut and pasted an article from a magazine in the notebook) clear through his college years, and it would tell him “How to Live with Himself”. I read it, and of course first thought “who has that good of a mother???” and secondly saw the wisdom in the article, written in 1959 by Dr. Murray Banks. So, I looked on line and found the little booklet from which the article was copied. Dr Banks was a psychiatrist and this was some of the most practical advice for good mental health that I have read for a long time. To me, a lot was based on common sense, which seems to be rather scarce now-a-days. 🙂

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  2. Dana Michael

    Ha ha! No fun in that at all. I also loved Titus Ray. Those are great books. However, this week I read a new book by Regina Jennings called Holding the Fort. It’s an historical book set in 1800’s. It was so cute.

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  3. Gloria

    I am still working through Kill Zone (in no certain order) and now am reading Malicious Intent by Jordyn Redwood. I may take a break and read a Christmas story.

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  4. Paula S.

    Been reading a lot of novellas lately. Solve by Christmas by Amber Schamel. Circle of Blessings by Deb Raney, the Hope of Christmas, 3 novellas. Criss Cross by C.C. Warrens this one is a full, exciting novel! And continuing in Of Rags and Riches , a Barbour collection. I’m also reading bits and pieces of Kill Zone!

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  5. Luana Ehrlich

    Thanks for the great review, Patricia! It’s been so much fun writing the Titus Ray Thriller Series! Several fans of Titus Ray kept asking me to write the prequel to One Night in Tehran, and once I got started with One Step Back, I was sorry I didn’t do it sooner. This was my first novella, but I’m thinking after I finish the fifth book in this series, I might want to write more of them. Titus Ray has been a covert operative for almost twenty years, so he has many stories let to tell!

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  6. Edward Arrington

    I read Laura Story’s book, When God Doesn’t Fix It. A great book. I feel a bit foolish about it because my wife pulled it from a stack of books and read it. Then I read it. As I went to post a review on Amazon, it displayed that I had purchased the book over a year ago. For the life of me, I cannot recall where we first heard about this book and decided to buy it. All I know for certain is that we had gone to see the movie, War Room. Afterwards, I ordered the book and DVD of War Room and ordered this book at the same time. Regardless of what prompted me to buy it, I’m glad I did. It was definitely worth the price. If you want to see my review, it’s on my timeline. I need to get started reading Kill Zone. I have had it for a while but I tend to procrastinate reading ebooks, especially if I have a paper book to read.

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      Patricia Bradley

      I’ll have to check out Laura’s book, Edward. I totally know what you mean about forgetting what I have on my Kindle. And the paper books do call your name! Thanks for dropping by.

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  7. Rosalyn

    I just finished reading The House on Foster Hill by Jaime Jo Wright, and loved it! The book I’m currently reading is Guilt By Association by Heather Day Gilbert. Also an excellent read. I love mysteries! 🙂 (which is why I enjoy your books, and your blog!)

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  8. Trixi

    I have all four Titus Ray thrillers, the first one and last one in paperback and the second & thrird one on my Kindle. I haven’t had a chance to read them, but my husband has enjoyed all but “Four Months in Cuba” because I just got it in the mail a couple of days ago. I also have a Kindle copy of “The Kill Zone” so I’ll be sure to read One Step Back first if it’s the prequel 🙂

    It’s been a slow reading week as we’ve had some serious family issues involving our adult daughter and I’ve not had much time to read (or anything). Here’s what I have read though; Grace’s Pictures by Cindy Thomson, and A Place At Our Table by Amy Clipston. For this week, I’ve started “Welcome to Wishing Bridge” by Ruth Logan Herne and hope to get to “Troubled Waters” by Susan May Warren as well.

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