Saturday, June 6, 2020

Hollis Whittaker by C.B. Shanahan

Release date: June 5, 2020
Subgenre: Supernatural thriller

About Hollis Whittaker:

 

It changed the course of WWII. In 1945, it was stolen. Now a ten-year-old boy has found it, and the government will kill him to get it.

When ten-year-old Hollis Whittaker stumbles upon a medallion on the edges of a stream, he begins exhibiting signs of brilliance, eventually discovering the solar system’s Planet X, and astounding the astronomical community. The awkward, overweight fifth grader with heart problems is an instant sensation, but all is not well. The genius-making medallion bonds to only one person for life and the U.S. government has been searching for it since World War II, which means they’re prepared to kill Hollis to exploit its power.

After a thwarted hit job by two military agents, the boy treks cross-country with the aid of his best friend Kirby and a Navajo woman, Cha’Risa, whose family possessed the medallion more than seventy years ago. They are hoping her aged grandfather will be able to help. Unfortunately, the whole country believes she has kidnapped the boys and the agents who tried to kill him have the system on their side.

 

Excerpt:

 

And with those words, all hope faded. Kirby had just offered up the medallion. Hollis’ face began to turn a shade of pink. He wanted to reach across the table and rap Kirby upside his stupid head. “Oh yeah,” he finally replied, pulling the seat back under his rump. He grabbed the back of his necklace and pulled the medallion from under his shirt, handing it across the table to Agent Grey. She studied both sides of the artifact while her partner pulled a phone from an inside jacket pocket and began swiping. “It looks right,” Agent Grey said as she offered the object to her partner.
Agent Breiner stepped toward the table and snatched it out of her hands with a dead look on his face. He scanned the medallion front and back and checked his phone again. “That’s it,” he said, placing both the phone and medallion inside his jacket pocket and stepping to the opposite side of the table, a few feet behind Hollis.
“We’re going to need to take it for evidence,” Agent Grey said, her eyes narrowing. “I hope you understand.”
That was exactly what Hollis feared would happen. From this point on, he would never see the item again. These people shouldn’t have even known he had it. Did they see it on the message board before it got deleted? Or worse yet, were they the ones who deleted it ... and killed Mrs. Mori?
“Do I get it back?” he asked.
Agent Grey either didn’t hear him or chose to ignore the question. “Can you tell us where you found it?”
“When am I going to get it back?”
“We’ll need to see if it had anything to do with the murder of Miss Mori. And we’ll run it against a list of stolen artifacts,” Agent Grey said. “If everything checks out, we’ll make sure to get it back to you.”
“How did you know I had it?”
Once again, Agent Grey sidestepped the question. “Did you find it around here?” she asked.
Hollis looked at his mother, who didn’t seem at all put out that Agent Grey had taken his medallion. She nodded for him to answer.
“Out in the woods out back,” he said.
“In the woods,” she repeated.
“Yeah, out by a stream or something.”
Lonnie leaned back in her chair, jaw dropped. “You don’t really think this is the reason Mrs. Mori was shot, do you? Was someone looking for that medallion? Was Hollis in danger?”
Once again, Agent Grey didn’t answer. She rose from the table, glancing back at Agent Breiner. He produced a handgun that had been holstered inside his jacket. With a stony focus, the man aimed the gun at the back of Hollis’ head as an involuntary gasp escaped Lonnie’s lips.
The crack of the gunshot amplified to deafening levels inside the compact kitchen.

 

Amazon | Encircle Publications

 

About C.B. Shanahan:

 

CB Shanahan earned many awards as a journalist and spent twenty- two years on the road as a folksinger. He has a bachelor’s degree in English Literature with a minor in Philosophy and is a member of Mensa. Born in Ireland, he now lives in New Hampshire with the love of his life, plays music in his spare time, and loves to travel.

 

Website | Twitter | Goodreads

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