by RC Shivers

Created on: September 14, 2010

The literary world is as driven by pop culture as much as television, radio and movies. Fantasy and sci-fi have been dominated by wizards, witches, werewolves and vampires for quite a while.  Since the release of Dan Brown’s “The DaVinci Code”, thrillers have centered around the conspiracy theories of The Templar Knights and The Freemasons.  Each writer has their own take on each conspiracy and tries their best to lead us into that world, but all still leave me craving something more original that I had not heard or thought of before.

Rick Chesler’s new novel, “Wired Kingdom”, satisfies that craving for originality, when a murder at sea is caught on Camera, the hunt begins.  “Wired Kingdom” combines high tech marine science with the enormous popularity of television reality shows.

FBI Special Agent Tara Shores is stuck in a man’s world when she is passed up for a high profile case for a lesser case that could leave her career in obscurity. She is forced to overcome her fear of the water when a Blue Whale tagged with GPS monitoring and a webcam broadcasts a murder at sea on a reality television series.  The only problem is the broadcast is interrupted by some type of atmospheric interference that keeps the murderer’s identity a secret.  The race is on to find the whale and the original uninterrupted digital evidence of the murder before the murderer can find the evidence and destroy it.

While the whale continues to broadcast continuous digital footage to millions of paying viewers around the world, the GPS monitoring can only broadcast the whale’s location when the aquatic behemoth comes up from the depths of the ocean to catch a breath of air. It’s a race between the good guys, the bad guys, and the dumb guys.

Rick Chesler, a contractor for the National Marine Fisheries Service in Honolulu, Hawaii earned a Bachelor of Science in marine biology and has had a life-long interest in the ocean and its creatures.  In “Wired Kingdom”, Rick successfully combines his passion for the ocean with his prowess with a pen.

“Wired Kingdom” leads the reader on an adventure across the Pacific Ocean through the eyes of our protagonist as well as a host of in depth characters that include obsessed, alcoholic animal activists, a bumbling group of foreign lackeys, a technology guru with just a little bit to hide and a Hollywood heiress with a PHD and an unrequited feelings of love, present and past.

Published by Variance Publishing and available in mass market paperback and Kindle through Amazon and BN.com, “Wired Kingdom” has been called “…a whale of a tale” by “Meg” author, Steve Alten, and has been nominated by NPR audience members for National Public Radio’s  Top 100 Thrillers Ever.  National Public Radio’s panel of thriller writers and critics have confirmed that popular opinion by including “Wired Kingdom” in the final voting for this accolade alongside literary giants like Stephen King, John Gresham, Michael Crichton, and James Clavell.

Wired Kingdom is definitely a page turner that will keep you going until the very end.  Kudos to Variance Publishing for recognizing the talent in Rick Chesler, and the appeal and originality Wired Kingdom has.  This is one of my favorite new books in years.

Learn more about this author, RC Shivers.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.