Showing posts with label security specialists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label security specialists. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Interview with crime fiction author Michael Tabman


I'm happy to welcome Michael Tabman, to Reviews and Interviews today.

Michael Tabman was born and raised in New York City. He graduated from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan, NY. After serving as a police officer, with the Fairfax County, VA Police Department for three years, he joined the FBI.

As an FBI agent for 24 years, Michael investigated crimes ranging from white collar to organized crime, drug trafficking and money laundering. He rose through the ranks reaching the level of Special Agent in Charge. His professional travels took him to Israel, Russia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. After retiring, Michael founded SPIRIT Asset Protection, LLC as a security and risk management consulting firm.

Michael is the author of Walking the Corporate Beat: Police School for Business People, which is based upon Michael’s 27 years of law enforcement experience drawing amusing parallels between the police world, business, and everyday life decisions.

Michael, please tell us about your current release.
Midnight Sin is an inside look at the dark and mysterious world behind the cop’s badge. Rookie cop Gary Hollings quickly learns becoming a cop changes everything you thought you knew about life. Hollings finds that wrestling street thugs and arresting drug dealers while trying to track down a serial rapist is nowhere near as tough as watching his back from his fellow cops. He must also fight his inner demons – ones that he never knew he had until he put on that police uniform.

What inspired you to write this book?
After 27 year career in law enforcement, with a wide expanse of experiences, I had witnessed many interesting people and unusual events. While Midnight Sin is completely fictional, the story is a culmination of those years. I always found that cops had their own culture and way of life that many people could not understand. I wanted to explore the cop psyche in an entertaining way.

What exciting project are you working on next?
I am working on a novel centered on an FBI agent struggling with a complicated investigation only to find his life become even more complicated as the rules of the game change suddenly and without warning.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I am not sure I have gotten there yet. My first book, Walking the Corporate Beat: Police School for Business People, was a “lessons learned” book, not a novel. I will wait to see how Midnight Sin is received before I answer this question.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I do not write full-time. Since retiring from the FBI, I have been running SPIRIT Asset Protection, LLC, a consulting business for corporate security matters as well as giving presentations to CEOs and businesses in various topics such as workplace violence, business risk, fraud, and identity theft.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I think the quirk in my writing is my need to not just tell a story, but to have a message while being entertained.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
As a child I thought about many careers, though never really a cop. That decision did not come until I was in my teens.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
As the events of the story unfold, I hope the reader focuses on why things happened the way they did.

Michael, thank you for being here today. Best of luck with your writing, you certainly have a lot of experience to draw from for this genre.

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Review - Personal Enemy by Sylvie Kurtz



As exciting as an award-winning action film, this novel opens with a child’s life being torn apart before her eyes and ends in an unexpected, satisfying way.

The protagonist, Adria Caskey, is a strong woman whose job it is to protect lives. Partners with her grandfather in the protection business until his recent death, Adria now has one final promise to fulfill to her grandfather before she officially closes the doors to the family business.

Her staff of security specialists is made up of strong, talented women who are like sisters. There is implicit trust among them that supersedes the need for them to speak to each other at times. No one is happy to have the business close. For some, it is the only thing they know and they do not know how to move on.

Adria’s final client, Peter Dragon, unknowingly has ties to Adria that span their lifetime. She and her staff of executive protectors must be at their best in order to see this case to a successful conclusion.

Sylvie Kurtz has an amazing ability to describe a scene so that you feel you are in the action and not simply reading words on a page. You can smell the aroma of fresh pasta sauce so strongly that your taste buds engage. When a character’s teeth chatter due to a recent douse of ice cold water, so do yours. And when Adria is completed exhausted from having been on the run, you feel her disorientation.

Personal Enemy is a gripping thrill ride that any fan of strong action, female leads, and good mysteries will enjoy. You will feel like you’re in the passenger seat during the high-speed chases, and you’ll find yourself ducking when the bullets start flying. This book is a thoroughly engaging read.

Title: Personal Enemy
Author: Sylvie Kurtz
Publisher: Silhouette Books
ISBN: 0-373-51343-7
Pages: 304
Price: $4.50