The Breaker - series. Books 1 - 3:

 

The Breaker

ISBN: 9781656281517

Description:

How do you know the one you love won’t hurt you?

Or even try to kill you?
In many cases … you don’t.

How do we choose our path and purpose in life?

What makes us who we are?
When Seth Egan starts working as a private detective, he knows he’ll make enemies.
It goes with the territory.
As Seth works on a murder case and hunts down the killers, he becomes the target.
Some people have no conscience, shame, empathy, or remorse.
To get their own way, to get what they want, to take everything, they will do anything.
Even murder.
In the end, they will drag you down to hell with them.
Sometimes, our enemies are those closest to us.

Amazon link:

https://t.co/eKFZ03giKR?amp=1

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Bad Blood

ISBN: 9798682203192

Description:

No one is paying Seth Egan for his latest case.

He keeps this one unofficial.

Pro bono publico.

Off the books.

For him, this one is personal.

A matter of bad blood.

A woman with a grudge of her own leads Seth to a place where people vanish without trace.

Money is the motive.

Greed is the motivator.

Scores that can only be settled in blood.

A dark underworld of illegal gambling, prostitution, drugs, violence and murder.

Amazon link:

 

https://t.co/e0XiS8crAr?amp=1

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Mall Maze

ISBN: 9798729917235

Description:

Friday the 13th.

Unlucky for many.

What should have been a routine adultery case ends with Seth Egan fighting for his life.

Cut off from the world.

With no way to call for help.

Trapped in a place where the walls are coming down around him.

Seth is running out of places to hide.

As chaos reigns and the city burns … the hunters close in.

Amazon link:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09244XVYW/

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Themes:

Abuse by proxy, Adultery, C-PTSD, crime, detective, domestic abuse, enabler, flying monkey, gaslighting, hardboiled, heist, infidelity, murder, narcissism, narcissist, narcissistic abuse, neo-noir, personality disorder, psychopath, sociopath, suspense, thriller, vigilante, violence.

Books available in hardcover, paperback and Kindle.

A percentage from sales of my books is donated to Multiple Sclerosis (MS) research.

What’s On?

 

What’s On?

A Guide to Movies and TV Shows

Hardcover

ISBN-13: 9798342696098

Paperback

ISBN-13: 9798341177307

Kindle

ASIN: B0DJTZ8T58

Back cover description:

What’s On? … is the timeless question we have all asked ourselves almost every day of our lives, as we reach for the remote control and settle in front of the TV screen.

Jack Kost, a life-long movie buff and coffee addict, offers his choice of favorite movie and television masterpieces.

Providing possible answers to the question of What’s On? with over 1,900 titles, from golden oldies and timeless classics, to more recent releases, all meticulously logged and summarized.

An invaluable and collectable go-to source for discovering new favorites and revisiting old ones.

Perfect for film enthusiasts and casual viewers alike, this guide will spark conversations, bring back memories, and help you navigate the ever-evolving world of screen entertainment.

A wealth of recommendations and insights from a passionate movie buff to enrich your viewing experience, complete with personal reminiscences and nostalgic reflections, told with a world-wise critical eye, sardonic dry wit, a healthy dose of cynicism, biting observations, and a well-founded rant here and there.

Just don’t challenge or get him started on his personal favorites, like The Shining, Point Blank, Jaws, The Exorcist, The Duellists, Romeo Is Bleeding, or The Ninth Configuration. His opinions on these and other iconic titles are as intense and unyielding as the movies themselves.

All compiled by an author who not only watched the movies, but also read the books on which they were based, did his research, drank a lot of coffee in the process, and advocates for the importance and value of reading.

A glimpse into the over-caffeinated mind of a writer with a passion for great stories.

What’s On? is a celebration of the intersection between page and screen, and a reminder that great on-screen adaptations often start with a great book and a strong cup of coffee.

Kick back, grab your coffee, and enjoy the show!

As author Jack Kost says:

“Happy viewing … and do yourself a favor … read the books.”

Slipped Masks:

Slipped Masks

ISBN: 9781719330640

Description:

I can’t call you because if he hears me talking on the phone he’ll hit me again. He scares me. I know sooner or later he’s going to kill me. I’ll text you again when I can. I love you, Casey. I’ll spend the rest of our lives proving to you how much I love you. Please come. Please save me …

With only text messages to guide him, Casey Byrne is on the hunt, racing across five states to save his ex-girlfriend, Madison.

Casey loves Madison deeply and wants desperately to save her life and rekindle their relationship.

But the closer he gets to her, the more surreal his journey becomes as the dead bodies pile up in his wake.

Clinical Lycanthropy: the delusion that a human can physically transform into a wolf.

If you were insane, would you know it?

How would you see the world if you were convinced you could transform into a wolf?

The hunter … and the hunted.

Slipped Masks is a dark neo-noir thriller about how the need for love and companionship becomes twisted into obsession, possession, jealousy, violence and murder.

A horrifying portrait of Clinical Lycanthropy.

Amazon link:

https://t.co/2Gwb135V3m

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Themes:

Sociopathy, narcissistic abuse, personality disorder, Clinical Lycanthropy, crime, murder.

Book available in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle.

A percentage from sales of this book is donated to Multiple Sclerosis (MS) research.

Work in progress:

My next books are Triangulation and Stinger.

Books 4 and 5 in The Breaker series.

Set in the year 2001, the story continues from Mall Maze.

Themes:

Crime, detective, hardboiled, heist, murder, narcissism, narcissistic abuse, neo-noir, psychopath, sociopath, thriller, vigilante.

 

A percentage from book sales is donated to Multiple Sclerosis (MS) research.

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The Breaker is an on-going series.

I’m outlining other stand-alone thriller novels.

Several coffee table books on my photography and my wife’s artwork.

A humorous book, based on the antics of our crazy pet Ragdoll cat, entitled: It’s That F****** Cat Again!

Here’s a GIF I made of our cat, settling down for another of his daily naps:

On this day in movie history - Sniper: The White Raven (2022):

Sniper: The White Raven

directed by Marian Bushan,

written by Marian Bushan and Mykola Voronin,

based on the true life and experiences of Mykola Voronin,

released in Ukraine on August 24, 2022.
Music by Nadiia Odesuk / Nadya Odesyuk.

I first saw Sniper: The White Raven back in April (2024), on The Movie Channel.

After watching it, I had to include and recommend it in my book: What's On?

Based on the true life and experiences of Mykola Voronin, an ecologist, teacher and writer.

He lived a simple life off the grid with his wife, Nastya, in Donbas, Ukraine.

In 2014, Russian soldiers invaded and murdered his wife.

Mykola, fueled by rage and the need for justice and vengeance for his wife, enlisted in the Ukrainian Army.

He trained, became a sniper, and fought back.

He switched from idealistic pacifist to warrior, assigning himself the codename Raven, in reference to the White Raven symbol his wife placed in stones outside their home.

Mykola vowed to defend Ukraine.

Russia senselessly invaded Ukraine again in 2022.

This movie and true story couldn’t be more topical or important.

Powerful.

Real.

Raw.

Tragic.

Heartbreaking.

We stand with Ukraine.

Victory to Ukraine.

Glory to Ukraine.

Slava Ukraini.

Cast:

Pavlo Aldoshyn, Maryna Koshkina, Andrey Mostrenko, Roman Semysal, Oleg Drach, Roman Yasinovskiy, Oleg Shulga, Vadim Lyalko, Vadim Kurilko, Vladyslav Dmytrenko, Eugen Volosheniuk, Oleksandr Bykov, Serhiy Artemenko, Egor Kozlov, Zachary Shadrin, Olena Chervonenko, Demyan Radzivilyuk, Alina Karpenko, Anatoly Tikhomirov, Yanina Andreeva, Evhen Chernykov, Igor Parkhomenko, Vitaliy Kovalskyy, Oleksiy Storozhuk, Vitaliy Belskyy, Aleksandr Dyumin, Oleksiy Nakonechnyi, Andriy Yakubov, Kyrylo Goz, Vitaly Kalyuzhny, Mike Parish, Adrian Petriw.

On this day in music history - Change, by Sue Foley (2004):

Change

Album by Sue Foley,

released August 24, 2004.

Track list:

Goin’ Down the Road Again; Hardworking Woman; Doggie Treats; Careless Love; Change; Bad Luck Woman; Mournin’ in the Morning; Sugar in My Bowl; Here Comes the Sun; Me and My Chauffeur; You Don’t Have to Go; Shake That Thing.

On this day in movie history - Strangers Kiss (1983):

Strangers Kiss

directed by Matthew Chapman,

written by Blaine Novak, Matthew Chapman,

released at the Montréal World Film Festival in Canada on August 24, 1983.

Music by Gato Barbieri.

Cast: Peter Coyote, Victoria Tennant, Blaine Novak, Dan Shor, Richard Romanus, Linda Kerridge, Carlos Palomino, Vincent Palmieri, Jay Rasumny, Sloan Roberts / Jon Sloan, Joe Nipote, Larry Dilg, Leo Impellizzeri, Jeanette Joseph, Cecil Hill, Frank Moon, Arthur Adams, Joe Pompa, Alexander Hendrie, Larry Maggart, Michael Haywood, Ken Gerson, Rob Petersen, Mark Wendell, Eric Bartsch, Brian Maguire, Jack Dolan, William Schwalbe, Calvin Greenfield, John Bennet, Paul Duncan, Annely Uherek, Sharon Doss, Shelbie Alvarez, Jo Lynn Anderson, Bella Bremer, Pamela Bailey, Kay Bryant, Sheila Colligan, Camille Crim, Tina Challey, Maria Campese, Laura DeStefanis, Lisa Gold, Julie Grandpre, Della Hafner, Kim Jakwerth, Ella Johnson, Diana Kavilis, Sheryl Marshall, Kristine Marx, Judy Rae McIntosh, Becky Marcus, Shirley Moon, Tanya Moreau, Courtney Nichols, Susan Penn, Jo Ann Quinlan, Rosa Rios, Teresa Rispoli, Janet Stevens, Stacy Slater, Kathy Torsak, Cheri Thomas, Carmen Yadao, Mary Yadao, Sergio Arthur Arocha, Mauricio Azcarate, Jim Baldwin, David Bremer, Dennis Cadena, Jerome Courshon, Christopher Cory, Marc Cherry, Ted Diggins, Andrew Divoff, Taffey Edwards, James Frable, Glen Falls, Jim Fredricks, Sean Francis, Jeffrey Hutchinson, Leroy Hardy, Sean Hale, Martin Keegan, Gil Larson, William Mintz, Ken McWilliams, Gerald E. Miller, Kenny Morris, Kenneth McCarthy, Lionel Petrilli, James Petzoid, Don Parker, Jeff Rutkin, Milton Robinson, Walter Smith, Robert Sugar, Steve Thomason, John Welsh, Jamie Wooten, Edward Yeager, Hercules Bellville, Keegan Marty.

On this day in movie history - A Strange Adventure (1956)

A Strange Adventure

directed by William Witney,

written by Houston Branch,

was released in the United States on August 24, 1956.
Music by R. Dale Butts.

Cast:

Joan Evans, Ben Cooper, Marla English, Jan Merlin, Nick Adams, Peter Miller, Paul Smith, Emlen Davies, Frank Wilcox, Thomas Browne Henry, John Maxwell, Steve Wayne, Wendell Niles, John Pickard, Jack Shea, Ken Terrell, Al Wyatt Sr.

On this day in movie history – Pitfall (1948 movie & novel):

Pitfall

directed by André de Toth,

written by Karl Kamb, André de Toth and William Bowers,

based on the novel The Pitfall by Jay Dratler,

was released in the United States on August 24, 1948.
Music by Louis Forbes.

Cast:

Dick Powell, Lizabeth Scott, Jane Wyatt, Raymond Burr, John Litel, Byron Barr, Jimmy Hunt, Ann Doran, Selmer Jackson, Margaret Wells, Dick Wessel.

Recommended reading:

The Pitfall

By Jay Dratler.

Introduction by Jay Dratler Jr. & Timothy J. Lockhart.

Published by Stark House Press.

First published 1939.

ASIN: B0BGMFDDKV

ISBN-13: 979-8886010084

Description:

Jon Forbes is a happily married screenwriter in Hollywood when his cop friend Mac tells him about a gal named Mona he’s interested in. Her husband is in jail, and she knows that Mac is the cop who put him there. So, Mac asks Forbes to set her up for him. Take her out, introduce her to him as a friend.

But that’s where Forbes’s troubles begin. Because happily married or not, Mona gets into his blood immediately. And he into hers. And now he’s not only lying to his wife, but trying to avoid Mac as well. He and Mona have no idea where this will lead, but they both know it can’t end well. But neither of them figure just how far Mac will go to get Forbes out of the way once he discovers his friend’s betrayal. Nor what Forbes will do to protect his own.

Born on this day – Rachael Carpani:

Rachael Carpani

Actress

August 24, 1980 – December 7, 2025

Credits:

15th AACTA Awards (2026); 800 Words (2017–2018); ABC News Breakfast (2025); Against the Wall (2011); All Saints (2001); Australia's Funniest Home Video Show (2005); Beat (2022); Cane (2007); Hating Alison Ashley (2005); Home and Away (2001–2024); Ihaka: Blunt Instrument (2000); Law Dogs (2007); McLeod's Daughters (2001–2009); McLeod's Daughters: The Inside Story (2003); NCIS: Los Angeles (2009); Scorched (2008); Stalker (2014); The 49th Annual TV Week Logie Awards (2007); The Glades (2010); The Making of 'Triangle' (2010); The Rachels (2017); The Umbrella Man (2016); The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee (2020); The Way Back (2020); Touched by Romance (2014); Triangle (2009); True Blue (2010); V.C. Andrews' Dollanganger Saga (2015); Weekend Sunrise (2017).

Born on this day – A. S. Byatt:

A. S. Byatt

Writer

August 24, 1936 – November 16, 2023

Credits:

Books:

A Stone Woman (2011); A Whistling Woman (2002); Angels and Insects (1992); Babel Tower (1996); Best European Fiction 2013 (2012); Black Water 2 (1990); Body Art (2011); Deadly Sins (1994); Degrees of Freedom (1994); Dolls' Eyes (2013); Elementals (1998); Ghostly (2015); Life (2013); Medusa's Ankles (2021); Memory (2008); Mistresses of the Dark (1998); New Writing 4 (1995); On Histories and Stories (2000); Passions of the Mind (1990); Peacock & Vine (2016); Portraits in Fiction (2001); Possession (1990); Ragnarok (2011); Raw Material (2011); Short Stories (2009); Sightlines (2001); Still Life (1985); Stories for Mothers and Daughters (2025); Sugar (1987); The Biographer's Tale (2000); The Children's Book (2009); The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye (1994); The Game (1967); The Literary Ghost (1991); The Little Black Book of Stories (2003); The Matisse Stories (1975); The New Uncanny (2008); The Oxford Book of English Short Stories (1998); The Oxford Book of Twentieth-Century Ghost Stories (1996); The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories (1984); The Pink Ribbon (2011); The Shadow of the Sun (1991); The Thing in the Forest (2011); The Virgin in the Garden (1978); The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror Sixth Annual Collection (1993); The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror Twelfth Annual Collection (1999); Unruly Times (1970); White Fire (1991).

Movies and television:

Angels and Insects (1995); Bestseller (2001); Bookmark (1995–1996); Ceramics: A Fragile History (2011); Cover to Cover (1987); Inside the News (1975); Late Night Line-Up (1968); Mark Lawson Talks to... (2009); Medusa's Ankles (2018); Newsnight at 30 (2010); Omnibus (1989); Possession (2002); Read All About It (1978–1979); Roundhead or Cavalier: Which One Are You? (2012); Samtaler i natten (1996); Take It or Leave It (1967–1970); The Andrew Neil Show (1996); The Brains Trust (1996); The Burgess Variations (1999); The Late Show (1992–1994); The South Bank Show (1990); The Worlds of Fantasy (2008); Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022); Un siècle d'écrivains (1997).

Born on this day – Helena Carter:

Helena Carter

Actress

August 24, 1923 – January 11, 2000

Born on this day – Joan Chandler:

Joan Chandler

Actress

August 24, 1923 – May 11, 1979

Born on this day – Dorothy Comingore:

Dorothy Comingore

Actress

August 24, 1913 – December 30, 1971

Credits:

Any Number Can Play (1949); Blondie Meets the Boss (1939); Cafe Hostess (1940); Campus Cinderella (1938); Citizen Kane (1941); Citizen Kane Trailer (1940); Coast Guard (1939); Comet Over Broadway (1938); Compression (2025); Convicted Woman (1940); Fireside Theatre (1951); Five Little Peppers and How They Grew (1939); Golden Boy (1939); Good Girls Go to Paris (1939); Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles (2014); Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939); North of the Yukon (1939); Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise (1939); Outside These Walls (1939); Picture People Vol. 2 No. 7: Children of the Stars (1942); Pioneers of the Frontier (1940); Prison Train (1938); Rebound (1952); Rockin' Thru the Rockies (1940); Romance of the Redwoods (1939); Scandal Sheet (1939); The Awful Goof (1939); The Big Night (1951); The Doctor (1952); The Hairy Ape (1944); The Heckler (1940); The South Bank Show (1988); Trade Winds (1938).

Born on this day – Gertrude Bambrick:

Gertrude Bambrick

Actress

August 24, 1897 – January 10, 1974

Credits:

A Circumstantial Hero (1913); A Compromising Complication (1913); A Horse on Bill (1913); A Limited Divorce (1912); A Ragtime Romance (1913); A Real Estate Deal (1912); A Saturday Holiday (1913); A Spring Chicken (1916); All Hail to the King (1913); Almost a Wild Man (1913); An Old Maid's Deception (1913); As It Might Have Been (1914); Aunts, Too Many! (1913); Baby Indisposed (1913); Broken Ways (1913); Brothers (1913); Cinderella and the Boob (1913); Cupid and the Cook (1913); Divorcons (1915); Faust and the Lily (1913); For the Son of the House (1913); Frappe Love (1913); Gold and Glitter (1912); Highbrow Love (1913); His Hoodoo (1913); Intolerance (1916); Jenks Becomes a Desperate Character (1913); Judith of Bethulia (1914); Just Kids (1913); Liberty Belles (1914); Love in an Apartment Hotel (1913); Master Jefferson Green (1913); McGann and His Octette (1913); Mr. Spriggs Buys a Dog (1913); Near to Earth (1913); Objections Overruled (1913); Oil and Water (1913); Red Hicks Defies the World (1913); The Adventures of Dollie (1912); The Billionaire (1914); The End of the World (1913); The God Within (1912); The Hicksville Epicure (1913); The King and the Copper (1913); The Lady in Black (1913); The Mothering Heart (1913); The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912); The New York Hat (1912); The One She Loved (1912); The Perfidy of Mary (1913); The Reformers; or, the Lost Art of Minding One's Business (1913); The Rejuvenation of Aunt Mary (1916); The Skating Rink (1916); The Suffragette Minstrels (1913); The Telephone Girl and the Lady (1913); The Waiter Who Waited (1915); The Widow's Kids (1913); The Winning Punch (1913); Those Little Flowers (1913); Two Daughters of Eve (1912); Virtue Is Its Own Reward (1914); Who's Looney Now? (1914).