Beside Us
Briggs takes you on an action-packed, supernatural journey to solve this mystery. A simple kidnapping turns into an international quest for the children, but produces only more questions. Who else is looking for the children, and why? The journey leads them to a supernatural world where they are forced to make impossible, but necessary choices. You won’t want to put this book down until the final secrets are revealed.
Gary Gerlacher, MD, MBAAuthor of Last Patient of the Night
This mesmerizing novel spins down wheels within wheels, wheels that turn out to be crop circles with the bloodless bodies of children at their centers. Follow this maze of conspiracies into magical portals to adventure and wonder.
It begins when Canadian detective Simon Elliott, out for a bike ride, witnesses a mysterious kidnapping of three children, made all the more puzzling when their parents were not taken. When Simon reluctantly agrees to investigate for the parents, his quest takes him to England, and leads to a series of harrowing events. He hooks up with new companions, and they are pursued by two competing, but equally frightening, groups. Unsure of what is real, or who to trust, Simon refuses to give up the search. It takes him and his friends into a hidden world, with portals into other places and times, a blood-tinged elixir promising eternal life, and war with those less altruistically motivated. Buckle up and put on your tinfoil hat for this journey, it’s a masterfully-written five-star adventure full of fun, fear, and unexpected twists. Doves in a Tempest, Bill Schweitzer
Buckle up and put on your tinfoil hat for this journey, it’s a masterfully-written five-star adventure full of fun, fear, and unexpected twists.
A supernatural mystery chock full of frenzied action across two continents, numerous dimensions, and tackling current conspiracy theories head on. Stephen W Briggs’ well-crafted protagonists will have you questioning everything as you follow them throughout their ethereal journey. – Ken Harris, author of the From the Case Files of Steve Rockfish crime fiction series.
“In Beside Us, Stephen W. Briggs delivers a gripping thriller that takes readers on a riveting investigation from Canada to England and throughout Europe. When a missing person case leads a Canadian police officer on leave to investigate mysterious crop circles, he finds himself caught up in a battle between good and evil. With an intricate plot and masterful suspense-building, Briggs keeps readers guessing until the startling conclusion. Fans of Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons won’t want to miss this page-turner.”–Cam Torrens, award-winning author of Stable and False Summit.
If you enjoy novels that keep you guessing, Beside Us is the book for you. Briggs does an admirable job arousing the reader’s continual interest in a mystery involving two detectives, three continents, kidnapped children from three families, crop circles, vanishing men in black hoodies, others in blue tunics, and a time span that begins in 1490 before jumping to the 21st Century. It’s all very complicated, but the two lead detectives, who are as perplexed as readers may be, make sense of the complications at a satisfying pace.
This is a page turner, with plentiful chases interspersed with minor characters revealing wild secrets, some true, others false. The most powerful sections are set in the fields with crop circles. Who made them and why? How were they constructed overnight? Can the fake ones be differentiated from the real ones? When the detectives discover the answers, there are several chapters to go as more is unravelled and the greater mystery beyond the kidnappings is explained. Carolyn Geduld
When Investigator Simon Elliott is a witness to three children being kidnapped, he teams up with two strangers to search for them. One child is found in the middle of a crop circle – dead – so the investigation intensifies and leads them across the ocean into a world of murder, crop circles, time travel and mysteries similar to Stonehenge. A gripping story that will have you on the edge of your seat until the very end. ~ LeeAnne James, author of Justice for Loretta and The Dusty Road to Homicide
Investigator Simon Elliott was out for a leisurely bike ride when he witnesses three children being kidnapped. One of the children is mysteriously found dead in the middle of a crop circle. After talking to the devastated parents, Elliott promises to find their still missing twins. The search opens a world he could never have imagined with strange people trying to kill him, even more missing children, a number of crop circles, conspiracy theories and the nagging feeling that someone is always watching them. Beside Us is a gripping tale that extends across the ocean in a search for answers to questions, some of which are centuries old. ~ LeeAnne James, author of Justice for Loretta and The Dusty Road to Homicide
Lies Lead to Death
In Lies Lead to Death, Briggs brings readers back into the world of The Family, where the family business is freelance weapons sales and assassination for hire, doing the work that governments can’t. The stakes are high, no one outside of The Family is to be trusted, and when you cross them, revenge is basically guaranteed. The story has plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader wondering what’s going to happen next.
~ Amanda Waters, author of With You
Espionage, deceit, loyalty, and misguided trust is rampant in a world of international leaders, arms dealers and assassins. Lies Lead to Death is a spellbinding novel that will leave you wondering if such an undercover world really exists. It seems impossible, but then again, anything is possible in the world of political gain.
LeeAnne James, Author of Justice for Loretta.
“Briggs brings the action and doubles the intrigue as David and The Family gear up again, not long after their patriarch’s assassination. Russians, The CIA, DIA, and devious international players abound during the revenge tour. Briggs’ protagonist David has the skill set to walk the line between good and evil, so well it keeps your eyes glued and the pages turning.” – Ken Harris, retired FBI and the author of the From the Case Files of Steve Rockfish series.
Lies Lead to Death offers a fascinating glimpse into the raw world of paid killers. From Caracas to Northern Ireland to Ontario, the book follows a family of assassins as they fight to protect their own. Filled with adrenaline, intrigue, and adventure, the punches don’t stop coming until the final page. Fans of author Stephen Briggs’s first book in the Family of Killers series, Memoirs of an Assassin, will not be disappointed.
Brooke French, Inhuman Acts
When they’re not running a mom-and-pop style plumbing shop in their humble Ontario community, The Family is out and about the world freelancing a very different line of services for foreign governments and agencies with clandestine agendas. Among their services are those provided by David Grant, a third-generation family member who, following in his grandfather’s footsteps, has developed into a world-class assassin. But the world has changed a great deal since granda’s days. Communism has fallen. A Russian Mafia has risen. And the dark side of a new world order is now gunning for David and his family—aided and abetted by former allies of The Family now turned traitors. Their lies do indeed lead to death—a lot of death—in this page-turning thriller that comes as the second installment of Stephen W. Briggs’ A Family of Killers Series. The story contributes to the prior installment but stands nicely alone for newcomers. It is highly recommended to readers who enjoy surprise-ending thrillers filled with tension and intrigue interspersed with some well-timed dark humor.
John Marks, Rail Against Injustice
“Moving from North America to the Caribbean to Northern Ireland, Russia, and Australia, Lies Lead to Death is a fast-paced thriller in which the Family of Killers cope with double-crosses and betrayals while staying at the top of their game. Meanwhile, the Family’s youngest daughter, long kept in the dark about the family business, decides she wants in. Lies Lead to Death is the perfect entertainment for readers of Ludlum, Clancy, and LeCarre.”
–Steven Rigolosi, author of The Haunting of Kinnnawe House and The Outsmarting of Criminals
This fast-paced thriller takes place in Canada and on four other continents in the time of transition in the 1990s, after the fall of the Soviet Union and during the Gulf War. The underground organizations that sell military equipment are adapting to the new computer age. The Family and the novel’s main character, David, an assassin, are among the last old-style dealers who don’t yet own private jet planes or early cell phones.
What gives the novel richness is that, whether friends or enemies, the underground players know each other, unlike the impersonality of modern gangsters and spies (at least in fiction). The members of The Family are siblings and cousins who care for each other. David grants former friends a quicker death. Although there are plenty of killings and chases, the dailiness of planning vacations, having meals together, and taking bike rides help the reader relate to characters who are thugs with hearts.
Carolyn Geduld, Who Shall Die
Lies Lead to Death begins explosively in the rusty hold of a cargo ship and the action never stops. Careening around the world, the body count grows as this out-of-control train builds more and more momentum. The shattering climax not only pulls everything together, it also sets the stage for more action from The Family.
Jefferson R. Blackburn-Smith, Love
This second book in the series {Family of Killers) launches with a one-two punch that finds assassin-apprentice now turned pro David Grant bound and tortured in the hold of a mystery ship. And the only thing in his favor is that the Russian Mafia wants him alive. Not in his favor is what kind of physical condition that means. It also means his Family is exposed to takeover and annihilation. The Family must fight back to survive, but David’s survival is its foremost concern.
Author Stephen W. Briggs never lets up in this gripping crime epic that delivers punch after punch. Get this book and grab a hold of this relentless and violent ride that once again scans the globe with a riveting plot that never lets up. Hold on tight! Dale Ward Killing the Butterfly
FIVE STARS! Lies Lead to Death – Family of Killers is a rollicking roller coaster of a read. It’s one that starts with the roller coaster at the top, drops immediately and never stops, with more twists and turns than you can imagine. Envision a 007 that starts at the point he is captured–but this is much more complex and layered. It’s Bond plus Tom Clancy with a dash of Dan Brown and just a pinch of Le Carre for added spice. You’re never sure who the bad guys are, and you have to wonder about the good guys. There’s a killer you just have to love, a plumbing business that fixes a lot more than clogged drains, weapon sales, nasty international actors, and globe-hopping action that never lets up, to keep you glued to the page. Fair warning though, once you pick it up, you won’t want to put it back down until the end.
This Briggs’ second in the Family of Killers series. It stands on its own as a great read, but do yourself a favor and start with the first, Family of Killers – Memoirs of an Assassin.
Bill Schweitzer
#Doves in a Tempest – The HI-Q Gang and That (bad word) Valley
#Diary of a Dead Girl – A Shooting Victim Speaks from the Grave
#The Man Who Learned to Talk to Dogs
#The Third Term – A Cautionary Tale
Family of Killers: Memoirs of an Assassin
The Bottom Line: A captivating coming of age story about an Irish weapons trafficker.
“This will all make sense one day.” That’s what James Grant tells his son, David, shortly after he’s pulled from his bed in Portadown, Northern Ireland. It’s the 1970s, and car bombings, shootings and other violent acts are relatively common. But this one is personal. David’s father attempted to assassinate a terrorist. Now he’s a wanted man.
Stephen W. Briggs’ tale begins when David is just seven. He’s been born into the family’s weapons trafficking business, a multi-generational enterprise that supplies weapons and explosives to biker gangs, the mob, governments and other groups. Briggs’ depiction of what childhood is like as the family goes on the run to Canada while attempting to survive and thrive is truly captivating.
A Family of Killers spans different eras as David grows up and, with the help of a childhood friend, not only grows the business, but makes it more successful than ever. But the cost is the knowledge that danger lurks around every corner. As David navigates a variety of adventures, he has plenty of gut-wrenching decisions to make.
The story feels realistic thanks to its depiction of typical family communication issues in the midst of what is a rather chaotic life. Hats off to Briggs as he illustrates the dynamics of a large family – and the ordinariness that comes with it – while injecting it with surprise after surprise. In nearly every chapter, matter-of-fact business wisdom heightens the suspense (“There is nothing worse than having a car break down on the side of the road with fifty pounds of C-4 and TNT on the way to a job”). As in many books attempting to cover such vast time periods, Briggs occasionally resorts to exposition, but readers will nevertheless be hooked until the heartbreaking finale.
“An intriguing and fast-paced dive into the life of a professional assassin, raised on the streets of Northern Ireland, to become an international killer.” -Sublime Book Review
“This is a fabulous, fast-paced novel that follows the adventures of a young boy from Northern Ireland as he is slowly integrated into the family business of killers for hire.” -A.J. McCarthy, award-winning author of Cold Betrayal
“Stephen W. Briggs has crafted an action-packed thriller that you won’t want to put down.” -Dale Ward, author of Killing the Butterfly
“Family of Killers is a suspenseful thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat from cover to cover. Briggs has created an engaging story not for the faint of heart.” -Christy Cooper-Burnett, award-winning author of No Way Home
“Briggs does a great job taking the reader inside a family at war and a family AT war. International assassins, operating in that gray zone between good and evil, navigate twists and turns that will take you to the very heart of darkness.” -Ken Harris, author of James Rockfish PI – The Pine Barrens Stratagem, and retired FBI
“Briggs brings a family, united through love and hate but bound together by blood and honor of generations shaped by a code of honor in a world most people could never understand.” -Valerie Conrad, author of Blood of Like Souls
“In Family of Killers, every page is saturated with the promise of danger. From the opening scene, you’ll get tangled up in a web of deceit and death.” -Luke Swanson, author of Epicenter