BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE Is Out!

Whoo hoo! It’s publication day!! Ann and I are happy to announce that BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE is now available. It’s been getting some great early buzz on Goodreads, and one of the comments we’ve noticed most is early readers saying that you don’t need to have read LONE WOLF to follow along. This is really great to hear because we really tried to write this second series installment as much as a standalone as possible because you never know where a reader’s entry point will be. In fact, I’ve seen many comments from people who intended to go back and read LONE WOLF based on the strength of BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE.

BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE is available in hardcover and e-book (with the audio version coming in November) from these fine sellers: Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk, Chapters/Indigo, B&N, BAM, IndieBound, Target, Walmart, Hudson Booksellers.

Happy reading!

In this powerful K-9 crime thriller, FBI Special Agent Meg Jennings and her trusted search-and-rescue Labrador, Hawk, must race against the clock before a diabolical killer strikes again…
 
Somewhere in the Washington, D.C., area, a woman lies helpless in a box. Beneath the earth. Barely breathing. Buried alive. In Quantico, the FBI receives a coded message from the woman’s abductor. He wants to play a game with them: decipher the clues, find the grave, save the girl. The FBI’s top cryptanalysts crack the code, and Special Agent Meg Jennings and her K-9 partner, Hawk, scramble to follow a trail of false leads to the scene of the crime. By the time they solve the puzzle, it’s too late. But the killer’s game is far from over . . .
 
Soon another message arrives. Another victim is taken, and the deadly pattern is repeated—again and again. Each kidnapping triggers another desperate race against time, each with the possibility of another senseless death. That’s when Meg decides to try something drastic. Break the Bureau’s protocol. Bring in her brilliant sister, Cara, a genius at word games, to decipher the kidnapper’s twisted clues. Meg knows she’s risking her career to do it, but she’s determined not to let one more person die under her and Hawk’s watch. If the plan fails, it could bite them in the end. And if it leads to the killer, it could bury them forever . . .

One Week to the Release of BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!

We’re only a week away from the release of BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE, the second book in the FBI K-9s and things are getting excited chez Sara Driscoll.

So what’s going on? Yesterday, I was featured on Alli Sinclair’s blog highlighting the story behind the FBI K-9s series. Next Monday, September 25th, the day before the release, LONE WOLF is going to be the Kindle Daily Deal on Amazon, so it will be a great opportunity to try out the book that started the series for a cheap and cheerful deal price the day before the second book comes out. It’s the big launch on Tuesday, September 26th, then I’ll be on Joan Reeves’s Slingwords blog on the 27th, and finally I’ll be throwing a big launch party here in Burlington, Ontario on Saturday, September 30th (details at the end of this post). Whew! Going to be a busy few weeks!

So, in anticipation of the launch of BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE, I have a special treat: the first chapter of the book so you can dive in for a taste of what’s to come next week. We toss you right into the thick of things as the first victim reported to the team goes missing and it’s a mad chase to save her life. Do they succeed? Let’s find out

BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE - Chapter One

Stay tuned for more on September 26th!

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It’s time for a party! If you’re in the Greater Toronto Area, please join me for the launch of BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!

Odds and Ends

Things have been pretty busy around here in the last few weeks. We’re not only getting ready to release the newest FBI K-9s novel, BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE, in two weeks, but Ann and I have been putting the finishing touches on the third book in the series, STORM RISING, which went out to our critique team yesterday.

Working on STORM RISING has been somewhat bittersweet lately. Earlier this year, when we planned the book to start with a brutal hurricane making landfall on the eastern seaboard, we never suspected we’d have two such hurricanes devastating parts of the United States while we were working on it. The research for STORM RISING was very heavily based on Hurricane Sandy, but both Harvey and Irma have confirmed everything we already knew in the worst possible ways. I’ve been watching the search-and-rescue K-9 teams sent in to Texas, Florida, and Caribbean islands, knowing how crucially important they are to the search efforts and recovering the missing. Our critique team is digging into STORM RISING now, but our readers will see it in the fall of 2018.

I’m running a few Goodreads giveaways in the next few weeks, with the first starting yesterday. Are you a Goodreads member and would like to get your hands on a free, advanced copy of BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE? Then enter using the widget below.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Before It's Too Late

by Sara Driscoll

Giveaway ends September 18, 2017.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Do you want to get a sneak peak at BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE? I’m sending out a newsletter this week with an exclusive early look, so if you’re interested, sign up at the bottom on my home page.

And, finally, I’m having a book launch! If you’re in the Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, and would like to have an author signed copy, please join me on September 30th at A Different Drummer. Hope to see you there!

The Search Dogs of Hurricane Harvey

The headlines and videos of the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey are horrific. Historic flooding displaced over 30,000 residents, damaged or destroyed an estimated 200,000 homes, and has caused up to approximately $180 billion dollars in damage.

On the short term, attention has rightly been focused on the 17,000 rescues that have taken place. When local law enforcement was unable to keep up with the calls for help, the public responded. Regular people, intent on simply saving lives, came from as far away as Florida bringing their own boats to put into the flood waters. People laid their lives on the line to save strangers and their pets. It’s been uplifting to watch these rescues and is a wonderful reminder that even during times of political chaos when every news story seems dark and foreboding, the human spirit continues to successfully rise to the challenge.

As in any natural disaster in modern times, search-and-rescue dogs have responded to Hurricane Harvey and will continue to do so over the coming weeks. The National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (SDF) had ten teams dispatched to their San Antonia base of operations or on their way the day the hurricane made landfall. Within days, another four teams were activated, bringing the total number to fourteen, with teams responding from California, Nebraska, Texas, and Utah. As the water receded, the teams moved in, looking for anyone trapped who had been missed by rescuers in the initial rescues. It's incredibly hard work for the teams, but there is no question that lives have been and will be saved because of their presence on the ground.

A heartwarming story about one of the SDF search-and-rescue K-9s has recently come to light out of Harvey's news cycle. Rocket, a border collie, was nearly euthanized at a shelter for being too high energy. But an SDF canine recruitment volunteer recognized something special in Rocky. He wasn’t right for search-and-rescue, but he might make a good agility dog, so she and her husband, an SDF handler himself, adopted Rocket. Within a year, however, Rocket was showing signs of being an ace search-and-rescue dog, so the SDF took him on and partnered him with Windsor Fire Engineer Mike Stornetta. Now the dog that nearly died because of his energy and drive is now using those same characteristics to save lives in Texas. Mike and Rocket were deployed to Wharton, Texas, and have been doing grid searches of flooded houses in conjunction with other task forces. Sometimes, an intuitive eye is what it takes to change and save lives, and Rocket is a prime example of this. We wish Mike, Rocket, and the other teams on the ground in Texas the very best of luck.

Photo credit: National Disaster Search Dog Foundation

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I have a newsletter! Interested in getting a sneak peek at the first few chapters of BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE before it launches later this month? Then just sign up at the bottom of the home page here on my website and you’ll be added to the list! More fun stuff coming in the newsletter such as cover reveals for the third book in the FBI K-9s series and Abbott and Lowell book #5, LAMENT THE COMMON BONES, as well as more sneak peeks, and early publishing news. Don’t miss out!