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Ian Bradshaw | The Crooked Boundary
The Crooked Boundary is an intriguing story that slowly builds a crooked moral line between right and wrong. What was your inspiration for the setup of the story and how did that help you create the ending?
The inspiration was a friend who built a house on the wrong block of land; resulting in a legal battle that ended with a rather hollow win for him.
The description of the characters and their back stories are well developed. What is your experience with investing, websites, and real estate and how did you bring that into the novel?
I have dabbled in real estate investing for many years. As for websites, my knowledge is rather limited.
I think of The Crooked Boundary as a suspense story as well as a revenge story. Was it your intention to write this story in those genres?
Yes, as it was not intended to be a “who dunnit” mystery novel, I combined those two genres.
One of the main moral decisions in the novel is left up to a character named Cruz who I find to be an interesting person. What was your inspiration for that character and his role in the story?
Just to have a colorful character who could be construed as the good guy in the story.
Author Links: Facebook | GoodReads
Disgruntled investors who participated in class actions against the promoters of two failed dot-com companies in Australia and Brazil are left stunned when both actions are dismissed in the courts. The promoters then use the profits from their dubious business operations in the development of a country club and golf course in Tarabush, Australia. The project will be built on land purchased from their next door neighbor, Rex Whittaker, who lost money in the Australian dot-com company. Rex is a retired widower living alone; he befriends Cruz Bardot an information technology specialist who served in the Gulf War. Cruz is also the president of a dirt bike club located in bushland behind Rex’s property. When the only access bridge to the dirt bike club area is washed away in a flash flood, Rod and Cal, who are an eccentric pair of Vietnam vets and despite their age are dirt bike club members, go looking in the forest for another way to get to the dirt bike area. As they look for that alternative route they meet Rex for the first time, and unbeknown to everyone except Cruz, what comes out of that chance meeting creates what could be an opportunity for some of the investors to recoup part of their losses. It is now up to Cruz to decide what to do about it.
The Crooked Boundary
The Crooked Boundary by Ian Bradshaw is a tale of the owners of two dot-com companies in Brazil and Australia that completely failed, causing investors to lose a great deal of money. The investors are so upset, they filed a class action suit against the owners. The owners then take the earning from those companies and being the development on a country club and golf course in Australia. Behind that property is a dirt bike course whose only access bridge becomes washed away in a storm. Two members of the club decide to go in search of an alternative route to the club in a nearby forest. There they meet Rex and Cruz. This chance meeting begins an opportunity for the previous investors of the failed dot-com companies to regain some of their losses.
Mr. Ian Bradshaw writes with an authoritative and informative voice. He spends time building up the background of the dot-com companies as well as the owners. The settings are very descriptive and characters are complex. The flow and pacing of the story is conducive to the development of the characters. Mr. Bradshaw does a good job at developing the battle between the self interest of the owners and the high moral ground they choose to ignore. This conflict develops organically through dialogue and character interaction. He does a great job relating everything together without making it feel forced or unnatural. The story takes place in two of the most interesting and exotic places: Australia and Brazil, thus giving the story a remote feel to it. But with that said, sometimes there was so much description that some points needed to be reread as it seemed difficult to understand some of the wording. And there were some sections that were heavy in investment and business lingo.
Otherwise, the author weaves an interesting tale of complex interpersonal relationships and shady business practices. A lot of things are happening at once in this story, or rather multiple stories that are all connected through the same cast of characters. Every step of the way, Bradshaw keeps his readers guessing and contemplating what will happen next. Every moment in the story is unpredictable building suspense in seemingly common interactions. The characters are completely unpredictable as well, just when you think you know how a certain character will react to a situation, they do something different. What I really enjoyed about this story is that it’s complete; there are no holes leaving me wondering what happened.
There are many elements that go into making this an excellent story. Mr. Bradshaw draws on his experiences as a real estate investor for his novel. This is evident throughout the novel. He does a remarkable job at turning his own knowledge into a fascinating novel. I would recommend this novel not only to people who enjoy business and investment, but also those who enjoy a compelling novel with a unique style of suspense.
Pages: 330 | ISBN: 1502364433
Love Them or Loathe Them
The Family Law Court in Lansborough become the battlegrounds for Alexis Smythe and her ex-partner Martin Thompson, as they try to sort out their differences surrounding their eight years twins, after their acrimonious separation. Alexis’s mother Danielle is a business partner in Greymoon Gardens Village, a future retirement village project being developed. Tensions have always simmered between the Foster and Thompson families since a disputed land deal two generations ago. While Alexis and Martin are slugging out in the courts, Denis Thompson explores the disputed bushland and discovers something that brings Alexis and Danielle into the ongoing feud between the two warring families.
Ian Bradshaw
Author, Ian Bradshaw, takes a few minutes to discuss his novel, Greymoon River Road. We talk about his personal inspiration for the characters and the disputed land deal in the novel.
I felt bad for Martin having to go through that mess with his ex-wife Alexis. What was your inspiration for those characters and their situation?
My son was involved in a similar experience. He represented himself in the Family Law Court, and my wife and I joined in the legal action, representing ourselves, trying to gain access to one of our grandchildren.
The characters in Greymoon River Road are very complex. What is your process for creating such in depth characters?
Obviously the characters are critical to the success of the book, as is engaging the reader to love them or loathe them in a process that slowly builds up as the book progresses. I don’t really like going into detailed physical descriptions of the characters, I prefer the readers to use their imagination.
Greymoon River Road is about a disputed land deal that happened a long time ago. How did this become the setting for your story?
Sometime ago a friend of mine purchased some acreage in bushland. He proceeded to have a house built on it. Just after it was finished it was discovered the house was built on the wrong land. He had actually purchased an adjacent property. A complex legal battle followed and he had a hollow victory in court.
You’ve written other books as well. How has your past writing experience helped you with writing Greymoon River Road?
Reading reviews and listening to advice from friends made me realize that entertaining the reader is the top priority, rather than getting carried away with telling the story in a manner that does not hold the reader’s interest. The choice of the name of the book is also critical, together with the cover.
Greymoon River Road
Oh, wow! This story elicited so many different emotions in me! Normally I’m strictly romance stories kind of girl, but I enjoyed reading this from start to finish. It was very well written. The characters all had depth and layers which are awesome. I felt bad for Martin having to go through that mess with his ex-wife Alexis and not being able to see his twins. That was horrible for him. I couldn’t imagine having to deal with that.
At first I thought Danielle was way too controlling and I couldn’t understand her intense hatred for Martin. The more I read the more I understood. I started to sympathize with her. It made sense why she was filled with such hatred. I would have probably reacted the same way. Betrayal eats at you like a poison. Though I had hoped she would come around if only to free herself of that hatred. Everyone deserves peace in their lives.
Arnold and Cindy’s love is what we all secretly want. To have someone love you for that long is amazing. To wake up knowing this person loves your flaws and all. Yeah, they struggled from time to time, but they stuck with each other through it all. What relationship doesn’t have its ups and downs? That’s how the strongest relationships are built. The situation between Jeremy and Nana was sad. I kept expecting him to mess up and say something.
The more I read and found out about the feuding between the Thompson family and the Fosters the more I was torn between siding with one or the other. They were both wronged. To keep it going for eighty years though was a little much. They put their own children through something that had nothing really to do with them. In a way, I get it and in a way I think it should have been settled. Just like Maree, Justin, and Martin did in the end. That gesture showed how they had grown as individuals. Something I feel their parents should have been able to do.
Overall I liked how each character was in some way, shape, or form intertwined with each other. The way they interacted was very believable. They acted just like a normal family or small town would. They had drama, suspense, murder, love, and family togetherness. Then add in an 80-year long family feud and it all makes for an amazing story.
The author, Ian Bradshaw, did an excellent job of pulling emotions from everywhere. With every turn of the page you discovered a new twist. When you thought you knew what was going to happen something changed that made you rethink. Just when you think this character is going to be the one you cannot stand something is revealed that makes you understand why they are the way the are. May not have started out as my normal read, but I am glad I read it.
Pages: 318 | ISBN: 9781742845432
LITERARY TITAN 