Book review: Elixir by Ted Galdi

Elixir, a cerebral thriller by Ted Galdi, keeps  readers on the edge of their seats from start to finish as an unlikely hero gets caught up in the inner workings of the NSA.

Meet Sean Malone.  He has an IQ above 200, a full-ride scholarship to one of the country’s top universities, and more than one million dollars from his winning streak on Jeopardy!  Life is sweet; however, Sean wishes he could just be normal.  Not likely, since Sean is only 14 years old.

In class, Sean writes an algorithm solving the Traveling Salesman Problem – the biggest enigma in computer science – and his professor submits it to the NSA.  The NSA soon manipulates Sean so they can control the code, using it in their pursuit of a drug lord and killing innocent people along the way.

For the sake of personal security, Sean is forced to go into hiding and he builds a new life for himself in Rome – a new name and no academics a must if he is to hide his genius from the world. At age 18, Sean falls in love. But as fate would have it, his girlfriend falls critically ill with a deadly disease and it’s up to him to use his intellect to find a cure. Coming out of hiding, however, thrusts him into a battle against a multi-billion-dollar pharmaceutical company – and the demons of his past!

“Elixir is different than a typical thriller because it doesn’t just focus on suspense,” says Galdi. “My favorite part of writing it was coming up with characters the reader would care about. The thrills are that much better if the characters mean something to you in their own way. I also think people will find the tie-in to the controversy around Edward Snowden and leaked NSA activities interesting. Since it happened, no thriller has really tried to pull the cover off the type of stuff that goes on there, at least not on this level.”

About the Author:

Ted Galdi is a graduate of Duke University and co-founder of StadiumRoar.com, a software company that streamlines event-management logistical data.  Elixir is his first novel. For more information, including the book trailer and three-chapter preview, please visit: http://www.elixirthebook.com.

Available as a paperback and Kindle e-book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MAYJIZM

Book Reviews

 high praise for Exilir, reviewed by Suzanne Hubbard

Best read in a long time. Too hard to out down to eat or sleep. Hope he writes another. Great writer!

 Elixir, reviewed by bk
A really good read. It may be si-fi but maybe not. Mr. GALDI MAKES THIS STORY so real it must almost be a true story. The characters are so believable and down to earth. Being different is not always fun even when you are brilliant. I recommend this book to all readers.

 a good read, reviewed by Larry Jorio

This book is one that truly delves into the mind and heart of people with special talents. I enjoyed this book immensely.

Meet Rebecca Luther, author of Chronicles of Magic: Secrets of the Untold

 

Rebecca Luther’s debut novella, Chronicles of Magic: Secrets of The Untold, was written and published in conjunction with the Teen Writing Group at The Stony Point Rose Memorial Library. Created and run by Jennifer Russell, the library program guides young individuals in the process of writing for publication through collaborative critiques and editing workshops.

 

Rebecca has been attending the Teen Writing Group since it’s inception in the summer of 2013. The challenge was to have a teen writer finish a piece, have it edited and then self published to be put in circulation at the library. Rebecca is the first participant to have accomplished this goal! Once her book was published she had a book signing and open discussion at The Outside Inn gallery in Piermont, NY. She also attended the Book ExpoAmerica event in NYC to meet authors and get a sense of the publishing world.  Rebecca continues to write and attend the Teen Writing Group.

~~~This is a first book in a series of three.~~~

The main character, Kellie Lynn, wakes up on her 13th birthday to discover that she has innate magical powers that she inherited from her parents. Her four other sisters wake up to the same information. They will set out on a quest to vanquish evil in the form of a dark sorceress.

ISBN  ~  9781312050563
Copyright  ~  Rebecca Luther (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0)
Edition  ~  First Edition
Publisher  ~  Rose Memorial Library Association
Published  ~  May 9, 2014

 

for teens, tweens, and adults

Great gift for teens, tweens, and their adults, too! Emily’s Stories by Malcolm R. Campbell in Print, Audio, and Ebook! Get yours today…http://www.amazon.com/Emilys-Stories-Malcolm-R-Campbell/dp/0615928145 for any (and all) formats! Grab one for that special ‘kid’ and one for the kid in you!

And in Audiobook, too!

AUDIO

http://www.amazon.com/Emilys-Stories/dp/B00CF7JNPE

Emily’s Stories is three short stories that will delight and entertain readers (and listeners) of all ages, with the tales of the young girl, Emily Walters, as she explores her world and that of the world around her… both mundane and temporal.

Emily Walters is a sharp, inquisitive fourteen-year-old north Florida girl who loves maps, her rusty old bike, and the forest behind her house. Sometimes her dreams tell her the future and sometimes her waking hours bring wise birds and other spirits into her life. In these three short stories, join Emily in adventures and mysteries.

When her family vacations in the mountains in “High Country Painter,” a wise Pine Siskin tells her she must quickly learn how to paint dreams into reality to prevent an afternoon hike from becoming a tragedy.

In “Map Maker,” she’ll need her skills—and the help of a Chuck-will’s-widow—to fight a developer’s plans for from bulldozing the sacred forest behind her house and replacing it with a subdivision.

In “Sweetbay Magnolia,” she’ll learn the secrets of her grandmother’s favorite tree, the crumbling almost-forever house down on the river, and why some ghosts would rather visit than haunt.

EMILY’S STORIES Sneak Peek Video

http://youtu.be/bvNcTBm66Kw