LJ Andrews Author Blog: The Clock Strikes Midnight: Book Review tour stop

"The Clock Strikes Midnight is a race against time in a quest for revenge and atonement. This is a story about hate, love, betrayal and forgiveness.

If you found out you had only 3 months to live, what would you do? That’s the question Janie Knox faces in this fast-paced mystery full of uncertainty and tension that will surprise you until the very last page.

Hiding behind the façade of a normal life, Janie keeps her family secrets tucked inside a broken heart. Everything changes on the day she learns she’s going to die. With the clock ticking and her time running out, she rushes to finish what she couldn’t do when she was 17—destroy her mother’s killer. But she can’t do it alone.

Janie returns to her childhood home to elicit help from her sister. She faces more than she bargained for when she discovers her sister’s life in shambles. Meanwhile her mother’s convicted killer, her stepfather, recently released from prison, blackmails the sisters and plots to extract millions from the state in retribution. New revelations challenge Janie’s resolve, but she refuses to allow either time or her enemies to her stop her from uncovering the truth she’s held captive for over 20 years."

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“Daddy, when I get my kitty, can I name him Davy?” she had asked, yanking Marlene’s Davy Crockett mug full of M&M’s from her grasp.

The colorful candy spilled all over the backseat of the car.

“Mama, tell Janie to—”

“Janie, behave,” Daddy said, admonishing her for an instant with his eyes from the rearview

mirror.

“Malcolm, look out—!” Mom screamed.

Janie slammed into Marlene. Pain. The world tumbled topsy-turvy. The mug flew across the

interior of the car, colors of the rainbow falling all around her.

Then, everything went black.

When she opened her eyes, Mom’s blood-streaked face rose in front of her out of the darkness.

“Wrap your arms around my neck, honey.” Mom lifted her from the wreckage.

Janie clutched her doll by the dress while the rain beat her curly hair flat.

Marlene stood on the side of the road.

“Try to walk,” Mom said, toppling her from her arms.

Her head pounded and blood trickled down her leg. She leaned on her good leg and limped in the direction of her sister.

“Mama, where’s Daddy?” Marlene asked between sobs.

Mom took Marlene’s hand and yanked her forward with Janie in tow.

Marlene lurched back toward the smashed Oldsmobile with smoke billowing from its hood and a big tree lying across the roof. The Davy Crockett mug lay shattered by the back tire.

“Daddy! We can’t leave Daddy!” Marlene yelled, picking up pieces of the broken glass.

They had left Daddy that day and piled into an old Chevy pick-up truck with a bashed in

headlamp, belonging to a man with carrot-red hair. Mom pushed them inside the truck and

ordered the man to get help. But by then it was too late for Daddy.

It was too late for all of them.

Welcome to your stop for The Clock Strikes Midnight review tour and giveaway! I was given the opportunity to read and give my honest opinion about this novel. I typically find myself getting lost in the Fantasy/Science Fiction genre, so I wasn't sure how much this book would grab me--BUT (a big but) I was hooked immediately!

Author Joan C. Curtis does an AMAZING job at grabbing the reader and pulling them in. The Clock Strikes Midnight is a nail biting mystery to which I found myself staying up until early morning just to get to the bottom of it all. I even took up the precious hours of the littles nap time to read this book--that my friends is saying something. I finished it in 3 days. The story begins with Janie, who is a mystery all her own, as she takes a trip back to her rocky past to address some horrific people, and bad memories.

Each time a chapter ends you find you must keep reading, you must uncover the truth for your own sake! I would recommend this novel to anyone who is up for a heart-racing, edge-of-your-seat mystery! Well done Joan, well done.

Comment below to get a shot at winning a $25 Amazon/BN Gift Card!

Joan Curtis authored four business books published by Praeger Press. She has also published

numerous stories, including:

• Butterflies in a Strawberry Jar, Sea Oats Review, Winter, 2004

• A Memoir Of A Friend, Chicken Soup for the Working Woman’s Soul, 2003 and Flint

River Review, 1996

• Jacque’s Story in From Eulogy to Joy, 2002

• The Roommate, Whispering Willow Mystery Magazine, April 1997

• A Special Sort of Stubbornness, Reader’s Digest, March 1997,

• My Father’s Final Gift, Reader Digest, November 1994

Her first place writing awards include : Best mystery manuscript in the Malice Domestic Grants

competition, best proposal for a nonfiction piece in the Harriette Austin competition, and best

story, Butterflies in a Strawberry Jar in the Cassell Network of Freelance Writer’s Association.

Other Books:

Hire Smart and Keep ‘Em: How to Interview Strategically Using POINT, Praeger Press, an

imprint of ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara, CA 2012.

The New Handshake: Sales Meets Social Media, Praeger Press, 2010, an imprint of ABC-Clio,

Santa Barbara, CA

Managing Sticky Situations at Work: Communication Secrets for Success in the Workplace,

2009, Praeger Press, an imprint of ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara, CA.

Strategic Interviewing: Skills for Savvy Executives, 2000 published by Quorum Books,

Greenwood Press.

“I write about characters who remind me of myself at times and my sister at times, but never

fully so. My stories are told from a woman’s point of view. Characters drive my writing and my

reading.”

Having grown up in the South with a mother from Westchester County New York, Joan has a

unique take on blending the southern traditions with the eye of a northerner. She spent most of

her childhood in North Carolina and now resides in Georgia.

Author Links

Joan Curtis authored four business books published by Praeger Press. She is also published