easy squeezy

Barton Oliver lives with a terrible secret. He’s in the witness protection program. People will kill him to find the $100 million his father stole from the mob. And, through a series of misfortunes, Oliver just became the President of the United States.

The country’s future hinges on what could be the last presidential election as two mercenaries – one a disgraced ex-special ops soldier on a quest of personal revenge, the other a battle-scarred Russian seeking her faceless assassins – fight their way across the globe to stop a terrible weapon that will fling the economy back to the Stone Age. They find the unlikeliest of allies – a young U.S. Marshal who can’t shoot straight. She must choose between protecting the president she loves – and saving the country.

Easy Squeezy is the second thriller by Pulitzer finalist and veteran investigative reporter Paul D’Ambrosio. He draws from economic turmoil and political conflagration to craft a fast-paced, international novel that is not far from today’s harsh realities. Fans of his debut thriller, Cold Rolled Dead, will see the return of psychologist Sister Maris Stella – complete with cigarettes, her Jersey “attitude,” and uncanny insight. The Jersey Shore, too, proves a powerful setting for the stark opening and stunning ending of Easy Squeezy.

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR EASY SQUEEZY
AUTHOR PAUL D'AMBROSIO

Q: A gazillion books come out every month. Why should people read your new techno-thriller, “Easy Squeezy”?

A: Two reasons: It’s an action-packed adventure with a lot of smart psychological tension that keeps readers guessing where the next plot twists will be and who is the real villain. Oh, it also solves the global economic crisis.

Q: You fix the worldwide economy? Isn’t that just a little bit too…

A: Whoa, let me stop you there. I’m pretty much just the transcriber. The heroes figure out exactly what is happening, what they have to do to stop an economic meltdown, and keep the whole United States of America from disintegrating on what may be the last presidential election – all the while fighting off killer air drones and nameless assassins. It’s a pretty busy two days for them.

Q: When you say you are the “transcriber,” that sounds like this book is based on real events. Have any of the events actually happened?

A: (Pause) I’m not allowed, for security reasons, to say what is real and what has been altered. I think the disclaimer in the front of the book speaks to the issue: “National security officials maintain that the integrity of the U.S. money supply remains secure from all threats, foreign and domestic. The following events are based on a classified and highly credible threat...” Obviously, no real names are used and locations have been changed.

But let me say this…In my extensive research for this book, I found the U.S. Federal Reserve banking system, and the integrity of the trillions of dollars in transactions that are held inside supposedly secure computers, are vulnerable to sophisticated attacks. We hear almost every day about cyber-attacks against military and economic targets from foreign powers. Those are pretty much dry runs for the Big One. Nuclear weapons are passé se for nations. The next World War will be an all-out crippling of our immense cyber infrastructure. Think about this: how would you do your job if no computer or telephone worked? How would you get money out of a bank if its computer system was shut down?

What I show in the book is that the biggest threats sometime are right under our noses. The characters see the threat, learn about the vulnerability in the economy and, well, fix it in a very surprising and unique way.

Q: You have worked as a real-life investigative journalist for more than 20 years, winning almost every top national award – some three times. You were even a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal in Public Service, essentially the Pulitzer of Pulitzers. How did your background prepare you for this story?

One thing I learned as a journalist is that anything, no matter how incredible, is possible. There are some stories that I have covered that if you pitched them to Hollywood, a producer would say, “no one would believe THAT happened!” I covered a lot of scandals in New Jersey and I’m always impressed by the creativity of the bad guys.

I made sure that all the technology presented in the book is accurate. I asked a former desert special ops NCO to read the battle scenes and point out errors. Experts in German, Russian and other languages kept my translations accurate. The reader will come away with a good, and frightening, understanding of what is out there, and in the skies, these days.

Q: Where did you get the title, “Easy Squeezy”?

I have to admit to stealing a technique from Elmore Leonard here, which saves the title’s surprise meaning until the end. As the book cover suggests, the title was devised by a little boy because one “e” is backward. Much of this book is about unbridled greed, revenge, and justice. The reader needs to keep in mind that the quest for justice never ends, even after 40 years.