Van Fleisher
My journey to becoming an author took over seventy years, and it started in high school – a requirement if I wanted to play football and baseball. Mr. Smith, my literature teacher, was intrigued when I aced his essay test after six weeks of saying nothing in class. And so, he asked me how I did so well. My answer was simply that, “I’d listened.” He asked if I read books, and I answered honestly, “No.” So, he handed me a copy of a book, “The Catcher in the Rye,” suggesting I might like it. I took it and actually read it, anxiously waiting for the baseball part that would surely be in a book with that title. I’d been tricked but kick-started to a lifetime of reading.
I enjoyed two careers over fifty years that afforded me not only the opportunity to read voraciously on my thousands of flights (seriously) but also to learn so much about people, cultures, business, and life. I worked for an international airline and lived in five U.S. cities, three countries, and worked all over the world. My other career was as an international management consultant, working in and flying between thirty plus countries.
Not surprisingly, upon retirement, I decided to write. FINAL NOTICE was my first thriller, and a sequel, FINAL ACT, will be out in April 2020. I split my time between Carpinteria, California, and Simorre, France, with my partner (and editor), Jackie Morris, and our goldendoodle, Yogi.
Our hero, DR. VIJAY PATEL, a medical scientist, has invented a revolutionary health/sports watch whose analytics are so accurate, that it can predict when someone will die – within 10, 20, or 30 days – based on the individual’s blood chemistry.
His goal in detecting the precise time of death is to help people get their legal affairs in order, revise wills, realize a last bucket-list wish, or perhaps just reconnect with family, friends, lovers, or ex-lovers. With these aims in mind, along with the promise of financial success, Vijay finds his efforts are coming to fruition. The watch is working brilliantly in early testing, and a significant IPO for his fledgling company, VitalTech, is on the horizon. But Vijay has left out one key possibility from the “to-do” list of dying watch wearers. Knowing when they would die, some people might kill… with impunity.
The incidents within Final Notice are often unrelated (think BLACKLIST), as they unfold against a consistent conflict pitting VIJAY PATEL, his wife, JENNIFER, and Vince’s colleagues at VitalTech, against a young FBI agent, ZOE BROUET, the NRA, and those who will use the Final Notice technology to achieve their own goals.
Laced with political satire, dark humor, and a dash of romance, FINAL NOTICE is a fast-paced thriller that is, at the same time, a realistic reflection of modern society.
