📚 A Bookish Chat with 'Dime' Luis Figueredo @luisfigueredo0 #AuthorInterview #BlogTour #Interview
Luis Figueredo was born and raised in the Bronx, New York. He completed his undergraduate degree in History from Brandeis University in Massachusetts and earned his law degree from Harvard Law School. He is currently the City Attorney for the City of Doral.
During his legal profession, Luis developed a nationwide practice representing a diverse group of clients that include municipalities, national trade associations, corporations, real estate developers, and Indian Tribes.
His latest book is the legal thriller, DIME.
TWL: Welcome to The Writer's Life! How did you come up with the idea to write your book?
Luis Figueredo: Most lawyers fantasize about truly interesting cases where they represent an underdog against impossible odds. I started with that premise and as I started to write the story it evolved into a story where the protagonist was put in an impossible situation taking on the most powerful drug cartel and the U.S.DEA to save the lives of his clients.
TWL: Can you give us a short excerpt?
Luis Figueredo: Chapter One
SAINT MAARTEN
Juan Carlos Laporte took a long drag of his cigarette and listened intently to the Saint Maarten police force scamper just outside his bed-room window. The first police car swerved into the driveway of his oceanfront condominium at approximately three in the morning. Twenty minutes later the entire property was blocked in by patrol cars and surrounded by uniformed police. Juan Carlos considered his options as the police moved with purpose just outside his front door. Ordinarily, Juan Carlos would have a contingency plan. However, with each passing second, the notion that he didn’t have one became more deeply rooted in his thought process. At thirty-nine Juan Carlos was already a twenty-two-year veteran of the drug smuggling business. When he was seventeen, Juan Carlos began his career in the drug trade by unloading marijuana shipments in remote swamps in the Florida Everglades. By the time he celebrated his twenty-eighth birthday, Juan Carlos Laporte was a financial advisor to one of the most powerful drug cartels in the world.
* * *
The swirling blue and white lights sliced through the drawn blinds. Juan Carlos’s eyes moved down to his watch. Thirty minutes had now passed since the first patrol car pulled into the driveway. He raised the cigarette to his lips and took another pull never thinking that in the end his demise would come at the hands of the Saint Maarten police force. The United States Drug Enforcement Administration and Interpol had been trying unsuccessfully for years to connect him to the South American drug cartels and ironically in the matter of the next few minutes he would be arrested on a small island that had built its economy on servicing tax evaders and criminals.
TWL: What part of the book was the most fun to write?
Luis Figueredo: The action sequences and the scenes when Pierce (the Lawyer) and Dario, the head of the cartel engage in a battle of wits.
TWL: What’s one fact about your book that would surprise people?
Luis Figueredo: The story is filled with twists and is unpredictable.
TWL: What other books are you working on and when will they be published?
Luis Figueredo: I recently finished “Breaking Arrows,” a courtroom battle and legal thriller involving a small Indian tribe’s battle against a corrupt system. After his grandson dies swimming in a contaminated pond, Jeremiah Tiger, Chief of the Kialegee, knows he can no longer sit by and allow his tribe to barely survive. For any chance at a future, the tribe needs to reclaim what is rightfully theirs and push back on 300 years of oppression. Jeremiah enlists the help of charismatic lawyer, Pierce Evangelista, to fight the State of Oklahoma, and the U.S. Department of Justice in a series of fiercely controversial legal battles. It should be published the summer 2022.
I am currently writing a book entitled “When Canaries Die.”
TWL: Finally, what message are you trying to get across with your book?
Luis Figueredo: That there isn’t always a clear line separating us and the world of drug cartels. Organized crime is well entrenched and ingrained in the fabric of our society.
TWL: Do you have any final words?
Luis Figueredo: My favorite books are those that keep me reading at night way past my bedtime, totally invested in the story. I hope that DIME affects its readers the very same way.
Title: DIME
Author: Luis Figueredo
Publisher: Speaking Volumes
Pages: 472
Genre: Legal Thriller
BOOK BLURB:
Pierce Evangelista, a sharp-witted, Harvard-educated lawyer is drawn into the brutal and violent power struggle between the Venezuelan drug cartel and the DEA. Juan Carlos, who holds crippling information about the cartel, sits in the Curacao Prison awaiting extradition. Pierce realizes that his client’s life only holds value to the DEA if he agrees to cooperate. The cartel won’t allow Juan Carlos to tell the DEA what he knows and plans to kill him before he can be extradited.
Evangelista is forced to rely on his keen instincts and employ unconventional tactics to take on the DEA and the Venezuelan drug cartel to protect the life of his client.
“A Powerful Page Turner!”—The BookViral Review
“A powerful and engrossing novel from beginning to end, Dime proves a must-read for discerning fans of the genre and a superb debut for Figueredo. A Remarkable Legal Thriller”—Literary Titan
“The strength of Luis Figueredo’s writing is in the ability to create a conflict that allows the characters to evolve as they deal with challenging situations. It is a wonderful read, indeed.” Readers ‘Favorite
Book Information
Release Date: January 17, 2022
Publisher: Speaking Volumes
Hard Cover: ISBN: 978-1794727571; 556 pages; $10.75
Soft Cover: ISBN: 978-1645406099; 472 pages; $19.95
Kindle eBook: ASIN: B09QMN5LWH; 474 pages; $4.99
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3tJgSk5
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50386840-dime
The Writer’s Life
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