LAYOVER: DAVID BELL

Obsessions and fixations can often send your world in many directions. A prologue that is chilling and a man whose mind seems to have forgotten events that placed him in a hospital room along with the police. What happened to him? What about the second person found at the scene as author David Bell takes us back to where it all began and we meet Joshua Fields as he is about to take off on a business trip and what happens during the layover will change his life, his perception of people and realities that he thought existed but did not.

Working for his father in his real estate company he is enlisted to travel more than several times week to handle transactions and deals. But as we hear his voice and learn more about him, he is not any different than other reluctant flyers that need something to settle them down before every flight. However, one flight, one quick encounter would forever change his definition and yours of Layover.

Seeing her face at the airport and feeling what he thought was an instant connection brought Morgan into his life for a short interval. Knowing he was supposed to fly to Tampa why at the end of their short time together does he change his flight and go to Nashville. With no reason in mind and thinking that he just needed to see her at least one more time even though she said they would part for good, the scene on the plane is quite revealing and the result should make him back out of her life and stick to his own. But what happens next sets him in a direction that might have been the link to what the author created in the prologue.

Joshua is relentless and when he sees Morgan’s face on the news as missing why does he decide to bring it to the attention of the police at the airport and then divert his business trip and hope to find her? So caught up in her life, the fact that she might be in danger at times he fails to think about the way things might turn out, if she is playing him for a fool, is this a scam and what really was her role at her job as she relates it to him from a hotel room?

Things are not what they appear to be, and Joshua might be lured into a scam that might take him into the depths of deception as the author weaves an intricate web of lies, deceptions and fabrications created by a woman that claims that she created something for her job and was never compensated like her male coworkers. Resorting to drastic measures in order to take control of her mother’s home care and medical issues and paying off her student loan, she managed to do something what would place her in jeopardy and Joshua too.

Joshua seems determined to help Morgan while Detective Kimberly Givens has a case to solve of a missing man named Giles  Caldwell. When Detective Nelson calls her and has information that might link Morgan to the missing man in Laurel Falls, things take a different turn as Joshua’s name is now linked with this case. Looking for him might prove difficult and once again finding her means he risks it all but in the long run will she disappear into the darkness while her friends seem to find her distant and aloof. No one seems to know where she might go, the truth behind why she quit her job and the link between her and the missing man thinking they might be in this together.

Morgan worked for TechGreen and had created an app that made them a lot of money. Imagine an app that allowed you the shopper to enter products you found in the store-clothes, food, cleaning supplies, whatever and this app would tell you the product’s environmental impact. Imagine something that would alert you the consumer to dangerous poisons or was pollution generated? Wouldn’t that be great? But she claimed her idea was widely accepted but she never received the bonuses the men did.

Joshua is so embroiled that when he goes back to his hotel room how did Simon Caldwell, Giles brother find him and what did he want to know about his relationship with Morgan and the suspense and intrigue are electrifying and the twists that come about will shock readers as his account about what happened to Morgan and how she was treated at work might not parallel to what she told Joshua.

Things spiral in many directions when Morgan and Joshua spend the night together, she disappears, and Simon Caldwell takes aim at him in order to find Morgan. But a maintenance worker goes out on a limb, winds up the object of Simon’s anger and Kimberly Givens gets the wrath of the Mayor for not finding both Morgan and Joshua when she arrived at Wyckoff county.
With one clue that might start a chain reaction of events to find not only both Joshua and Morgan but the answers to what happened to Giles if revealed things take on a dangerous turn and Joshua seems so embroiled in this case and for some reason will not take a hike and return to his job, you wonder if there is a veil of blindness or darkness surrounding his eyes as he might not see things and events as they should be. The author has created characters that are flawed, conflicting and a police detective that seems so dedicated and determined to find answers and do the right thing that her daughter might suffer in the long run with her missing presence.

The innermost dialogue and conflicts that the author creates within Joshua’s mind that you hear firsthand and the innermost thoughts of the detectives involved are detailed, vividly created and you can almost feel and see the tension in their faces and their heart stopping moments that they must endure.

Things take on a  different turn when the author introduces us to Simon Caldwell, and we get two different viewpoints about his character and his relationship with Giles. While Simon Hatfield who works directly with him has one viewpoint about his man not being social, friendly and getting emails from Morgan about the bonus she was entitled to and never got plus a situation involving a girl and a young man who was harassed and threatened and what Hatfield describes is short of a slow brand of torture and yet when Joshua meets Simon he claims to be concerned about his missing brother, is overbearing and seems intimidating and yet Joshua feels compelled to tell him about his relationship with Morgan but there’s an undertone that is eerie about this man and you get chills just knowing he’s in the room as Joshua is now linked to him.

Things spiral out of control when Morgan contacts Joshua and he comes face to face with Simon and the result going to this encounter, not thinking or the ramifications or where it would lead, sends him down more than a spiral staircase and the startling revelation about Giles Caldwell comes to a glaring light. Waking up in the hospital and disoriented and being questioned by Kimberly, you realize that her main purpose is answers and being nice or understanding to Joshua.

Finding Morgan would be next in line but just where she is and why she is running remains to be revealed as the author takes readers on more than a roller coaster ride in the defunct Fantasy Farm that kept kids amused in the past.

When the truth behind what happened to Giles Caldwell comes to light Joshua has to decide where his loyalties lie and where his life is headed. Trust does not always come with the truth in this case and one has a dark mist or fog hanging over his eyes and does not see the realities of the situation he so desperately wants to understand.

What happens when one 26 year old man named Joshua Fields goes to the airport, sees a woman that fills his vision with thoughts of maybe she’s the one and the end result will change the course of not only his life, that of others as he learns that in air travel a stop or transfer from one play is considered to be a connection up to a certain maximum allowed connecting time. As Joshua learns that his next flight is delayed and the long distance travel to his next one will take some more time he sees a face in the crowd and connects with the person and learns what happens when life hands you a deck of cards that might not be quite real or a hand that is corrupt as author David Bell creates two characters that connect, disconnect as trust, deceptions, lies, deceits, false statements and hope for the future all hold their fates as one Detective named Kimberly Givens who is relentless, needs affirmation that she is successful in the eyes of her peers, the Mayor and her daughter pushes it to the limit and won’t stop until she connects the dots, finds the answers and learns the truth about why Joshua Fields and finally understand the ramifications of what can happen on a chance encounter during a layover.

Fran Lewis: Just reviews