Stealing from the Bear

SILVER MEDAL WINNER 2015 INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER BOOK AWARDS - 'BEST E-BOOK' - EAST OF MISSISSIPPI + EUROPE. *** 1995: Moscow: Year three of Russia's chaotic first stab at Democracy sees crime and corruption turn the biggest grab of state assets in history into what became known as 'The Wild East'. Young American Andy Donnegan has been in Moscow as long as democracy and has had enough of the ever more hazardous deals he's being given to fix for his boss in Vienna. A near death moment as a deal goes bad convinces him it's time to quit and head home to Boston. Out of nowhere, wily Colonel Tchasov from the FSB, Russia's new security service, shows up, telling Donnegan he's been under surveillance for months, ever since his name was found hidden on the body of an undercover cop. Tchasov 'insists' Donnegan take his dead agent's place and find out who was about to steal what from Mother Russia. But this was knowledge that had killed one host and would clearly kill again. Tchasov's convinced Donnegan was set for a pivotal role in an imminent and major crime involving his Austrian boss. He's not trying to pin the murder on him, he just wants him to go back to working the way he was and take the job when it gets offered. Donnegan refuses point blank, but Tchasov's unperturbed. He's known all along it would take something more potent than coercion to get the young American to agree and, unfortunately for Donnegan, he'd already found it. Andy Donnegan is about to get dropped into a dark Russian labyrinth where just staying alive would be a near miracle. This is no time to get mixed up in "Stealing from the Bear.”

SILVER MEDAL WINNER 2015 INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER BOOK AWARDS - 'BEST E-BOOK' - EAST OF MISSISSIPPI + EUROPE. *** 1995: Moscow: Year three of Russia's chaotic first stab at Democracy sees crime and corruption turn the biggest grab of state assets in history into what became known as 'The Wild East'. Young American Andy Donnegan has been in Moscow as long as democracy and has had enough of the ever more hazardous deals he's being given to fix for his boss in Vienna. A near death moment as a deal goes bad convinces him it's time to quit and head home to Boston. Out of nowhere, wily Colonel Tchasov from the FSB, Russia's new security service, shows up, telling Donnegan he's been under surveillance for months, ever since his name was found hidden on the body of an undercover cop. Tchasov 'insists' Donnegan take his dead agent's place and find out who was about to steal what from Mother Russia. But this was knowledge that had killed one host and would clearly kill again. Tchasov's convinced Donnegan was set for a pivotal role in an imminent and major crime involving his Austrian boss. He's not trying to pin the murder on him, he just wants him to go back to working the way he was and take the job when it gets offered. Donnegan refuses point blank, but Tchasov's unperturbed. He's known all along it would take something more potent than coercion to get the young American to agree and, unfortunately for Donnegan, he'd already found it. Andy Donnegan is about to get dropped into a dark Russian labyrinth where just staying alive would be a near miracle. This is no time to get mixed up in "Stealing from the Bear.”

RAY VILLIS A screenwriter and journalist, Ray Villis’s first novel - STEALING FROM THE BEAR - is an international crime thriller set in the uncertain atmosphere of a Russia that was struggling with the change from Communism to Democracy. Although rooted in Yeltsin's Russia the original idea for his book emerged from events witnessed and characters met while in Latvia researching for a screenplay called 'RIGA'. Before writing the novel he travelled widely through Russia. “The two trips I took added up to a unique and wonderful experience at a stimulating time that came with its own hazards and anxieties. I hope that my novel captures some of that. ” Describing himself as somewhat footloose, aside from the UK, he has lived in the USA, France, Italy, Greece, Portugal, South Africa, Australia and Venezuela and ‘spent or mispent’ time in the major cities and primitive outposts of dozens of other countries in all five Continents, experiencing dictatorships, revolutionary governments, martial law, riots and civil war...’and a lot of humanity and laughter.’ He lives in London and is currently writing more screenplays and the first of two sequels to his first novel. More about Ray Villis’s background and that of his book can be found on the Author’s official website - www.rayvillis.com