Richard Grace

RIO Insidious Connections

As Real As It Gets
Fotograf: Stock, Free Range C

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️"A five-star, raw, immersive thrill ride through paradise and peril. This book was everything I didn't know I needed in a thriller-scintillating escapism with a dark, beating heart. From the vibrant streets of Copacabana to the knife's edge inside a Rio favela, this story pulses with danger, mystery, and unexpected humor. Richard Grace isn't your prototypical hero-he's observant, flawed, and increasingly aware that his pursuit of pleasure has dropped him into a city where the stakes are life and death. The blend of historical truth, sharp dialogue, and seductive tension kept me hooked from page one. By the end, I wasn't just reading about Rio-I felt like I had lived it." RIO Insidious Connections is a high-octane fusion of fact and fiction, inspired by true events. Set against the alluring chaos of Rio de Janeiro during the holiday season of 1991, this pulse-pounding thriller plunges readers into a world where espionage, geopolitics, and the brutal truths of human connection collide. Richard Grace and his best friend, Steve Archer, arrive in Rio chasing sun-soaked debauchery and carefree thrills. While Steve dives headfirst into the city's intoxicating nightlife, Richard's curiosity pulls him into its volatile underbelly-where every smile hides a secret, and every favor comes with a price. Drawn in by a retired Canadian mercenary with a checkered past, Richard uncovers a Rio few outsiders ever witness: bare-knuckle fights in a gang-controlled favela, brutal street justice, and covert CIA ops stretching all the way to Eastern Europe. As the Agency funnels aid to Ukraine's resistance in their shadow war against Russian dominance, Richard is pulled deeper into a global web of power, corruption, and betrayal. At the center of the chaos is Andrea-a captivating and elusive operative tied to the Ukrainian Resistance. Her presence ignites a searing romance that challenges everything Richard believes... even as he realizes he's in way over his head. Featuring a cast of unforgettable characters-from a ruthless Russian mobster to a cold-eyed ex-KGB honey trap, a fearless BOPE enforcer (Brazilian elite special operations police), to the enigmatic CIA maestro pulling strings behind the scenes-RIO Insidious Connections blurs the boundaries between truth and fiction, passion and peril, paradise and purgatory. Taut, provocative, and laced with biting humor and gritty cultural insight, this is more than a tropical thrill ride-it's a reckoning. As Richard confronts the dark truths behind paradise, he must decide how far he's willing to go... and who he's willing to become? Reader beware: this story might just rewrite your definition of adventure. Blame it on Rio.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Printed Word Publishers
• Seitenzahl: 352
• Erscheinungstermin: 7. November 2025
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 229mm x 152mm x 24mm
• Gewicht: 626g
• ISBN-13: 9798991768115
• Artikelnr.: 75665281

Autorenporträt

Richard, a native of Massachusetts and Colby College graduate, is a writer, martial artist, and global traveler whose stories are forged from years navigating the inspirational landscapes and raw underground currents of Latin America. His debut novel, RIO INSIDIOUS CONNECTIONS-As Real As It Gets, launches THE INSIDIOUS TRILOGY, a high-stakes, character-driven journey across Brazil, Colombia, and Panama. His obsession with adventure began early. As a high school freshman, he was captivated by the televised explorations of Jacques Cousteau and even wrote to him in hopes of interning aboard his iconic research vessel, Calypso. To his surprise, Cousteau replied with a signed letter urging him to stay focused on his passions. Soon after, Richard reached out to treasure hunter Mel Fisher-then deep in his epic search for the sunken Spanish galleon Atocha, angling for a spot on his next dive. Not long after, Richard discovered THE TREASURE HUNTER by Robin Moore, a real-life account of adventurer Howard Jennings. Hooked by the dream of chasing Inca gold and pirate booty across South America and the Caribbean, Richard tracked down the book's publisher in an effort to join Jennings on his next expedition. But he was too late-Jennings had died in a plane crash in 1990 while in route to a dig in what was then Yugoslavia. Undeterred, Richard tracked down Moore himself. Fate placed the renowned author of THE FRENCH CONNECTION and THE GREEN BERETS just one town over in Concord, Massachusetts. The two met at the historic Colonial Inn, where Moore spoke candidly about a life built on risk, storytelling, and perseverance, handing Richard a signed copy of his latest book, THE WHITE TRIBE. One of his most prized possessions to this day. That meeting set his compass permanently toward the unknown. After high school, Richard set his sights on trekking Mount Kilimanjaro, roomed with a student during a semester at UC San Diego from Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, and plotted an off-the-grid treasure hunt across jungle and coast-but those plans got shelved when college dues came knocking. To repay student loans and finance the trip, Richard worked as a lumberjack-physical labor that mirrored his relentless drive. Though the Yucatán expedition never materialized, the fire behind it remained. Eventually, Brazil called. Richard trained in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Rio, helped run the café he owned in Porto Seguro, and immersed himself in the country's culture through countless return trips. Back in the States, he earned a Black Belt in American Kenpo, sharpening the resilience and discipline that shape both his life and risk-taking attitude. He draws from those intense personal experiences to craft fiction that hits close to the bone-unfiltered and visceral. He doesn't just write about danger-he's brushed up against it. He doesn't just describe obsession-he's lived with it. Whether on the mat, in the streets, or behind a desk, the world he writes is the one he knows. No handholding, no sugarcoating. If you're here, you're ready. Strap in.