Wired Dawn, Paradise Crime #5, is coming soon on December 8!

I sent the copyedited manuscript of the latest in Sophie's adventures off to the Typo Hunters for a final polish before we format and go to press! It's a great feeling, and I think you will love this next in the series starring Sophie Ang, the scarred and beautiful warrior investigator of Paradise Crime.

Sophie has a very different character development arc than Lei Texeira, the protagonist of Lei Crime. Sophie grew up in a privileged home in Thailand, the offspring of a workaholic American ambassador and a Thai aristocrat who suffered from chronic depression. Under the influence of her mother's family, she was married young to a sadistic gangster from  Hong Kong. Sophie was a prisoner in a gilded cage for five years, subject to many tortures of the mind and body by her husband. She escaped when headhunted by the FBI for her tech and language abilities, and remade herself as an MMA fighter and tech specialist in the FBI, living in Honolulu in the shelter of her father's house.

Her journey of self discovery and healing begins in Wired IN, but has continued in Wired ROGUE, Wired HARD, and Wired DARK. In this book, Wired DAWN, she's out from all known comforts, routine and identity, following her intuition and her faithful Ginger's nose, and getting into all sorts of danger, intrigue and romance in Kalalau, one of the most gorgeous settings in the world.

I always like to share a little about what inspired the book,  and I am always looking for ideas to include in my stories. Several years ago, I was intrigued by an article about a rogue group of campers squatting way back in Kalalau Valley, and the efforts by rangers and the DLNR (Department of Land and Natural Resources) to get them out. Not long after, I heard of a female hiker who was murdered, thrown off the trail to her death by a male hiker she met on the trail.

I decided then and there I’d be using that gorgeous, remote, mana-infused valley for a story.

Growing up on Kaua’i, our family hiked to Hanakapiai on a regular basis and once took a little wooden boat with an outboard all the way to out there to camp when I was a kid. I still remember a harrowing landing, ferrying our camping gear in garbage bags on boogie boards to the beach through pounding surf.

A great way to see Kalalau’s unforgettable majesty is from the top at the Koke’e lookout. The view down the valley to the sea is one of the most beautiful in the world.

Grab your copy NOW by clicking the cover below and choosing your retailer, so it's delivered direct to your e-reader device on 12/8 at 4 pm PST! And be sure to join me for a FB LIVE EVENT on my Toby Neal Books Page,

as I get on video and share the book and it's inspiration and give away prizes, including mugs, one of Mike Neal's famous calendars, and a gift card!

Paradise has no protection from a hidden evil.

Security specialist Sophie Ang goes “off the grid” into the remote valley of Kalalau on Kaua`i, where she stumbles across the disappearance of a young boy. As she races against time to save him, uncovering ugly secrets hidden in the heart of the jungle, the events she tried to flee on Oahu gather momentum.