Featured Author: Joseph Rinaldo

Joe's Kentucky born and bred. His hometown, Owensboro, is also the setting for his book, Hazardous Choices. Joe hangs out online on Facebook and Twitter. You also can find Joe at his web site.

The fictional Western Kentucky State University Darnell Jackson attends is based on the college he rooted for as a kid. One of the characters, Eric Rotteli, has Down Syndrome. Joe's daughter also has Down. Knowing her and coaching Special Olympics basketball enabled Joe to make this character realistic.

After high school in Owensboro, Joe graduated from The Ohio State University with a BSBA with a concentration in Finance. Later, he received an MBA from Western Kentucky University.
Hazardous Choices

After surviving life in a violent Chicago street gang through his high school years, Darnell Jackson’s future appears promising. A football scholarship gives him the chance to escape the thug lifestyle.

During his first year in college, Darnell safely resides in a small Kentucky town, playing Division Two college football and trying to make something of himself. Adjusting to the new surroundings proves tough, but a teammate and a girl give him hope that his future will be better than his past.

In the summer after his freshman year, he returns to the old neighborhood to be with his mother. The gang reasserts its hold on him, and the leader orders Darnell to kill a member of a rival gang. Nearly dying in a gang fight, Darnell shoots an enemy gangbanger. This forces Darnell to re-evaluate his future. As a result, he lies to the mercurial leader of his gang, claiming he completed his assignment. After “doing work” for his gang, Darnell receives permission to head back to school and the security of small-town life.

When the head gangbanger learns of Darnell’s lie, the small Kentucky town isn’t so safe anymore.

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A Spy At Home

A retired CIA operative comes to believe he wasted his professional life not only promoting questionable American policies, but missing life with his family. To ease the pain he diverts millions that the CIA expected him to use funding a coup attempt that would establish a pro-American government in an African country. Seeing the coup would fail, Garrison decides to save the money for himself. You, the reader, can decide if he's a villain with evil intent, a hero with altruistic motives, or a regular guy sick of working for peanuts in a dangerous environment.

Back at home he and his wife look forward to their golden years being luxuriously comfortable and opulently relaxed. Unfortunately, after his wife dies in a tragic accident, he must learn all that she knew about caring for Noah, their mentally retarded son. After a life of planning for contingencies, the former spy must deal with the possibility that he may die before his son. Who will care for the son when the dad spent a life out of the country and now has no one to lean on?

Find Joe's book:
Amazon
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