CHAOS A sequel to John Austin Sletten's mystery/thriller DECEIT Chaos is an exhilarating and profound novel of tradition and violence, of loyalty and betrayal picking up where Deceit left off. In the worlds of politics and intelligence, there is no one you can really trust. Nothing is really what it seems to be. The charming, fair-haired, golden boy hailing from Minnesota who was lured to Washington, D.C. by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to be a special agent (Deceit) finds himself fourteen years well along affected by atrophy and downcast. What had gone wrong was so unobtrusive. He simply had no idea what he was getting himself into. He was coerced into audacious undercover assignments to break up what apparently seemed to be small, illegal business operations. They were aggressive men and women taking shortcuts to financial success. His job was to infiltrate designated companies teetering on grey lines to find out what was making their financial triumphs so easygoing and well-appointed. In other words; simply follow the money. The beginning of this book finds the protagonist contemplating about why he couldn't wait for all of this to end. Here he is home alone with a cup of black coffee and the Philadelphia Inquirer sports page. The telephone is not ringing and he's imagining and wondering what is going on at Atlantic States Surety where he was once King of the Hill (Deceit). Perhaps he had cracked the case way too soon and too easily. Everything seemed crazy and out of whack. He was bored and missed the action and the feeling of being important. Soon enough a series of strange events began occurring. In April his wife became very ill and was hospitalized. On the third day she became comatose and on the ninth day passed away. Her expiry defied all logic because she was a relatively healthy 39 year-old. After the funeral he becomes obsessed and goes in hot pursuit to find the verity concerning his wife's shadowy death. He has stro
About the Author: JOHN AUSTIN SLETTEN grew up in a small town, Montevideo, in southwestern Minnesota. He graduated from Concordia College in Moorhead Minnesota in 1966. After careers in banking, justice, and public accounting he enjoys baseball, mathematics, music and writing. The writer had his first works published with the Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine. It was a feature story entitled "Confessions Of A Little League Father." This piece of writing led to an appearance with Oprah Winfrey. He has been a sports writer for the Princeton Packet and published many magazine articles. His first book published is The Johnny Callison Story, a biography of the great Philadelphia Phillies baseball player whose career traversed three decades. He was a Phillies player during the entire decade of the obstreperous 60's. Sletten's second book published is DECEIT, the first book in a mystery thriller trilogy. This book, CHAOS is the second book in this trilogy. The third book, ATONEMENT will be the final installment. He has three other novels completed and waiting publication. Along The James, a Historical Civil War Novel, The Keeper and Uncommon Knowledge. Sletten resides in the Philadelphia area with his wife, Kathy.