Every year a bunch of drunken yahoos set out in their very expensive fishing yachts from Oak Bluffs harbor on the Vineyard in pursuit of sharks, which they catch, kill, string up on a gallows, gut and chop into pieces, but not before cutting out their jaws. That is the setting against which XOC - The White Shark Murders plays out the story of a young man named Sam, returning from service in Afghanistan. In his own words, ...entering a world that, once again, was not what I expected, embarking on a week that would change my life. The people I met and their passions, their petty disputes and crooked schemes converged on the town of Cottage City over the span of those few fateful days. As the great storyteller once said, Fate was working its ass off when it got us all together. And it was an explosive combination. Or, as one prominent media critic put it, "Jaws was a simple, primal conflict: man vs. shark. In Xoc, also set on Martha's Vineyard, Michael West serves up a shark tournament, eco-protesters, a shark gambling ring, corrupt officials, mobsters and, for a hero, an ex-Marine who's not quite over Afghanistan. This time, not surprisingly, it's not just the beaches that aren't safe." -- Jesse Kornbluth, HeadButler.com and The Huffington Post Xoc - The White Shark Murders is an upmarket eco-thriller with broad, targeted appeal. The influences of John D. MacDonald and Robert B. Parker are clearly present, and the writing is fast-paced and witty while maintaining an edge of suspense. Xoc - The White Shark Murders is also the first in a series of eco-thrillers set on Martha's Vineyard. "Within the context of current ecological imperatives, XOC offers a highly engaging synthesis of suspense, romance and humor. This gritty and smartly crafted novel brings new meaning to the expression 'going fishing with the family.'" -- Steve Maxner, VAST Coordinator "In Xoc, Michael West has found a perfect setting for a thriller with eco-political freight. The Monster Shark Tournament on Martha's Vineyard -- only slightly fictionalized to give the author some clever leeway -- is laid out for us in all its massive corruption and lunacy. The good guys are darn-tootin' good, and the bad guys are suitably scary. At last the Vineyard, after decades of producing mystery writers of the teapot cozy has its own Randy Wayne White." -- Holly Nadler, author of Vineyard Confidential and Haunted Island Michael G. West, a graduate of Williams College and the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars, is the author of several novels, including the Tommy Shakespeare Mystery Thriller series. He has worked as a dishwasher, short-order cook, housepainter, shingler, sheetrock taper, private tutor, taxi driver, college professor, freelance book editor, computer programmer, industry analyst and strategy consultant in several countries and on both coasts, north and south, in the U.S. He currently lives year round on Martha's Vineyard, an island off Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
About the Author: In addition to writing fiction, I have been producing plays, writing and performing songs, publishing poetry, online hypermedia, interviews and essays since my undergraduate years. My first novel, Dutch Reckoning, about the Gardner Museum art theft, features the reluctant amateur sleuth Tommy Shakespear. Dutch Reckoning and two other proposed Tommy Shakespear novels were taken up by Avon on a Friday, but the following week that company became part of a major acquisition and both my editor and the book deal went out the door. Shortly after that, my agent passed away. Xoc - The White Shark Murders is the first book in a new eco-thriller series set on Martha's Vineyard. Xoc appeared in an earlier form serialized on WordPress. The novel's serial publication was timed to coincide with the run up to a town meeting vote and a formal ballot the following day, concerning the shark tournament that is fictionalized in Xoc. My intent was to influence the votes on a non-binding referendum to convert the annual shark tournament to tag and release. We won both ballots. Meanwhile, I've begun a new novel in that eco-thriller series. Sepiessa Press will also launch a number of other digital and print books. Stay tuned.