‘The Pioneering. Paranoia. California Thriller.’ – Sunday Times.
A pacey thriller with threads of dark humour. Based on real events including the accidental deaths of twenty two British scientists all working on President Reagan’s ‘Star Wars’ missile defence shield.
A failed quarterback, failed husband and failed human being, finds redemption through the music of a failed songwriter – along with more than a little help from the new lady in his life. Along the way he stumbles across a Homeland Conspiracy that has been in place since the end of the Cold War.
When the drinking, smoking, womanising, central character, Morgan, receives a rejected demo tape, his friends start meeting with bizarre accidents.
Eventually it dawns,’ Somebody is out to get me.’ He runs to the California Desert, picking up the inevitable girl en route. The body count keeps rising and Morgan has no idea why.
The resolution is startling -The darkness of the central message is carried in the ripping yarn and the dichotomy between those who rule our lives and those who live by the rules is ruthlessly exposed. A roller-coaster of drama, excitement, pathos, love and violence – and at it’s heart the greatest Conspiracy since the Cold War ended.

Targeted Age Group: 25-75
Genre: Thriller

What was your inspiration for this book?
In the early eighties President Reagan announced his Strategic Defence Initiative, an Anti – Missile programme. In the late eighties, Twenty-two UK scientists working on SDI met with fatal Accidents – A year later the Cold War ended.
Set in the Nineties – The California Deserts / London – This project has its genesis in the above events. The book hit Amazon’s Top 30 Thrillers in 2017 and won a literary award. I was the Marketing Director of Virgin Records and Classic 70’s Rock features in soundtrack brush strokes.

Why did you decide to produce an audiobook?
The book has a soundtrack!
14 original songs from a Bafta winning songwriter which are an integral part of the narrative.
This format is perfect for Audiobooks as the music can be incorporated seamlessly and enhance the whole experience.

How did you choose the reader for the book and the production company?
ACX/Audible provided samples of a number of narrators. I was looking for a touch of 'Gravitas' to offset the fast paced mayhem and dark hunour.
Fred Filbrich was perfect. He did not allow his own ' Voice' to dominate and his restrained, but sure touch allowed the words to ' Breathe.'
Amazon Reviewer;
5 out of 5 stars
Performance 5 out of 5 stars
Story 5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Norma Miles
Norma Miles
11-04-17
"I told you when i came i was a stranger."
Any additional comments?

Simply brilliant.
When i was gifted a copy of Tears of Glass by the rights holder, via Audiobook Boom, i knew nothing about it other than it was different in presentation. So i was unprepared for the perfect symbiosis of story, narrator and music. This latter not used simply as an occasional backtrack, but to actually further enhance the atmosphere and be an integral part of the story itself. The main protagonist, Morgan, has been given a taped recording of tracks of a singer-songwriter-pianist, Paul Millns, a Brit who had come to America to try to further his musical/recording career unsuccessfully. The girlfriend who gave Morgan the tape is murdered and, following further deaths, he decides that someone seems out to get him so goes on the run, taking the music tape with him. Somehow, the tracks on it reflect his feelings each time one is played.

The story is a real mystery thriller with so many dimensions to it that it more far reaching than a simple police chase, including not only murder and mayhem but also international political intrigue, deception, and involving not just the Americas, London and Moscow but pretty much everywhere. Yet it is so easy – no, a joy – to hear with excellent characterisations, natural dialogue and a feeling of reality despite the very fast paced action. And the music!
Of course, the whole is also dependent on the skill of the narrator and here Fred Filbrich excels. His is far more of a reading than a performance, with only slight attempts to distinguish different voices from each other. And yet they are completely recognisable for who they are within the plot. He is pace perfect and so in synch with the text, it almost felt, when i thought about it afterwards, that he had somehow managed to bypass speech and simply planted the entire story in my mind. Masterful.

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