PRO CONNECT
Following thirty five years in education (English teacher, high school principal, assistant superintendent), JEFF HOLLMAN began writing full time, for the most part plays. His first play, a full length one-act, REAL DANGER, ran for a month as an Equity Showcase in NYC, and his one-act, BIRD WATCHING, was published in THE BEST PLAYS FROM THE STRAWBERRY ONE-ACT FESTIVAL, Volume Seven after being named runner-up out of thirty eight plays. OWA-TODO-PIAM was produced in the 2011 Philadelphia FRINGE FESTIVAL. His novel, UNSETTLE THE SCORE, has been called “...an ambitious thriller...” by Kirkus Reviews.
A sculptor, Jeff has exhibited works in numerous galleries, museums, and shows on Long Island and in Summer 2014 will be mounting fifteen wind sculptures at Stone Quarry Hill Art Park in Cazenovia, NY.
“An ambitious thriller...”
– Kirkus Reviews
In Hollman’s debut thriller, a car accident leaves a young girl dead, spurring the girl’s gangster father, a dormant serial killer and multiple government agencies into action.
After Tom Jasper receives a Man of the Year Award “for service to [the] community,” he and his teacher wife, Maureen, are in good spirits on their drive home. This mood quickly disappears when their Jeep hits a young girl named Cecelia, who turns out to be the daughter of notorious mob boss Dmitri Mason. At first, he seems like any other distraught father—but then he becomes more threatening. It’s clear from the start that Dmitri is not the squeaky-clean man he portrays himself to be, and his arbitrary, unpredictable nature makes him an indelible villain. Tension builds as Dmitri slowly inserts himself into Tom’s and Maureen’s lives, suddenly appearing at their lake house to blackmail them with his knowledge of a confidential Child Protective Services case at Maureen’s school. Dmitri also surreptitiously contacts a dangerous man named Peter, who ended a serial-killing spree nine years before. The story is a seemingly endless source of characters, all made possible by Dmitri’s infamy: He’s suspected of everything from transporting nuclear materials to counterfeiting, which piques the interest of the FBI, the CIA, the National Security Agency, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Secret Service. The hefty cast includes such salient characters as former fed-turned-PI Sue Ruskin, who’s looking for an elusive killer, known as the Sunrise Stabber, who may have resurfaced; and Mark Trendler, an enthusiastic campus security officer who “barely failed” the police exam and is determined to watch over Tom and Maureen’s daughter Sherry. Hollman keeps the story from becoming convoluted by keeping his characters’ motivations clear and concise: The bad guys want to do bad things, and the good guys are there to stop them. The story’s last section feels a bit rushed as it steers its way toward a conclusion, but all its loose ends are tied up with a definitive resolution.
An ambitious thriller, successful in nearly every respect.
Pub Date:
Publisher: Dog Ear Publisher
Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2013
Day job
Writer
Favorite author
William Shakespeare, Patrick O'Brien
Favorite book
Macbeth
Favorite line from a book
"Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow..." etc.
Favorite word
Decide
Hometown
Sea Cliff, NY
Passion in life
Continual growth
Unexpected skill or talent
Balancing on a half-ball
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