AMELIA

Co-Authors:
Harvey Mendez and Christie Shary

An exotic and entertaining tale that kept me reading into the wee hours of the night. This intriguing book with its fast pace and matching storyline managed to vividly transport me to an era of passion, danger, dignity, and adventure, making me turn electronic pages at a pace almost faster then I could handle.

What really made for a smooth and dynamic read, I realized after finishing the book, was the powerful, flawless teamwork between an adventurous male writer and a subtle, intelligent and passionate female partner. The scenes followed each other in smooth transition, further emphasized by the author's talent for foreshadowing dramatic and imminent events, setting you on the edge of your seat.

The beautiful surroundings of this Southern Hemisphere tale set the stage for stormy emotions simultaneously connecting you with the rest of the world, making you participate in the story. Past and present events blended smoothly through real dangers and the vivid imagination of the characters, portraying a world with a magnetic pull drawing the reader into a passionate and fleeting reality.

Having read the book, I strongly believe that these two talented writers painted a wonderful, well-researched, and dignified rendition of the events that unfolded during and after the Second World War, featuring AMELIA EARHART, a real, visionary, daring female flyer remembered and admired by many.

~ Cynthia S. Arbuthnot, Word Weaving

The fate of Amelia Earhart still captures the imagination. AMELIA by Harvey Mendez and Christie Shary picks up the story thirty years after the famous aviatrix vanished in the Pacific. The designer of her spy plane, Vincent Carlson, is obsessed with A.E and is still searching for the answer to her disappearance. The instant passion that flares between Vincent and Amelia Adams, a beautiful , mysterious, young Eurasian is complicated by her belief that Vincent killed her father, his chief mechanic at Lockheed.

Each propelled by private motives, the pair fight their way through a tangle of fact, rumor and lies about A.E.'s fate all the way from Brisbane, through the Coral Sea, to Saipan.

The theories about A.E.'s involvement with various spy agencies and about the complex dealings that culminated in the attack on Pearl Harbor are fascinating; the lovemaking on tropical islands and in lush tropical settings is steamy; and the action is fast moving and violent. Vincent's nemesis, the immoral, wily and exceedingly powerful Ito is a fitting villain. The December/May romance between the virile, stubborn Vincent and equally strong-willed and passionate Amelia has the ring of truth about it.

The writing style is terse and lean. Indeed, at times, it was so lean that I wondered if I was reading notes about the action. The parallels between Amelia's predicaments and those of A.E. were well drawn although, occasionally, I found the vivid dream sequences interspersed with flashbacks a bit confusing.

AMELIA is a page turner. It tells a powerful story of enduring loyalties, friendships and hatreds. Capably blended in with the mystery and the danger is the constant thread of a deepening love that will not be denied.

~ Dee Lloyd

Harvey Mendez and Christie Shary, like many other people, are mesmerized by Amelia Earhart. Thank goodness for us, the readers. That fascination has resulted in a well researched, fast-moving, action-packed book with a plot that climbs and soars before us page after page. The authors make excellent use of their knowledge of aircraft, of geography, and of oceans and the crafts that travel it, which adds authenticity to Amelia.

A prologue sets the historical scene for the reader, as it moves from Lae, New Guinea in 1937 to a Viet Nam jungle in 1965. At that point the speculative fiction takes off at a breakneck pace.

Our hero, Vincent, once a mechanic for Amelia Earhart, is an aging, guilt-ridden adventurer who carries memories of AE with him as he seeks to discover the facts of her disappearance in 1937. He is diverted and impeded by people who are not what they present themselves to be. He is snared by evil remnants of the Kempei Tai, a Japanese secret society linked to the Viet Cong.

Film-style, the authors' clipped, pointed conversations and descriptions keep the reader turning pages. Just when you think you've got an angle figured out, along comes a dead body leading you down a different path of thought.

Amelia offers divergent characters who nonetheless fit logically into the story. Stan (Amelia Adams's father) and Blue, Toshio and Honda, Joaquina (Amelia Adams's mother) and Ruth -- all well-rounded and highly individualized people who add complex twists and mysterious turns to the plot, and who continually surprise the reader.

Sex, suspense, sanguine events are all here in full force.

Normally not a suspense/mystery/adventure fan, I found myself, on occasion, backtracking through rapid fire conversations to make certain who was speaking. Curiosity satisfied, I had to hurry to catch up with Amelia and Vincent as they hopped aboard yet another ocean-going vessel or land roving jeep to chase someone or to deter a threat; perhaps to follow a recently revealed clue. Though at times the two Amelias appeared to blur in both Vincent's and my mind, I was never without emotional involvement of one kind or another from page 1 to page 252.

I found myself welcoming Vincent's and Amelia's hours of rest on beautiful isolated islands. Their sensuous lovemaking follows an enjoyable pace which allows readers to become personally engrossed, as all good love scenes should. It wasn't long however, before some incident sent this May-December couple off on another exploit.

Even the logical, acceptable ending has a surprising and unexpected element.

If you need some spice in your life, some quickening of the pulse, some need to "finish off" a few bad guys, let Mendez and Shary mesmerize you for a few exciting hours. Rediscover the settings of Amelia Earhart. Sail the waters of the Pacific to chase the ghost of AE and recover your zest for life.

~ Pat Oplinger, Author and Educator

"As I began to read the book "Amelia" I wondered which version of Amelia Earhart's demise I would be reading about. I was in for a surprise! As the dates came into focus after the prologue, I found myself reading of subterfuge that begins when Vincent Carlson (who has prior knowledge of Electra, the airplane Amelia Earhart flew) meets the daughter of Stan Adams, whom he suspects might have sabotaged the flight. She was named after the famed aviatrix, Amelia.

The rumors that surround Amelia Earhart's disappearance are all well researched and fictionally enumerated. There is Tad Yamaguchi and Takao Ito as army intelligence agents as well as Dr. Keuhn who is also in the spying game, which takes us through Pearl Harbor.

Anyone who served in the eastern theatre would find this interesting, as Emelia Earhart is being described as a pawn in the political aspects of that war era. We find Vincent and Amelia on Saipan Island, where they find pictures they believe is the wreckage of the Electra. This leads them deeper into trouble as they try to find the reason for AE's disappearance and why Amelia's father Stan was killed. Scenes of Amelia Earhart's being questioned by the Japanese are brought into young Amelia's mind. Is she the aviatrix's reincarnation?

As the story is told through conversations, speculation rises as episodes emerge and dangers are overcome. Romance develops as Vincent and Amelia continue their journey to seek the truth. Someone is trying to stop them from finding this truth. Amelia's mother Joaquina wants the two to marry. The two are continually pursued by the secret society, as the love interest grows. And strange Mrs Garcia keeps popping up in this story of espionage. Who she is, is finally revealed, as she becomes even more dangerous. A must read for the Amelia Earhart buffs, especially for the surprise ending.

~ Virginia Elizabeth Clark