Jack Spencer made a fatal mistake. One that landed him in the Pacific, literally without a paddle. As he struggles to survive the elements that the perilous blue throws at him, Jack comes to terms with the truth. He's guilty. The most prevalent mistake: an affair with the woman about to marry his best friend. But does the punishment of being set adrift on the ocean warrant the crime? Only he can answer, only one person can save him.
As soon as Myra Spencer reaches Hawaii, her senses shift into overdrive. Her son, Jack, is missing. But everyone downplays his vanishing act as part of a playful charade, too much of a good thing, (rumors of a mysterious beauty surface) and copious amounts of booze before a wedding that will never take place. But as his mother, Myra knows better. Jack's in trouble. Only she has no way to prove it—other than the suspicions her heart dictates.
Dumbfounded, Kai Hale holds the paddle belonging to his missing canoe in hand. The canoe is his lifeline to make amends with a mounting debt. Slowly his life collides with the Spencers, and the reality of Jack's disappearance is tied to his canoe.
But why? That is the question everyone is desperate to answer.
What Jack can't know is that he's on course with destiny. A path that leads him to an island and people who await his arrival. An island not charted on anyone's map. The truth changes everything.

Monika R. Martyn is a nomadic writer and minimalist. Her short stories have been published online and in print at Adelaide Literary, Awakened Voices, Confluence Magazine, Mused Literary, Vine Leaves Press, among others. She is currently the editor of Canadian Culture at BellaOnline and has completed certificates in fiction writing, editing, research methods, and creativity training. Her novel, The Lucky Man—An Act of Malice, is her debut novel.
Monika R. Martyn is the author of the debut novel, The Lucky Man-An Act of Malice, and many short stories published online and in print: Polar Expressions, Vine Leaves Literary, Mused, Awakened Voices, The Moon Magazine, Scene & Heard, Soft Cartel, Adelaide Literary, Scarlet Leaf Review, Confluence, Literally Stories, East of the Web, and is a 2020 Shortlist nominee in the Adelaide Literary Anthology. She contributes to www.bellaonline.com as the Canadian culture editor. Follow her on Twitter @monikarmartyn or visit https://monikarmartynauthor.wordpress.com/. She enjoys impromptu visits.
Monika is happily married, an absolute nomad, a house and pet sitter, and a minimalist. Her debut novel was inspired by a dead whale on a beach in Mexico tangled in fishing lines. She believes we are all responsible for protecting our environment and that tolerance is a one-size-fits-all mantra.
Monika has lived in Europe, Canada, Panama, Colombia, and Mexico. If she owned a car, her bumper sticker would say: She Talks To Strangers. You may recognize her from that conversation you had with a stranger in a grocery store, the park, the airport.
Her favorite authors include Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Anita Shreve, Judy Blunt, Henning Mankell, John Irving, Bryce Courtenay, George Elliot, Anne Rice, Alice Munro, Carol Shields, Roberston Davies, Kate Morton, Markus Zusak, and Stephen King and many others including the one and only Monika R. Martyn.

Title: The Lucky Man: An Act of Malice
Author: Monika R. Martyn
Publisher: Adelaide Books
Publisher Website: https://adelaidebooks.org/
Publisher Email: [email protected]
ISBN: 978-1954351974
Price: $22.30
Page Count: 346 pages
Formats: Paperback


Description of the company: ADELAIDE BOOKS LLC is a New York based independent company dedicated to publishing literary fiction and creative nonfiction. It was founded in July 2017 as an imprint of the Adelaide Literary Magazine, with the aim to facilitate publishing of novels, memoirs, and collections of short stories, poems, and essays by contributing authors of our magazine and other qualified writers.