Writers Tricks of the Trade January-February 2015 | Page 27

REVIEWS BY MARTHA RESIDENT REVIEWER – MARTHA CHEVES ALL BECAUSE OF THE TIP OF A NEEDLE RE-LA Menu By: Philip Nork ASIN: B0094YPA76 Publisher: CreateSpace Publication Date: October 2014 Pages: 211 Kindle and Paperback MARTHA CHEVES AUTHOR/REVIEWER An excerpt from the book- This last six years was a mentally draining one for me. I had everything I lived for - horse racing, my family, and my wife and kids - taken away from me. All I could do was wait and wait and wait. The lawyer told me not to talk to anyone, including my family, about what had happened. He said it would hamper our case. Sam Newman, twenty-one years of age, became known as 'Sam-theman' at the track because he won with regularity. He was disliked by some, and apparently, hated by more. His young life was going just as he dreamed it would. Using the advice his grandfather had taught him he found the best ways to work with horses and also to make them work for you. He had learned well and it was paying off in more ways than one. Thanks to his success he was able to marry the girl of his dreams, have kids, and most importantly to him, he was winning at the tracks of his hometown, Chicago, Illinois. His special 'way' with horses allowed him to spot a rundown horse and turn him back into a winner. How did he do this? He just had a way with the equine, but if you talked to the other owners and drivers of Chicago they would tell you it was because of a needle and a drug known as Etorphine, an elephant tranquilizer also known as M-99. This drug was rumored to make the horses run, fast and straight, to the finish line. BUY PHILIP NORK Sam's longtime vet, known as Doc Brown, turned against him when Sam replaced him with another vet. After losing his temper, he made a promise to Sam's brother, Dave. His threat was "Payback is a bitch..." and apparently this threat was carried out. It wasn't long after the threat was made that officers from the Illinois Bureau of Investigations searched Sam’s barn area and discovered a hypodermic needle in his car. After supposedly testing it, it was confirmed that the needle had contained the M-99 drug. Cont’d… WRITERS TRICKS OF THE TRADE Page 19 JAN-FEB 2015