Smoke

Set in Miami and Central America during the 70s, Smoke is the story of a journey that begins when Jim Smyth, a young Marine returning from combat in Viet Nam, is brilliantly manipulated by an anonymous adversary with ties to the highest levels of U.S. government. Chosen for his unique skills, Smyth is forced into kidnapping the president of a large, well connected security company.

Two intriguing women become tangled in the kidnapping plot. One, like Smyth, is in the Witness Protection Program. The other is the sworn enemy of the kidnap victim and a major shareholder of the company. Smyth, code named Smoke by the Department of Justice, must rely on his military training and survival instincts to ensure they live through the bizarre plot and bring down their enemy.

The lies and abuse of power by senior members of the U.S. government in Smoke parallel those in today’s society. Jim Smyth must prove he is up to the challenge against an adversary of unsurpassed evil and intelligence; in this competition, losers die.

As a ship owner retired from the hurly-burly environment of the waterfront, Jeremy Chester has had more than his share of personal experience with the kinds of conflict and adventure that take place in his debut novel, Smoke. His career, trading between the US, the Caribbean, and Central and South America, thrust him into hair raising situations and intimate dealings with dictators, federal agents, mafia capos, industrialists, smugglers, and assassins.

Chester is also a retired U.S. Army officer, ranger and airborne qualified, having served with the First Division. He now divides his time between homes in Florida, Montana and Norway, and extensive travels with his wife Britt Knai, a collector and trader of ethnographic art.