Wattpad brings you a guest post from John G. Lenard, writer of thriller adventure ”Murder in Steel”:
Art imitates life. In 1956, at the time of the unsuccessful Hungarian revolution against Soviet domination, Professor Lederer, the hero of my book “Murder in Steel”, is accused of murdering a Communist VIP. This premise was suggested to me when I read about the untimely death of a Communist functionary in 1973. During a visit to a steel mill, he fell – or was pushed? – into the hot steel and died in agony.
Lederer is a trained spy, he is a coffee addict, a professor of engineering, he loves good food and he is a seasoned traveler. He has learned to remain cool at all times regardless of danger or confrontation, all helpful traits when, in 2002, he faces interrogation, torture and kidnapping by a few frustrated agents of the former Hungarian Secret Service.
Lederer knows karate, handy when needed to scare his enemies. His love of coffee allowed me to write about the cafés of Budapest. His background in research taught him to analyze seemingly disparate events and allowed me to write about the machinations of the agents, attempting to use him in their conspiracy to bring back the dictatorship of the proletariat. His extensive travels led me to write how to navigate in strange lands. He believes that Communism is a very bad idea, especially as it was applied in the country of his birth, Hungary.
I visit Hungary often. I visited while Communism and the dictatorship of the proletariat ruled and I visited after the change of regimes well over twenty years ago. The changes have been immense, especially where young people are involved. Older people got used to the assurances of the state, (“you will be looked after”) and saving for their retirement wasn’t even considered. Young people have become dynamic, they plan for their future, they invest, they study languages, and they read the once forbidden and censored Western literature.
The Gypsy music, the operas, the exquisite food, chicken paprikash for one, the old world cafés, the turn-of-the- 20th century architecture, and the swimming pools fed by hot springs all contribute to the special ambience of Budapest. My novel reflects life in Budapest today.
I trust that members of Wattpad as well as others will enjoy reading my book, the first reviewer of which wrote that it is “a darkly entertaining page turner”. Let me know what you think.
Read John G. Lenard’s thriller “Murder in Steel” on Wattpad:
“Murder in Steel” describes the adventures of Professor Lederer who arrives as a tourist in Budapest in 2002, the city where he grew up. On arrival he is brutally arrested. The accusation: that as a young employee at a steel mill in 1956, he caused the agonizing death of a visiting Communist minister by pushing him into the molten steel. Lederer, determined to uncover the mystery behind this allegation, unravels the workings of a conspiracy to avenge the past and the re-establish the Communist reign of terror.