"Tropical Liaison" by Richard S. Hillman takes Top Honors at FAPA Awards

MESA, Ariz. - Aug. 16, 2016 - PRLog -- Brighton Publishing LLC proudly announced Tropical Liaison by novelist Richard S. Hillman has received the top honor in the adult fiction category from the Florida Authors and Publishers Association 2016 President's Book Awards. The award was presented to novelist Richard S. Hillman at the FAPA President's Awards Banquet on Saturday, August 6, 2016 at the Hilton Orlando/Lake Buena Vista Hotel at the Walt Disney World Resort.

Distributed through Ingram Content Group, the largest wholesale book distributor in the world, Tropical Liaison is available in print and eBook formats from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other leading bookstores and retailers. It is also available worldwide through the Espresso Book Machine Network.

Synopsis: Manny White Vidal is an expert on Guarida, an oil-producing Caribbean nation riddled with poverty, corruption, and demagoguery. Trouble strikes when Claudio Sánchez takes power. Spewing anti-American rhetoric, the charismatic leader seduces the masses with promises of revolutionary reform.

The U.S. State Department, seeking to protect Big Oil, taps Manny to embed himself in the University of Guarida. Torn between his loyalty to the United States and his ideals sympathetic to social justice, Manny advocates for mutual understanding. Yet, he stumbles into a political minefield. And a torrid affair with a local hustler endangers his relationship with Dee, his prospective fiancée in New York. Meanwhile, Manny's search for a disappeared cousin, who joined the Freedom Front after the Security Police murdered his parents, turns into a terrifying odyssey.

Convinced of American complicity in a botched attempt to assassinate Sánchez, Manny openly questions U.S. policy. Nevertheless, Sánchez accuses Manny of espionage, subjects him to water-boarding, and holds him hostage. Can Manny extricate himself from the complicated web of deceit, betrayal, and treachery into which he has fallen? Sánchez offers a deal in which Manny denounces American intervention in exchange for his freedom. Will he take the deal or deliver a State Department ultimatum? Manny's escapades raise questions about crossing cultural as well as moral boundaries, temptation and individual responsibility. Ultimately, both Manny and Sánchez must choose to take a stand, for either their country or their personal survival. Their choices are surprising.

Tropical Liaison is a well-written, entertaining, and provocative tale of an American's search for meaning in the midst of an international power-struggle." ~ Elsa Cardozo

"Richard S. Hillman has written an unnerving and irresistible novel of political intrigue and betrayal in the volatile Caribbean." ~ John Dufresne

Richard S. Hillman has traveled around the world on the Semester-at-Sea faculty, served as Fulbright Scholar in Venezuela, participated in a People-to-People delegation in Cuba, and consulted at the U.S. State Department. An avid reader, his lifelong love of books has resulted in a voluminous personal library and inspiration to write. He has published non-fiction works, but finds crafting a novel more creative. Born in New York City, he has lived in Long Island, Maine, Scotland, Spain, Brazil, and Venezuela. He and his Jamaican wife currently reside in Florida.

http://www.brightonpublishing.com