The Launch

Mark Victor Young

Dec 2015 · Hanton House Creative Media

About this ebook

How far would you go to make your dreams come true?

Watson Sinclair has only been in New York for a couple of hours and already he’s had a small accident in his car involving some distracting cleavage and an inconveniently-placed fruit stand. His best friend JC Dubois is a few blocks away kidnapping the editor of the Royal Features Syndicate. Watson has to pick them up and get back across the Canadian border safely with their prisoner. It didn’t have to be this way.

Watson and JC always wanted to be cartoonists for the daily papers. Their dreams came true when they received a syndication contract for their comic strip. But then months went by and legendary editor Ray Bennett stopped returning their calls. They were faced with a choice: give up and go back to their day jobs or consider drastic measures to get the job done. Like kidnapping Ray and taking over the launch of the strip themselves.

The plan is simple: drive to New York to take Ray and his laptop back to London. Give orders to Ray’s prick of an Assistant Editor. Keep Ray quiet and secure, convince his staff that he is working from home, and keep all this from their wives. They’ve got one week.

If they pull this off and execute a successful launch, their dreams are back on track. If they screw it up and get caught, they go to jail. Nothing like a little motivation.

Will I like it?

The Launch is what you need in your life right now. It’s got comics, crime (a kidnapping), a buddy caper, insurance (not very much, we promise), a love story (that’s what we’re calling narcissism these days, right?), and a thrilling new watershed moment in Canadian-American relations. As one reader said, it’s a “fun romp that leaves you wondering throughout, how are they going to come out the other end of this bumpy ride?”

Ratings and reviews

Once again Young has written a novel that captured my attention from the first page. His comical, slightly snarky writing style brings out the characters in a manner that I found both endearing and very approachable. He created an entire world and cast that I found myself continually coming back to. I enjoyed becoming part of it as I lost myself in the story. I enjoyed the way in which the plot progressed throughout. Not only did the characters become more and more developed throughout, but the antics and other issues and events that came about throughout were loads of fun. I’ll admit that this was my intro into the world of graphic novels, but Young definitely has me hooked! This was a fantastic story that was truly enriched by the graphics. Please note that I received a complimentary copy of this work in exchange for an honest review.

About the author

Happily married since 1992 and a father since 2003, Mark has been a writer for as long as he can remember. He was born in Toronto and grew up in London, Canada. He was the first winner of the Lillian Kroll Prize for Creative Writing at Western University, where he also completed a degree in English Literature. He has published novels, poetry, short fiction, feature articles, comic strips and book reviews in various media. Visit http://markvictoryoung.com/ for more details on this and other works by the author.

He lives with his wife and daughter in London.