This Author Needs You: Readers Choice Awards 2018

Readers Choice Awards 2018 – I have seen Readers Choice Awards before. Last year in fact. Then I saw a writer friend of mine had her romance book approved as a nominee for the awards. I thought… why not? This is the email I received from TCK Publishing following the submission of my memoir:

Hi Stephen,
Thanks for submitting your book to the 2018 Reader’s Choice Awards contest by TCK Publishing!
I’m happy to inform you that your book submission under the Memoir Book Category has already been approved. You can start voting for your book through the Reader’s Choice Voting page.
The book with the most votes by December 10th will win, so make sure to share the voting page with your fans.

I do ask, and hope, you vote for my book. It’s in the memoir category and voting could not be easier. It also only takes a few minutes.

Please don’t wait until December 18 to vote 🙂

Here is the link once more. Vote Now!

Some nice reviews come in recently since my memoir was released in audiobook format. Here is a selection:

5 Stars “Overwhelming”
This book is very informative and interesting. I never knew all that went along with be involved in the police force in one way or another. I did know that there was some corruption and payoffs but not to the extent of what was described. thanks goes out to the author for his service and for the information he has shared.

4 Stars “Raw and unflinching”
Undercover: Operation Julie – The Inside Story is a gritty, first-hand and factual account of how dangerous and stressful deep undercover work can be. (FWIW, the reality is nothing nearly as sensational or glamorous as Hollywood would have you think.) We follow Stephen Bentley and Eric Wright as they immerse themselves into vital roles in the largest LSD investigation and bust in the UK. We hear the police officer’s side of it, for sure, but we also get the unflinching personal side. We see, up close and personally, into the consequences of deep undercover work, how the man behind the shield can be affected, both emotionally and physically, for up to decades after such an operation.
The raw feel of the entire book was absorbing, from the overarching story all the way down to the authenticity in the use of colloquialisms and slang for the area and the timeframe. If you like true crime or police-themed stories, you’ll love this book.
Warning: If you are not from the UK, or are otherwise unfamiliar with the contrasting tales around Operation Julie, it’s best to start the book at Chapter 3 (That’s Chapter 5 for the Audible version). This is where the true tale actually begins, chronologically, and you can settle into the story as related by the author, Stephen Bentley. The chapters before this will at best confuse you, and perhaps frustrate you, as the refutations of other accounts of this operation would not be applicable.

I don’t agree with the last paragraph. No matter where you are from, the first chapter ‘Who Am I?’ is essential to the story.

This next one I really love. It made me laugh out loud:

From the horse’s mouth …. inside Operation Julie
ByMrs H Featherstoneon 18 April 2018
Format: Kindle Edition
If, like me, you grew up in the 70s, the policing methods and the social attitudes described in this book are evocative of a simpler, albeit less tolerant age. If your 70s experience is limited to “Life on Mars” or “The Sweeney” then you’re still on the ball. Think of grizzled career coppers trying to control their underlings as life changes rapidly around them.
The author enters the 1970s as an enthusiastic young copper and slides out the other end on a sea of alcohol, disenchanted and depressed. Along the way he plays a major role in the iconic Operation Julie. Steven Bentley recounts his part in it, and provides some background and resolution but this book is not intended as an exhaustive description of the case.
It is an autobiographical account of the occasionally almost-schizophrenic Steve Bentley/Steve Jackson (his undercover, or as he puts it his “infiltrator” name), his disillusionment with the Operation’s legacy and his views on drugs and the ensuing “drugs war”.
There are a good few laugh-out-loud passages and this well-written, well-paced book kept me entertained from end to end. It is highly evocative of a time which is now, fortunately gone, and of a police operation which has reached almost mystical status. And there’s lots and lots (and lots) of alcohol involved.

That reader “gets” what it was all about and has taken the time and effort to properly review my book. Thank you!