Beres, Michael

PERSONAL:

Education: Attended college.

ADDRESSES:

Home—MI. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer. Previously worked with the U.S. government, holding a top-secret security clearance, and in the private sector, documenting analytical software.

MEMBER:

Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, Sierra Club.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

Grand Traverse, Medallion Press (Palm Beach, FL), 2005.

The President's Nemesis, Medallion Press (Palm Beach, FL), 2006.

Final Stroke, Medallion Press (Palm Beach, FL), 2007.

Also author of Claim to Fame: An Amazon Short (e-book); contributor of short stories to periodicals, including Amazing Stories, American Fiction Collection, Amazon Short, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery, Ascent, Cosmopolitan, Ellery Queen, Michigan Quarterly Review, Missouri Review, New York Stories, Papyrus, Playboy, Pulpsmith, Skylark, and Twilight Zone.

SIDELIGHTS:

Michael Beres worked with the U.S. government during the Cold War and, according to a profile on the author's Web site, his experiences during this time greatly influenced both his short-story and novel writing. Much of Beres's work focuses on the underbelly of politics and on the uncertain future of the world in terms of its environment. In his first novel, Grand Traverse, the author presents a tale of environmental catastrophe. The story begins with Paul Carter suing a chemical company for contamination in his hometown. However, his wife is dying from breast cancer. Thirty years later, Paul's daughter Jamie has become a political activist focusing on saving the Earth's environment. In the meantime, the daughter of the man her father destroyed when he sued and won his lawsuit is out for revenge and, in the process, may help destroy the planet. Harriet Klausner, writing on the Harriet Klausner's Book Review Web site, noted that the author "paints a bleak ashen future on a planet devastated by environmental disasters."

Some reviewers compared Beres's novel The President's Nemesis to the Manchurian Candidate in that it presents a similar tale of a man being manipulated to assassinate a presidential candidate. In Beres's tale, Stanley Johnson's life is full of catastrophes, including the kidnapping and death of his son. The strange aspect of his woes, however, is that many of them seem to have begun on the same day as significant political events. Now, during a presidential election, Stanley finds the head of a child outside his apartment, leading to a breakdown and assassination plans. Ronnie H. Terpening, writing in the Library Journal, referred to The President's Nemesis as an "engrossing thriller." Klausner, once again writing on the Harriet Klausner's Book Reviews Web site, commented: "Michael Beres has written a work that is chilling and frightening."

Final Stroke finds Steve Babe, a private investigator hobbled by a stroke, drawn into what he believes is the murder of a fellow patient at a rehab center. Despite having mental impairments, Steve begins to investigate and stumbles upon the secret to an old political scandal. A Publishers Weekly contributor noted "the author's sensitive portrait of his hero coping with his disability." Klausner on her Web site wrote that "readers will appreciate this character driven whodunit."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, June 15, 2006, Ronnie H. Terpening, review of The President's Nemesis, p. 54.

Publishers Weekly, May 29, 2006, review of The President's Nemesis, p. 38; April 30, 2007, review of Final Stroke, p. 140.

ONLINE

Harriet Klausner's Book Reviews,http://harrietklausner.wwwi.com/ (July 26, 2007) Harriet Klausner, reviews of Grand Traverse, The President's Nemesis, and Final Stroke.

Michael Beres Home Page,http://www.michaelberes.com (July 25, 2007).