Immoral Origins by Lee Matthew Goldberg

Immoral Origins (The Desire Card #1) by Lee Matthew Goldberg

Release: June 14th 2022
Format: Ebook
Publisher: Rough Edges Press
Source: suzyapproved Book Tours
Find it at: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle

A PULSE-POUNDING THRILLER THAT ASKS HOW FAR WE’RE WILLING TO SHED OUR MORALS IN ORDER TO HELP THE ONES WE LOVE.

It’s 1978 in New York City, and disco is prominent. As are mobsters, gritty streets, needle parks and graffiti-stained subways.

Jake Barnum lives in Hell’s Kitchen. He’s a petty thief selling hot coats with his buddy Maggs to make ends meet and help his sick kid brother. At a Halloween party downtown, he meets a woman with a Marilyn Monroe mask who works for an organization called The Desire Card-an underground operation promising its exclusive clients “Any Wish Fulfilled for the Right Price.”

As Jake becomes taken with its leader, a pseudo father and sociopath at heart, he starts stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. In other words…himself. But as he dives deeper in with the Card, begins falling love with Marilyn, and sees the money rolling in, clients’ wishes start becoming more and more suspect-some leading to murder.

The first book in the Desire Card series, Immoral Origins follows those indebted to this sinister organization-where the ultimate price is the cost of one’s soul.

About the Author:

Lee Matthew Goldberg is the author of eight novels including THE ANCESTOR and THE MENTOR, currently in development as a film off his original script, and the YA series RUNAWAY TRAIN. He has been published in multiple languages and nominated for the Prix du Polar. STALKER STALKED will be out in Fall ’21.

After graduating with an MFA from the New School, his writing has also appeared as a contributor in Pipeline Artists, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Millions, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, LitReactor, Monkeybicycle, Fiction Writers Review, Cagibi, Necessary Fiction, Hypertext, If My Book, Past Ten, the anthology Dirty Boulevard, The Montreal Review, The Adirondack Review, The New Plains Review, Underwood Press and others. His pilots and screenplays have been finalists in Script Pipeline, Book Pipeline, Stage 32, We Screenplay, the New York Screenplay, Screencraft, and the Hollywood Screenplay contests. He is the co-curator of The Guerrilla Lit Reading Series and lives in New York City.

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Immoral Origins Review:

I have read quite a few books by the author and what I enjoy about each is how he tells the story from a different timeline and makes each series different from the others. I enjoyed returning to the late 70s as we met Jake, and he joined an organization that forever changed his life. The author highlights many crucial incidents in the timeline, from music to politics, and I felt like I was back in that era. Moreover, I loved how the characters are given names from stars of the Golden age of Hollywood, and it was a delight picturing people in Errol Flynn or Marilyn Monroe or Clark Gable’s masks.

The characters are also memorable. Initially, you feel that the story is lighthearted as Jake meets Marilyn and takes on small assignments. But as the story progresses, the story takes a dark turn where you don’t know who will survive and who won’t. The author wrote Jake very well, where he has faults trusting people too much. He shares a beautiful bond with his family, and I also enjoyed his chemistry with Marilyn and Maggs. The pace speeds towards the climax, where you wonder what will happen to the characters, and the ending shocked me.

On that note, perhaps the only reason I gave this four stars was because of the climax and not something which I would have preferred. Moreover, I wanted some resolution on Jake’s storyline with Emile, but nothing much happened there.

But “Immoral Origins” is a gripping start to “The Desire Card” series, and I cannot wait to read “Prey No More” to see how it interconnects with this book.