International Thriller Series

The Water Diamonds: A violent car crash on California's PCH. A plot to achieve world domination. A nuclear arms-seeking Iran. At the heart of this conspiracy is amnesiac Magus Crayle. Crayle becomes the subject in a classified memory-recovery project managed by an off-the-books government agent. Assigned to protect Crayle and stimulate his memory are an FBI agent with baggage and a P.I. with an agenda.  Attempts on Crayle’s life begin. The threat escalates. Nothing is what it seems. Assassins chase Crayle and the P.I. from their mountain sanctuary. Crayle is shocked by his ability to employ car racing and martial arts skills. The ante has been raised – more people will die. Crayle confronts his government handler. A call to Langley, Virginia provides direction. A jet is made available. Crayle and the P.I. depart for the Far East. His first target: Hong Kong stock mogul Chin Yao-wu, a charismatic, sexually deviant megalomaniac who reveals under duress details of their shared past. Another assassination attempt occurs, aligning Crayle with the most seductive of Chin's lethal "daughters". Chin’s intel leads Crayle to Strasbourg, France, a second conspirator, Sylvain Lalumière, and his small army. The Frenchman views Crayle as a threat – to his plans of conquest and to his life. Few truths emerge. Answers beget questions. Crayle remains confused by his dominant placement in foreign crosshairs. Magus Crayle must reclaim his life, his memories, and his identity even as he struggles to survive. Reader Comments about The Water Diamonds: “A killer thriller!” “An international thriller with a killer twist.” “Fast cars, beautiful women & complex villains.” “For devotees of Bell, Cussler & Deaver, it’s clear Bowen knows his stuff.” “You’re in for a great read.”

Former CIA operative Magus Crayle must defeat the deployment of nuclear weapons to prevent the overthrow of several governments via his masterful Blackstone Strategy. The ultra-secret Illuminé society employed Crayle’s strategy to transform China into an empire headed by Hong Kong finance mogul Chin Yao-wu. In return, Chin supplied the Illuminé’s Elder with miniaturized nuclear devices. In pursuit of his own global conquest, the Elder orchestrates the actions of his most successful mole, Pope Innocent, along with his very own rogue CIA daughter, Pattie Norbrunn. Despite the support of the American president, Crayle and his eclectic team are stretched to the limit as they deal with catastrophic events in Hong Kong, China, Europe, and the USA. To stop the madness, Crayle must destroy the Illuminé’s Elder, Pope Innocent, Pattie Norbrunn, and the elusive Mitim, who masquerades as a modern version of The Man In The Iron Mask. In Book 5 of his Thriller Series, author Dennis Bowen accelerates the pace to blunt the reordering of the global political landscape. For pretenders, this is the final pretense. For actors on the world stage, the final act. And for those who practice deceit, The Final Masquerade.

Bullets – Blades – Bombs The Crayle team is safe at home once again. Bullets, blades, and bombs appear to be so much history. However, lingering questions and a surprise assault interfere with a normal life in the mountain resort community of Southern California's Big Bear Valley. Is the ultra-secret society Illuminé finally dead? If so, what will its minions placed in strategic positions worldwide do now?  The team - Magus and Hekka Crayle, Micmac and Phoebe, and Lenny and Alona - has survived multiple instances of extreme violence. But what about tomorrow?  Miniaturized nuclear devices are still being manufactured in China. Will Empress Ling, the widow of Emperor Chin and new leader of China, continue their production and permit their strategic usage? Or can Magus Crayle ultimately persuade her to pursue a path of peace? President Kimbel Stones still holds a marker. Crayle promised to head the CIA as soon as possible. Will he be able to keep his promise to the most powerful person in the world? In the past, the Illuminé's plot of world conquest involved twelve countries. Are there additional countries on the roster? What new and potentially cataclysmic threats exist? Follow the Crayle team as they travel the globe in search of answers. Follow them as they encounter diabolical plots, a compromised spy organization, and an array of devious governments. Will the team thwart their old nemeses, especially the ones they believed to be dead?

The global geopolitical scene has experienced secret societies before, most having come and gone. But never an ultra-secret, mega-violent organization such as the French founded Illuminé. Its leaders cast themselves as enlightened and necessary to control, in absolute terms, the governance of all peoples. Its utilization of miniaturized nuclear weapons to that end confounds the world’s powers. Via the completion of perfect strategic moves on the international chessboard, the society appears to be unstoppable. Until the emergence of five unlikely team members attached to recovering CIA amnesiac operative, Magus Crayle. Time and time again this crew thwarts Illuminé leaders and their moves. The Crayle crew, undaunted by the vastly superior resources arrayed against them, is now exhausted. Will they uncover previously unknown senior operatives, and stop this enemy one final time? Can they beat the massive odds arrayed against them? To save humanity from total subjugation, they will need to muster the requisite physical, emotional, and intellectual resources to triumph over the ultimate evil.

It would seem that a spy's work is never done. At least, that has been the reality for the CIA's off-the-books team. The remaining four of the original six are led by Magus Crayle, whose once destroyed memories have been serially restored from ultra-secret archives by the Agency's Swiss-born psycho-researcher, Doctor Pirmin Rorschach. The team is in hiatus as Crayle morphs into the role of Director of Central Intelligence. But some stress-abated personal time is in order. Peaceful time for Crayle and his beautiful, wife, Hekka, to get away and plot their course for a peaceful future with him at his Langley, Virginia seventh floor office job. She could raise their baby daughter, Kianna, while completing her research linking Western Hemisphere indigenous peoples with those of South Asia. But, just as the world keeps on turning, the few Illuminé secret society megalomaniacs who remain are not about to surrender. The team destroyed the Chinese nuclear bomb factory, but previously purchased devices exist. Eager to be deployed. New DCI Crayle is not able to predict the new locales in his near-term future, nor the world changing gravity of what will transpire. He can only hope to move adversarial forces beyond their natural, political narcissism. To end the strategic nuclear violence, so embedded in the recent years. To once and for all live long enough to achieve the ever elusive endgame of a precious and permanent peace.

At stake is nothing less than global peace. President Kimbel Stones must transition super operative Magus Crayle from the field to a desk job at Langley. The top desk job. Downside? The end of the invaluable, off the books team led by Crayle. Stones also needs his CIA Director nominee approved by the U.S. Senate confirmation committee ... without providing valid biographical data or a name. A seriously tough row to hoe. Crayle's intel team members are already moving on. Alona is back to her defense attorney role in Southern California's Big Bear Valley. Former SEAL Micmac is off on a new gadget development project for the CIA's Science and Technology Directorate. His wife, Phoebe, is due to return to her previous FBI agent position. Lenny is considering a jumpstart of his late father's P.I. firm to assist attorney wife Alona. And Crayle's exotic and talented spouse, Hekka, is about to undertake a quest to discover the South Asian source of her indigenous ancestors' migrations. Not so fast! The secret society Illuminé, while conducting its own quest to replace ineffective and corrupt governments with enlightened authoritarian leaders, has produced a new French monarchy, a return to czarist rule in Russia, and a new Chinese empire. Just the beginning. A proof of concept, if you will. The Crayle and team-decimated society retains a spark of life. The Illuminé will fight back. Then, of course, we have the leaders of the three One-God religions. Crayle got things started with the A Summit, which took place on the east Atlantic, Portuguese island of Madeira. The recent B Summit in Casablanca successfully enlisted both Crayle and Stones to the task, thus assuring the two Americans would need to see that through, as well. A great deal to consume. And the clock is ticking!