The Hypnotist

by Gordon Snider

Overview

In 1906, San Francisco has reached the peak of its golden age. Fortunes have created a society that attracts European opera singers and cordon bleu chefs. It is a world defined by elegant balls, oysters, and champagne. But there are darker sides to the city as well. One of these darker places is The Mission district south of Market Street houses tenements where shanties huddle together and rats plague the streets. And nearby sits Chinatown, an endless warren of dark alleys that offers gambling, prostitution, and opium, all controlled by vicious gangs, called tongs.
Into these disparate worlds steps Marta Baldwin, a young woman who has shunned her own social background to help the poor. She is confronted by a hypnotist, a man who hypnotizes young women from the tenements and delivers them to the tongs in Chinatown to work in their brothels. Marta escapes his hypnotic trance, but when her assistant, Missy, disappears, Marta realizes she has been taken by the evil man who confronted her. She seeks the help of Byron Wagner, one of San Francisco’s most prominent citizens. Marta finds herself drawn to Byron but knows his high social standing prevents any possibility of a relationship between them.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940012842947
Publisher:	Helm Publishing
Publication date:	02/08/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	960 KB

About the Author

Prior to becoming a novelist, Gordon Snider wrote magazine articles and two business books: Winning Marketing Strategies and How To Become A Killer Competitor. When he moved to California’s Central Coast in 1999, he began writing fiction. His first novel, Sigourney’s Quest, was published in February 2006, and his second, The Separatist, in August 2007. Both were published by Helm Publishing and have received enthusiastic reviews. The Hypnotist is his third novel.

Before becoming a full-time author, Gordon spent thirty years as an independent marketing consultant and taught at four universities, most recently at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. His business background has given him considerable experience as a public speaker, and he has used that to his advantage in marketing his books. For his non-fiction Killer Competitor book, he gave seminars and lectures at conferences and conventions across the U.S. and Canada. For Sigourney’s Quest, he has offered a very popular slide show and talk on Tibet to book clubs, reading groups and professional organizations, including Rotary and Kiwanis. Other marketing efforts include successful book signings at independent and chain book stores, where his “meet and greet” approach generates considerable interest and sales.