Uncaged Book Reviews

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Welcome to Timothy Gene Sojka Welcome to Uncaged! Your book, Payback Jack will release March 18th. Can you tell readers more about this book? Every novel introduces at least one character who drives the action. In Payback Jack, the character is Smith Driskill, a 55-year-old east Texas farmer, windowed and abandoned by his children, dramatically executes child molester and murderer, Rodney William Markum. He is unprepared for the ensuing media circus painting him as a hero, or the political divisions that surface when he chooses death over a day in court. Why is Driskill so determined to die on death row, and why have so many people pledged to stop him? Still, to me the core theme in this book is hypocrisy. For instance, this book addresses the death penalty. Someone may be for the death penalty, still if their daughter was on death row, they will most likely change their stance. If someone is against the death penalty, but a family member is murdered, they may become a proponent of the death penalty. MIKE TYSON – “EVERYONE HAS A PLAN UNTIL THEY GET PUNCHED IN THE MOUTH”. I think Mike’s point is important with opinions as well. People opine right up until a life changing events alter their beliefs (They get punched in the mouth.) I do not mean this harshly; these points apply to me too. What I am really saying is understand and respect someone’s opinion, because circumstances really shape their core values. What will a reader get out of this book? 1) More twist than a back country Texas road, 2) Characters they will hate then love. 3) Jaw dropping changes of direction.

4) The nuts and bolt origin story of what makes a hero cross the line to anti-hero, or villain. What have you found the hardest to cope with during the pandemic? What are you looking forward to when a lot of restrictions are lifted? I miss seeing people smile. I miss people seeing I am smiling for them. A smile is the simplest and most wonderful form of communication. Still, this book would remain incomplete without the pandemic. The pandemic cancelled my commute for a few months, and gave me extra time to write and extra time with my family. So, you celebrate the highs. You have been a successful real estate agent, what inspired you to start writing? I started writing this book in the 1990’s because a story in the Houston Chronicle caught my attention. I still, believe the newspapers, or their online progeny supply the best starter fuel for stories. Then life took over. I worked for Nestle Foodservice and they promoted me every few years, our daughter entered our life, addiction overtook me, and then my wife and I founded a successful real estate company. Our team, sales over $70,000,000 a year. So, starting and keeping the company afloat dominated our attention for over a decade. Now, we have such great leadership on the team, I had more time to finish the novel. Still, one strange incident pushed me to finish the novel. I watched a comedy special with comedian Ron White. Apparently, he and Dr. Phil are friends. Ron asked Phil, “What’s the one thing in your life you can do to feel good about yourself?” Dr. Phil answered, “Just finish things.” I finished almost everything in my life, I ran marathons, started companies, oversaw millions of Issue 56 | March 2021 |

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