The King Trilogy Series by Stephen Douglass

THE BRIDGE TO CARACAS is Volume one of THE KING TRILOGY, an epic story, spanning four tumultuous decades, of an inconvenient fortune and its catastrophic affect on a loving family.Stephen Douglass's knowledge of the Oil and Gas Industry is woven into a plot similar to John Grisham's tales of lawyers, judges, and the law. Both are terrific at storytelling at a brisk pace coming with a knowledgeable background... moreTHE BRIDGE TO CARACAS is Volume one of THE KING TRILOGY, an epic story, spanning four tumultuous decades, of an inconvenient fortune and its catastrophic affect on a loving family.Stephen Douglass's knowledge of the Oil and Gas Industry is woven into a plot similar to John Grisham's tales of lawyers, judges, and the law. Both are terrific at storytelling at a brisk pace coming with a knowledgeable background. You will be educated as to the Oil and Gas Industry, especially the dark side of money making, and entertained by a romantic, engaging action story. This book belongs in a class with "Unbroken", "Lost in Shangri-La", "In the Garden of the Beasts", and other five star books that I have enjoyed this summer. (5 star review)Jim Servito shatters the hopes and aspirations of star-crossed lovers, Mike King and Karen Taylor, while simultaneously engineering a grand theft ranking as one of the largest and most audacious in Canadian and U.S. history. Cynical and remorselessly ruthless, he possesses a brilliant criminal mind, has enormous contempt for the law, police, governments, and the system in which they function. He assumes rules are for fools, and takes sadistic pleasure in breaking them. Using The Peace Bridge as his fulcrum, he steals $325,000,000 from the U.S. and Canadian governments, steals enormous quantities of gasoline by illegally installing valves in Golden National’s Buffalo refinery, then murders everyone who can implicate him.The setting is storybook perfect. The beautiful daughter of wealthy parents meets the handsome son of middle class parents. The two fall in love and assume they will marry and live happily ever after. History would prove their assumption wrong. Cruel twists of fate and the wrath of Jim Servito combine to prescribe a horrible nightmare for the two lovers, one that grows in intensity and ultimately leads them to prison, then a life and death confrontation with Servito in Caracas.Karen Taylor, tired of life in private school for girls, the endless doting of her wealthy parents, and the monotony of constant female company, wants out, to experience the real world, preferably on her own. Her priorities lead her to an endless love affair with Mike King, but his marriage to another woman leads her to a disastrous marriage to Jim Servito.Mike King has it made. A third generation medical candidate and gifted athlete, his future appears assured. He is going to be a doctor. It is the family tradition. Then, like the first snows of winter, everything changes. He falls in love with Karen Taylor, and decides he wants a future of his own, instead of the one tradition had prescribed for him. His heart is ripped from his body when Karen’s mother informs him that her daughter was killed when her airplane was hijacked in Athens and blown up in Syria. Saddened beyond all consolation, he plunges into his engineering studies with a consuming passion. Fate leads him to a doomed marriage to Barbara Larkin. The marriage is complicated when he discovers that Karen is alive. A chance meeting with Karen results in a torrid, but life-threatening affair. He relinquishes his successful career in big oil to launch what appears to be a once in a lifetime business opportunity. When Jim Servito and the Feds conspire to ruin his business, terminate his affair with Karen, and imprison both, the two lovers risk everything to violate their bail restrictions, covertly fly to Caracas, and end their nightmare. less

Prepare yourself for the one of the most exciting rides of your life. Volume Two of The King Trilogy, The Tainted Trust is, in addition to a moving and action packed thriller, a brilliant depiction of what perfectly normal people will do for love and money. It is the continuing story of an inconvenient fortune and its catastrophic impact on a loving family. No one wept when Jim Servito died. He left an estate amounting to $325,000,000 when his wife, Karen killed him in Caracas... morePrepare yourself for the one of the most exciting rides of your life. Volume Two of The King Trilogy, The Tainted Trust is, in addition to a moving and action packed thriller, a brilliant depiction of what perfectly normal people will do for love and money. It is the continuing story of an inconvenient fortune and its catastrophic impact on a loving family. No one wept when Jim Servito died. He left an estate amounting to $325,000,000 when his wife, Karen killed him in Caracas. He had accumulated the fortune the old fashioned way: he stole it from the U.S. and Canadian Governments using a brilliant gasoline tax evasion scam. The money is hot, deposited in a Cayman Island bank, and its cursed. It has a profound affect on everyone who touched it. It is managed by Alfred Schnieder, an aging and unscrupulous Caracas banker. Mike King, the love of Karen’s life, and nearly ruined by the Feds’ scorched earth efforts to recover Servito’s fortune, convinces her to keep the money, instead of returning it to its rightful owners. With the assistance of Schnieder, they form The King Trust, a near fatal mistake. Desperate to recover the money, the Feds continue to spare no expense and effort to do so. Phillip, the only child of Karen and Jim Servito, assumes he is the natural heir to his father’s fortune, and has his own greedy plans for the money. Aging Alfred Schnieder relinquishes the trust’s management to Louis Visconti, a thirty-two year old Wall Street whiz kid and brilliant financial engineer. Dubbed ‘The Crown Prince of Wall Street’, and substantially more unscrupulous than Schnieder, Visconti takes The King Trust to bewildering heights, then fails, miserably. Kerri Pyper, Mike King’s twenty-three year old estranged daughter, has not seen or communicated with her father since she was nine. She discovers the existence of The King Trust and is shocked to learn that her natural father is its Trustee. Visconti, desperate and assuming he is still the smartest man in the room, embezzles the fortune and flees to Monaco. He made only two mistakes: he deceived both Mike King and Alfred Schnieder and fell in love with Kerri. less

5 STAR REVIEW I have just completed this third tale of the King Family and the twists and turns they have faced for two generations. These books are rare. While the characters in all three thread together, each book is a totally singular narrative. The plot lines are complex yet the author's strength, and this is a rare talent, is keep you in the loop, even if an event he is referencing happened decades in the past and you haven't read another of the King saga... more5 STAR REVIEW I have just completed this third tale of the King Family and the twists and turns they have faced for two generations. These books are rare. While the characters in all three thread together, each book is a totally singular narrative. The plot lines are complex yet the author's strength, and this is a rare talent, is keep you in the loop, even if an event he is referencing happened decades in the past and you haven't read another of the King saga. All three are well written and keep your attention in every chapter. Douglass has a firm command of the financial and commodities markets, and the legal system. His dialogs are real. He paints great scenes and portrays action well. If you enjoy a rich read with a genuine sense of the realities the characters inhabit then these three novels will not disappoint. You are about to read the story of a thirty-three year old woman who chose to go to war with the greed and avarice of big business, the overwhelming power of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, and a billion dollar shareholder lawsuit against her. Simultaneously, she chose to fall in love with a man who was engaged to marry another woman. Kerri King’s dedication and tireless work ethic had taken her to the top. She was the president and CEO of Iacardi & Sons, one of the largest and most successful commodity trading companies in the world. Everything was perfect, until the company was nearly decimated by the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Tormented by the loss of all but three of the company’s New York employees, and driven to provide a source of income for the families and loved ones of the Iacardi employees who died on that terrible day, she begins the fight to rebuild the company. Virtually all of the cards and circumstances are stacked against her. The company is broke. Charles and Mario Iacardi, the company’s founders and financial providers, are dead. Peter Tavaris, Walter Deaks, and Billie Dukes, the three surviving New York employees, are vehemently opposed to Kerri’s continuing leadership. Enerco, a gigantic Houston based energy trading company, conspires to purchase Iacardi & Sons, and employs every dirty trick in the corporate playbook to accomplish that objective. Desperate to salvage value for their Iacardi stock, the shareholders launch a billion dollar lawsuit against Kerri, and vote to have her removed as president. In her quest to provide financial relief to the estates of deceased Iacardi employees, Kerri choses to give away to the Iacardi estates every cent of the fortune accruing from her father’s tainted trust. Her decision triggers disastrous consequences doled out by the Internal Revenue Service. Kerri’s troubles are not confined to the corporate world. Just when she thinks she has at last found the love of her life, she is horrified to receive an invitation to his wedding in Naples, Florida, on New Years Eve, December 31, 2001. The wedding is like no other she, or any of the invitees, have ever attended. less