Pulse, a Novel

"She had worn the perfume PULSE tonight. She did not wear it often, preserving the prototype, rationing the delicate yet potent, oddly familiar scent, the fragrance Pierre had created for her, woodsy, spicy, and sensuous. Wrapped in PULSE, her heartbeat sending out the fragrance, she was ready for whatever came up." Mona Burbank, an international film star, owns the formula for PULSE, and extraordinary perfume with a secret time release given to her in Cannes ten years before by Jean-Pierre Delain, a chemist with whom she had a brief affair. Swifty Sam McDonald, entrepreneur and fast talker, cajoles the secret of PULSE from Mona at a London dinner party and convinces her he can find financing for its manufacture and marketing. He contacts Mark LaSalle, Chicago investment counselor who is put off by Swifty because of past deals, but lured by his glowing sales pitch and promising profit picture. Eldon Howard, a major financier, signs on too, with a private agenda and big money problems. Jana Thurwood, Mark's live-in lover, is instantly attracted to Swifty at the introductory PULSE gala and positions herself as a player as the PULSE deal unfolds. Intermingled with sex, romance and drama on the world stage, are Eldon Howard's lawsuit to take over PULSE, and the underhanded tactics of both sets of lawyers. "Pulse offers a diverse set of characters, a fast-moving story line- from California to Chicago, New York, Paris, Vienna, Czechoslovakia - betrayal and loss of trust, a touch of international intrigue - twists and turns build into a suspenseful action in the final chapters." -Ruth Beliles, The Longboat Observer, Longboat Key Florida