Mike Holst
Other Works
The Last Trip Down The Mountain
FOR BART MOUNTAIN CLIMBING WAS A WAY OF LIFE. His money and his living on the edge attitude had taken him all over the mountain climbing world. Bart and his friend Thurwood had been a climbing team for more years then they could remember and they seemed inseparable. Then Cassie came into Bart’s life and they fell in love, and Bart got this ultimatum from his soon to be bride. Pick Thurwood and climbing or me. However, there was one more mountain to climb before he could willingly put his axe and crampons away and marry Cassie. There would be one last climb for Bart and Thurwood and the mountain was Alaska’s Denali. It’s the beast on the edges of the Arctic Circle and one of the most formidable peaks Bart or any climber has ever encountered. You only get to the top, if the mountain lets you. The mountain seemed to be giving them permission to climb and then took it back. A spring storm came up and battered them almost into submission and all the while Cassie was waiting at the bottom.
Back from the Ashes
In “No Clues in the Ashes” we met David Bennett, a born killer and a callous pyromaniac with no conscience, who terrorized the city of Minneapolis with his insidious deeds.
Then young Mike Flanagan from Minneapolis Fire put an end to him and the terror. Or so they thought. Now it’s ten years later and Bennett is back in a new city, far from Minneapolis and far from his adversary Mike Flanagan. Or so he thought. Come along with me on this literary journey through the streets of Chicago as once more these two men square off, each in a quest to rid the earth of each other. That is until the fight goes back to Minneapolis and for Flanagan; the fight gets up close and personal.
The Magic Book
Writer Mike Holst has established himself as one of the more productive fiction authors in Minnesota. In the past ten years he has written nine fiction novels and published five of them. Some of his works are A Long Way Back, Nothing to Lose, No Clues in the Ashes, Justice for Adam, and now, The Magic Book. All of his stories are Minnesota based stories that reflect his great love for the state he lives in. Columnist, author, and freelance writer, he does it all. His stories are very descriptive and very real to life. Mike, now retired, lives on a lake in North Central Minnesota with his wife Kitty. He is the father of three and the grandfather of eight.
JUSTICE FOR ADAM
Justice for Adam is a compelling and rewarding story for anyone who has been disappointed by the legal system. Adam Holton had everything he wanted in life. A budding career and a good life in a small town he loved so much. The real prize for him however was Mandy, his beautiful betrothed friend. Then just like that she was abducted, brutalized and murdered, and Adams world as he knew it, came to a screeching halt. His only consolation was to see the man who did it punished in a court of law.
It was not to happen, however, and the perpetrator was released on a technicality with the help of his shrewd lawyer. Adam was enraged, and then he snapped and took the law into his own hands. He became the fugitive, instead of the man who had killed his sweetheart and ruined his life. Sometimes however justice is served in strange ways in small town America, where bloodlines and feelings can come to the surface and wrongs get made into rights.
No Clues In The Ashes
This former firefighter, turned author, brings you a story that’s close to his heart. Mike Flanagan was a young man, fresh out of high school and off his parents Minnesota farm, when he made his way to Minneapolis to find his role in life. Mired in a factory job he hates, he is on his way home one day when he comes upon a house on fire, and learns that there are kids trapped upstairs. In a daring rescue he saves their lives, not knowing that they are the kids of a Minneapolis firefighter named Deacon Crawford.
With Deacon’s help and encouragement, Mike joins the Minneapolis Fire Department.
He finds a career filled with danger and adventure, and he also finds Laura Evans, who steals his heart, and then disappears. Mike turns from firefighting to investigation, and the pursuit of a pyromaniac named David Bennett. He is as obsessed with catching Bennett, as Bennett is with destroying Mike. Always, though, there is a flame in his heart he can’t put out. Her name is Laura.
NOTHING TO LOSE
Beth Motrin had what most women only dream about. Her husband Mick was a handsome, hardworking man who worshiped both Beth and their young daughter Sarah. He was a diligent man with a steady job as a police detective and was working his way up the ladder in the department. Beth had a career of her own that she loved, teaching children in an elementary school. She lived the suburbia dream with a nice home in a great part of town, close to work. Friends, family, financial success and good neighbors, yes Beth had it all. Then one spring day it all came apart and her perfect world collapsed. For Beth it was her worst nightmare come true. The ever present worry the spouse of every police officer lives with. Losing her life’s partner to the very violence they are trying to prevent. The story deals with overwhelming grief, shock, self pity, anger, and then justice and revenge. Beth plays all of the roles. There are never any winners in a scene such as this, but Beth comes as close as you can get.
A LONG WAY BACK
In the grip of a raging thunderstorm Arnie Bottelmiller, his small son Timmy, and his fiancée Julie are forced down and crash land on an island in the wilderness area of Northern Minnesota. Arnie is badly injured and immobile. He and Julie, who is also injured but able to function, wait for rescue for a few days and then finally realize their only chance for survival is for Julie, Timmy and Jake the dog, to walk out. A trek of over eighty miles of sometimes impenetrable forest, with nothing more than the clothing on their backs, a fishing pole, a crude map and a lighter with very little fluid left. They have a strange and unnerving encounter with a wild timber wolf who proves to be their friend and not their enemy. A lot of emotions come out in the story, with family and friends holding vigils behind the scenes, unaware of Julie, Timmy and Jakes courageous fight for survival.
COMING HOME AT LAST
Devon Harrington’s perfect life took a breathtaking turn when a dream trip to the Galapagos for research came along and took him on the South Seas adventure that he had often dreamed about. Little did he know that this voyage would change his life forever. Out of nowhere, his old Navy Seal buddy, Arnie, joined and offered him a chance to make some fast money—more money than Devon had seen in a while. But this matter would be their little secret.
On the way, however, a storm sank the schooner and Devon nearly died before washing ashore weeks later on a radioactive atoll. Nursed back to life by the island’s only inhabitant, Devon couldn’t wait to be rescued and get back home to Margie. But it would be a formidable task for he had no boat, didn’t know where he was and was increasingly torn by his love for his rescuer. What’s more surprising were the things he would discover when he found a way.
In Coming Home at Last, you will be drawn to the gripping storyline and interesting characters that will surely leave you captivated and amused after its surprising conclusion unfolded!
VISIONS OF JUSTICE
Torch Brennan was bored with his early retirement from the Minneapolis Police force. He couldn’t forget the many years of living life on the edge that he’d once led, and how now, it seemed he had little purpose in life. Then came a chance to go back and work on a cold case. It was a case that had eluded him for years, and the one “blemish” on his stellar record. They said it was “new evidence”—evidence that would shed a convincing light on who had done it—and so the hunt was back on.
Then, along with the evidence, came a new twist. The man, whom he had pursued for so many years, looked more and more innocent with each passing day. Suddenly, he was pursuing him, not to convict him, but to help him prove his innocence. Either way, guilty or innocent, he had to find him. In his search for Barry, the evidence trail would take Torch from the streets of Minneapolis to the primitive forests of Alaska and back again.
For Barry, proving his innocence was as elusive as it was for the police to prove his guilt, until his subconscious mind slowly started to unravel and bit-by-bit the truth was revealed.
This is Mike Holst’s tenth published fiction novel. As always, it is a story that is written so vividly and real that you will forget its fiction, and wonder when and where it happened.
THREE DAYS IN AUGUST
This story is a tale of a cynical and brutal outsider, who holds a small town in Iowa hostage for three days. Billy Joe, an incorrigible red neck crook, was fresh from being booted out of the army when he befriended a run away teen, and a naïve, Iowa boy named Teddy, whose father happened to own the local bank, back in Teddy’s hometown. After a short crime spree across the desert southwest Billy hatches a plan to rob the bank and Teddy is caught in the middle. The robbery is botched and ends up in a standoff situation.
Enter Clem, the proud local sheriff, unwilling to call in outside help, confident he can weather the storm and bring Billy to justice and free the hostages. Clem is under terrible pressure to bring the incident to a conclusion, yet unwilling to risk the lives of innocent people by swarming the bank or doing something foolish.
This is a story full of small town characters, blended together into a tale that will have you running the gambit from laughter to anger. From fear and apprehension to enjoying the down-to-earth love and camaraderie, amongst people, that you find only in small town America.
