Book 1

The Domino Effect: The Entry
A True Story of Survival, Secrets, and Second Chances

Most stories begin with a choice.

This one began with a fall.

Before Nicaragua...
before the surf camp...
before the headlines-

I was already unraveling.

An orphaned kid who had learned to survive early.
A shark attack survivor.
A divorced, burned-out real estate appraiser navigating the collapse of the housing market.
A functioning addict quietly spiraling beneath the surface of a life that still looked intact from the outside.

Then I met a man named Frank.

What started as a routine appraisal turned into an unexpected invitation:

"Forget Costa Rica. Come to my country."

The first trip felt like something out of a different world.

Access came too easily.
Doors opened without effort.
People moved around us in ways that didn't match who we were.

At the time, I called it opportunity.

But when I returned to Florida, something didn't let go.

The coastline stayed with me.
The feeling stayed with me.
And an idea began to form-a surf camp built somewhere untouched, somewhere real.

So I made a decision that would change everything.

I went back alone.

On September 9th, 2009, I landed in Managua with two surfboards, a dog, and a plan I believed in.

I told immigration I was there for tourism.

That was the last simple answer I would have.

Because what I didn't understand then...

was that nothing about what I was stepping into was accidental.

Over time, I would find myself moving closer and closer to a world I had only ever heard about in fragments-

a world later explored in Hollywood screenplays like Kill the Messenger...

a world of influence, shadow networks, and decisions made far outside public view.

But in the beginning-

I knew none of that.

I thought I was building a surf camp.

I didn't realize I was stepping into the outer orbit of something much larger...

something already in motion...

something that would pull me deeper than I ever intended to go.

The Domino Effect - Book 1: The Entry is the beginning of a true story that unfolds across years, countries, and lives intersecting in ways that defy logic.

What starts as a travel memoir quickly becomes something else:

A story about addiction and survival.
A story about access and illusion.
A story about what happens when a man searching for a reset walks straight into a chain reaction he cannot control.

And eventually...

though you won't see it yet-

a story about a love so unlikely, it could only exist inside chaos.

If you are drawn to:

• true stories based on real events
• addiction and recovery memoirs
• impossible and miraculous love stories
• survival stories in foreign countries
• travel memoirs with deeper meaning
• real-world intrigue and hidden power structures
• and stories where everything feels just slightly... off

then this is where it starts.

Because once the first domino falls-

it doesn't stop.