Views and reviews

It's been a few months now since the book came out. I remember how terrified I was to let go of it and hit the "publish" button. Who would read it? Would people who read it think we were looking for attention or, worse, pity? What if the people who meant the most to this story ending well (God, family, law enforcement, district attorneys) were disappointed in us; in me? What if people who've just gotten to know us suddenly turned away from us as so many did before? Would publishing the story be of value to anyone - maybe keep them safer- or would it be just more white noise?

We had and have no marketing budget. We wanted it that way. Early on, we looked at crowd funding, but decided that if this book had legs, it would make it by word-of-mouth. It's still got a long way to go before I'd call it a success in the sales sense, but it has been a success. Thanks to you. If you're one of the many that have bought it and read it and told others about it, you've made it a success and we thank you.

We were honored to speak at a local Rotary group because someone told someone else about the book. I was blessed and honored to be guest author at a local book club recently for the same reason. Blessed even more to be invited to become a member of that group! It's been a wonderful surprise and makes my day when I see a review on Amazon or Good Reads that the person has gotten something valuable from reading the book. In every case, the best thing of all was to hear statements like these:

"My husband and I realized, from the book, that we have too much routine. We're changing that." "I lock the door between my garage and house now." "We don't post minute-by-minute activities on Facebook now." "I'm more alert to where I am and who's around me." "We have started a check-in system in our family because of your book." "We don't open the door to anyone we're not expecting." "I make sure every door is locked, even my car." "We have a construction business and realize that this could have happened - could happen - to us. We are much more careful now."

We can't completely avoid tragedy in our lives. We can't know God's plans for our lives, but, He told us to keep alert; to be ready always. Our prayer is that this book honors the ones who risked their lives to save ours, honors the advocates who fought for justice on Paul's and Lance's behalf and prevents this kind of crime from happening to any other family.

"$500,000 by tonight or all you'll need that money for is his funeral." February 27, 2008

That's what the voice on the other end of the phone demanded of my brother-in-law at 6:45AM on Wednesday, February 27, 2008. Paul's been gone just minutes short of 24 hours.Now, we know he's alive. As an added incentive to move quickly, the kidnapper told Tom that Paul was "in a bad way...needs a doctor; maybe a hospital." My stomach lurches at the images of torture and terror that Paul's going through.

Horror turns to panic as the realization hits us that we have less than a day to find HALF A MILLION DOLLARS! Thankfully, a team is growing and assembling in Georgetown, Texas to save the day:

Sergeant Pete Hughey, Detective James Maugham, Texas Ranger Matt Lindemann and First Assistant District Attorney, Jana McKown.

Will they get there in time? Where, on earth, will we ever be able to find that kind of money? Why did this happen?

"Walking Between The Raindrops" by Mary and Paul Roland - An American couple's true story of kidnap-for-ransom in the United States by the most Vicious drug cartel in Mexico - on sale now at Amazon.com.

"No one could have ever invented a story like this. I was especially gratified for their honesty ...", February 22, 2015
By Bridget (Tarentum, PA USA)

"A book of true courage," February 5, 2015
By sharon

"This is a very good book. Follows the victims and suspects from the beginning to the end - seeing the suspect in jail and the victims recovering." February 26, 2015, By Barbara

Do that which is hard -

http://www.kvue.com/media/cinematic/video/23646863/wife-of-central-texas-man-kidnapped-by-drug-cartel-tells-their-story/

A recent interview on a local news show was a big deal to us even if it isn't to anyone else. I don't like to have my picture taken and I'm much more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it. Yet, this had to be done. We stopped talking about the event years ago with the exception of a random mention when either Bobby or Samantha have come up for parole review or if someone asked about how the book was coming along. Not drawing attention to ourselves has become our normal operating procedure.

Once the book was done and out there, I began to think about the inquiries by the media when this all happened back in 2008 and KVUE was the one news station that seemed to actually care about what had happened to Paul not just the sensational bits. So, I picked KVUE as the news station that I would reach out to and, if they were still interested in a story, I would share it with them. We were so pleased and encouraged by their continued sensitivity and coverage. Quita Culpepper and the people at KVUE 24 are what a professional news team should be.

The interview may be good for marketing, but, the big deal, to me, is that we stepped out of the shadows and into the light. We've done that which is hard to continue to take back our lives and know we can keep going.

"Walking Between The Raindrops" on sale in print and Kindle editions at www.amazon.com.

Who would you pick?

A common remark throughout this experience has been, "This isn't like real life. This is like a movie!" Because I have a film background, the comparison isn't lost on me. As the book has taken form and all the details were written down, including reports, interrogations and testimony, it has often reminded me of writing a script.  Paul and I have even talked about who we would cast as key characters in a film version of "Walking Between The Raindrops".  

Here are our picks for "Walking Between The Raindrops" (fantasy movie) with Paul's choices first and mine 2nd.  Sometimes we agreed but most of the time, we didn't:

Character - Paul

or

Character - Tom

or

Character - Detective James Maugham (too late, we picked)

Character - Texas Ranger Matt Lindemann

or

Character - Sergeant Pete Hughey (again, too late, we picked)

Character - Jana McCown

or ??

Character - Michael Jarrett

or ??

Your turn. Don't feel like you have to cast them all - but pick one or two or more and tell me - who would you pick?

"Comply and you won't die!"

It was a typical February morning in Austin, Texas. A light frost from the night before still clung to everything, including the truck parked outside the garage. The sun wasn't quite up yet so the exterior lights bounced and reflected off surfaces making everything sparkle. He carried his briefcase and a cup of coffee through the open garage and walked toward his truck. He thought about the day ahead of him; what he could do to keep their existing crews busy, new business to get finalized and making sure other projects were ready to start. He and his brother run a very successful electrical contracting company that wires new apartment projects all over the state of Texas.

He was thinking about that as he cleared the opening of the garage and stepped onto the driveway. He didn't see the masked men until it was too late. Two men wearing hoodies over their heads and bandanas over their faces jumped him. The bigger man pointed a large black pistol at his head and barked, "Comply and you won't die!"

Lance Self was the first victim. This attack happened on February 6, 2008, in Travis County and was filed as an attempted home invasion/burglary. Through the diligence and hard work of Williamson County Detective James Maugham, Texas Ranger Matt Lindemann, Williamson County First Assistant DA Jana McCown and Assistant DA Michael Jarrett, Lance's attackers were brought to justice.

Williamson County Detective James Maugham

Texas Ranger Matt Lindemann

Michael Jarrett and Jana McCown

Paul Roland and Lance Self

Criminal Voices

When I started writing "Walking Between The Raindrops," I thought there would only be two voices telling the story - Paul's and mine. But then I requested everything I could get my hands on through the "Open Records Act" from every agency I could think of. As documents, CD's, transcripts and videos were released to me, I began to see that there were many voices to this story - voices that needed to be heard. Detective James Maugham and Ranger Matt Lindemann, Lance Self, many, many law enforcement personnel, former Williamson County First Assistant DA Jana McCown,  Assistant DA Michael Jarrett, our family, friends and the five people arrested and convicted for this terrible crime.

I've tried to be true to each voice and represent them accurately so that my readers will "hear" their words. The hardest part, for me, was listening to the suspect interviews, especially when so much said only showed their patent disrespect for Paul, Tom and themselves. Even so, there were times when they caught me off guard and made me laugh. One of these was an interview with Abraham "AB" Weber by Detective Maugham and Ranger Lindemann:

JAMES: Who, uh, who decided to make the first phone call that morning?

AB: What morning?

JAMES: The morning of, the Wednesday morning at six forty-five in the morning.

AB: Wednesday morning or Thursday morning?

JAMES: Wednesday morning.

AB: I thought he was kidnapped on Tuesday?

JAMES: He was.

MATT: But, nobody called until Wednesday morning.

AB: (surprised) Wednesday?

JAMES: Yup.

AB: Are you sure it was Wednesday morning?

JAMES: A hundred percent, brother.

AB: The first phone call to his brother was Wednesday morning?

MATT: Yup.

AB: Oh.