Artwork & Guest Post for Green Shoots by Ben Westwood @benwestwood #ecologicalthriller

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The beautiful cover caught my eye. The title made me curious. And this line from the blurb finished me off:

Green Shoots is a story of grief and revenge, a gripping crime thriller with an ecological heart.

I reviewed Green Shoots by Ben Westwood on November 16, 2022. Everything about his book spoke to me and I was amazed at Ben Westwood’s ability to pen such a fabulous debut novel. So….I decided to spotlight the artwork and cover that knocked my socks off.

You can see my 5 STAR review HERE.

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The artwork has always been central to my novel Green Shoots, not least because the ideas for the cover and the mural came before I had even started writing the book.

I’ve always been obsessed with the color green. It’s my favorite color and I’ve always had a lot of green in my house – from the carpet to blankets and clothing. Of course, it’s the color of nature and the environment, and bathing in green light is supposed to be great for the soul. I always find myself drawn to natural surroundings to feel better.

Calling the book Green Shoots did present some problems though – it doesn’t sound like a thriller. It sounds like a nature book or possibly an economics book – “green shoots of recovery” etc. This is why the central image of blood dripping off green shoots is so important and ended up on the cover. With that image, I feel the story is defined – it’s an eco-thriller, which expresses a love of nature under the shadow of violent crimes. The image itself only appears in the book once – in the video that the killer releases globally, which in effect expresses his manifesto.

“Out of their ashes, green shoots will grow” – these words were a sort of mantra and again they came to me before even writing the book. As I was writing the first couple of chapters, I knew that I wanted the killer to leave that message at the crime scenes. But as I was writing, I realized it would be far more interesting to have a visual representation of the words rather than leaving them simply written. That’s how the idea of the mural came about. I liked the idea that the words came from somewhere else, repeated by the killer rather than actually coined by him. When I repeated the sentence to myself, I clearly visualized ashes and death on the left and rebirth on the right. I then pictured a mural with the detail of this image.

It’s described in chapter 3 of the book: “On the left is a scene of scorched earth, blackened tree stumps, skulls and bones, merging into thick forest on the right with toucans, monkeys and indigenous children. The graffiti written in white in the soil below reads: ‘De sus cenizas crecerán brotes verdes’. My Spanish is good enough to know it means: ‘Out of their ashes, green shoots will grow.’ ”

The mural first appears as a photograph in the first crime scene, but appears later in the book as an actual mural in South America. Its appearance is never fully explained and that was deliberate – I have always admired subversive pop-up artists such as Banksy and I had that idea in mind.

When the book was finished, I knew there was still some creative work to do. I wanted someone to actually paint the mural – not on a wall but as a painting. I have no painting talent at all so I found an artist – my friend Anna Walker, who lives local to me in Sussex, England. Over a couple of months she moved from sketches to completing the painting. It now hangs on my wall. It’s big – over a meter wide and dominates by living room.

The words and their accompanying images very much define the book. It is a book about hope coming from despair – both personally for John and for the world at large.

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Gorgeous Cover Lured Me In – Green Shoots by Ben Westwood @benwestwood

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Green Shoots by Ben Westwood is his debut novel. I loved it soooo much. I want to thank Book Sirens and Cranthorpe Millner Publishers for the opportunity to read and review Green Shoots by Ben Westwood.

The beautiful cover caught my eye. The title made me curious. And this line from the blurb finished me off:

Green Shoots is a story of grief and revenge, a gripping crime thriller with an ecological heart.

Amazon / Kindle Unlimited / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

Green Shoots is Ben Westwood’s debut novel and it blew me away. Green Shoots is very well written with a storyline that captured me, making me flip pages as my emotions ran wild. Reap what you sow may be an appropriate description for these characters that worship the almighty dollar. I loved everything about Green Shoots by Ben Westwood.

Nightmares haunt him. He wants to die. He visualizes it. I’ve heard people mention, when they first wake up, there is a moment when all seems normal, then reality smacks them in the face, and their sorrow and despair hit them. John’s wife dies in South America and he feels he is not being told the truth. He has to know.

A USB drive. A file folder named Blakely. A voice on the phone breathes life into John, an investigative reporter. But, is the voice that of a good person? Made me think of Dexter and that is always a good thing.

A message: Out of their ashes, green shoots will grow.

I love books that deal with real life problems. Ecological fiction novels like Green Shoots grab me and never let me go. It gets all my emotions roiling, sadness, anger, despair, hope…logging, deforestation, mining, poisoned water, habitat loss…for animals and indigenous people.

By 7% I was fully invested in John’s story. As he checks out his wife’s blog, he realizes her research into ecotourism, community projects and good practice morphed into something sinister. Anger breathes life into John, and my rage escalated too.

He found his love in Ecuador, now he is going back to find out who or what took her away from him. There is danger from many sources.

So much of the book read like an expose, a documentary, with some fiction thrown in. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer…and sometimes they are eliminated because they are in the way. Definitely thought provoking.

I used to watch Whale Wars and when I read Green Shoots it made me think of it, the lengths the people would go to save a whale or butcher a whale, was an eye opener. Sure we all hear about it, but how often do we see it? Definitely a thought provoking novel.

It is hard for me not to go on a rant, but it is not about me. It is about John and his story.

If a debut novel can have such a WOW factor, I am eager to see what Ben will write next.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Green Shoots by Ben Westwood.

5 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

OUT OF THEIR ASHES, GREEN SHOOTS WILL GROW

Green Shoots is a story of grief and revenge, a gripping crime thriller with an ecological heart.

Brought back from the brink of suicide by a mysterious phone call, grieving journalist John Adamson is desperate to know the truth about his wife Christina’s death in South America. The man on the phone gives John clues to what really happened, but also tips him off to investigate a spate of deaths of businessmen, all found with the same cryptic message: “Out of their ashes, green shoots will grow.” From the protest-filled streets of London to the ravaged jungles of Ecuador, John is unwittingly drawn into a lethal plot, but who is behind these murders and what is the connection to his wife’s death?

ABOUT BEN WESTWOOD

Ben Westwood is a journalist, author, lecturer and performer with more than 20 years’ experience in the media and education. His first novel, the eco-thriller Green Shoots, is available now.

Ben is a former Daily Telegraph journalist and has written several travel guidebooks on destinations from Ecuador, Galapagos and Peru to London. He currently combines freelance writing with lecturing at University of Brighton. Ben is also an experienced musician and has released two albums as a singer-songwriter.

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  • You can see my Giveaways HERE.
  • You can see my Reviews HERE.
  • If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
  • Look on the right sidebar and let’ talk.
  • Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
  • I am an Amazon affiliate/product images are linked.
  • Thanks for visiting fundinmental!