Many Are Invited

Written by Dennis Cuesta

Narrated by Philip Church

A housewarming party ends in tragedy. . . Steve Galanos, a native Midwesterner, reflects on his time in Northern California during the 1990s, a time when the two-digit year emerged as the Y2K problem, the burgeoning Internet fueled the expansion of the New Economy, the dot-com bubble created unseen prosperity and real estate frenzies. Yet it’s a housewarming party, held in late 1999, that affects him the most. At the request of John Goertz, a group of technology managers and executives gather in a conference room. Listening to the presentation is Steve Galanos, who is suspicious of Goertz’s approach and the dramatic way he describes the problem. Goertz tries to convince his audience that a disaster awaits them unless they immediately address the two-digit year in the company’s distributed systems and compiled code. It’s 1994, well before anyone has heard of the term, Y2K. A promotion to run the newly-created year 2000 compliance program earns John more skepticism and envy from Steve, yet the two have much in common and soon become good friends. A few years later, John leaves for a startup and their lives trend in different directions. By the time John cashes out from a successful IPO, gets married, and buys a house in Los Gatos, his friendship with Steve has waned. It’s at John’s housewarming party where latent animosity and lingering distrust finally come to a head.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lantern Audio
• Release date: Oct 27, 2022
• ISBN: 9781957885032

Dennis Cuesta

A native of California, Dennis Cuesta attended the University of Michigan and remained in the Upper Midwest during his early career. Stuck in Manisitque is his first novel. . . .Dennis and his wife did get stuck in Manistique once, long ago. The interrupted trip served as inspiration for the novel.

Reviews for Many Are Invited

[Mitch Gibson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The only problem with the book is that it ends 3/4 of the way through the story.

[joycemg3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Steve Galanos and John Goertz work together in a company that is preparing for and trying to head off the impending disaster of Y2K, when the year changes to 2000 (The term Y2K is not even a term yet when these IT people start on how to solve this problem. At first Steve is hesitant and a little mistrustful of John's plan but they find common ground and become friends. One night they are out and notice a beautiful woman, Lauren, working in woman's clothing store and Steve dares John to go into the store to meet this woman. John goes in but instead he meets someone else, Mary, and decides to converse with her. As time goes on, the four of them become friends and we find out more about these characters and their secrets. John eventually marries Mary and buys a house. Secrets, jealousy, deceit, all come to a head at John and Mary's housewarming party and the party takes a drastic turn and tragedy ensuesThank you to NetGalley for a ARC.

[fernemysteryreader · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Do you remember the anxiety in the late ‘90’s as the years moved closer to the Year 2000? Would the Millennium bug or more popularly known at the time the Y2K bug (for the Year 2000) create the risks computer programmers began talking about? Could the bug be fixed in time?It’s 1994. John Goertz and Steve Galanos work at a phone company with John as the lead of the Year 2000 Conversion Team and Steve as delivery manager, a direct report to John. Almost despite himself, Steve becomes friends with John but it’s hard not to envy John as his life seems to move forward with all the right moves. But it’s time to put envy aside and celebrate another milestone in John’s life. Newlyweds John and his bride are hosting a housewarming party in mid-December 1999. It’s party time – a new home, the holiday season, and it’s almost 2000. So what could go wrong?I finished the last page and surprised myself as I had exclaimed out loud, “WoW!” Whether you were listening to the news or in meetings at work conversations were filled with the repetitious drone (to many of us!) of the Y2K bug. It was interesting to read this novel and remember that time.The author created realistic colleagues to friends, socializing after work and/or on weekends with dialogue touching on a variety of topics including religion and politics. It was an easy read to immerse oneself in earlier years. For me, it was more drama than suspense or thriller although the psychological component is present. After this introduction to the author’s writing, I wouldn’t hesitate to read more.My sincere thanks to Dennis Cuesta, and Celestial Eyes Press for my complimentary digital copy of this title, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.#ManyAreInvited #NetGalley