Kalispell writer releases new novel

A Kalispell writer has released a new novel.

Patrick “Paddy” Lee’s “Power Switch” is a fictional account of a failed power company. A 90-year-old Fortune 500 power company, Big Sky Power Co., is sold to fund Connect West, a fiber optic enterprise. The venture fails, and a popular fiber optic board adviser disappears under dubious circumstances.

Lee says he used historical facts in framing his story’s backdrop. Montana Power Co. in the early 2000s invested profits from the sale of utility assets in the fiber optic company Touch America.

“That venture failed and Wall Street delisted the stock from the stock market. With that fall, hundreds of Montana people lost both their 401K retirement funds and their stock investments,” Lee wrote in an email to the Inter Lake. “The economic domino effect drastically affected business and families in Montana.”

Lee says he created fictional characters and companies to bring to life heartbreaking stories of real people who lost their retirement, stock investments and jobs. “Power Switch” also includes a mystery Lee created to tie the historical facts and personal stories together.

The novel is available at Bookworks in Kalispell and Whitefish, and on online book stores, including www.barnesandnoble.com and Amazon.com. Lee also sells autographed books from his home; email him at patrickleeinc@usamontana.com for more information.

Lee is also the author of “Canyon Secret” and “The Fire Season.”