By Jeremy Burns
A sleepy French village may not be a common setting for gripping character-driven crime novels, but in the hands of Peter Steiner, it becomes the perfect backdrop for his Louis Morgon series. A unique thematic combination of Agatha Christie and Robert Ludlum with the literary bent of masters like Graham Greene, the series is now getting its fourth exciting entry. THE RESISTANCE takes readers to the rural hamlet the series is known for not only in present day, but also in the tumult of World War II.
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It takes quite a while to download and print a comprehensive list of books written by Sandra Brown—70-plus novels and still counting.
Restrict the search to Brown’s bestsellers and the process goes a little faster, but not much, and the list remains a long one. The prolific and popular author has been turning out books, good ones, for three decades, and there’s no sign that she’ll be letting up anytime soon. That’s welcome news for her many fans.
“Retire?” Brown asked when the question of reducing her workload came up during a recent conversation. She sounded incredulous at the suggestion. “Retire—and then do what? There’s nothing I enjoy more than writing. I can’t just cut back and relax. I’ve never been able to do that. I love to sit down and read a good book, but all my chores have to be done first.”
Brown’s latest literary “chore” is LOW PRESSURE, a contemporary thriller due for release this month from Grand Central Publishing. LOW PRESSURE is the story of Bellamy Lyston, who was not yet a teenager when her older sister was killed on a storm-ravaged Memorial Day. Two decades later, Bellamy has written a bestselling novel based on her sister’s murder.
The young woman wrote the novel using a pen name in deference to her family’s pain, but a tabloid reporter learns that the book is based on a true story and that the victim’s sister is the author. Making matters worse, Bellamy becomes the target of an assailant who may want the truth about the murder kept under wraps or who may want revenge for a man wrongly accused and punished for the crime.
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By George Ebey
THE WASHINGTON POST put it best when they said, “You have to admire the purity of Jerkins’ writing: He’s determined to peer into the darkness and tell us exactly what he sees.”
With the arrival of his latest thriller, THE NINTH STEP, author Grant Jerkins brings us yet another of his admirable examinations into the darker side of the human condition.
Helen Patrice is a recovering alcoholic struggling through a twelve–step program. It’s time to make amends for a crime she’s gotten away with—a hit and run accident that killed the wife of school teacher, Edgar Woolrich. When she finally gathers the courage to meet him, she can’t bring herself to reveal the truth. The ninth step begins with a lie—the first of many as their relationship grows. Then one day, Helen receives an anonymous note: Does he know you killed his wife?
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By John Rabb
To be a successful author, not only with sales but also having the ability to write great stories, start writing about what you know. Kathy Reichs did just that and now she is an international bestselling author and her stories are the basis for the hit TV show BONES. Her latest Bones Adventure BONES ARE FOREVER has just been released, taking the reader on a roller coaster ride with her character Dr. Temperance Brennan. Aside from teaching FBI agents how to detect and recover human remains, Kathy’s work as a forensic anthropologist has taken her around the world, from Rwanda to Guatemala and Ground Zero in New York City. She brings her experience and expertise to her writing, making BONES ARE FOREVER her seventh book in the series. She hit the writing scene about as well as any author could ever dream of with DEJA DEAD, winning the 1997 Ellis Award and hitting the NEW YORK TIMES bestseller list. However, like any author or celebrity there is always more you could learn about them and we are very honored that Kathy took a couple minutes to answer some questions, not only about her latest release, but now you know what is on her DVR.
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Four people in a car; one man driving, eyes on the road. Another man next to him, telling stories that don’t add up. A woman in the back, silent and worried – and next to her, a huge man with a broken nose, hitching a ride east to Virginia.
An hour behind them, a man lies stabbed to death in an old pumping station. He was seen going in with two others, but he never came out. He has been executed, the knife work professional, the killers vanished. Within minutes, the police are notified. Within hours, the FBI descends, laying claim to the victim without ever saying who he was or why he was there.
All Reacher wanted was a ride to Virginia. All he did was stick out his thumb. But he soon discovers he has hitched more than a ride. He has tied himself to a massive conspiracy that makes him a threat—to both sides at once.
In Lee Child’s white-hot thriller, nothing is what it seems, and nobody is telling the truth. As the tension rises, the twists come fast and furious, keeping readers guessing and gasping until the explosive finale.
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THERE IS A METHOD TO HIS MADNESS
He chooses his tools with precision. Stalks his victims with cold efficiency. Plans his attack using mathematical logic. And now he is ready to play…
THERE ARE RULES TO HIS GAME
When the killer’s first letter arrives at the station, NYPD profiler Lee Campbell suspects the writer is daring him to match wits with a dangerous—and brilliant—criminal mind. But once this “Alleyway Strangler” starts leaving specially targeted messages with each surgically carved corpse, Campbell realizes it’s not just personal. It’s perfectly calculated—to destroy him…
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A serial killer on the loose is a nightmare. Who’s next? Why is the killer doing it — and can he be stopped?
OPENING MOVES is the latest Patrick Bowers mystery from Steven James, and it features a different kind of killer, one who can’t be tracked by his pattern. Because his pattern keeps changing and that trail wouldn’t lead you to the killer anyway.
This criminal is copying Wisconsin’s most twisted killers, including the cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer, Ed Gein and the Oswald family.
James is the author of more than 30 books, including the Patrick Bowers series and THE QUEEN, which won a 2012 ECPA Award and a 2012 Christy Award.
He’s an active member of ITW, Mystery Writers of America, the Authors Guild and the International Association of Crime Writers.
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By Gary Kriss
There’s a special kind of dark that coats New York State’s Catskill Mountains at night, an eerie grisaille that captures its legends and lore. There, in an isolated cabin, sits a woman, alone, trying to gather her scattered thoughts. Before she had heard thunder. It thunders a lot in the Catskills during the summer. And the storms when they come, with their wicked winds and lightening lashes can be frightening. But at the moment she has all the frightening she needs.
She hears a noise coming from the woods, and then another. Some form of nocturnal wildlife? That’s what it usually is. But in her mind she sees something else, something more frightening. She sees capture; she sees torture; she sees death. Another sound, and this one chips the roughness away from those images haunting her brain, making them sharper, more terrifying.
Capture. Torture. Death.
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When a thriller author and her protagonist share an exciting profession, one of the inevitable questions is this: is she writing about things she really did, or about things she would like to do? For Julie Kramer and her series protagonist, television reporter Riley Spartz, the answer is a little of both.
Kramer’s first novel, STALKING SUSAN, grew out of a pair of cold cases she worked on as a television journalist a decade ago in Minnesota. Two St. Paul women, both named Susan, were murdered on the same day, exactly two years apart, but the killings never were solved. Kramer hoped her investigation would turn up new information that might lead to a resolution, and in a novel that probably would have happened. In real life, though, things didn’t work out that way. The killer remains unidentified.
Cops tend to remember unsolved crimes, and so do journalists. Although Kramer’s investigation couldn’t solve those cold cases in St. Paul, she didn’t forget them, either. With a few cosmetic changes, the murders showed up later when reporter Riley Spartz needed an assignment in STALKING SUSAN. That novel blends on-going network battles for television ratings with the search for a serial killer who murders a woman named Susan on the same day each year. It was a successful mix of fact and fiction, something that Kramer also has employed in subsequent Riley Spartz novels MISSING MARK, SILENCING SAM, KILLING KATE.
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By Brian Knight
Nina Wilde and Eddie Chase have stunned the world with their discoveries, from the legendary sword Excalibur to the golden city of El Dorado. Now, by bringing together three ancient statues from three different continents, Nina is about to tap into a colossal energy source—one not felt since the days of Atlantis.
But when the statues are stolen and Eddie is falsely accused of murder, forcing him to go on the run to hunt the man responsible, a violent struggle erupts among a secret, vastly powerful group that wants to control Nina and the earth energy. From a glittering, high-tech skyscraper in Japan to a harrowing chase beneath the Vatican and an underground military vault in Nevada, she and Eddie must piece together an astounding puzzle. For Nina Wilde is the key to a plot that will change the world forever. And Eddie is the key to keeping her alive.
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When Nathan McBride receives a text message from someone named “Lauren” who claims she’s been kidnapped, it triggers a deadly chain of events that has the potential to haunt him for the rest of his life.
Nathan will soon learn that nothing from his past could ever prepare him for the crisis he’ll soon be facing. The girl’s name is Lauren and she’s just twelve years old. With virtually no experience with children, Nathan’s patience and compassion are about to be tested to their limits
In a violent confrontation, Nathan rescues Lauren from her kidnapper, but as he unravels Lauren’s story, he realizes his troubles are only beginning. She says she’s in the Witness Security Program, and doesn’t trust the US Marshals because she thinks they’re complicit in her abduction. Not only that, her stepdad was murdered last night.
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By John Rabb
Lisa Jackson is a #1 NY TIMES Bestselling author and one of the best in the thriller genre today. She is back with her latest release “You Don’t Want to Know” and here is a little preview:
In Ava Garrison’s dreams, her son, Noah, looks just the way she remember him: a sweet two-year old in rolled-up jeans and a red sweatshirt. When Ava wakes, the agonizing truth hits her all over again. Noah went missing two years ago, and his body has never been found. Almost everyone, including Ava’s semi-estranged husband, Wyatt, assumes the boy drowned after falling off the dock near their Church Island home. Ava has spent most of the past two years in and out of Seattle mental institutions, shattered by grief and unable to recall the details of Noah’s disappearance. Now she’s back at Neptune’s Gate, the family estate she once intended to restore to its former grandeur. Slowly, her strength is returning. But as Ava’s mind comes back into focus, her suspicions grow. Despite their apparent concern, Ava can’t shake the feeling that her family, and her psychologist, knows more than they’re saying. But are they really worried for her well-being or anxious about what she might discover? Unwilling to trust those around he, Ava secretly visits a hypnotist to try and restore her memories. But the strange visions and night terrors keep getting worse. Ava is sure she’s heard Noah crying in the nursery, and glimpsed him walking near the dock. Is she losing her mind, or is Noah still alive? Ava won’t stop until she gets answers, but the truth is more dangerous than she can imagine and the price may be more than she ever thought to pay.
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By James M. Tabor
You are a practicing cardiologist, best-selling author, consultant to major media and other authors, and online professor. The first and most obvious question: how the heck do you manage to do all that?
Cats. Get cats and you won’t sleep much so you might as well work. Also, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I didn’t work 80 hours a week. Medical school, residency, medical practice, all require at least that degree of time commitment so now that I only practice part time I still fill the same number of hours with writing and these other endeavors. I’m not big on down time. And for the most part sleep is a waste of time.
At what point in that remarkable career did you decide to become a thriller writer? (And why?)
I grew up in South where storytelling is a tradition and I could always spin a yarn. I had stories I wanted to write but didn’t know if I could and didn’t really have the time. I always said that when I retired I would write. But I realized that retirement wasn’t going to happen since I love my job so about 17 or 18 years ago I said, “If not now, when?” I took a couple of night classes at the University of California, Irvine and joined a couple of writing groups and began writing. With my love for medical and forensic science, thrillers were the natural path to follow.
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The best thrillers feature complex characters thrown into impossible situations that generate nerve-shattering suspense. By that definition, THE SURVIVOR by Gregg Hurwitz might be one of the best.
The book opens with a bang: Nate Overbay – suffering from PTSD and dying from ALS – is on the ledge outside an 11th floor bank window preparing to jump. But when robbers burst into the bank and start shooting employees and customers Nate dives in and uses his military training to take them out. After that, things get REALLY interesting.
Nate Overbay is a more complex character than we usually encounter in thrillers. He is a hero, but as Hurwitz points out, he’s not in the usual thriller hero mold.
“He’s not a Navy SEAL or a supercop, “Hurwitz says. “He’s a guy in over his head, having to do anything to protect those who matter to him. And he thinks he’s got nothing left to lose. But he finds out just how wrong that is. And he has to step up and become the best version of himself. In that way, his heroism is an act of love and sheer will.”
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Turbo Vlost is back—depressed and drinking too much while he slices through the fetid lives of an immigrant family living the American dream, trying to determine why misery and remorse torment every member. Turbo must identify the core of the rot before the family implodes or the Russian mob exacts violent retribution for transgressions past and present.
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By Ian Walkley
Patrick Kendrick had a long career as a fire fighter before becoming a full-time writer. He has won awards for his fiction and non-fiction, and has degrees in Fine Art and Executive Leadership, as well as Fire Science. Patrick’s second novel, EXTENDED FAMILY, has been described by Don Crinklaw (BOOKLIST) as a “thrill-a-minute plot”, “vivid writing”, with undercurrents that are unsettling, and some of the most gut-clutching murders in modern crime fiction. Here is the cover blurb:
Dr. Harmon Gettys is the perfect man: tall, dark, handsome, and brilliant. He’d seemingly be a catch for any woman—especially those who desire an apparently charmed offspring. But Gettys uses his seed for murder, to create a legacy of violence.
For Fire Marshal Greymon Gift, gruesome burn-related murders are nothing new. But a sudden spike in his jurisdiction has Gift on high alert. When an FBI investigation links multiple arson scenes to the deceased Dr. Gettys, Gift is pulled even deeper into a case that’s hot enough to start a conflagration. He knows that even if Gettys were alive, such an assortment of violent crimes could never be committed by just one man. So who is spreading these horrors from coast to coast?
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After more than two dozen bestselling action thrillers that focused mostly on male protagonists, Jon Land is stretching his creativity and his audience with his series about Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong. Calling Caitlin, a fifth generation Ranger, “arguably my greatest and most complex hero ever,” Land promises that she’s well-equipped to do battle with the homegrown Islamic terrorists in his fourth novel built around her, STRONG VENGEANCE.
To stop a devastating attack against the U.S., Caitlin must first solve a mystery dating back to the lost treasure of the pirate Jean Lafitte, while also battling her personal demons and acting as a surrogate parent to the teenage sons of her imprisoned lover, Cort Wesley Masters. Harlan Coben declares STRONG VENGEANCE “gripping” and declares Caitlin “my favorite new series character.” STRAND MAGAZINE says Land is “writing at the highest level” and the book “will keep your fingers glued to the pages for hours.”
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Bangkok travel writer Poke Rafferty finds himself caught up in the whirlwind at the periphery of the War on Terror. He escapes arrest and begins a new life as a fugitive—where questions outnumber answers, betrayal is the new currency, and the only person he can trust is the least trustworthy man he’s ever known. It soon becomes apparent his adversary is a virtuoso artist whose medium is fear.
Macavity- and Edgar-finalist Timothy Hallinan added, “My primary question was what becomes of someone who wanders onto one of the War on Terror’s unmarked battlefields, one who runs the risk of becoming collateral damage—a euphemism for “dead.” The War on Terror is notable for its imprecision. It’s open to argument whether it has killed more innocents than the guilty. This is not what America was supposed to be.”
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By L.J. Sellers
Hearing a character’s voice in her head is often what inspires bestselling author Lisa Unger to start a new story. With HEARTBROKEN, the voice belonged to Birdie, owner of Heart Island, an isolated setting with secrets, surprises, and a terrifying history—all the elements of a great thriller.
“I had just taken two incredible trips,” Unger says, “to places that were pristine and wild with an awe-inspiring beauty, yet they had an isolation and dark creepiness that made me realize how insignificant I was.”
With characters in her head and that creepy isolation in her memory, Unger penned HEARTBROKEN, which LIBRARY JOURNAL calls “one of Unger’s best novels yet.” The accolades go on, with BOOKLIST saying, “Unger delivers compelling, fully drawn characters while at the same time putting the thrill in thriller. A first-class page-turner.”
In addition to Birdie, Kate and Emily are also drawn to Heart Island, and all three “crackle with personality and purpose” says KIRKUS, who calls Unger a master at building characters. “The women all come to the island with different sets of obligations and expectations,” the author says, “and they’re dashed on the rocks of reality.”
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John Verdon’s third Dave Gurney thriller, LET THE DEVIL SLEEP, will be released this month. He answered a few questions about his new book, writing and his lifestyle. The retired adman moved to the Catskill Mountains to write. To date, his books have been translated into more than twenty languages. He’s happy with his decision to leave New York.
THE NEW YORK TIMES said, “Verdon is masterly at keeping Gurney a step ahead of the reader.”
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY said, “Verdon, who rejuvenated the impossible crime in his 2010 debut, THINK OF A NUMBER, show there much more that can be done with the serial killer plot in his breakneck, knockout third Dave Gurney whodunit.”
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By Jeremy Burns
Katia Lief has been writing for years, and if you haven’t heard of her yet, it’s about time you have. The third book in her hit Karin Schaeffer crime thriller series just hit bookshelves, and fans and newcomers alike are gobbling up her uniquely suspenseful tale. Katia recently took time out of her busy schedule to speak with THE BIG THRILL.
Tell us a little about yourself.
The first thing I ever wrote that received any notice was a one page story for my third grade English teacher. I don’t recall what the assignment was, but I somehow found myself writing about a woman at a dinner party who suddenly realizes her teeth are invisible. She sits there, wedged between two chattering guests, wondering how she will eat, how she will talk, and generally how she will get out of the situation without having to open her mouth and reveal her dilemma. My teacher showed the story to my parents with a note to this effect: Katia could be a writer.
What if her note had instead encouraged me to be a dentist? But it didn’t. And so here I am.
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Logan Finch started out as a lawyer, the last man you’d expect to switch into a career as a bodyguard. Serial killer Chase Black is the last person you’d expect him to be protecting.
An unpopular and dangerous client — who might be innocent. But if he is, the real killer is still out there. Can Logan spot him before it’s too late?
That’s the setup for PROTECTION, the latest thriller from Scottish author GJ Moffat, who’s making a similarly switch from practicing commercial litigation to writing thrillers. It’d be one thing for a lawyer to write about other lawyers (John Grisham) or for prosecutors and defense attorneys to write gritty crime stories.
Commercial litigation isn’t gritty. There’s no courtroom testimony about blood spatters. No bloody knuckles, no gunshots. It’s about businesses taking other businesses to court.
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By Deb Carlin
FIREPROOF is the tenth novel in the Maggie O’Dell series. Ask author, Alex Kava about the milestone and her first response is, “I’m so glad I didn’t kill her off.”
Kava goes on to explain that she never intended to write a series when she penned her first thriller, A PERFECT EVIL. That book was meant to be a stand alone. In fact, the FBI profiler assigned to the case – Maggie O’Dell – doesn’t come onto the scene until chapter seven. So how does that happen?
The book became an international bestseller, landing on the bestseller lists in the US, Britain, Australia, Italy, Japan, Poland and Germany. And although Kava admits that initially she found the character of Maggie O’Dell “stubborn and annoying,” her readers disagreed. They fell in love with the young profiler who was brilliant and a bit of a rebel in her professional life all the while finding her personal life crumbling around her. Kava’s readers and her publisher demanded a sequel. Then a third to perhaps complete a trilogy. But then they insisted the series continue.
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“Write what you know” is a piece of advice that pros and novices alike have heard from time immemorial, and it’s difficult to argue with the logic—in principle, at least. But where does that advice leave an author who writes about serial killers, presumably (and hopefully!) without first-hand knowledge of the subject?
I posed that question to prolific author John Lutz, whose serial killer novel PULSE is due for release from Kensington Publishing Corp. this month. According to Lutz, writing what you know has some necessary limits and isn’t always a prerequisite for an authentic novel:
“A former poet laureate from St. Louis, Howard Nemerov, wrote a poem concerning that subject,” Lutz said, “titled The Writers Group: ‘They wrote about what they knew/It didn’t take long.’
“Many times I’ve sat on panels discussing murder, rape, and mayhem, with people most of whom were afraid to step on a spider.”
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By Rick Reed
Alafair Burke is the bestselling author of seven previous novels, including the Ellie Hatcher series: 212, ANGEL’S TIP, and DEAD CONNECTION, and the standalone thriller, LONG GONE. A former prosecutor, she now teaches criminal law and lives in Manhattan.
Alafair has created two very strong and believable female protagonists, NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher and Portland District Attorney Samantha Kincaid, who are sure to give readers a pleasurable read from beginning to end. She developed and grew these series from her own experience with police and criminal courtrooms while serving as a prosecutor, and it is this real experience that is the recipe for excitement and thrills.
Alafair has been featured by the TODAY SHOW, PEOPLE MAGAZINE, WASHINGTON POST, USA TODAY, THE NEW YORK TIMES, MSNBC, and CHICAGO-SUN TIMES. She is one of the finest young crime writers working today. But don’t just take my word for it. Pick up a copy of NEVER TELL.
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Arthur Pfefferkorn is a has-been, or perhaps a never-was: a middle-aged college professor with long-dead literary aspirations. When his oldest friend, bestselling thriller writer William de Vallèe, is lost at sea, Pfefferkorn is torn between envy and grief, for de Vallèe not only outshone Pfefferkorn professionally, but married the woman Pfefferkorn loved.
When Pfefferkorn reconnects de Vallèe’s widow and she shows him an unpublished manuscript, Pfefferkorn steals the book and achieves the overnight success he always wanted. But his transgression sets in motion a series of surreal events, plunging him into a shadowy realm of double crosses and intrigue, a world where no one can be trusted – and nothing can be taken seriously.
*****
“The coincidences and the over-the-top story make the entire novel fun in completely unexpected ways. Only a great writer like Kellerman could make it all work this well.” - RT Book Reviews
“Kellerman (The Executor, 2010) plays this one largely for laughs…but [he] is simply too interesting a writer to leave it at that. He also ruminates on the practice of writing, the experience of sudden literary success, the nature of friendship, and the contrasts between the lives of writers and spies. Potboiler is very funny—and insightful.” - Booklist
“Kellerman makes witty use of thriller clichés, especially at the rousing finale.” – Publishers Weekly
*****
Jesse Kellerman was born in Los Angeles in 1978. He has published four novels: THE EXECUTOR, THE GENIUS, TROUBLE and SUNSTROKE. He also holds a Master’s of Fine Arts in theater. He has won several awards for his writing, including the 2003 Princess Grace Award, given to America’s most promising young playwright, and the 2010 Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle, for Les Visages (The Genius). He lives with his wife and son in California.
To learn more about Jesse, please visit his website.
By Terry DiDomenico
Bloodied but unbowed…
It is said Robert Pobi had six complete novels in his desk drawer when he decided to take up writing full time. Actually he told me it was seven complete novels and four half novels that resided there before he wrote BLOODMAN in mid-2010.
“BLOODMAN is a debut novel – absolutely – but in no way is it the first novel I wrote,” he said.
Robert sold his first novel straight out of university when he was 23. Twelve days before his novel was to go into production, the publisher was bought out and all their new writers were “dumped.” Robert did send out a few queries but got caught up in opening a new business that took off rather quickly. He kept writing and “feeding the drawer” but recognized it was hard to walk away from success in one field for the uncertainty of writing.
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By Jaime Rush
Music promoter Daniel Erickson has the blues. There’s a Russian mobster wearing his finger on a necklace, two hitmen hot on his trail, an FBI agent obsessed with his capture and a rogue motorcycle gang hunting him down as he desperately races cross-country following the musical clues he hopes will lead him to the stolen million dollars that might not be enough to save him. Or his son. His only hope for saving them both is to find the spirit of the blues: “Been pushed ’round all your life. Be a push back man.”
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By Gary Kriss
HURAKAN by Michael F. Stewart is definitely a novel designed to tug at the heart strings of innocent young virgins while at the same time catch the FIFTY SHADES OF GREY crowd by catering to the sublimated erotic fantasies of unfulfilled suburban housewives. Stewart manages to—
Excuse me? Yes, this most certainly IS the right piece: the write-up on HURAKAN for the Romance Writers of America’s June newsletter.
The International Thriller Writers? What about the International Thriller Writers? The write-up on HURAKAN for the International Thriller Writers’ June newsletter? Yeah, right—in the proverbial pig’s eye! Look, the assignment e-mail clearly reads—
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Not every mystery is a thriller, but when a book is called terrifying, mesmerizing and pulse-pounding it’s bound to qualify. All those adjectives fit SILENCED, the latest novel from Allison Brennan. In this fast paced mystery prostitutes who cater to a high profile clientele are turning up dead all over Washington D.C. The story follows Lucy Kincaid’s efforts to learn who killed one high-priced call girl linked to a powerful Congressman.
Four books into a successful series, Lucy Kincaid is still a budding detective at the beginning of her career. Still waiting to begin her training at the FBI Academy, she pursues her own crusade. She’s a fascinating character, in part because she doesn’t like crowds, and isn’t comfortable in most social events.
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reverse phone lookup yellow pages…
THE BIG THRILL:…