What is success?

by Stacy Green, author of psychological suspense with a dash of romance

What is success?

That is a question I’ve been asking myself a lot lately. My second novel, TIN GOD, recently became an Amazon bestseller. It was a wonderful, euphoric feeling, but I shun the idea of being called a bestselling author. Thanks to great advertising, I simply sold a lot of copies at a sale price. It’s been great for visibility, but I don’t think it’s fair to call myself a bestseller. Sales are steady now, and it’s a wonderful feeling, but I’m still new at this gig. I don’t expect to have massive numbers thanks to amazing readers telling all their friends about the book.

And to me, that’s what a true bestseller is. A book that is so good (or at least has so much reader buzz) that you just have to try it out yourself.

I’m not there yet. But I’m working on it. 

But the experience has raised the question: what is success, and how do I measure it?

As an indie author, I invested a lot in the editing and cover of my book, and I’m finally crossing into the green side of the investment spectrum. So yes, there’s financial success. Like the majority of us, money has to be a major factor in my decision making. 

But there’s also critical success. Reviewers have loved the book in a way I never expected. Talk about the warm fuzzies! Nothing like praise to make a person want to work harder. 

And then there are the plain old numbers–the ones any business obsesses over. And in the publishing world, numbers mean bragging rights. 

But you know what? None of that truly equates to success. It’s a hard lesson to learn, but what success really means (or SHOULD mean) is that we are happy with the product and effort. Whether we are writers or engineers or executives or salespeople, at the end of the day, happiness in our career is more than money and accolades. It is feeling like we are doing something we truly love and something we’re meant to do. 

Not everyone is lucky enough to say that, but I am.

So I’m calling today a success. 

What about you? Have you been lucky enough to be able to pursue your dreams?

TIN GOD
**Semi-Finalist in The Best Indie Book Awards for Mystery/Suspense 

**A Kindle Bestseller in Mystery and Suspense.

Trapped by poverty and without many allies, Jaymee Ballard is determined to reunite with the daughter she believes was stolen from her. But when the one person willing to help Jaymee ends up murdered in one of the historic mansions in Roselea, Mississippi, she realizes the secret of her past has come back to haunt her.

Now any hope Jaymee has of making things right rests in a man she barely knows and is afraid to trust, a man with his own demons to fight. Up against years of deception, they rush to identify the killer before the evidence-and Jaymee's daughter-are lost.

TIN GOD is an action-packed romantic suspense/psychological thriller featuring a strong woman determined to find a demented serial killer and find justice for her child.

Purchase on Amazon

Paperback                                                                 

About the author :

Born in Indiana and raised in Iowa, Stacy Green earned degrees in journalism and sociology from Drake University. After a successful advertising career, Stacy became a proud stay-at-home mom to her miracle child. Now a full-time author, Stacy juggles her time between her demanding characters and supportive family. She loves reading, cooking, and the occasional gardening excursion. Stacy lives in Marion, Iowa with her husband Rob, their daughter Grace, and the family’s three obnoxious but lovable canine children.

Website: www.stacygreen.net

Amazon Author Page

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Twitter @StacyGreen26

 

A Tale of Two Critique Groups

By Sheila Lowe
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...(thank you, Mr. Dickens). Actually, it was the end of 2001 and I was pretty new to mystery writing and seriously in need of feedback from other writers. Lucky for me, I attended the No Crime Unpublished conference hosted by the Sisters in Crime Los Angeles chapter. There I met another writer, who, it turned out, lived a couple of miles from me, and was looking for a critique group. With no one else offering to take us on, we decided to form one ourselves, with Barnes & Noble’s back room as our venue.

B&N had one requirement—the meetings had to be open to the public and advertised in their calendar. At our first meeting two people joined my new critique partner and me, and we were pretty pleased with ourselves. We all read each other’s work and critiqued our little hearts outs out.

Two weeks later, we arrived for the next meeting to find the back room occupied by a large group. I’ll admit to a small fit of pique as I sought out the store manager and demanded to know why somebody else had taken “our” room. He gave me a look and said, “They’re here for your writing group.” What?! No less than twenty-two people were sitting in that room, waiting for us to drop pearls of wisdom on them.

Everyone introduced themselves and the four of us who had read our work in advance of the meeting began to discuss each other's work. It was something of a surprise when several of the first-timers commented on our stories, which they had never seen. By the meeting’s end it was obvious that a group that size would need a bit of structure, so the original four had a conference call (this was before Skype or Zoom.us) and hammered out some simple rules and regs, of which I’m about to share a summary, hoping you’ll find it helpful if you decide to start a critique group:

1. Mystery/Suspense/Thriller is our genre. In order to participate, your story must have some strong plot element that involves mystery.
2. Only members who submit will be allowed to critique (with the exception of #4, #7).
3. The same manuscript may be submitted twice: a draft and a final version.
4. After having submitted an entire novel, a member may take a submission break and continue to critique.
5. Critique the work, not the author. Any cruel or obvious attack on a member is grounds for a vote off the Island!
6. In order not to place an unnecessary burden on members (reading all those pages takes time!), groups of 4-6 will be formed based on sub-genre.
7. Please submit your pages (limited to 20 each meeting) via e-mail, a week in advance, and bring critiques to the following meeting. This helps us run sessions more efficiently, rather than reading and critiquing on the spot. If pages arrive after the requested submission date, readers should critique only if their schedule permits.
8. Manuscripts should be submitted in the following format:  1 inch margins, Times New Roman or Courier Font, a header that includes the title, author’s name and page numbers.
9. Everyone has an opinion and the author has the final say about his/her work. However, we suggest that if several members are making similar comments, it’s a good idea to listen.

Not too many rules, nothing arduous. But on week number three, those twenty-two people—the ones who critiqued us without reading--had shrunk to eight. So much for our need for structure and rules.
We went on meeting bi-monthly, and for a couple of years, people came and went. Some didn’t stay very long after discovering that we were deadly serious about accepting only those who were willing to do the work.
Then Bruce Cook joined and brought along Bob Bealmear, who eventually brought along Gwen Freeman—all stunningly good writers. In the end it was those guys—Bruce, Bob, Gwen, and I who kept working together, supporting each other and sharing stuff we were learning about publishing.

Then we all got published. Ten years later, we no longer meet regularly, but we still like each other and we still critique each other’s work—email makes it easy.

When I moved away, I started up a second group. It, too, has seen members coming and going—we keep scaring people away—what’s up with that? It finally came down to one other writer and me, and recently we’ve added a police chief, which is really cool. You can believe we pick his brain on a regular basis.

Both of these groups continue to prove invaluable to my writing career. Being without them would be like walking a high wire without a safety net. So if you’ve been thinking about starting or joining a critique group, take the plunge. It’s worth the risk.

What To Read on Vacation

One of the things I always agonize about when preparing for a vacation trip is which books to take along. 

I'm not a sit-on-the-beach person, so I'm usually reading for relatively short periods of time, or when I'm very tired. Obviously, any book has to be interesting and hold my attention, but vacation reads mustn't have plots that are so complex that I have to go back a chapter or two to remember what's going on. 

 I think the perfect books for this situation are light mysteries, ideally with some humor, like Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple, which I reviewed here a few months ago (clicking on the title will link you to my review).  

Rereading old favorites also works.  Agatha Christie, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Ngaio Marsh all wrote mysteries that were enjoyable, non-demanding reads.  Additionally, many of these involve excursions or vacations, which kind of doubles the fun! 

If you are a beach reader, perhaps a book that takes place in the winter will keep you cool, such as Jenny Milchman's  Cover of Snow. 

If your vacation involves a lot of driving, give audio-books a try.  I recently listened to The Boyfriend by Thomas Perry going back and forth from work, and it was wonderful. 

Apart from mysteries, travelogues are a lot of fun to listen to on trips, again, "doubling the fun".  Some years ago, my husband and I listened to Bill Bryson's tales of his tour of /Australia, In a Sunburned Country and laughed for a good portion of the drive.  This year, we're going to try Peter Mayle's Provence books.

I'd love to hear some readers' recommendations for vacation reading.

Trading Books for Donations

by L.J. Sellers, author of provocative mysteries & thrillers

Today I'm at my favorite event: Art & the Vineyard—a Eugene festival celebrating local artists and winemakers. I love interacting with readers and writers in this gorgeous outdoor venue, under a bright blue sky!

This time will be different though. Every dime I take in will go to the new charity I founded, Housing Help. This project has been on my to-do list for years, and last month, I finally had the time, money, and head space to launch it.

In brief, the foundation's mission is to help people who are facing a housing crisis. Our first priority is to get homeless families into a place of their own. We also hope to prevent people who have had a financial setback from becoming homeless. You can read more at the website if you're interested.

The sticky issue is how to use my public profile to raise money for this great cause—without using this cause to increase my public profile and/or sell more books. I'm not sure I can do one without indirectly doing the other, but I'm going to try. I've struggled with this issue for years and even blogged about my conflicted feelings regarding the interplay of bookselling and charity. My perspective keeps evolving.

But I know my heart is in the right place. I've made significant private donations to the foundation already, and I'll continue to do so, for as long as I can.

The book sales for the A&V event are just another opportunity to make a donation. Consequently, there are no conditions, thresholds, or percentages. Every dime goes to Housing Help, and I'll give a donation receipt to everyone who buys books—letting readers take the tax break. That way, they can be generous, be certain their money is going to the cause, and get credit for their charity.

Eventually, I plan to set up apps on my website, as well as the foundation's, that will offer readers/donators a signed book for every contribution of a certain amount, say $25. Again, the money will go directly to Housing Help, and the reader/donator will get a tax-deductible receipt.

This seems like a viable way to raise money for the cause without directly benefiting from it. If you have other ideas, please share them. And if you live in the Eugene area, stop in and say Hi. Maybe trade a donation for a book. 

The substitute writer

By Gayle Carline
Author of a Small but Feisty Herd of Books

Truth be told, I'm probably nowhere near an internet connection today, as I am on vacay, far away from home in the Las Plumas National Forest. Instead of writing something that sounds like I'm right here with you, in the next cyber-room, so to speak, I thought I'd call in a substitute.

So I'm re-posting an interview I did with James M. Jackson from the Writers Who Kill blog. Do check them out when you get the chance.

James' latest book is called BAD POLICY.

I sent James a bunch of weird questions and he was oh-so-happy to answer, being a good sport and all. Here's our Q&A:


Quick, give us the Reader’s Digest version of your life story.

An Upstate New York native who worked for twenty years on the East Coast before landing in Cincinnati for the last ten years of employment, I was (prepare to yawn) a consulting actuary who designed and determined the funding for pension plans and post-retirement medical plans for large corporations, not-for-profits and governments.
 
My life-partner, Jan, and I now split our time between the woods of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Georgia’s low country near Savannah. Between us we have four children and four grandchildren.

I confess, I haven’t read Bad Policy YET (it’s on the list). Can you tell us a little about the story?

Seamus McCree returns to his Cincinnati home from a business trip to discover someone has planted in his basement the body of an acquaintance. The victim suffered an IRA six-pack (shots to the elbows, knees and ankles) before being shot in the head. Police suspect Seamus and so he searches for reasons someone tried to frame him.


He soon uncovers a trail that leads back to his Boston roots and a poisonous family feud dating from the divorce of Boston’s Irish mafia and the Provisional IRA in the 1970s.


Driven by the chilling realization that there was more behind the death of his policeman father than he ever knew, Seamus ignores warnings from the police, friends and enemies and continues to dig for the truth.
 
As the body count climbs, all trails seem to lead back to him, and Seamus is forced to go underground to find out who is framing him—and why—before he becomes the next victim.

How did your character, Seamus McCree, begin life in your head?

My twisted mind sees a financial transaction and in its spare time tries to figure out a way to game the system. Fortunately a combination of decent morals and being sufficiently scared about being caught kept me from implementing any of the schemes I came up with. (Oh, and none of the nefarious transactions would have gained me $10 million, so temptation was never really tested.)

When it came time to create a protagonist, I wanted that person to be (1) a basically good person and (2) someone who understood financial crimes. That’s when I decided to create an alter ego who quit Wall Street in disgust (and so had the requisite financial acumen). I dislike single-dimension characters or caricatures. I wanted Seamus to be totally comfortable around money, but not into it. Since that aspect of his life was healthy and he’s smart and tall and ruggedly handsome, he needed some flaws.

Seamus decided on his own flaws as I wrote the novels.

His father died when he was young. As a result he has anger and self-image issues. He’s divorced and hasn’t figured out female relationships as well as he wants (or should). He has a challenging relationship with his mother, who does not speak, and an interesting rapport with his son, who has just graduated college.

What’s your writing process like? Are you an outlining guy, or a pantser?

I am a big-time pantser. Even when I try to plot out in advance, my characters have minds of their own and take the story to places my plotting had not anticipated. Consequently, I start with an idea, an opening scene and initial expected conclusion. From those I write the first draft, which may or may not contain the expected conclusion. The second draft makes sense of the plot changes my characters have caused.

You’ve also written some nonfiction. What goaded you into writing a book about playing bridge?

There are a gazillion bridge books, each focusing on a particular aspect of the game (bidding, playing the contract, defending against the contract), and I read a lot of them as I was learning the game. I wanted someone to whisper in my ear, “If you concentrate on improving these particular things, you will improve your game.”

Through trial and error (many, many errors) I figured out which gems really helped me quickly improve my game. Those are the things I wrote about. It includes practical tips on better bidding, declarer play and defensive play.

Is your process different for nonfiction than for fiction?

In fiction I am a pantser, but with nonfiction I outlined the book before I wrote word one. The editing process is also different. The editor of my bridge book was an expert player and able to point out technical problems with some of the examples I chose, allowing me to find better examples. Also, the publisher wanted the book longer than I had first written, so I added extra material.

My self-editing with fiction often involves cutting from the manuscript. I want to start the story as late as possible and also eliminate scenes that aren’t sufficiently strong. After BAD POLICY got to the publisher, I only had to modify a couple of very minor plot points, correct a few grammar errors and insert a lot of commas because the editor wanted the last comma in a sequence and I leave them out.

What job would you absolutely hate to do?

Being a steelworker on a skyscraper like these guys building the RCA building in 1932. They had no safety harnesses, but I’d be a blithering idiot even with a harness.

What’s your go-to curse word (you can use asterisks – we’ll fill in the blanks)?

My writing may be sparse, but my cursing seems to require multiple expletives. Most common under my breath is sh*t, p*ss, f*ck

Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe? Why?

I kept coming back to this question and finally decided Philip Marlowe. Sam Spade is known as the original hard-boiled detective, but Marlowe strikes me as a bit more nuanced. Given my druthers, I spend my time with more modern PIs such as Sara Paretsky’s VI Warshawski.

What’s one of the words you always have to yank out of your novels because you’ve used it too many times? (Hint: Apparently, I use “apparently” a lot.)

So, I was thinking about this for a nanosecond before the answer became obvious.

Is your glass half-full, half-empty, or twice as large as it needs to be?

In 2005, I gave a homily on that exact question. I knew I had always perceived the world using the half-empty glass philosophy. At first I decided I needed to concentrate on filling the glass, only to later realize that was still focusing on the empty aspect of the glass, not its contents. Since that “aha” moment, I have been much better at reflecting what is in the glass and not worrying about how big the glass can be—unless I am caught off guard, then I slip back to half-empty before I catch myself.

Would you rather be a sock or a shoe? Why?

Shoe, they last longer.

What’s your idea of a perfect day?

Today.

What’s next on the horizon for James Montgomery Jackson?

CABIN FEVER, the sequel to BAD POLICY is scheduled for 2014 publication. Seamus is spending the winter alone deep in the northwoods of Michigan. His solitude is broken when a naked woman suffering from exposure and Legionnaire’s disease arrives at his cabin.

Bio: JAMES M JACKSON is the author of BAD POLICY, for Barking Rain Press, which is available at your favorite online retailer or from Jim’s website. Known as James Montgomery Jackson on his tax return and to his mother whenever she was really mad at him, he splits his time between the woods of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Georgia’s low country. Jim has published a book on contract bridge, One Trick at a Time: How to start winning at bridge, as well as numerous short stories and essays.

Website: http://jamesmjackson.com
Blog: http://blog.jamesmjackson.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/james.m.jackson.author
Twitter: @JMJAuthor

BY THE WAY...




Have a Happy and Safe Fourth of July!

 

Too Many Twists

By Jenny Hilborne
Author of mysteries and thrillers

Some authors make it hard on themselves...and it shows.

I recently finished reading a book, which I won't name, written by a well-known and highly praised author who, in my opinion, did this very thing. The writing was good and the main plot compelling (for which I awarded 4 stars); however, there were three separate plot lines which were each so convoluted I struggled to focus on any one of them. Apparently, I wasn't alone - I checked out the reviews and saw this complaint noted a number of times.

The book was a complex read and over 500 pages long. The main plot by itself - an insurance scam -  would have been enough, and the book would have been a good mystery, a lot shorter, and a far easier read. The main plot, as it happens, turned out to be the least interesting of the three mysteries the author combined into this one book. The second plot line was more interesting and I found myself slightly irritated when the story dropped that thread for a while and dragged my attention back to the first plot, which continued to rack up the twists and turns, giving the reader perhaps too much to digest.

Interspersed between the first and second plots were the private interjections from one of the main characters. These were the most moving portions of the book...and the most jarring. The author jumped about so much, I felt lost half the time...and anyone who knows me knows I have a horrible sense of direction. Many times during this book, I struggled to find my way back. The author used the term "pinball" for one of her characters and I felt like that while I was reading.

After I finished the book, I checked out more of this author's work to see if I wanted to try another. Based on the reviews of the other books, the general consensus was no. The "pinball" theme seems to run through the reviews.

To me as a reader, this is an example of a talented writer and a great storyteller trying too hard. All three mysteries were complex (another reason I gave the book 4 stars). Three separate books could have been made out of this and each one would have been great on its own. All three together, not so great an experience for the reader. The overall rating for this book is 3.2 stars with almost an equal amount of 1* and 5* reviews.

I'm all for the complexity and I like to be challenged, but too many twists or too many complex plot lines can spoil the enjoyment.

Thoughts?

Readers: what books have you read with too many plot lines? Would they have been better if they'd been written as separate books?

Law and Order at :13, :27 and :43

Tom Schreck, author of Getting Dunn, A Kindle July deal for $2.99

I've been studying plotting and after reading Alexander Sokoloff's book on screenwriting for novelists I started watching television more carefully.

In the Schreck household Law and Order is the default TV show--it's what we watch when we don't want to think about what to watch.

After studying ten or so episodes the formula has become very clear. It goes like this:

Opening-- We're dropped into the middle of the discovery of a crime. No backstory, no explanation. The cops come and we go to a commercial. For the next 12 minutes the investigation starts.

At :13 the first plot twist occurs sending the viewer in a different direction and we go to a commercial. When we come back we go for another 12 minutes of investigation.

At :27 the plot takes a more surprising twist taking us in yet a different and more dramatic direction. We go to commercial and when we come back the legal team starts their work.

At :43 the legal team faces a challenge and we are faced with another direction change and the crisis of how it will be resolved. We get sent off to commercial not knowing how it will be fixed.

We come back and at :57 Jack McCoy (or someone else) does something to wrap things up pretty neatly and leave us all feeling fulfilled.

Sometimes Jack dumps a bunch of exposition to tie things up in a bow for us but let's give him a break, he only has about 42 minutes to solve this mess.

Isn't this how mysteries should go? Beginning, middle and end, chase someone up a tree, figure out how to get 'em down, then get them down and all that crap?

The thing is this guarantees us no quality. The quality comes in the plot points, the believability of the turns and the nuance of the story.

Still, it is a worthy outline to study.

I bet you are humming the theme song, aren't you?

Out of Balance!

by Jodie Renner


Do you have one or more books published on Amazon? Do you check regularly for reviews by readers? Has your heart plummeted to see a negative review? You're definitely not alone.

Okay, we all get reviews we don’t like from time to time - hopefully very occasionally. It’s life and the cost of publishing on Amazon. And forget trying to get Amazon to take them down, even if they’re obviously not fair. It ain’t happenin’. (Or have you had any luck with that?) So suck it up and keep on writing! Kelly Miller offers some great advice on dealing with criticism, in her post here over the weekend.

HOWEVER, and this is my point here: What I really think we should all protest to Amazon about is their policy of highlighting one bad review in a box along the top, even if it’s the ONLY bad review, and the book has 20 or 30 or 50 or more great reviews!

That’s just not fair. When they prominently feature and contrast two opposing reviews along the top like that, there should be some kind of equal 50-50 division among the responses and opinions overall in the reviews, as that’s definitely the impression that kind of placement gives the readers.

For my book Writing a Killer Thriller, for example, I have 32 5-star reviews, including several glowing ones from bestselling thriller writers (see below), and 6 4-star reviews, for a total of 38 very positive reviews out of 40. So 95% of the total reviews are 4 or 5 stars. Recently, someone read (or skimmed) only the first 3 chapters out of 23 and wrote a nasty 1-star review. Now there is one 1-star review and one 2-star review, for a total of 2 negative reviews out of 40, or 5% of the total reviews.

So on one side of the scale we have 95% very positive reviews versus, on the other side, 5% negative reviews. That is not a balanced scale! Yet Amazon promotes one of the two negative reviews to 50% position by displaying it along the top beside a 5-star review. In effect, they’re giving the impression that readers are divided down the middle about this book.


This is just not fair.

If we all protest this unfair physical placement of reviews, maybe Amazon will change their policy.

What do you think? If you agree, please send Amazon an email about this unbalanced policy. Numbers can make a difference!

Jodie Renner, a freelance fiction editor specializing in thrillers, has published two books to date in her series, An Editor’s Guide to Writing Compelling Fiction: WRITING A KILLER THRILLER, with the updated, expanded edition now available in e-book and paperback on Amazon; and STYLE THAT SIZZLES & PACING FOR POWER, available in paperback, for Kindle, and in other e-book formats.

For more info, please visit Jodie’s author website or editor website, or find her on Facebook or Twitter: @JodieRennerEd 

 Praise for Writing a Killer Thriller:
“Finally, someone who understands the thriller! More than ever an author must also be his own best editor and Jodie Renner is there to help. Writing a Killer Thriller should be on every thriller writer’s desk. It breaks down the thriller into its must-have component parts to write a scintillating, edge of the seat novel that will get readers buzzing and sales flowing.”
~ Robert Dugoni, New York Times bestselling author of The Jury Master and Murder One

“Writing a Killer Thriller by Jodie Renner is an in-depth journey through each component of the thriller. Renner breaks down the process into key elements, each essential to keeping the reader turning those pages. From character development to building suspense, Writing a Killer Thriller should be on the desk of every thriller author out there. A staple for the beginner, a refresher for the pro.”
~ Joe Moore, #1 Amazon and international bestselling co-author of The Blade and The Phoenix Apostles

“Writing is hard, editing harder, and self-editing almost impossible. Writing a Killer Thriller demystifies each of these steps on the road to a published manuscript. Read this book. It will help you now and for many years to come.”
~ DP Lyle, Macavity Award winning and Edgar, Agatha, Anthony, Benjamin Franklin, Scribe, and USA Best Books nominated author of the Dub Walker thriller series

“Jodie Renner is a terrific fiction editor who is constantly updating her craft. She’s edited several novels for me, and I highly recommend her services and books. Even if you don’t write thrillers, her advice is applicable to writing a compelling story in almost any genre.”
~ L.J. Sellers, bestselling author of provocative mysteries and thrillers

A killer of a thriller guide! Jodie Renner lays out, in clear, easy steps and lists, how the best writers craft their works of art – and shows how you can do it, too. A terrific how-to in avoiding the pitfalls and burnishing the gotta-haves of writing a bestselling thriller novel, by an editor who knows her way around action, drama and creating characters so fresh and real you’ll swear they were your friends.”
~ Shane Gericke, national bestselling and No. 1 Kindle bestselling author of Torn Apart

“With years of experience as a professional editor to many successful authors, Renner knows what it takes to write a good thriller, and she lays it all out here in a no-nonsense, easy-to-understand manner. From building excitement and suspense on every page, to adding tension and conflict to each chapter, this book is packed with information you simply can’t afford to miss if you want to gain that ever-elusive competitive edge in the world of fiction.”
~ Andrew E. Kaufman, #1 bestselling author of The Lion, the Lamb, the Hunted and While the Savage Sleeps

“Jodie Renner has demystified the process of thriller-writing with Writing a Killer Thriller. This little booklet is packed full of information which is not just useful, but critical to the success of any thriller writer, whether just starting out or a veteran of many books. ...If you want to avail yourself of the knowledge of one of the best freelance thriller editors in the business, you couldn’t ask for a better deal than Writing a Killer Thriller.”
~ Allan Leverone, bestselling thriller and horror writer