Fiction Review

Sometimes, it’s worth going back to catch you up with some of the previous events for The Poisoned Pen. A few weeks ago, Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, hosted Michael Robotham for a virtual author event. Robotham is the author of the third Cyrus Haven book, Lying Beside You. You can order copies through the Web Store. http://bit.ly/3Tfpsli

Here’s the summary of Lying Beside You.

Cyrus Haven and Evie Cormac return in Robotham’s latest page-turning, psychological thriller in this “gripping and eerie” (Karin Slaughter) series, reaffirming why Stephen King has proclaimed this author “an absolute master.”

If I could tell you one thing about my brother, it would be this. Two days after his nineteenth birthday, he killed our parents and twin sisters because he heard voices in his head. As defining events go, nothing else comes close for Elias, or for me.

As a boy, Cyrus Haven survived a family massacre and slowly pieced his life back together. Now, after almost twenty years, his brother is applying to be released from a secure psychiatric hospital—and Cyrus is expected to forgive Elias and welcome him home.

Elias is returning to a very different world. Cyrus is now a successful psychologist, working with the police, sharing his house with Evie Cormac, a damaged and gifted teenager who can tell when someone is lying. Evie has gone back to school and is working part-time at an inner-city bar, but she continues to struggle with authority and following rules.

When a man is murdered and his daughter disappears, Cyrus is called in to profile the killer and help piece together Maya Kirk’s last hours. Police believe she was drugged and driven away from the same bar where Evie is working. Soon, a second victim is taken, and Evie is the only person who glimpsed the man behind the wheel.

But there’s a problem. Only two people believe her. One is Cyrus.

The other is the killer.

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Michael Robotham is a former investigative journalist whose bestselling psychological thrillers have been translated into twenty-five languages. He has twice won a Ned Kelly Award for Australia’s best crime novel, for Lost in 2005 and Shatter in 2008. His recent novels include When She Was Good, winner of the UK’s Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for best thriller; The Secrets She Keeps; Good Girl, Bad Girl; When You Are Mine; and Lying Beside You. After living and writing all over the world, Robotham settled his family in Sydney, Australia. 

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Enjoy Michael Robotham’s conversation.

Owen Matthews, author of White Fox, was recently guest author for an event hosted by Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen. You can still order copies of White Fox through the Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/item/Tjsi1wmychPCBqcs3B6tVw

Here’s the description of White Fox.

A page-turning thriller about two competing KGB operatives on a race across Russia and against time to uncover the devastating truth behind the assassination of JFK.

1963. In a desolate Russian penal colony, the radio blares the news of President Kennedy’s death. Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vasin’s new post as director of a gulag camp in the middle of a frozen tundra is far from a promotion. This is where disgraced agents, like Vasin, are sent to disappear and die quietly. But when tensions in the camp mount and a violent revolt breaks out, Vasin finds himself on the run with a mysterious prisoner holding the most dangerous secret in the world: who ordered the murder of President Kennedy.

In a breathless chase that leads them throughout the Soviet Union, from the barren Siberian wastelands, to the stunning halls of the Catherine Palace, and into the gritty streets of Leningrad and Moscow, Vasin must stay one step ahead of the deadliest spy and police organizations in the world, and keep the most wanted man in Russia alive. The journey will push Vasin’s loyalty, morality, and patriotism to the limit, until he faces the ultimate choice: fall in line, or die fighting the system.

With masterly storytelling that weaves together a moment of explosive history with the cutthroat machinations of Soviet politics, Owen Matthews’s White Fox captures the paradigm-shifting assassination from a unique Soviet point of view. This is a page-turning thriller across Russia, where characters facing impossible odds are forced to decide among truth, justice, and all-out war.

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OWEN MATTHEWS reported on conflicts in Bosnia, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Iraq, and Ukraine, and was Newsweek‘s bureau chief in Moscow. He is the author of the Black Sun Trilogy, including Black Sun, Red Traitor, and White Fox, and is also the author of several nonfiction books, including Stalin’s Children, Glorious Misadventures, and An Impeccable Spy.

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Enjoy the conversation with Owen Matthews and Barbara Peters.

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently welcomed Peter Swanson for a virtual author event. He’s the author of The Kind Worth Killing, the antecedent of his current novel, The Kind Worth Saving. There are signed copies of The Kind Worth Saving available in the Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/item/Vus7kAU5V3UvqUPGWfkD-g

Check out the description of The Kind Worth Saving.

In this spectacularly devious novel by New York Times bestselling author Peter Swanson—featuring the smart and complex Lily Kintner from his acclaimed novel, The Kind Worth Killing—a private eye starts to follow a possibly adulterous husband, but little does he know that the twisted trail will lead back to the woman who hired him.

There was always something slightly dangerous about Joan. So, when she turns up at private investigator Henry Kimball’s office asking him to investigate her husband, he can’t help feeling ill at ease. Just the sight of her stirs up a chilling memory: he knew Joan in his previous life as a high school English teacher, when he was at the center of a tragedy.

Now Joan needs his help in proving that her husband is cheating. But what should be a simple case of infidelity becomes much more complicated when Kimball finds two bodies in an uninhabited suburban home with a “for sale” sign out front. Suddenly it feels like the past is repeating itself, and Henry must go back to one of the worst days of his life to uncover the truth.

Is it possible that Joan knows something about that day, something she’s hidden all these years? Could there still be a killer out there, someone who believes they have gotten away with murder? Henry is determined to find out, but as he steps closer to the truth, a murderer is getting closer to him, and in this hair-raising game of cat and mouse only one of them will survive. 

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Peter Swanson is the author of seven novels, including The Kind Worth Killing, winner of the New England Society Book Award, and finalist for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger; Her Every Fear, an NPR book of the year; Before She Knew Him, and Eight Perfect Murders. His books have been translated into 30 languages, and his stories, poetry, and features have appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, The Atlantic Monthly, Measure, The Guardian, The Strand Magazine, and Yankee Magazine. He lives on the North Shore of Massachusetts, where he is at work on his next novel.

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Here’s the conversation with Peter Swanson and Barbara Peters.

Even as it started, Rupert Holmes’ event was humorous. Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently welcomed the author of Murder Your Employer: McMasters Guide to Homicide. You can order a signed copy through the Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/item/1hgzL4GgOuXOFd65O0n0Yw

Here’s the summary of Murder Your Employer.

From the diabolical imagination of Edgar Award–winning novelist, playwright, and story-songwriter Rupert Holmes comes a devilish thriller with a killer concept: The McMasters Conservatory for the Applied Arts, a luxurious, clandestine college dedicated to the fine art of murder where earnest students study how best to “delete” their most deserving victim.

Who hasn’t wondered for a split second what the world would be like if a person who is the object of your affliction ceased to exist? But then you’ve probably never heard of The McMasters Conservatory, dedicated to the consummate execution of the homicidal arts. To gain admission, a student must have an ethical reason for erasing someone who deeply deserves a fate no worse (nor better) than death. The campus of this “Poison Ivy League” college—its location unknown to even those who study there—is where you might find yourself the practice target of a classmate…and where one’s mandatory graduation thesis is getting away with the perfect murder of someone whose death will make the world a much better place to live.

Prepare for an education you’ll never forget. A delightful mix of witty wordplay, breathtaking twists and genuine intrigue, Murder Your Employer will gain you admission into a wholly original world, cocooned within the most entertaining book about well-intentioned would-be murderers you’ll ever read.

Rupert Holmes’s much celebrated career ranges from chart-topping story songs with surprising twists—“Escape (The Pina Colada Song)”—to Tony Award–winning whodunit musicals—The Mystery of Edwin Drood—Edgar Award–winning comedy-thrillers—Accomplice—and the Nero Wolfe Best American Mystery Novel nominated Where the Truth Lies, made into an Atom Egoyan motion picture starring Colin Firth and Kevin Bacon. Called “an American treasure” (Los Angeles Times), “a true Renaissance man” by Newsweek, “a comic genius” (Kirkus Reviews) and simply “a genius” (The Times, London), Rupert Holmes brings his wickedly clever storytelling talents to this outrageous and darkly comic mystery set in a secret, idyllic campus where students learn how to “do in others as you would have others do you in.”

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Rupert Holmes has received two Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America, and multiple Tony® and Drama Desk Awards for his Broadway mystery musicals, including the book of Curtains and his sole creation, the Tony® Award–winning Best Musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood. His first novel, Where the Truth Lies, was nominated for a Nero Wolfe award for Best American Mystery Novel, was a Booklist Top Ten Debut Novel, and became a motion picture starring Colin Firth and Kevin Bacon. His second novel, Swing, was the first novel with its own original, clue-bearing musical score. He has adapted Agatha Christie, John Grisham, and R.L. Stine for the Broadway and international stage. His short stories have been anthologized in such collections as Best American Mystery Stories, Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop,and On a Raven’s Wing. Holmes’s earliest story-songs were published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and  he is also the writer/vocalist of several Billboard Top 10 hits, including his Billboard #1 multi-platinum classic with a memorable twist-ending: “Escape (The Pina Colada Song).”

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Enjoy the conversation with Rupert Holmes.

John Sayles, author of Jamie MacGillivray: The Renegade’s Journey was recently highlighted in an interview and review for Bookreporter.com. You can find the interview here. https://www.bookreporter.com/authors/john-sayles/news/interview-030223 The review of Jamie MacGillivray is here. https://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/jamie-macgillivray-the-renegades-journey

You can still order copies of Jamie MacGillivray: The Renegade’s Journey through The Poisoned Pen’s Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/item/9JsuMsJ9TCIgOu65gjCezQ

Here’s the summary of Jamie MacGillivray: The Renegade’s Journey.

‘Jamie MacGillivray is Sayles’s sixth novel — his first was published in 1975 — and by some distance his best. It gets under the skin of this extraordinary time in a way that few historical novels do. Sayles writes superbly about the confusion of warfare and deals equally well with the horrors of the plantations…This is a first-rate historical novel told with wit, verve and a subtle understanding of the mechanics of the genre.’ – The New York Times Book Review

“John Sayles is a living master.” – Jennifer Haigh, author of Faith

Spanning 13 years, two continents, several wars, and many smoke-filled and bloody battlefields, John Sayles’s thrilling historical and cinematic epic invites comparison with Diana Gabaldon, George R. R. Martin, Phillippa Gregory, and Charles Dickens.

It begins in the highlands of Scotland in 1746, at the Battle of Culloden, the last desperate stand of the Stuart ‘pretender’ to the throne of the Three Kingdoms, Bonnie Prince Charlie, and his rabidly loyal supporters.  Vanquished with his comrades by the forces of the Hanoverian (and Protestant) British crown, the novel’s eponymous hero, Jamie MacGillivray, narrowly escapes a roadside execution only to be recaptured by the victors and shipped to Marshalsea Prison (central to Charles Dickens’s Hard Times) where he cheats the hangman a second time before being sentenced to transportation and indentured servitude in colonial America “for the term of his natural life.”  His travels are paralleled by those of Jenny Ferguson, a poor, village girl swept up on false charges by the English and also sent in chains to the New World.

The novel follows Jamie and Jenny through servitude, revolt, escape, and romantic entanglements — pawns in a deadly game.  The two continue to cross paths with each other and with some of the leading figures of the era- the devious Lord Lovat, future novelist Henry Fielding, the artist William Hogarth, a young and ambitious George Washington, the doomed General James Wolfe, and the Lenape chief feared throughout the Ohio Valley as Shingas the Terrible.

A DELUXE EDITION with a brilliant design.

700 PAGES of a thrilling, historical, and cinematic epic!

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John Sayles is an American independent film director, screenwriter, actor, and novelist. He has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, for Passion Fish (1992) and Lone Star (1996). He has written seven novels, the most recent being Yellow Earth (2020) and A Moment in the Sun (2011).

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Don’t forget. You can still watch John Sayles’ recent conversation with Diana Gabaldon.

Many of you may recognize the authors and titles listed below, and, thanks to Patrick King, The Poisoned Pen’s resident science fiction/fantasy guru, you’ve heard some of these authors in conversation, or read the books for book discussions. Check the lists, and then check the Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Congratulations to all of the nominees for the Nebula Awards.

SFWA Names the 58th Nebula Award Finalists

March 7, 2023 – The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) is pleased to announce the finalists for the 58th Annual Nebula Awards®! Our congratulations go out to each and every finalist for the recognition of their excellent works published in 2022. 

The awards will be presented in a virtual ceremony on Sunday, May 14, 2023, that will stream live as it is held in-person in Anaheim, CA, as part of the 2023 Nebula Conference Online. Winners in each category will be determined by the vote of Full, Associate, and Senior members of SFWA.

Here is the complete list of finalists:

Nebula Award for Novel

Legends & Lattes, Travis Baldree (Cryptid; Tor)

Spear, Nicola Griffith (Tordotcom)

Nettle and Bone, T. Kingfisher (Tor; Titan UK)

Babel, R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK)

Nona the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (Tordotcom)

The Mountain in the Sea, Ray Nayler (MCD; Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

Nebula Award for Novella

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, Becky Chambers (Tordotcom)

“Bishop’s Opening”, R.S.A. Garcia (Clarkesworld 1/22)

I Never Liked You Anyway, Jordan Kurella (Vernacular)

Even Though I Knew the End, C.L. Polk (Tordotcom)

High Times in the Low Parliament, Kelly Robson (Tordotcom)

Nebula Award for Novelette

“If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You”, John Chu (Uncanny 7–8/22)

“Two Hands, Wrapped in Gold”, S.B. Divya (Uncanny 5–6/22)

“Murder by Pixel: Crime and Responsibility in the Digital Darkness”, S.L. Huang (Clarkesworld 12/22)

“A Dream of Electric Mothers”, Wole Talabi (Africa Risen)

“The Prince of Salt and the Ocean’s Bargain”, Natalia Theodoridou (Uncanny 9/22)

“We Built This City”, Marie Vibbert (Clarkesworld 6/22)

Nebula Award for Short Story

“Destiny Delayed”, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (Asimov’s 5–6/22)

“Give Me English”, Ai Jiang (F&SF 5–6/22)

“Rabbit Test”, Samantha Mills (Uncanny 11–12/22)

“Douen”, Suzan Palumbo (The Dark 3/22)

“Dick Pig”, Ian Muneshwar (Nightmare 1/22)

“D.I.Y”, John Wiswell (Tor.com 8/24/22)

Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction

Ruby Finley vs. the Interstellar Invasion, K. Tempest Bradford (Farrar, Straus, Giroux)

The Scratch Daughters, H. A. Clarke (Erewhon)

The Mirrorwood, Deva Fagan (Atheneum)

The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester, Maya MacGregor (Astra Young Readers)

Every Bird a Prince, Jenn Reese (Henry Holt)

Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

Andor: “One Way Out”, Beau Willimon, Tony Gilroy (Lucasfilm, Disney+)

Everything Everywhere All at Once, Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert (A24, AGBO, IAC Films)

Nope, Jordan Peele (Universal Pictures)

Our Flag Means Death, David Jenkins, Eliza Jiménez Cossio, Zadry Ferrer-Geddes, William Meny, Maddie Dai, Alyssa Lane, John Mahone, Simone Nathan, Natalie Torres, Zackery Alexzander Stephens, Alex J. Sherman, Jes Tom, Adam Stein, Yvonne Zima (Dive, HBO Max)

The Sandman: Season 1, Neil Gaiman, Lauren Bello, Vanessa Benton, Mike Dringenberg, Sam Kieth, Catherine Smyth-McMullen, Heather Bellson, Jim Campolongo, Jay Franklin, Austin Guzman, Alexander Newman-Wise, Ameni Rozsa, David Goyer, Allan Heinberg (DC Entertainment, Netflix)

Severance, Dan Erickson, Chris Black, Andrew Colville, Amanda Overton, Anna Ouyang Moench, Helen Leigh, Kari Drake, and Mark Friedman. (Endeavor Content, Red Hour Films, Apple TV+)

Nebula Award for Game Writing

Elden Ring, Hidetaka Miyazaki, George R.R. Martin (FromSoftware, Bandai Namco)

Horizon Forbidden West, Ben McCaw, John Gonzalez, Annie Kitain, Ariadna Martinez, Nick van Someren Brand, Andrew Walsh, Adam Dolin, Anne Toole, Arjan Terpstra, Ben Schroder, Dee Warrick, Giles Armstrong (Guerilla Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Journeys through the Radiant Citadel, Ajit A. George, F. Wesley Schneider, Justice Ramin Arman, Dominique Dickey, Basheer Ghouse, Alastor Guzman, D. Fox Harrell, T.K. Johnson, Felice Tzehuei Kuan, Surena Marie, Mimi Mondal, Mario Ortegón, Miyuki Jane Pinckard, Pam Punzalan, Erin Roberts, Stephanie Yoon, Terry H. Romero (Wizards of the Coast: Dungeons & Dragons 5th Ed.)

Pentiment, Kate Dollarhyde, Zoe Franznick, Märten Rattasepp, Josh Sawyer (Obsidian Entertainment, Xbox Game Studios)

Stray, Steven Lerner, Vivien Mermet-Guyenet, Colas Koola (BlueTwelve Studio, Annapurna Interactive)

Vampire: The Masquerade – Sins of the Sires, Natalia Theodoridou (Choice of Games, Paradox Interactive)

We look forward to celebrating all the finalists with aspiring and professional creators in the science fiction and fantasy genres at the 2023 Nebula Conference, May 12–14, 2023.

Questions about the awards or the upcoming conference may be directed to the SFWA Events Team at [email protected].

A Sinister Revenge is the eighth Veronica Speedwell novel by Deanna Raybourn. Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed Raybourn to talk about her latest book. There are signed copies of A Sinister Revenge available through the Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/item/wCIDqQu6pg-byl-xhqXQnQ

Here’s the summary of A Sinister Revenge.

Veronica must find and stop a devious killer when a group of old friends is targeted for death in this new adventure from the New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award–nominated author Deanna Raybourn.

Veronica’s natural-historian beau, Stoker, has been away in Bavaria for months and their relationship is at an impasse. But when Veronica shows up before him with his brother, Tiberius, Lord Templeton-Vane, he is lured back home by an intriguing job offer: preparing an iguanodon for a very special dinner party.

Tiberius has received a cryptic message—along with the obituaries of two recently deceased members of his old group of friends, the Seven Sinners—that he too should get his affairs in order. Realizing he is in grave danger but not knowing why, he plans a reunion party for the remaining Sinners at his family estate to lure the killer out while Veronica and Stoker investigate.

As the guests arrive and settle in, the evening’s events turn deadly. More clues come to light, leading Veronica, Stoker, and Tiberius to uncover a shared past among the Sinners that has led to the fatal present. But the truth might be far more sinister than what they were prepared for.

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Deanna Raybourn is the New York Times bestselling and Edgar® Award–nominated author of the Veronica Speedwell Mysteries, the Lady Julia Grey series, and several stand-alone novels including KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE. She lives in Virginia with her family.

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Deanna Raybourn is so knowledgeable about Victorian England. If you’re a fan of that time period, or the author, this is a fascinating event. Enjoy!

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently welcomed David Rosenfelt back to the bookstore. Rosenfelt, the author of the Andy Carpenter mysteries, branched out with the K Team ones. There are signed copies of his latest, Good Dog, Bad Cop, in the Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/item/3Czr8TaWU9-uanTg12eJ4A

Here’s the summary of Good Dog, Bad Cop.

For the K Team, playing “good dog”, “bad cop” is all fun and games… until there’s a body on the scene, in the next K Team Novel by bestselling author David Rosenfelt.

The K Team enjoys investigating cold cases for the Paterson Police Department. Corey Douglas, his K-9 partner Simon Garfunkel, Laurie Collins, and Marcus Clark even get to choose which cases they’d like to pursue. When Corey sees the latest list of possibilities, there’s no question which one to look into next.

Corey’s former mentor, Jimmy Dietrich, had his whole identity wrapped up in being a cop. When Jimmy retired three years ago, his marriage quickly deteriorated and he tried–and failed—to get back on the force. Jimmy was left to try to adjust to life as a civilian.

Not long after, two bodies were pulled from the Passaic River. A local woman, Susan Avery, and Jimmy Dietrich. With no true evidence available, the deaths went unsolved and the case declared cold. This didn’t stop the whispers: an affair gone wrong… a murder-suicide committed by Jimmy.

Corey never believed it. With this case, the K Team has the opportunity to find the real murderer, and clear Jimmy’s name. Bestselling author David Rosenfelt returns in Good Dog, Bad Cop, where there’s little to go on, but that won’t stop Paterson, New Jersey’s favorite private investigators from sniffing out the truth.

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DAVID ROSENFELT is the Edgar-nominated and Shamus Award-winning author of more than twenty Andy Carpenter novels, including One Dog Night, Collared, and Deck the Hounds; its spinoff series, The K-Team; the Doug Brock thriller series, which starts with Fade to Black; and stand-alone thrillers including Heart of a Killer and On Borrowed Time. Rosenfelt and his wife live in Maine with an ever-changing pack of rescue dogs. Their epic cross-country move with 25 of these dogs, culminating in the creation of the Tara Foundation, is chronicled in Dogtripping.

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Enjoy the conversation with David Rosenfelt and Barbara Peters. (Conversation starts about one minute in.)

Rachel Koller Croft’s debut thriller Stone Cold Fox was the Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen. She appeared at the bookstore with guest host Olivia Fierro, news anchor on Good Morning Arizona. Despite the fact that her family was in the audience, Croft was willing to read the first paragraph. You can either listen to the event, or order a signed copy of Stone Cold Fox to understand that paragraph and the connection to the book. https://store.poisonedpen.com/item/wCIDqQu6pg9FLGllyG7T9w

Here’s the description of Stone Cold Fox.

A perfectly wicked debut thriller about an ambitious woman who, after a lifetime of conning alongside her mother, wants to leave her dark past behind and marry the heir to one of the country’s wealthiest families.

Like any enterprising woman, Bea knows what she’s worth and is determined to get all she deserves—it just so happens that what she deserves is to marry rich. Filthy rich. After years of forced instruction by her mother in the art of swindling men, a now-solo Bea wants nothing more than to close and lock the door on their sordid partnership so she can disappear safely into old-money domesticity, sealing the final phase of her escape.

When Bea chooses her ultimate target in the fully loaded, thoroughly dull and blue-blooded Collin Case, she’s ready to deploy all of her tricks one last time. The challenge isn’t getting the ring, but rather the approval of Collin’s family and everyone else in their 1 percent tax bracket, particularly his childhood best friend, Gale Wallace-Leicester.

Going toe-to-toe with Gale isn’t a threat to an expert like Bea, but what begins as an amusing cat-and-mouse game quickly develops into a dangerous pursuit of the grisly truth. Finding herself at a literal life-and-death crossroads with everything on the line, Bea must finally decide who she really wants to be.

Like mother, like daughter?

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Rachel Koller Croft is an author and screenwriter in Los Angeles, where she has scripted projects for Blumhouse, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Comedy Central, among others. She lives by the beach with her husband, Charles, and their rescue pitbull, Juniper. Stone Cold Fox is her first novel.

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Enjoy the discussion about the book and background.

Eli Cranor, author of the forthcoming Ozark Dogs, was guest host for The Poisoned Pen, welcoming Sean Doolittle, author of Device Free Weekend. You can order copies of both books through the Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Here’s the description of Device Free Weekend.

Seven friends, one eccentric billionaire, an all-expenses paid reunion on a private island with one catch: no phones, tablets or laptops allowed. It’ll be a weekend to remember–for those who make it out alive.

Ryan Cloverhill, founder and CEO of the world’s most popular social media platform, invites his six best friends from college to his home on his private island near Puget Sound. For Stephen, Emma, Perry, Will, Beau, and Lainie, day one is just what the doctor ordered: amazing food, many drinks, lots of laughter, and a sunset cruise around the island aboard their host’s custom Van Dutch 55. 

Day Two, however, takes a bewildering turn when the six hungover guests wake up to find that their host has disappeared, along with all connection to the mainland. A touchscreen tablet of unknown make awaits them, blatantly defying the rules of the weekend with its on-screen challenge: Unlock Me! The passcode to the tablet is hidden somewhere in the group’s shared history. But what seems at first like just another silly game turns deadly serious when the group discovers what unlocking the tablet really means. Is it the key to their futures, a Pandora’s box none of them will ever be able to close, or both?

Only one thing is clear: their old friend Ryan has something unthinkable planned. Now it’s up to the six of them to stop him. And when this weekend is over, the world will never be the same.

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Sean Doolittle is the critically-acclaimed author of eight standalone crime and suspense novels. His books have received the Barry Award and the International Thriller Writers Award, among other honors, along with praise from Dennis Lehane, Laura Lippman, Michael Connelly, Harlan Coben, Lee Child, and other respected authors in the genre. A native of Nebraska, he lives in western Iowa with his family. You can find him online at www.seandoolittle.com.

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Eli Cranor lives and writes from the banks of Lake Dardanelle, a reservoir of the Arkansas River nestled in the heart of True Grit country. His work has won The Greensboro Review’s Robert Watson Literary Prize and been featured in Missouri Review, Oxford American, Ellery Queen, The Strand and others. Eli also pens a weekly column, “Where I’m Writing From” for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and his craft column, “Shop Talk,” appears monthly at CrimeReads. His critically acclaimed debut novel, Don’t Know Tough, won the Peter Lovesey First Crime Novel Contest.

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Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed Sean Doolittle and Eli Cranor. Enjoy the conversation.