February 11, 2005

Edited By....The Story Behind the Books

This week we have something a bit different for you. While we get to know books and authors, we rarely hear from the editors who acquire these books for publishers --- the people who typically give them their "first read" and then nurture them along the way to publication. Recognizing that the editor often sees a manuscript that is very different from what we see on the shelves, we are sharing a new feature with you this week called "Edited By." Our first Editor who is sharing her story is Jordan Pavlin. The book she is talking about is CAST OF SHADOWS by Kevin Guilfoile, which is our latest Debut Suspense/Thriller title.

Right before the holidays I got a note from my contact at Knopf. She said she had a book that I would enjoy. Over came CAST OF SHADOWS. You know how I always say that it only takes one line to get me reading a book? Well, this was the line that grabbed me: "How far would you go to catch your daughter's killer?" Ends up the doctor in this book clones the killer. Okay, they had me just pondering that one. The book is in stores on March 1st. We have 10 advance reading copies to give away. Interested? Then write DebutSuspenseThriller@bookreporter.com by Friday, February 18th with your name and mailing address. Read more about the book below --- and see what Jordan has to say about it as well.

Iris Johansen is a name that many readers recognize. Her character in BLIND ALLEY, Eve Duncan, is a forensic sculptor. Years ago Eve's daughter was killed by a serial killer. Eve has dedicated her life to "bringing home" unidentified victims by recreating their likeness through sculpture. As she works on cases and solves murders she also works on closure for herself.

Johansen is our latest Suspense/Thriller Author. We're doing something a bit different this time. Johansen's BLIND ALLEY already is out in hardcover, but we are spotlighting its paperback release on March 29th. We are looking for 20 readers who would like to read this book and comment on it. Interested? Send your name and mailing address to SuspenseThriller@bookreporter.com by February 25th.

I love going to the movies, but never get there enough. My parents have seen all the Oscar contenders for Best Picture. I am hoping to do the same in these next few weeks. Our annual Oscar Feature was pulled together by Tom Donadio this week. We call it Oscar Watch 2005. He's done a terrific job of rounding up the books that inspired the nominated movies, as well as some books that are movie tie-ins.

Also, don't forget to read Tom's feature on Bookish Valentine selections. We have a bookish trend to share with you. These are the titles of three books on our Valentine's Day list: HATING VALENTINE'S DAY, I HATE VALENTINE'S DAY and THE TROUBLE WITH VALENTINE'S DAY. Think people finally figured out that this is a completely Hallmark-inspired holiday? For the record, I celebrate by making a heart-shaped cake with pink whipped cream frosting and cut strawberries on top. Pure heaven.

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!

I am renting Ray tonight and am happy to report I learned that The Five People You Meet in Heaven just came out on DVD. Have a great week.

Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)

Our latest Debut Suspense/Thriller Author is Kevin Guilfoile, author of CAST OF SHADOWS, which will be in stores on March 1st.

Interested in being one of our 10 advance readers of this book and sharing your comments about it? Then send your name and address to DebutSuspenseThriller@bookreporter.com by Friday, February 18th.

About the Book: A bereaved doctor undertakes a diabolical experiment in a shattering philosophical thriller that anticipates the moral, social, and metaphysical dilemmas science is poised to confront. Davis Moore is a fertility doctor in Chicago specializing in reproductive cloning, a controversial and closely regulated new practice, when his seventeen-year-old daughter is brutally raped and murdered. The case is investigated but never solved. Months later, Moore retrieves her belongings from the police, and finds among them a vial containing the killer's DNA. Tormented by grief, Moore entertains a monstrous thought: the possibility of cloning not his daughter but the man who killed her. How far would you go to look into the face of your daughter's murderer?

-Read more about CAST OF SHADOWS.
-Read what Jordan Pavlin, Guilfoile's Editor had to say about the first time she read CAST OF SHADOWS.
-Read more about Kevin Guilfoile.
-Get Kevin Guilfoile's tour schedule.

Read more about Kevin Guilfoile and CAST OF SHADOWS here.

Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight: Iris Johansen, Author of BLIND ALLEY

Our new featured Suspense/Thriller author is Iris Johansen, whose novel BLIND ALLEY will be available in paperback March 29th.

We have 20 copies of BLIND ALLEY to give away to readers who would like to preview the book and comment about it. A description can be found below. If you are interested, please send your name and mailing address to SuspenseThriller@bookreporter.com by Friday, February 25, 2005.

Read more about Iris Johansen.
Read more about BLIND ALLEY.
Go to Iris Johansen's Website.

Here's more about BLIND ALLEY:

The New York Times bestselling author of FIRESTORM, Iris Johansen, returns with a psychological thriller so terrifying, so relentlessly paced, it won't leave you time to catch your breath before the next shock comes. A forensic sculptor is locked in a deadly duel with a serial killer determined to destroy her --- one life at a time.

Debut Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight: Pam Lewis, Author of SPEAK SOFTLY, SHE CAN HEAR

Another featured Debut Suspense/Thriller author we are spotlighting is Pam Lewis, whose SPEAK SOFTLY, SHE CAN HEAR will be in stores on March 1st.

Read more about Pam Lewis and SPEAK SOFTLY, SHE CAN HEAR here.

Debut Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight: Michele Martinez, Author of MOST WANTED

Our previously featured Debut Suspense/Thriller author was Michele Martinez. Her novel, MOST WANTED, is a solidly written pageturner that will have you craving the second book in the series. It will be in stores on February 15th.

New This Week:
-Read another excerpt.

Here's more about MOST WANTED:

Melanie Vargas is a hardworking, hotshot federal prosecutor in New York City with a rising career in the law and a marriage that's on the rocks. On an innocent evening stroll with her child, Melanie stumbles across a horrifying crime scene. It's the kind of high-profile case that can make her name, and Melanie wants in. But what she doesn't realize is that this opportunity will bring her dangerously close to a hard-to-resist FBI agent who may have secrets of his own -- and even closer to a dark, sadistic killer who seems to be one step ahead of her every inch of the way.

Read about Michele Martinez.
Sign up to get news about Michele Martinez.
Go to the website for Michele Martinez

Read more about Michele Martinez and MOST WANTED here.

Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight: Jodi Compton, Author of SYMPATHY BETWEEN HUMANS

Read more about Jodi Compton and SYMPATHY BETWEEN HUMANS here.

Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight: Richard Montanari, Author of THE ROSARY GIRLS

Click here to read more about Richard Montanari and THE ROSARY GIRLS.

One to Watch: Elizabeth Flock, Author of ME & EMMA

Our latest One to Watch author is Elizabeth Flock, Author of ME & EMMA, which will be in stores on February 22nd.

New This Week:
-Read an excerpt.
-See our ARC Winners . 
 
Here's more about ME & EMMA:

In many ways, Carrie Parker is like any other eight-year-old-playing make-believe, dreading school, dreaming of faraway places. But even her imaginative mind can't shut out the realities of her impoverished North Carolina home or help her protect her younger sister, Emma.

By turns achingly naive and utterly pragmatic, Carrie has been shaped by the loss of her beloved daddy, and mired by a drunken stepfather and emotionally absent mother. Charting an astonishing course of survival for herself and Emma, she hopes to transform their life into one more closely resembling the story books she treasures.

But after the sisters' plan to run away from home unravels, their world takes a shocking turn-and one shattering moment ultimately reveals a truth that leaves everyone reeling.

Click here to read more about Elizabeth Flock and ME & EMMA.

Preview PRINCE OF FIRE by Daniel Silva

PRINCE OF FIRE by Daniel Silva will be in stores on Tuesday, February 22nd. Right now you can preview this book at his website, DanielSilvaBooks.com.

Here is more about the book:

Gabriel Allon is back in Venice after unmasking Erich Radek (A Death in Vienna), when a terrible explosion in Rome leads to a disturbing personal revelation: the existence of a dossier in terrorist hands that strips away his secrets, lays bare his history. Hastily recalled home, drawn once more into the heart of a service he had once forsaken, Gabriel finds himself stalking an elusive master-terrorist across a landscape drenched in generations of blood, the trail turning upon itself until, finally, he can no longer be certain who is stalking whom. And when at last the showdown comes, it will not be Gabriel alone who is threatened with destruction - for it is not his history alone that has been laid bare.

Read two chapters of PRINCE OF FIRE by Daniel Silva here.

This Week's Reviews and Features

ROSIE DUNNE by Cecelia Ahern (Fiction)
Reviewed by Marie Hashima Lofton
From the bestselling author of PS, I LOVE YOU comes a lighthearted and funny novel about what happens when two people who are meant to be together just can't seem to get it right.

PEARL by Mary Gordon (Fiction)
Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman
Twenty-year-old Pearl has chained herself to the American Embassy in Dublin and hasn't eaten for six weeks, which is meant to mark the death of a young man who's recently been killed. Pearl's mother must now reexamine all her assumptions about Pearl as she boards a plane for Ireland, determined to prevent her daughter's death.

THE HA-HA by Dave King (Fiction)
Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon
A war injury has prevented Howard from speaking, writing and reading for the past thirty years. But his lack of words doesn't hinder his newfound ability to connect when he temporarily inherits his old girlfriend's nine-year-old son, in Dave King's quietly stunning debut novel.

HOT TARGET by Suzanne Brockmann (Romantic Suspense)
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Jane Mercedes Chadwick, the producer of a film about a World War II hero who happens to be homosexual, is the target of threats from an extremist group. So the movie company calls in Troubleshooters Incorporated (and legendary Navy SEAL Cosmo Richter) to ensure Chadwick's safety. The attraction that develops between Chadwick and Richter ultimately results in danger to both of them.

FORESTS OF THE NIGHT by James W. Hall (Thriller)
Reviewed by Roz Shea
This stand-alone thriller from South Florida series writer James W. Hall fuses historical fact, political intrigue, corruption, and family feuds with deep characterizations of a troubled family facing inner terrors of their own.

WE'RE JUST LIKE YOU ONLY PRETTIER: Confessions of a Tarnished Southern Belle by Celia Rivenbark (Humor/Essays)
Reviewed by Shannon Bloomstran
In this wickedly funny follow-up to her bestselling novel BLESS YOUR HEART, TRAMP, Celia Rivenbark once again welcomes readers to the South she loves --- the land of "Mama and them," "precious and dahlin'" and mommies who mow.

BORN FIGHTING: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America by James Webb (History)
Reviewed by Amie Taylor
In his first work of nonfiction, James Webb has written a fascinating account of how the Scots-Irish have influenced and shaped the course of American history and America's future.

Click here to read this week's reviews and features.

Oscar Watch 2005

The Academy Awards presentation is always a must-watch for moviegoers --- for them it doesn't matter who the nominees are, what the stars are wearing, or how long the broadcast is. To celebrate the big event, Bookreporter.com has assembled the movies being recognized by the Academy this year that are based on critically acclaimed and bestselling books --- along with the categories in which they have been nominated.

In addition, Newmarket Press has published six books that tie-in to 19 Academy Award nominations. Five of them provide a wealth of information about the making of the movie, and one is a novel that helped inspire the film.

Click here to read our Oscars Watch 2005 feature.

Bookreporter.com Blog

Do you give gifts on Valentine's Day?
All of the time
Some of the time
Never

Question: What would be your favorite book to give/get on Valentine's Day?

Please note: Our next question update will be on February 18th.

Answer the Question of the Week here.

Tell us what books YOU are reading and loving --- or even those you don't.

This week we have some great prizes: FIVE readers each will win a copy of HONEYMOON by James Patterson and Howard Roughan and ROSIE DUNNE by Cecelia Ahearn. Please note that our next Word of Mouth update will be on February 18th.