thriller books Archives

12.17.14 Shadow Counter: Kakonis Scores Again

Novelist James L. Thane, author of No Place to Die and Until Death, shares his fondness for Tom Kakonis' gambling thriller Shadow Counter. Shadow Counter is the third and final volume in Tom Kakonis’s excellent series featuring Timothy Waverly, a professional card player who has found nothing but trouble ever since Kakonis first introduced him in Michigan Roll. At the end of the second book, Double Down, he and his long-time partner Bennie Epstein had to race away from another dicey situation in Florida. It’s now 1993, and they’ve landed in Vegas, living in a pitiful house and trying to fly under the radar while they attempt to cobble together the stake that will put... more

11.03.14 Ficton That’s Ripped from the Headlines

Written by Joel Goldman

Any self-respecting fan of Law & Order knows that the popular cop show franchise often draws its inspiration from crime stories that are “ripped from the headlines.” And no matter how many disclaimers emphasize that if the characters or plot bear any resemblance to a real-life individual or event it is completely coincidental, we instinctively recognize the original source. As consumers of popular culture, as participants in everyday modern life, we encounter dark and mysterious circumstances on a daily basis. Unless you have been residing among the Amish, or have elected to forego all modern conveniences by choice, you likely have heard about the activities of Jodi Arias —... more

10.13.14 Writing Noir & Crime Fiction: It’s All In The Voice

Written by Craig Faustus Buck

I write noir. To me, noir is all about voice. A lot of noir writers go to great lengths to imitate the voices of the greats. I have neither the memory, the critical analysis skills, nor the patience to do that. So my voice is, by default, my own. I consider my work neo-noir because it adds a certain psychological and emotional realism and depth that the classics lack but today's readers have come to expect. I wrote my first novel, Go Down Hard, and am writing my novel-in-progress in first-person present tense, which gives the work a feeling of urgency. My novella and the short story that spawned it, Dead End (which was just nominated for an Anthony Award), are in third-person... more

10.10.14 Great Crime Writers Create Memorable Bad Guys

Written by Joel Goldman

Great crime writers like James Patterson, Lee Child, Michael Connelly, and even horror writers like Stephen King draw readers into their stories by creating complex villains we love to hate. In writing my crime novels, I pay just as much attention to developing the villain (or in some cases, villains) as I do when crafting the protagonist. Both characters must have strong, complex personalities and interest the reader to the point of near obsession. If a writer can do that, he or she has pulled the reader into the dark world all thriller readers want – fast, dangerous, and with plenty of unexpected twists and turns. WHAT MAKES A GREAT VILLAIN? Not too long ago, Publishers Weekly... more

09.17.14 Writing Artie Deemer: Dallas Murphy on “Lover Man,” “Lush Life” and “Don’t Explain”

Written by Dallas Murphy

Artie Deemer is the reluctant sleuth who narrates my three-book series -- Lover Man, Lush Life, Don’t Explain -- published by Brash Books. He would be happy sitting around his Manhattan apartment listening to jazz and maybe smoking a little pot. He’s able to do so because his dog Jellyroll makes a fortune in dog-food commercials and bad mystery movies featuring “the cutest dog in the world” (nobody cares about the humans). But when, in Lover Man, his ex-girlfriend, Billie Burke, is found murdered in her bathtub, he gets up, turns off the music, and goes out to track down her killer. In fact, he becomes obsessed with the search, fully aware of the danger to himself and his... more

08.31.14 Brash Words: Lots of Positive Buzz Leading Up to Our Sept 2 Launch

Written by Brash Admin

We're only a few days from our Sept. 2nd launch and already we're getting a lot of positive buzz. We were thrilled by an interview with our co-founders, Lee Goldberg & Joel Goldman, in Kirkus Reviews. Here's an excerpt: The Brash editions I’ve seen so far are handsome, trade-size paperbacks, with bold cover imagery and elegant interior design. “Joel and I decided right off that we were either going to do this ‘first-class’ or not at all,” says Goldberg, “with high-quality covers that vividly and definitively establish a franchise for each author or series that we are publishing. We also decided that our covers would be contemporary, regardless of when the stories take... more

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