Shadow of Power, Martini‘s 12th novel (and the ninth to feature attorney Paul Madriani), has 475,000 copies in print.  Asked if he reads reviews, the author replied, “I can deal with reviews.  The secret is never to accept any of them entirely, good or bad.  They are the editorials of the publishing industry; one person’s opinion.  Besides, anyone who takes this stuff that seriously needs to get a life.”

Order your signed copy of Shadow of Power by Steve Martini from www.vjbooks.com

Nic Costa is a police detective in modern Rome. Called to an artist’s studio in the Ortaccio, Rome’s traditional artist’s quarter, Nic finds a horrific scene.

Two people have been brutally killed, a petty thief frequently arrested by Costa, and a woman — a French art critic.

Over the bodies is a painting that appears to be an unknown work by a 17th century master — Caravaggio.

And the painting echoes the murder scene.

The crime scene team discovers other bodies buried in the studio — and the perpetrator is still there, hiding in the building. (more…)

One of the elements that readers like the most about my writing is the complex web of family ties and family relationship dynamics that weave throughout my stories. In DON’T LOOK TWICE, I explore the bond between two brothers – as well as the parent/child relationship (across two sets of characters). Readers often ask what draws me to focus so deeply on family in my novels and why I think that quality is so compelling. It’s never my precise goal to write “crime” novels, but to write stories about compelling, human situations in which a crime, or some other world‐shattering event, takes place. My stories are rooted in the drama of broken trust, of calm disturbed, when something a person counts on for sure turns out to be false. The family unit is the most universal one where a rupture can feel the most traumatic. I know I’m not exactly the first to work with this material. Our most compelling stories and myths are tales of families in conflict going all the way back to Genesis.

My previous novel, THE DARK TIDE, literally started with a bang. DON’T LOOK TWICE continues this tradition. I’ve been asked how important is the opening scene of my novels? What do I think it has to do to be successful and how I come up with them? Well, call it my Patterson training, but I believe in hooking the reader in conflict right from the start. It doesn’t always have to be a bomb or a shooting. In THE BLUE ZONE, it was a happy, prosperous family torn apart by a father’s arrest. My goal is to make the reader care about the character quickly–in a few pages–and then rip the rug out from under that security. DONT LOOK TWICE is different, in that the hero and his daughter are thrust into the middle of that (more…)

Scottoline’s latest departs from her customary Philadelphia law firm setting, revolving instead around a reporter at a Philadelphia daily.  Said PW’s starred review, “Bestseller Scottoline scores another bull’s eye with this terrifying thriller about an adoptive parent’s worst fear – the threat of an undisclosed illegality overturning an adoption…[She] expertly ratchets up the tension as the desperate Ellen flies to Miami to get DNA samples from Timothy’s biological parents.  More shocks await her back home.”  St. Martin’s reports 220,000 copies in print.

Order your signed copy of Look Again by Lisa Scottoline from www.vjbooks.com

Fans of Walter Mosley‘s intelligent, no-nonsense mysteries starring Easy Rawlins howled with dismay when the 10-book series, which began with Devil in a Blue Dress, ended in 2007 with Blonde Faith.  Mosley has just published The Long Fall, Book 1 in a series that stars a new African-American protagonist. Fans won’t be disappointed.

Like Rawlins, McGill is an imperfect man living in an imperfect world, but he’s a fresh new character with his own personality. His story is more noir in tone.

McGill is a middle-aged criminal/detective looking for redemption, hoping to change “from crooked to only slightly bent.”

His re-invention takes a U-turn when he is hired to find four men, and they start turning up dead. He’s determined to find out who’s killing them and why someone is trying to kill him. He emerges as a man of tangible loneliness and a softening heart.

(USA Today, Mar. 27, Carol Memmott)

Order your signed copy of The Long Fall by Walter Mosley from www.vjbooks.com

James Patterson is set to add another name to his list of collaborators: Liza Marklund. Marklund is Scandinavia’s bestselling female crime writer. The announcement came Friday afternoon via a blog post by “Lindsay Boxerette” on Patterson’s social-networking site. The international thriller is due in 2010. All that is known of the story at this point is that it is set in Stockholm, Sweden.

Marklund was quoted as saying, “Writing this book is so much fun. The story is violent, emotional, and fast paced. It’s very exciting to work with such an intelligent and creative writer. James Patterson is not only exceptionally smart and funny, he is also incredibly humble.” A goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, Marklund is credited with revolutionizing the Swedish police procedural in the late 90’s with The Bomber, her first novel in a series that is now heralded as the most successful ever by a female Scandinavian writer.

The series centers on character Annika Bengzton, a crime reporter for a tabloid who must balance her career with the responsibilities of motherhood. The books have been so successful internationally that the author has become a #1 bestseller in all five Nordic countries. Collectively, the books have sold 9 million copies in 30 languages worldwide.

Patterson, meanwhile, is set to release MAX, the fifth installment of the young adult Maximum Ride series, on March 16th. Most recently, Run For Your Life (Little, Brown February 2009), written with Michael Ledwidge, topped bestseller lists. Other collaborators have included Andrew Gross, Maxine Paetro, Hal Friedman, Howard Roughan, and Peter de Jonge.

(Hartford Books Examiner, Mar. 8, John Valeri)

www.vjbooks.com has signed copies of all James Patterson novels.

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America declares young adult book, Powers, novel of the year

Ursula K Le Guin has added a sixth Nebula award to her trophy cabinet after winning the best novel prize at this weekend’s awards ceremony.

Le Guin picked up the award for her young adult novel Powers, the third in her Annals of the Western Shore saga which follows the adventures of a runaway young slave with amazing powers of memory. She beat a shortlist that also included Terry Pratchett for Making Money, Cory Doctorow for Little Brother and Ian McDonald for Brasyl.
Already the recipient of five Nebula awards, as well as five Hugos, a National Book Award and a Grand Master award, Le Guin, 79, is the author of 22 novels, more than 100 short stories, seven books of poetry and 12 books for children.

The Nebulas are voted for by the 1,500-plus author members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and together with the Hugos are seen as the most important of the American science fiction awards. The first ever Nebula was won by Frank Herbert’s Dune in 1965; other past winners include Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, Ringworld by Larry Niven and The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov. Last year’s award was won by Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policeman’s Union.

This year’s prize ceremony also saw Stainless Steel Rat creator Harry Harrison honoured as a Grand Master for a career that spans more than 50 years and 62 novels. On learning of his win last year, Harrison said he could “recall with a tear in one rheumy eye” the moment when the SFWA was first mooted, more than half a century ago. “Enough! Let’s look to the future not the past as we go from strength to strength and march – banners flapping – into the SF future,” he said.

The Ray Bradbury award for outstanding dramatic presentation went to Joss Whedon, creator of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly television series. “Future is my business because I write fictionalised scientifics, or as the kids call it now, fi-sci,” said Whedon in a video acceptance speech sent to the ceremony. “There is no bigger influence on my writing than Ray Bradbury – he is the forefather of us in so many ways. Nobody made fi-sci more human, more exciting … It’s stayed with me my whole life even before Stephen King, Frank Herbert and so many people I admire – Bradbury was the first.”

The best novella Nebula went to Catherine Asaro’s The Spacetime Pool, the best novelette to John Kessel’s Pride and Prometheus and the best short story prize to Nina Kiriki Hoffman’s Trophy Wives.

Order your signed copy of Powers by Ursula K. Le Guin from www.vjbooks.com

(guardian.co.uk, Apr 28, Alison Flood)

Jeffery Deaver’s “The Weapon,” about the limitations of torture, and Ridley Pearson’s “Boldt’s Broken Angel,” which features a race to prevent a cop’s death, provide solid bookends to this nifty all-original anthology, the sequel to 2006’s Thriller: Stories to Keep You Up All Night. The 23 selections—all by members of International Thriller Writers Inc.—score hits more often than misses. One of the few non-Americans, Spaniard Javier Sierra, might claim the blue ribbon with his tale of impending apocalypse, “The Fifth World.” Lisa Jackson’s “Vintage Death” keeps the reader guessing and on tenterhooks from start to finish. Marcus Sakey’s “The Desert Here and the Desert Far Away” tests the strength of the bonds forged in the current Iraq War when comrades return home. Other contributors include Robert Ferrigno, David Hewson, Jon Land, Carla Neggers and R.L. Stine. In addition to a brief general introduction, Cussler supplies intros to the individual stories. (June 2009)

Order your copy from www.vjbooks.com

(Publisher’s Weekly, Mar. 23)

Even before he had a word published by himself, Andrew Gross was a best-selling author as one of James Patterson‘s co-writers. Six novels, including “The Women’s Murder Club” series, put Gross’s work on many best-sellers lists.

But Gross isn’t in Patterson’s shadow anymore. In his third solo novel, Gross continues to show that he is a thriller writer in his own right, though stylistically “Don’t Look Twice” is akin to Patterson’s work with clipped sentences, short chapters and ramped-up action.

“Don’t Look Twice” resonates with character development and a solid plot. Although the dialogue occasionally dips to the level of cliche, Gross’s enthusiasm for his storytelling overrides this flaw.

Greenwich, Conn., police detective Ty Hauck’s quiet outing with his daughter is halted when they are victims of a drive-by shooting at a service station where they are buying groceries. Hauck is wounded, his daughter is all right physically, but David Sanger, a federal prosecutor, is killed. Ty’s investigation first centers on just who was the intended victim: the cop, the prosecutor or the Pakistani who owned the business?

The investigation takes Ty through a maze that leads to a conspiracy, an area casino and a member of his own family. Corruption and greed ooze throughout the thrilling “Don’t Look Twice.”

Gross accelerates the action as he moves the story throughout Connecticut, including Hartford, as well as the Dominican Republic.

(sunjournal.com, Mar. 9, Oline H. Cogdill)

Order your signed copy of Don’t Look Twice by Andrew Gross from www.vjbooks.com

(davidmorrell.net, Apr 2009, David Morrell)

MORE ABOUT RAMBO OFF-BROADWAY

Last month, I mentioned that Rambo and my novel FIRST BLOOD are the subject of an off-Broadway play called RAMBO SOLO that is currently being performed in New York City.  It’s a one-character monologue in which Zachary Oberzan pretends to be in his 242-square-foot apartment while telling the audience about his obsession with my1972 novel and the1982 film adaptation.  For 90 minutes, he discusses the differences between the two and describes what he thinks would be the ideal film adaptation.  Reviewers were extremely enthusiastic about the energy, enthusiasm, and creativity of the show as well as the quality of the performer.

  (more…)