Michelle's comments (member since Jun 29, 2008)

Michelle's comments from the mystery lovers group.

I did read The Enemy, way back when. I remember really liking it. Enjoy!


Sakura wrote: "Michelle wrote: "Sakura wrote: "Hello All, I am looking for a good Lee Child novel??? Can anyone recommend something????"

My favorite so far is "Bad Luck and Trouble.""

Michelle, did u read T..."

I thought the last Plum book was a mess-she really needs to draw the love triangle to a close, it's just getting silly. And the plotline was awfully thin. It felt like she was just going through the motions.

Also check out R J Ellory, he hasn't developed much of a following here yet but he's huge in the UK. His books are beautifully written, very dark.

Thanks so much for saying so, I appreciate it!

To celebrate tomorrow's release of my next thriller THE GATEKEEPER, my publisher is offering the previous installment in the series (BONEYARD) as a free download. Get it here:
http://tinyurl.com/ykkjk6e

Best,

Michelle

I'm on a J A Konrath kick and am tearing through his Jack Daniels series. Loved every one of them so far. A little dark and gruesome at times, but also very funny, great plots, and well written.

Jim wrote: "Michelle wrote: "Just finished Brent Ghelfi's latest in the Volk series, "The Venona Cable." "

How'd you like it?
I have it on reserve at the library

"

I love all of his books. This one was definitely different, I'm still figuring out how I felt about it. I wish there had been more of the girlfriend, I love her.

Yup, if you're on the mailing list already, no need to sign up again. If you want the ten extra entries, just send me the answer to the question posed.

Hi everyone-

Please forgive my lapse into BSP, but I'm gearing up for the release of Gatekeeper and thought some of you might want to enter a giveaway I'm running.
One lucky person will receive a brand new MacBook laptop computer. All you have to do is go to my website (www.MichelleGagnon.com) and sign up for my free newsletter, which will grace your inbox fewer than six times a year.

Want to increase your odds? For ten more entries, please answer this question:
“Which two characters (aside from Kelly and Jake) appear in BOTH The Tunnels and The Gatekeeper?”

(Note: Kelly and Jake, as mentioned, do not count. If you write :”Kelly and Jake,” I will be incredibly disheartened and frustrated. I promise there are two other characters who make an appearance in both books).

Statistically speaking you have a MUCH better chance of winning this laptop than of having the Publishers Clearinghouse people show up on your doorstep with balloons and a giant check. More details (including rules and regulations) are posted at michellegagnon.com.
Good luck to you all, I’ll announce a winner in January.

Sakura wrote: "Hello All, I am looking for a good Lee Child novel??? Can anyone recommend something????"

My favorite so far is "Bad Luck and Trouble."

Just finished Brent Ghelfi's latest in the Volk series, "The Venona Cable."

I really love Lee Lofland's blog "The Graveyard Shift," since he tends to get insight from law enforcement professionals on everything from arson to forensics to profiling. I find the real peek behind the curtain fascinating.
I do blog, with a group (on The Kill Zone), and we tend to focus on craft-specific posts, so many of our followers are writers.

I couldn't agree more. I'm still not sure that last ending was necessary, but Undone completely revitalized both series for me. Can't wait for the next one.

After the last Grant County book, I was one of those readers who was so aghast at the ending that I almost swore off Slaughter. And the Will Trent books hadn't really grabbed me yet- they were just too dark for me (funny, I'm sure, for anyone who has read my books!)
But I just finished Undone, and I'm squarely back in the "Slaughter is amazing" fold. I think combining the two series was genius, and done very adeptly. I think she handled the fallout from the last book well, and this story was gripping and well-written. I highly recommend it.

Check out "Jump" by Tim Maleeny, "Fault Line" by Barry Eisler, and "The Blade Itself" by Marcus Sakey. All great standalones.

Christine-

I agree, the reading groups are great- for some reason Shelfari seems to be more active in that regard.
Betty, you definitely weren't complaining, it's just that what you said struck a chord with me since it's a really interesting point and one that has come up frequently on Crimespace and Dorothy L.

In defense of my fellow authors (and keeping my fingers crossed that I'm not one of the offending parties)-all of us are readers and fans as well as writers. We love discussing other people's books, usually even more than we like talking about our own.

That being said, I'm guessing that what you're referring to is authors going a little overboard on the blatant self-promotion on these groups. I know that for me, there are some authors who so inundate the lists during the month of their book release, it's a little off-putting. But it's an extremely tough balance to strike. Very few authors get the level of promotional support that, say, Josh Bazell did for Beat the Reaper. Many of the books discussed by these groups are the books that publishers throw their weight behind- so people hear about them, buy them, read them.
The authors who don't get that support are thrown on to their own resources, with little or no guidance. The sense is that the only way people will hear about your book is if you pound them over the head with the title. Even though occasionally I want to scream, "Enough!" when I see yet another blog post for the same book that's been hurled at me for weeks, I understand the motivation behind it. That author is working his/her butt off to try to get their book out there.

I can attest that PANIC ATTACK is a great read...

From now through May 26th, St. Martin's Press is doing a special promotion where you can download the entire .pdf electronic advance edition of Jason Starr's new thriller PANIC ATTACK for free! If you've never read a Jason Starr novel, here's your chance. If you're already a fan, you can read a few chapters to get a taste of it, or help get the buzz going and read the entire novel Michael Connelly has called "the ultimate page turner." Yes, you can send the .pdf to your Kindle or other e-reader that is .pdf compatible. Note: The text is the advance edition that reviewers receive and there will be minor edits for the finished book.
All we ask is that you help out and mention this promotion on your blogs, Twitters, MySpace and Facebook pages etc. Also, we'd love it if you could review or mention the book online on your blog, or review it on bookstore sites such as BN.com and Amazon.com. Even a review on a message board helps. And remember, Panic Attack is on-sale in bookstores everywhere on August 4, 2009.

http://us.macmillan.com/smp/promo/panica...

Enjoy!
Michelle Gagnon
www.michellegagnon.com

I actually think it was needlessly melodramatic. I mean, really- looking back at how much has happened to those three characters over the course of the series, I think a more fitting conclusion would have been giving them a break for a change. The problem with setting a series in a small town is that eventually "Cabot Cove" syndrome sets in, and no one can believe that many terrible things happen in that small a place.

Which I suspect is why she set the next series in Atlanta.

It's very rare, but I actually thought that Silence of the Lambs was extremely true to the book and very well done (it even improved the story, in some regards). Same with About a Boy--much, much better ending than the one in the book. So occasionally the movie people do it right.