Brian Freeman's Blog, page 6
November 17, 2020
The Best of 2020
Here’s a nice little year-end treat. Kirkus Reviews lists THE BOURNE EVOLUTION among its Best Mysteries and Thrillers of 2020!
Some pretty cool company to be keeping here…Connelly, Lackberg, Nesbo, Paretsky…
Want more Jason Bourne? THE BOURNE TREACHERY is due out July 27, 2021, and it’s available for pre-order now.
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November 1, 2020
The Year in Books
We’re nearing the end of 2020…yes, I know, I know, hold the applause. But this has also been a busy book year — and now that I’ve finally released my fourth (!) book since January, I figured it would be a good time to go back and take a look at what I’ve put in your hands this year. Remember, the Christmas shopping season is coming soon!
The first novel of 2020: THIEF RIVER FALLS, a stand-alone thriller about a writer in lonely northwestern Minnesota trying to rescue a young boy who’s being hunted by everyone around him (including the police). Last month, Amazon listed THIEF RIVER FALLS among its top 1o bestselling mystery/thrillers of the year so far, and the book is closing in on 9,000 reader reviews.
This summer, I had the incredible honor of taking over Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne series, with my Bourne thriller THE BOURNE EVOLUTION releasing in July. I’ve been thrilled by the many readers and reviewers who felt as if they’d stepped right back into a Ludlum novel with this one. It’s a complete stand-alone, so even if you’re not a long-time Jason Bourne book fan (or movie fan), you can dive right in.
In September, my Duluth-based police lieutenant Jonathan Stride finally returned after a two-year hiatus in FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND. As Bookreporter said, “FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND is by far Brian Freeman’s most emotional novel, and to say that the ending is a wild one would be a gross understatement. Jonathan Stride is one of the more complex and therefore likable characters in crime fiction, and this latest entry in the series is a clear standout.”
Is three new books enough? Well, not this year. Okay, THE DEEP, DEEP SNOW isn’t actually new — it came out as an Audible Original in 2019 and hit the New York Times Bestseller list. But print readers have been waiting for the book ever since, and a paperback edition (e-book, too!) finally arrived in October. The book got a starred review from Publishers Weekly, which called it “enthralling” and said “readers will have a tough time putting this one down.”
So now we’re really done for the year. But you better get reading! I’ll be back in early March with an all-new standalone thriller, INFINITE, which I can’t wait to put in your hands.
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October 27, 2020
My Personal Favorite
For years, you’ve asked me: What’s your favorite novel of all the books you’ve written? That’s always been a hard question for me to answer, because after 22 novels, I love each of my stories in a different way. But THE DEEP, DEEP SNOW may well be my personal favorite among my books.This small-town mystery has a heroine I love – a young sheriff’s deputy named Shelby Lake – and an emotional core that left me in tears when I was writing it. It’s the story of the disappearance of a ten-year-old boy, an event that ripples through the lives of everyone in Mittel County. But it’s also a story of fathers and daughters, of friendships and memories, of good intentions gone terribly wrong.
I hope you fall in love with Shelby and the people around her the way I did – and when you read it, I think you’ll see why this particular book has a very special place in my heart.
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October 20, 2020
First Time in Print
My New York Times bestselling mystery THE DEEP, DEEP SNOW finally arrives in a paperback edition on October 27. You can click here to learn more.
This book first appeared as an Audible Original last year, with narration by the amazing actress January LaVoy. I listened to the whole audio edition myself recently, and I have to tell you, I had tears running down my face. She does an absolutely magnificent job. Even if you’re not a fan of audiobooks, this one may well convert you.
Ever since, readers have been clamoring for a print edition. The book came out in e-book earlier this year, but never fear, the print edition is almost here, too. I hope you love it, because this book may well be my favorite novel of anything I’ve written.
“Enthralling,” said Publishers Weekly in their starred review. “Freeman brings all the characters to life, highlighting their strengths as well as the darkness that lies within each of them, thus adding a delicious sense of uncertainty as to their motives. Readers will have a tough time putting this one down.”
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October 13, 2020
Let’s Review
You can do so on Amazon, Goodreads, BN, wherever you go to share information about books. Reviews don’t have to be long — just a sentence works fine! But it really does help, both to trigger the automatic marketing that online retailers do, and to build enthusiasm among other readers.So if you enjoyed FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND (or THE BOURNE EVOLUTION…or THIEF RIVER FALLS…or THE DEEP, DEEP SNOW), I’d be honored and grateful if you’d share the word online!
THANKS!
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October 2, 2020
Dive In
FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND marks the tenth Jonathan Stride novel, going all the way back to IMMORAL in 2005. Which naturally begs the question: Do you need to start at the beginning?
In fact, I deliberately write my series books as standalones, so that you can begin anywhere and get a full, rich experience of the characters. I tell readers: You wouldn’t expect to limit yourself to friends you met in your teens or twenties. You’ll meet people throughout your life, and if you enjoy them as people, you’ll want to find out more about the stories that made them who they are. That’s the way a good series should work, too. Once you meet Jonathan Stride in FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND, I hope you’ll want to go back and read some of his earlier stories, too.
Critics agree! Here’s what North Carolina’s Mountain Times says: “Ten books into Brian Freeman’s Jonathan Stride series, “Funeral for a friend” traverses a literary tightrope that few authors can manage: the novel works equally well as a standalone for a first-time reader, or as part of the fuller Stride canon for his longtime fans….Freeman’s characters here are as developed as his plot, and even if this is your first foray into the Stride universe you’ll come to know Serena, Stride, Cat, Maggie and others as family.”
They also praise the book’s “masterful diversions, deceptions and angular plotting.”
So even if you’re new to Stride, dive in.
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September 22, 2020
Stride is Back
It’s here! My new novel FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND is available now in e-book, hardcover, and audio. I hope you’ll get your copy and dig in.
Fans of my books know that I like to write thrillers that deliver an emotional punch. And that’s what you’ll get in FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND. I don’t write about super-heroes or super-villains. I want my characters to be real people with stories you care about – even as you’re gasping for breath and turning the pages to find out what happens next.
This is my tenth novel in the Jonathan Stride series, and many early readers have told me that FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND is their favorite book yet. It’s a book that showcases Stride’s passionate loyalty as a hero, but it also leaves you wondering: How far would a truly decent man go to protect someone he loves?
Are you new to the series? Don’t worry, I write each book so that the characters and plots stand on their own, so you can dive right in. Of course, once you get to know Stride, I hope you’ll want to go back and discover his earlier adventures, too.
Click to find the book on Amazon, BN, Audible, or Bookshop.
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September 15, 2020
Top 10 of 2020
And right there with them: THIEF RIVER FALLS, with what they call a “jaw-dropping reveal.”
Click here to see the whole list.
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September 1, 2020
Countdown to Stride
There’s a great article by Chuck Frederick in today’s Duluth News-Tribune about all things Stride and Bourne. Click here to read the article.
We’re in September, so the countdown to the new book has started. The latest Jonathan Stride novel, FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND, releases on September 22. You can pre-order your copy at Amazon, BN, or other retailers.
Want a SIGNED copy? I’ve got two ticketed virtual events coming up later in the month, and buying a ticket gets you a signed copy shipped by the bookstore. Just click one of the links below to buy your ticket:
Bookstore at Fitger’s (September 22, 6:00 pm CT)
Mysterious Galaxy (September 29, 9:00 pm CT)
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August 19, 2020
Cross-Over
And so we come to the most recent Jonathan Stride novel, ALTER EGO…at least until September 22, when the new Stride book FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND is finally released.
I’ll tell you a secret. I originally envisioned ALTER EGO as a Cab Bolton novel. Given Cab’s Hollywood mother, it made sense to have him as the hero in a book that focused on the sleazy secrets of a famous actor. However, the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of giving this plot to Stride…so that Stride could deal with an “alter ego” who is filming a movie in Duluth based on one of his cases.
But I couldn’t give up Cab entirely, could I? So ALTER EGO became my first cross-over novel, where Stride and Cab BOTH appear as main characters.
People have asked me whether ALTER EGO was inspired by the exposure of Harvey Weinstein and the eruption of #metoo protests in Hollywood. Actually, I turned in the novel a couple of weeks BEFORE the Weinstein scandal broke in the press. That prompted my editor to ask, “Hey, did you know something??”
So be sure to catch up on all of the Stride books…from IMMORAL through ALTER EGO…because you’ll want to be ready for Stride’s big return in September.
Click to find ALTER EGO at Amazon.
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