Greetings from Shane Gericke. Rather than dive immediately into the opening passage of my upcoming crime thriller CUT TO THE BONE (June 5, Kensington), I thought I'd first share with you an e-mail I received the other day from a reader. It's real, not made up. Read it, and you'll know why thriller writers drink. As background, my books are emotionally violent, occasionally bloody, and bunches of stuff from schools to cemeteries get blowed up real good ...
Dear Mr. Gericke,
While I'm a big fan, and all, I'd really like to read about puppies frolicking in flowers in fresh meadows not strewn with body parts, and love stories structured like complexly orchestrated symphonies that culminate in Platonic friendships (which are of course the deepest kind) instead of lovers being hacked to bits. Puppies, flowers, symphonies, and friendship are what make our city such a paradise for my devoted spouse, seven happy children, two lovable Goldens, two affectionate tabbies, and me. There is such excitement, don't you think, in just sitting in safety outside in our clean, fresh air with the singing birds and whispering breezes! I'm sure your other readers would agree and be as happy as I would be to read a novel about the comical misadventures of ponies, kittens, and puppies growing into well-adjusted adults instead of being mercilessly slaughtered by psychotic wackos. I recommend that you pick up a copy of Positively Naperville and other fine magazines for ideas. Why, you could even include some gluten-free, non-fattening recipes in the novel to provide ongoing benefits to your readers. That would be so delightful!
Thank you for your consideration, Mr. Gericke, and feel free to pass these ideas on to your publisher. I'm sure Mrs. Kensington would support them.
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And now, as promised, the opening sequence of CUT TO THE BONE. Please enjoy!
11:58 a.m.
The blue velvet curtains drew back like it was movie night, allowing Johnny Sanders to stare through the bulletproof window.
Twelve sets of eyes stared back.
The eyes of the people who’d come to watch him die.
Sanders half-smiled in acknowledgement.
Some returned it. Others looked away. One skinny guy flinched, like Sanders had snaked through the glass and tickled him.
Sanders thought that hilarious. He was strapped to a quarter-ton chair, which was bolted to the floor, which was anchored to reinforced concrete.
He wasn’t tickling anyone.
He was waiting. For the end.
Which would come in, oh, a minute and a half.
He tried to relax by taking deep breaths. No good—the air stank of quicklime and paste wax. The former from the fresh-cured concrete that formed the execution center’s floors, ceilings, walls, and corridors. The latter from the chair itself.
He traced his fingers along its wide oak arms.
Slippery as drool.
The paste wax, he figured. Humidity. Restless fingers of the condemned, rubbing the wood like a rosary . . .
Sanders shivered, suddenly chilled. He wondered why. The execution center’s furnace was pumping heat like the devil opened a hole in the earth.
Maybe I’m getting sick, he thought. Hope I don’t catch my death of a cold.
The little joke made him smile.
He glanced at the official clock over the curtains.
The smile faded.
He wasn’t sick, he knew.
He was scared.
He shouldn’t be. But he was.
Go figure ...
Read the entire first chapter at www.shanegericke.com.
Shane Gericke chairs this year's ThrillerFest Author Auctions, and invites you to bring your heart--and your checkbook--to New York City for all the fun.
Gericke started his writing career in high school, as a $30-a-month sportwriter for the local Frankfort Herald. His new novel, the crime thriller CUT TO THE BONE, launches worldwide in June, 2007. His 2006 debut from Kensington, BLOWN AWAY, became a national bestseller three weeks after launch, and was recently named the nation’s top debut mystery by Romantic Times Book Reviews. Slovak, Turkish, Chinese and Polish translations are out or in the works, and he earns high praise from some of the world’s most-admired authors, including New York Times bestsellers Lee Child, John J. Nance, Douglas Preston and Gayle Lynds, who says, “Shane Gericke writes with the clear eye of hard-nosed reporter and the sweet soul of an artist. His power is visceral and unforgettable.”
Before switching to thrillers, Shane spent 25 years as a journalist, most prominently at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he was a senior financial editor. He writes for national magazines, is a founding member of International Thriller Writers Inc. He lives in the Chicago suburb of Naperville, where his thrillers are set. Visit him at www.shanegericke.com
