WHAT YOU SEE is WHAT YOU SEE!

"​A perfect mix of plot, suspense, emotion, and character. It's flawlessly done - one of the best and most resonant thrillers of the year."

      - Robin Agnew, Aunt Agatha's Mystery Bookshop

"Engaging and enthralling...Mystery fans should drop everything and pick up this book!"

        -- Associated Press

""A dark nightmare of a tale with echoes of Dennis Lehane at his level best." 

           - Providence Journal

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  Okay, so I am happy. The reviews are awesome. Now--crossing fingers.

So here's the question I love to answer:  Where do you get your ideas? Because my life is so rich and so full, ideas are always crashing into each other! And, somehow, exactly when I need them. For instance, for WHAT YOU SEE… Oh did I tell you? The pub date is today!

 I will pause right now while you go buy the book.  http://www.HankPhillippiRyan.com/what-you-see.php

Thank you! So. Where did WHAT YOU SEE come from?

One part: Jake Brogan, coolest detective in the world, catches a murder case. A man has been stabbed in Curley Park, right by the tourist magnet Faneuil Hall.  And the incident is captured on camera by call phones, surveillance cameras, and (remember these?) regular cameras! And how many other bystanders witnessed the whole thing? Jake and his partner DeLuca have a problem they never thought they'd encounter. 

 Where did this come from? Out of a case my husband had. He represented a murder defendant who was charged with stabbing a person exactly in the same spot by the Curley Statues. And one of the pieces of evidence was a tourist's cell phone snapshot of the incident. When he told me about it, I asked: "Does the snapshot show your client's face?"

And Jonathan said no.

"Well, I that's good thing," I replied. "It doesn't even show his face!"

And Jonathan said "Well, possibly. But it does show his tattoo."

Now when you read the book and get to that part, you will know the inside scoop.

Another part: You also might remember the story of “Clark Rockefeller,” the scam artist, impersonator, and general mauvais vivant (I made  up that expression, I think) who kidnapped his pre-teen daughter. Parental abduction of children is such a terrifying thought....  So, being a crime fiction author, I wanted to think about it. And contemplate and explore what might happen if it occurred in your own family. And--might there be a good reason a child would be abducted?

Jane Ryland, reporter extraordinaire, does not know the answer to that when she gets the phone call.

                      

So, now, dear friends, it is up to you. Here's an order link--and hey! If you order by October 26, I will send you gifts! A paperback of one of my first 7 books (free!), AND a cool eyeglasses case (WHAT YOU SEE, get it?) and a signed bookplate. Just click here for the scoop!

Hey. Thank you. This is a big moment in time, and I am thrilled we can all share it together. I am off to Florida today, and then Wednesday in  Atlanta, and then back to Boston for a launch party Thursday (you’re invited!)--and then out again. Here's my schedule. Come say hello!

And did I say- -thank you?

Love you all madly…

Hank

What we're writing? Hank says: WHAT YOU SEE

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: So, Reds, this is what happens at least seven times a year on this wonderful blog…we all get to share the unimaginable incomparable craziness that is the week before  publication day.

And, now, we have arrived at that astonishing point for my dear WHAT YOU SEE. What I am actually writing at this point seems to be an endless series of lists of things to do.

Some are actually doable! Others utter fantasy, and others doomed.

The other thing that begins to happen this week is the reviews! You see an email subject that says review and you click open, knowing your life may change. I burst into tears when I saw Oline Cogdill’s!

She calls the book superb, and highly entertaining! I sat in my study hollering superb!  Superb!  Superb! (Can you imagine?) Luckily I was by myself.

Library Journal awarded a star, and the other three trades were fabulously positive.  Next week you I will be able to tell you of some other big big big reviews—the ones that use words like “flawless,” and “perfection,” and  “one of the best and most resonant thrillers of the year.”

I will probably tell you about those that a couple more times.

You have been on this journey with me from the beginning, and I am grateful. But just a reminder, here are two looks into WHAT YOU SEE. 

This is Franklin Alley, just within a surveillance camera shot :-) of Boston City Hall.  The book begins with a high noon stabbing in Curley Park, and Jake and Deluca get a tip that the bad guy has gone down this twisty cobblestone path. But it is a dead-end! Would a murderer run away in this direction? And then they hear something.

Another scene:

This is Jane Ryland, who, due to a series of events – – very surprising – – is now at Boston City Hall. She's on the trail of this noon-time standing. And then she gets that  phone call.

Two more quick things:

Watch the space! Tuesday I'll tell you more about WHAT YOU SEE. But right now if you are intrigued, do preorder!

And then let me know via my website,  because I am sending prizes to all who pre-order. And for you darling Reds readers a special prize. Just put Jungle Red on the form (you can click to it from my website) in the inscription space, and I will send you a special treasure.

Crossing fingers and love you madly! 

And anyone have pals in Atlanta, Phoenix, Madison, Oakmont, Indianapolis or Orange county? Tell me in the comments if you anywhere near there! And check my events calendar--love to see you all. 

And oh--LAUNCH PARTY! Thursday, October 22, 7pm at Brookline Booksmith. Will I see you there?

Ah. SO NERVOUS! How can I relax?

What We're Writing? Hank's Say No More! And WHAT YOU SEE!

At the Hopkinton MA library

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  Scroll down to win WHAT YOU SEE!
But first: I am SO confused! It’s the best kind of confusion, of course, and I completely embrace it. But I am in the midst of writing my new book (YAY! 50,000 words done. BOO! 50,000 words to go.) and I am even loving it. Sometimes.  So on this “What We’re Writing” week, it would seem logical to reveal a little of that book, titled SAY NO MORE.

But too soon. Toooo soooon! I am still tweaking and changing and getting the story gelled (jelled? gel is for hair, right? But it does hold things in place…) in my head. Every day before I go forward, I go back and move words around. See if I can think of stronger ones.  I ask myself: what did I mean by this? Why do I care about this?  What is this story, SAY NO MORE, really about?

Already Daniel Tarrant’s name has changed to Edward Tarrant, Madeleine Ruggerio’s name has changed to Caroline. (And that’s still not quite right.) One name that won’t change: Willow Galt.

And motivation, motivation. I am consumed with motivation. I am adoring the ever-surprising way the story unfolds, and I’m always thrilled if I can get one good idea a day. I mean, wow. One good idea a day! That would be 365 good ideas a year. Which seems like a lot, right?

I cannot write without this. 

And as Hallie brought up yesterday, the complicated braiding of timelines. My time-charts are less fancy than Hallie’s. Here’s one. Scene by scene, what day, what day in the book, what time, who is in it, how many pages it takes.

To keep track of what happened when and how old characters were, I scrawled this. I can make sense of it, so hey.

Yes, I can read it. PERFECTLY.

And then, this very high-tech timeline at the top, so I can see where I am in the story arc, from page 0 to 400. Works for me!

See? I am on page 180, so near the middle.

But the other part of my life, and why it’s confusing, is that the new and finished book, WHAT YOU SEE, is coming soon. (SO EXCITING! And amazing reviews to come, shhhhh.) 

So what I am also writing is all the other stuff that goes with the publication of a new book. For example, I have to figure out my book-talk talk (Launching October 20 in Vero Beach, Oct 21 in Atlanta, Oct 22 in Boston, for starters—please please come to the parties!)   When someone asks “What is it ABOUT?” I have to come up with a fascinating and succinct answer.

WHAT YOU SEE. You know those surveillance cameras that are everywhere? On TV, we see the results—the videos of football players punching their “girlfriends,” of actors trashing their hotel rooms, of bad guys and bank robbers and convenience store fights.  And often, the police catch their suspects as a result of all that conflict caught on camera.

But what about all that other video? The kind that never makes the news—the video of me, and you and you and you? It’s all there, somewhere. It all exists. And someone has access to it.  What if….

In WHAT YOU SEE:

 JANE RYLAND suddenly has a new job! And she’s covering a murder that’s taken place in broad daylight.  Thing is, her bride-to-be sister Melissa is in town, and in the midst of Jane’s reporting, Melissa, frantic, calls her cell. “We can’t find Gracie,” she says.  Where’s the nine-year old flower girl?

Detective JAKE BROGAN has a doozy of a case. A guy’s been stabbed to death in Curley Park, next to the tourist-magnet Quincy Market—in front of dozens of camera-toting witnesses and surveillance cameras.  Easy solve, right?

BOBBY RIAZ knows his future as a paparazzo is so bright, he oughta—change his name.   He does—and after what he sees, his future changes as well.     

TENLEY SISKEL  is only trying to envision a future at all. After her sister's death--murder?--she’s consumed with guilt. Could she have prevented it? Now her hot-shot mom’s finagled her a stupid summer job. At least it’s easy; all she has to do is monitor video feeds. But soon, what she sees will change her life forever.

CATHERINE SISKEL, the Mayor’s Chief of Staff and Tenley’s mom. Her life is all about damage control. Until today--when the damage she sees is too terrible to face.

Will readers love it? Will they write glowing reviews, and buzz about WHAT YOU SEE to their friends? No pressure, I reassure myself. It’s just my career.  (You can pre-order here!)

But if you’d like to win an advance copy?  Just say “I want WHAT YOU SEE!” in the comments. And tell me…do you notice the surveillance cameras?