ANDREW GROSS & DAVID LEVIEN
The Dark Tide & City of the Sun
Time:7:30 PM
Location:Arcadia Coffee Co.
Cost: Free
Send e-mail to let us know your interest (there are no reservations) or to order a signed copy of the book.
GIVE YOUR HEART A THRILL:
EXPERIENCE THE COMPULSIVE NEW PAGE-TURNER
THE DARK TIDE
The Electrifying New Novel By the New York Times Bestselling Author
of The Blue Zone, Judge & Jury and Lifeguard
Andrew Gross
William Morrow Hardcover ISBN 9780061143427 = $25.95
HarperAudio Unabridged Audio ISBN 9780061557651 = $39.95
HarperLuxe Larger Print ISBN 9780061562679 = $$25.95
An explosion rocks New York's Grand Central Station and sends shockwaves through the lives of every resident of Greenwich, Connecticut, one of the city's wealthiest commuter suburbs. Countless lives are lost as bombs rip through the first few cars of the morning express into Manhattan. One of the people lost that day is Charles Friedman, a successful energy futures trader whose portfolio hides a mountain of secrets.
In THE DARK TIDE, the new must-read thriller from New York Times bestselling author Andrew Gross, Karen Friedman is a woman confronted with dangerous secrets from her dead husband's past. She and Charles had it all: two wonderful kids, a beautiful Colonial house, a ski home in Vermont, a lovely yacht, luxurious vacations - a seemingly perfect life. But months after the attack, two men show up at Karen's home asking serious questions about Charles' business dealings. Karen's world - one just returning to normal for her and her kids - is once more turned upside down.
A staggering sum of money is missing - hundreds of millions of dollars - and the trail leads to Charles. Karen is shocked to learn that her husband may have been the mastermind behind an elaborate commodities and hedge fund scam. Charles' mentor, Saul Lennick, assures Karen that all of her husband's dealings were legitimate...but with danger rising at every turn and strangers threatening Karen and her children, she is forced to ask for help. There's only one person she can turn to: Greenwich detective Ty Hauck, a 9/11 first responder who came home to Connecticut in the wake of a personal tragedy of his own just to find himself in the middle of a community devastated by another. Together they search for answers, and they soon discover that Charles's murky past inexplicably intertwines with the mysterious death of another Greenwich resident. As the truth comes into focus, Karen and Ty find themselves at the center of a web of intrigue that extends from the safe haven of Connecticut's moneyed shores to the international harbors of Florida all the way down to the shady backrooms of the Caribbean's global banking centers.
Amidst a widening storm of international financial scams, murder and conspiracy, Karen and Ty - two strangers touched by tragedy - must work together to find the truth. But the harder they dig the closer they come to uncovering a dangerous conspiracy that powerful people will kill to keep hidden.
THE DARK TIDE = Andrew Gross = Willliam Morrow = ISBN 9780061143427 = On-Sale 3/18/08 = $25.95
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andrew Gross is the coauthor of five New York Times number one bestselling novels with James Patterson, including Judge & Jury, Lifeguard, Third Degree, and Jester. Before turning to writing, he had a successful business career in sports apparel, managing several industry leaders, including Head Sportswear. He lives in Westchester County, New York, with his family.
Readers can visit Andrew Gross online at:
www.AndrewGrossBooks.com and www.myspace.com/andrewgrossbooks
CITY OF THE SUN
A Novel
David Levien
A riveting novel in the tradition of Dennis Lehane and Michael Connelly, CITY OF THE SUN (Doubleday; February 26, 2008; $24.95) by renowned screenwriter David Levien (Ocean's 13, Rounders, Runaway Jury, Walking Tall) introduces private detective Frank Behr - an imposing, charismatic former cop who agrees to take the case of a boy who's been missing for over a year. With CITY OF THE SUN, Levien has crafted a tale of horrific tragedy striking in a seemingly bucolic setting - and the revenge exacted by two haunted men.
Jamie Gabriel gets on his bike before dawn to deliver newspapers in his suburban Indianapolis neighborhood. He is twelve years old. Somewhere en route, as the October sky lightens, he vanishes without a trace. Fourteen months later, Paul and Carol Gabriel are on the verge of abandoning all hope. Crushed by frustrating dead ends and exhausted by a police force that cannot (or will not) find their son, the Gabriels finally stumble upon a name - an elusive private investigator who may represent their last chance for answers.
Frank Behr is an enigmatic mountain of a man, a former cop who is reluctant to help - he knows better than to promise the Gabriels a good result. But Paul's plea for closure stirs up old personal demons that Behr can no longer ignore. Going against everything he fears, Behr enters into an uneasy partnership with Paul on a quest for the truth that is, in turn, dangerous and haunting.
Richly textured and crackling with suspense and veracity on every page, CITY OF THE SUN weaves a moody narrative that hinges on the bond between a damaged detective and a lost father. From the antiseptic comforts of suburban Indianapolis to the city’s seamy underworld, Frank Behr is a private investigator as complex, idiosyncratic, and sympathetic as any in modern crime fiction.
In CITY OF THE SUN, David Levien masterfully peels back the layers of his gripping story, taking readers on an investigation like no other.
More praise for CITY OF THE SUN:
"A remarkably assured exercise in grabbing you by the throat and shaking you until the very end."
- Kirkus Reviews
"Screenwriter Levien's debut crackles with raw intensity... Fans of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch will be particularly delighted."
- Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
"Levien captures the hopelessness of the situation well, the pacing is relentless, and the story gripping and altogether disturbing. Highly recommended."
- Library Journal
CITY OF THE SUN: A Novel
David Levien
Doubleday
On-sale date: February 26, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-385-52366-0
Price: $24.95
A Conversation with David Levien, author of CITY OF THE SUN:
1. Given your success with writing screenplays what made you decide to write another novel?
Writing novels has always been a passion of mine, and a large part of what I do. Some stories are best told as movies, some best when they begin as a book and end up on film. Disappearance accounts, true crime shows, and countless newspaper articles about this kind of crime have haunted my imagination for many years, and though I was busy with several film projects, I committed myself to start writing. The highly plotted aspect of this, and the short sections, often from different characters' points of view, enabled me to write in bursts, often on the morning train I take from where I live in Connecticut to my office in Manhattan.
2. Is one easier than the other?
'Easy' isn't a word I'd use for either novels or scripts. Writing a screenplay is creating a blueprint for a future work. While the writer needs to take a reader on an emotional journey in a script, the reader, often in the movie business, is bringing his own expectation of the film to the table. The screenwriter often indicates use of music, a sense of editing, and mainly a visual template for the way the story will be told on film. With a novel the entire experience has to be created on the page in its finished form. The reader has to be engaged, kept, taken for the ride and left satisfied. This puts a lot more pressure on the detail in the writing. On the other hand, the novelist is able to use interior monologue to get at the characters' inner voices and states of mind in a way that is not usually possible in screenplays.
3. How did you come up with the plot for CITY OF THE SUN?
As I mentioned before, I'd been following accounts of abductions for perhaps the past two decades. I also have a stepfather who had a very decorated career in law enforcement before going on to private investigation. He worked some kidnappings, and while there were no similar elements to the case in my book, his accounts further fueled my fascination. The idea of detective Frank Behr, and then Jamie and the family began to emerge in my mind. It was a dark and frightening idea for a book, but one I couldn't escape. It became a story I had to tell.
4. How long did it take you to write it?
Once I began writing, the book took over three years to write. I suppose if I were working on it full-time, it wouldn't have taken as long, but there were various periods of three to six months when a film or television project would be shooting and I couldn’t make any progress at all. In the end I think the passage of time was a positive. The story and characters got to work in my unconscious during the layoffs, and I was able to bring that to the writing when I would get started again.
5. Although a major American city, Indianapolis doesn't leap to mind as a "crime town." Why did you choose Indianapolis and the Midwest as your setting?
I have lived in Los Angeles and New York for large portions of my life, so I know both places very well and I'm a big fan of crime stories set there, but indeed it seems most books and movies in the genre take place in these cities. New York and L.A. are so large that when crimes like these happen, it is not completely unusual. For me the true accounts that stand out the most are when these horrifying events strike in seemingly bucolic settings where children and their families are more unguarded, and where the expectation is of safety.
I went to school in the Midwest (Michigan), so I felt a connection to that part of the country. In the end I chose Indianapolis because it's certainly a large enough city for all manner of crimes to occur, but also for how representative it is of the Midwest, and America in general.
6. Frank Behr is a complex character who is sure to join the ranks of Alex Cross, Easy Rawlins and Harry Bosch in the pantheon of crime fiction heroes. Was Behr based on someone specific? How did you manage to compile the intricate details - such as weapons, methodology -- of an investigative detective?
Thanks, I hope he does. Behr is a fictional creation, though as I mentioned, my stepfather was a real source of information and inspiration for him. Through my screenwriting I have also had occasion to deal with other cops, detectives, weapons specialists, etc., over the years. Details just started to accumulate at some point and he became very real to me.
7A. Have you written (or been tempted to write) a screenplay for CITY OF THE SUN?
I'm working on an adaptation now and it's a movie I hope to make at some point in the near future.
7B. If you could cast the movie version of CITY OF THE SUN, whom would you choose for Frank, Paul and Jamie?
I can't name specific actors, because if the actor who plays Frank Behr doesn't turn out to be my very first choice, I wouldn't want him or anyone else to know it. There are a few actors who would be great for the part. Obviously, as written, Behr is a physically imposing man, and it would be nice for the actor to be the right physical type, more important though is that he be able to project a certain sense of gravitas that comes from the mistakes of his past and the costs of his life.
8. What are some of your favorite thriller/crime novels? Who are your favorite thriller/crime writers?
I read Chandler when I was younger, and some Hammet. I love many of James Ellroy's books, George Pelecanos is really great. And Cormac McCarthy, though not strictly a crime writer, is incredible. No Country For Old Men is one of hell of a crime book.
9. While written as a thriller, CITY OF THE SUN also has the feel of a quest or journey story. Was this always your intention or did the character's decisions motivate the narrative drive?
From conception, this story was always one that began in a safe, understandable place, but took the characters far away by the end. Indianapolis represents a core sense of home, and predictability. The idea that there is a wholly different place, a hellish one, not properly regulated by law and society is where the characters, particularly Jamie and Paul who are so unprepared for it, must end up. The journey through the world and life is one that strips away innocence, and one must either toughen, change and rise to the new reality or perish. Behr, as Paul's guide in a sense, is actually built for it, and despite his residence in the first more mundane place, he may actually fit in better in that other world at this point in his life.
10. Violence plays a role in CITY OF THE SUN, but the majority of harm inflicted on Frank and Paul is emotional. Did the structure of a novel allow you to delve deeper into their emotional lives than you might have been able to in a screenplay?
Violence is elemental in a book like this, but I didn't want it to be gratuitous on any level. The emotional costs as represented by the physical violence were much more at the core of the story. It is a rare movie that manages to communicate this toll - something about the gunfire, the sound effects, and the way fight sequences are cut together often dilutes this truth. It's difficult, as a viewer, not to get seduced by what you're watching. The novel allows more attention to detail in a way, more 'how' and 'why' behind the actions. The result is hopefully a fuller understanding of the characters, what they’re going through, and how it affects them.
