Authors on Tour: FaceOff, an Anthology edited by David Baldacci

FaceOff
by David Baldacci, editor

We are delighted to welcome the authors of the anthology FaceOff (Simon & Schuster; June 2014 hardcover, audiobook and ebook formats) to Omnimystery News today.

The concept was inspired: Get together a group of A-list authors — members of the International Thriller Writers association — and pair them into 11 "teams". Ask each team to write a short story starring the writers' main characters, and have those characters interact in head-to-head and collaborative ways.

Legal-thriller novelist John Lescroart of Davis was teamed with T. Jefferson Parker of Los Angeles for "Silent Hunt", featuring their respective protagonists Wyatt Hunt and Joe Trona. The novelists met in 2009 when Lescroart contributed a tale to Hook, Line and Sinister, an anthology of mystery stories involving angling. (Parker was the editor.)

The Sacramento Bee checked in with the authors about their assignment and contribution.

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What was it like to collaborate with another author?

"Jeff is truly my favorite thriller writer, so it was a total blast," Lescroart said. "We had gone fishing together in Baja (in 2011), so we had something in common besides writing. I called Jeff and said, 'Why don't we start this (short story project) by going down to Cabo for big game fish on light tackle?' Down there, we agreed to put (our main characters) where we were, and the story just fell together. We talked about it maybe twice, then sat down and started writing and trading pages back and forth until we had enough to make the story."

Answering that same question, Parker said, "I know John well, but this was the first time I'd done (a collaboration). It turned out to be a very cool and rewarding experience, like having a conversation with a part of yourself you didn't quite know. We didn't have a master plan, it was sort of improvisational. I would finish my section and pass it to John, and later see his take on what I had written and what he had added to it, then I work on it and pass it back to him."

One more question: Who is the better writer?

Lescroart: "Jeff is. One of the great things about the project was getting to work with him."

Parker: "John is way better."

"Silent Hunt" is set in Baja California, where Lescroart's Hunt, a private investigator from San Francisco, meets Parker's Trona, a deputy for the Orange County Sheriff's Department. Each man is headed there on a fishing vacation, and a chance encounter at Los Angeles International Airport brings them together.

Since they're both staying at the same fishing lodge near a Mexican village, they decide to buddy-up and fish together. Soon, a group of heavies from the Zetas drug cartel threatens the anglers' fishing guide, his family and their village. Hunt and Trona come to their rescue with a devilishly clever play that takes everyone out of harm's way — except for the Zetas.

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FaceOff
David Baldacci, editor
A Short Story Anthology

In an unprecedented collaboration, twenty-three of the world's bestselling and critically acclaimed thriller writers have paired their series characters — such as Harry Bosch, Jack Reacher, and Lincoln Rhyme — in an eleven-story anthology curated by the International Thriller Writers (ITW). All of the contributors to FaceOff are ITW members and the stories feature these dynamic duos:

• Patrick Kenzie vs. Harry Bosch in "Red Eye" by Dennis Lehane and Michael Connelly;
• John Rebus vs. Roy Grace in "In the Nick of Time" by Ian Rankin and Peter James;
• Slappy the Ventriloquist Dummy vs. Aloysius Pendergast in "Gaslighted" by R.L. Stine, Douglas Preston, and Lincoln Child;
• Malachai Samuels vs. D.D. Warren in "The Laughing Buddha" by M.J. Rose and Lisa Gardner;
• Paul Madriani vs. Alexandra Cooper in "Surfing the Panther" by Steve Martini and Linda Fairstein;
• Lincoln Rhyme vs. Lucas Davenport in "Rhymes With Prey" by Jeffery Deaver and John Sandford;
• Michael Quinn vs. Repairman Jack in "Infernal Night" by Heather Graham and F. Paul Wilson;
• Sean Reilly vs. Glen Garber in "Pit Stop" by Raymond Khoury and Linwood Barclay;
• Wyatt Hunt vs. Joe Trona in "Silent Hunt" by John Lescroart and T. Jefferson Parker;
• Cotton Malone vs. Gray Pierce in "The Devil's Bones" by Steve Berry and James Rollins;
• Jack Reacher vs. Nick Heller in "Good and Valuable Consideration" by Lee Child and Joseph Finder.