We are delighted to welcome author Jonathan Stone to Omnimystery News today.
Jon latest psychological suspense novel is Two for the Show (Thomas & Mercer; May 2016 trade paperback and ebook formats) and we recently had the chance to catch up with him to talk more about it.
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Omnimystery News: Introduce us to the lead character of Two for the Show. What is it about him that appeals to you as a writer?
Photo provided courtesy of
Jonathan Stone; Photo credit
Jackie Donnelly
Jonathan Stone: The story is told by a detective named Chas. But Chas has the most unusual detective gig imaginable. He does all the investigative work for a Las Vegas "mentalist," named Wallace the Amazing, supplying this con artist showman with all the most private and intimate details of his nightly Vegas audience so that Wallace can wow and amaze them. Chas works completely in the shadows. There's little trace of his very existence. I like the fact that Chas is indeed a detective, but his occupation lets me put a big twist on the traditional detective novel.
OMN: Into which genre would you place this book?
JS: Two for the Show, like my previous novels Moving Day and The Teller, I would categorize as psychological suspense. Very low body count — if any. Physical action, yes, but subsumed in the psychological action, the psychological give and take, the chess-move cat and mouse. I like coming up with a premise that puts my characters into an intensely psychological situation, and lets us watch them occupy and survive its twisting, tightening consequences for the next 300 or so pages.
OMN: Where do you most often find yourself writing?
JS: I write all my novels on the commuter train between my home in suburban Connecticut and my advertising job in Manhattan. It's a one-hour commute each way, which gives me two quiet hours on the train every day. I started writing on the train because I had two small kids at home, who needed and deserved my attention, and my day job in advertising was intense and consuming. The train was the only time I had to myself.
I've now written seven novels this way. My readers can't believe it when they learn that, especially given the twists and turns of my plots, but the train has certain advantages. If a story holds my interest despite the bumps, noise and distraction of the commuter train, it's likely to hold a reader's. My chapters are short. Some readers have observed that at the end of a chapter, they can feel my train pulling into Grand Central station!
OMN: If we could send you anywhere in the world to research the setting for a book, where would it be?
JS: My next novel is, once again, a twist on the traditional detective novel. It's a small town murder, yes. But the small town is McMurdo Station, Antarctica. So I would love to visit the setting, all expenses paid. (Antarctica visits are indeed expensive.) In the meantime, I'm relying on intensive research online from fifteen thousand miles away.
OMN: What kind of feedback have you received from readers?
JS: I know that many writers can have mixed feelings about Amazon. But one fantastic thing about it for me is the reader reviews. I've had 3668 reader reviews so far for my novel Moving Day, and almost 500 for The Teller. And it's a great experience to begin almost each day by finding someone responding to your books so directly. Mostly loving them, thank goodness, overwhelmingly four and five star reviews, which starts my day with a nice lift!, but even in the case of those giving you less than four stars and being disappointed by something about the book, they're still responding. Still engaging with it. Reader reviews are a great daily reminder of the direct unmediated relationship writers have with readers, and of your responsibility to give readers your very best. It makes the process less abstract. A reader isn't just a "reader." It's that guy — that woman — who just finished your book and just shared his or her excitement about it.
OMN: What kinds of books did you read when you were young?
JS: I grew up reading, and loving, John Updike, John Cheever, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, E.L. Doctorow, Don Delillo. I loved their command of language, and the seriousness of their themes. And being enthralled by them, I started out writing literary fiction. But — true story — I was walking home from work one day and had a very commercial idea, sat down to write it and had a great time doing so. That book was The Cold Truth, my first published novel. At about the same time that I was writing it, I discovered Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos, and Peter Blauner. I saw you could still get those effects with language and mood that I so admired from the brooding white-guy "literary pantheon," but still write a page turner, where the story itself holds you riveted. Suddenly I "knew my place" — and it's turned out to be a fun and rewarding one.
OMN: When selecting a book to read for pleasure today, what do you look for?
JS: I always make time and room for the Pulitzer fiction winners, and they are always satisfying. Donna Tartt, Elizabeth Strout, Junot Diaz, Cormac McCarthy. Recent books I've been blown away by: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel; The five short Patrick Melrose novels by Edward St. Aubyn.
OMN: Create a Top 5 list for us on any topic.
JS: Top 5 favorite novels that influenced me:
• Ninety Two in the Shade, by Thomas McGuane. Picked it up in a second hand bookstore in college. "Oh my god, you can do this on the page?" I couldn't believe it. Made me want to write fiction. Simple as that.
• Mystic River, by Dennis Lehane. That was book that showed me how you could deeply combine crime and reality. Making crime more real, and reality a lot more twisted and criminal.
• Savages, by Don Winslow. An object lesson in writing craft. The ultimate achievement in saying more with less. Practically poetic on that score.
• The Rabbit novels, by John Updike — four in all, each one capturing the mood of a decade in America through the eyes of an extraordinary middle-class protagonist, Harry "Rabbit" Ansgtrom. Since it's four books, I guess I just exceeded my "Top 5" quota, didn't I?
OMN: What's next for you?
JS: Two for the Show is my seventh published novel, and I have an eighth slated with Thomas & Mercer for publication in 2017. I've also got several short stories coming out this year, including one in Best American Mystery Stories this fall. I've been working in advertising for over three decades, so I'm dialing back my advertising work schedule to 3 days a week, to give me more writing time, more flexibility, and to gradually and finally make my way off the commuter train!
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Jonathan Stone does most of his writing on the commuter train between the Connecticut suburbs and Manhattan, where he is a creative director at a midtown advertising agency. His five published novels have all been optioned for film. A graduate of Yale, Jon is married, with a son and daughter.
For more information about the author, please visit his website at JonathanStoneBooks.com and his author page on Goodreads.
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Two for the Show by Jonathan Stone
A Thriller
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Chas is a detective who doesn't stake out cheating husbands, track down missing persons, or match wits with femmes fatales. Instead of pounding the pavement, he taps a computer keyboard. He can get the goods on anyone, and it's all to make sure superstar Las Vegas mind reader Wallace the Amazing stays amazing. Thanks to Chas's steady stream of stealthy intel, Wallace's mental "magic" packs houses every night.
But when someone threatens to call the psychic showman's bluff, the sweet gig takes a sour — and sinister — turn. Who's the clean-cut couple gunning for Wallace with an arsenal of dirty tricks? Why does Wallace keep upping the ante instead of backing down? And just how much does Chas really know about his mysterious boss's life … or his own? The tangled truth — of blackmail, kidnapping, and false identities — quickly becomes the biggest case of his strange, secret career.
— Two for the Show by Jonathan Stone. Click here to take a Look Inside the book.
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