Stirred (52 page)

ANDREW Z. THOMAS
is a famous horror writer who is pulled into a nightmare world more terrifying than the books he writes. Now suspected of numerous murders and mysteriously vanished from the public eye, he also appears in Crouch’s novels
Desert Places
,
Locked Doors
, and
Break You
.
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.

VIOLET KING
was a young homicide detective who crossed paths with Andrew Thomas in
Locked Doors
. They endured sheer hell together in
Break You
.
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.

LUCY
, once the young, beautiful, and monstrous hitchhiking nemesis of Donaldson, she and Donaldson were nearly killed by Luther Kite in
Killers
. Now hideously deformed and in agonizing pain, she’s out for revenge.
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.

DONALDSON
is Lucy’s former nemesis, now partner, following their torturous near-death experience at the hands of Luther.
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.

To learn more about Jack Daniels’s first run-in with Luther, read
Shaken
by J.A. Konrath.
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.

To learn more about Tom Mankowski, read
The List
by J.A. Konrath.
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.

To learn more about Duffy Dombrowski and his beasts, check out the Duffy Dombrowski mystery series by Tom Schreck.
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.

To learn more about reporter Alex Chapa, read
Killing Red
,
Mourn the Living
, and
Floaters
, by Henry Perez.
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.

To learn more about the disintegration of Andrew Thomas’s career and life, read the first book in his series,
Desert Places
, by Blake Crouch.
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.

To learn more about Thomas’s and Luther Kite’s murderous encounter on the North Carolina Outer Banks and the Kinnakeet Massacre, read book number two in the Andrew Z. Thomas series,
Locked Doors
, by Blake Crouch.
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.

To learn more about the Gingerbread Man case, read the first book in the Jack Daniels series,
Whiskey Sour
, by J.A. Konrath.
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.

To learn more about the bad end to Jack’s previous engagement (and the story of her being trapped in her house by three redneck gun-nuts), read
Fuzzy Navel
by J.A. Konrath.
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.

To learn more about McGlade’s becoming a father, read
Babe on Board
by J.A. Konrath and Ann Voss Peterson.
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.

To learn more about Jack’s first encounter with Donaldson and a psychopath named Taylor at a truck stop, read
Truck Stop
by J.A. Konrath and Jack Kilborn (contained in
Serial Killers Uncut
).
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.

To learn more about the fate of Donaldson and his partner Lucy at the hands of Luther Kite, read
Killers
by Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch (contained in
Serial Killers Uncut
).
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.

To learn more about the adventures of Alex Kork versus Jack Daniels, read
Rusty Nail
,
Fuzzy Navel
, and
Cherry Bomb
by J.A. Konrath.
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.

To learn more about Chicago gangster Dovolanni, read
Babe on Board
by J.A. Konrath and Ann Voss Peterson, and
Serial Killers Uncut
by Jack Kilborn, J.A. Konrath, and Blake Crouch.
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.

To learn more about what Luther did to Violet, read
Break You
by Blake Crouch (book number three in the Andrew Z. Thomas series).
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.

To learn more about Lucy and Donaldson’s first encounter on a desert highway in the American southwest, read
Serial
by Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch (contained in
Serial Killers Uncut
).
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.

To learn more about Jack’s encounter with the Chemist, read
Dirty Martini
by J.A. Konrath.
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.

To learn more about Jack’s encounter with Barry Fuller, read
Bloody Mary
by J.A. Konrath.
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.

To learn more about Lucy’s first “fangirl” encounter with Luther and Andrew Z. Thomas at a mystery convention, read
Bad Girl
by Blake Crouch (contained in
Serial Killers Uncut
).
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.

In Which Blake and Joe Interview Each Other About the Experience of Writing
STIRRED
…

Blake:
We’ve been working toward this book for a long time. For those readers previously unfamiliar with our work, maybe we should start by talking about how we first met.

Joe:
We had some mutual friends (Jon and Ruth Jordan, who publish the mystery review magazine
Crimespree
) who read both my
Whiskey Sour
and your
Desert Places
, and told me how similar our books were. So I sought you out at a writing convention. I think this was back in 2004. We became friends, and would discuss projects and trade manuscripts for editing suggestions. When this e-book thing started getting big in 2009, we wrote
Serial
together (the first Donaldson and Lucy story).

That lead to
Serial Uncut
,
Killers
, and
Birds of Prey
(all contained in the double novel
Serial Killers Uncut
, which features Jack, Luther, Andrew, Donaldson, Lucy, and many more of our characters).

It was my idea to make
Stirred
, a conclusion to both my Jack Daniels series, and your Andrew Z. Thomas/Luther Kite series. My heroine against your villain.

Blake:
Because of how we wrote this book together, I ended up writing quite a bit from the perspective of the most famous character you’ve ever created, and the one that gave you a career: Jack Daniels. How’d you feel about someone else writing Jack?

Joe:
I think you nailed her character. I did some fine tuning, but I was pleased at how little I actually had to work on those scenes. I bet my fans can’t tell which Jack scenes you wrote, and which ones I wrote.

I also did a lot of Luther/Andy point of view, which are your characters. How was that for you?

Blake:
You did a bang-up job on my flagship characters. Although, I have to admit, it was a little weird reading those first drafts where you were writing from Luther/Andy’s point of view. Not that you weren’t nailing it, just that it was like the character was existing outside of me for the first time. In a strange way, it made Luther/Andy more real for me than ever before.

We’ve collaborated over a lot of projects together…
Draculas
(with Jeff Strand and F. Paul Wilson) and the double-novel-length epic
Serial Killers Uncut
that you mentioned…but I thought
Stirred
was the most challenging collaboration we’ve undertaken so far. We attempted to tie together all the storylines and character arcs we had set in motion over 1.75 million words. Did you feel this way, too?

Joe:
Though the Jack Daniels books can all be read on their own, I always thought of them as one big story, broken up into parts. It’s fun to bring back characters from earlier novels. I also love the idea of two authors bringing their worlds together and matching their characters against each other.

It was a bit daunting, in terms of scope, to make sure
Stirred
was a satisfying ending to the Jack series, and also a satisfying ending to your Luther/Andy series (
Desert Places
,
Locked Doors
,
Break You
),
and
a satisfying ending to the Donaldson/Lucy epic (
Serial Killers Uncut
).

But I had a ball writing this book. You and I have worked together so often we can finish each other’s sentences.
Stirred
was way too much fun.

How’d it feel to take your character, Andrew Z. Thomas, into such a dark place?

Blake:
Well, to some degree, it was hard, because I love Andy. He was the character who gave me a writing career. But even from Andy’s beginning in
Desert Places
, the idea of taking a good man through a character arc that turned him into a monster was always appealing, and I think the reason is because you just don’t really see dramatic character arcs like that in fiction. Andy always had a dark side, and in
Break You
, it just overcame him. I’m hoping my fans don’t kill me for this.

The cemetery abduction scene was probably the most difficult to write in the entire book, and you and I actually visited the Rosehill Cemetery when I was in Chicago so we could get a feel for the place. That was an interesting adventure, especially since you nearly got us arrested.

Joe:
I called Rosehill three times to get a tour and kept getting snubbed. So we went to the office without introducing ourselves, asking all sorts of questions about night watchmen and breaking in after hours and how close the nearest police station was. We must have freaked out the lady we were talking to, because when we left she had security follow us around and escort us out.

And then, two days after we visit, I finally get the call saying they’ll tour us. Life is strange…

On an unrelated note, I keep getting e-mails from people saying they don’t want this to be the last Jack Daniels book.

These people should know that Jack and Phin’s grandson is the hero of my science fiction thriller
Timecaster
(he’s a Chicago cop, naturally). Jack and Phin also appear in the sequel,
Timecaster: Supersymmetry
. They’re elderly, but they still kick some ass.

Smart readers might also figure out that I’ve left myself open to write a series of Sam Adams thrillers, featuring Jack’s daughter. And I also have a thriller planned with Phin as the hero.

So there will be plenty happening in Jack’s world in the upcoming years.

Also, if I keep getting barraged with e-mail from people wanting another Jack Daniels novel, I’d be foolish not to listen.

We have, after all, left the window open, by letting Lucy, Donaldson, and Luther survive…