Elm Street Books

Painless is now being carried by Elm Street Books, in New Canaan, Connecticut.

It was the end of the road for Billy Harper, both literally and figuratively. From the literal standpoint, the end of the road was a well-groomed cul-de-sac in New Canaan, Connecticut with stately mansions staring back at him. The figurative was much more complex and hurtful.

This is the first paragraph in the first chapter of Painless - a story that both begins and ends in the town of New Canaan. That is one of the reasons why I'm thrilled that the book is now being carried in the most influential bookstore in New Canaan. You can find it in the "Thriller" section.

So why did I choose New Canaan as such a key setting for the book?
Besides the obvious familiarity - I lived in the neighboring city of Norwalk - it all goes back to a sign I saw once at the New Canaan Train Station that read, "Next Station to Heaven." In other words, it is an idyllic, affluent town where nothing bad is supposed to happen. But fiction heaven is when that perfect cocoon is shattered, as it is in Painless.

I'm going on vacation, what would you recommend for a good beach read?

Sadly(for me), I'm not

The title refers to an encounter I had in a bookstore last week with a woman - who, perhaps thinking I worked there, turned to me and said, "I'm going away for vacation, what would you recommend for a good beach read?"

Doing what any fake store employee would do - I handed her a card for Painless and whispered in between-you-and-me style, "This book is better than anything in here, you can get it from Amazon or go to the author's web site."

She appeared excited about the covert, insider trading info I hooked her up with, and enthusiastically asked, "What's it about?" When I told her, I focused on how it's a run-for-your-life page-turner filled with suspense and intrigue.

Painless is more than a traditional thriller, as it also includes a heart-warming story of redemption and inspiring characters, but I think that sometimes my promotion focuses too much on the "more than" part and gets away from the fact that at it's core, Painless is a Patterson-esque-type thriller meant to entertain. In fact, I've been told by a few readers that after reading the preview they expected a story of a personal journey, and were pleasantly surprised it turned out to be much more...

...such as a perfect beach read!

Beach read musts for me
1. Fast paced: Need to be able to start & finish it on vacay. Turn those pages!
2. Tight: I don't want to read 3 pages of poetic prose about beautiful scenery when I can just look up from the book and observe real life beautiful scenery. Get to the point!
3. Light: As in not too dark. I thought The Lovely Bones was compelling, but doesn't work for me under a palm tree sipping on a Corona.