Thicker Than Blood - The Complete Andrew Z. Thomas Trilogy (80 page)

At last, on the story’s hundredth incarnation, he arrives upon the answer.

A character returns unexpectedly to the warehouse and saves him.

As the story closes, he’s lying in a luxurious bed, drifting in and out of sleep.

He hears approaching footsteps and smiles.

Because the covers are warm.

Because he feels no pain.

Because those footsteps belong to Violet.

She’s coming to nurse him back to health.

Momentarily, she’ll be through the door.

And she’ll sit on the bed and feed him from a bowl of steaming soup, and when she’s finished, crawl into bed with him and run her fingers through his hair and whisper that he’s safe now. That the pain is behind him, behind them both, and in this warm, soft bed—everything that matters.

AFTERWORD

So when can you expect the end of the Andrew Thomas/Luther Kite saga?

I’m good friends with thriller author J.A. Konrath, and our writing has covered many of the same themes of good and evil. I love Joe’s Det. Jack Daniels Series, which showcases his own unique, disturbing take on the serial killer genre.

In 2011, we concluded our Serial series with SERIAL KILLERS UNCUT, a double-novel we wrote that brought together every major character from Konrath's work and my work, including Orson, Luther, Andy, Violet, Jack Daniels, and numerous others.

Then Joe approached me with a simple, yet unique, idea: Wouldn’t it be fun to have Jack and Luther square off in a full-length novel that was also the conclusion to both of our series? I was all for it. That novel is STIRRED, which we’re currently writing, and it will be released at the end of 2011.

If you’re new to my books, or Joe’s books, and want to get caught up on the entire history of our shared Crouch/Kilborn/Konrath Universe before reading STIRRED, here is the order they go in, along with the characters they spotlight:

ALL CAPS = Novels

Italics
= Novellas and Short Stories Contained within SERIAL KILLERS UNCUT

A Watch of Nightingales
by Blake Crouch (1969, Orson Thomas, Andy Thomas)

A Day at the Beach
by Blake Crouch (1977, Luther Kite, Maxine Kite, Rufus Kite)

A Pitying of Turtle Doves
by JA Konrath and Jack Kilborn (1978, Donaldson and Mr. K)

The One That Stayed
by JA Konrath (1983, Charles Kork, Alex Kork)

A Night at the Dinner Table
by Blake Crouch (1984, Luther Kite, Maxine Kite, Rufus Kite)

Cuckoo
by Blake Crouch (1986, Luther Kite, Rufus Kite)

SHOT OF TEQUILA by JA Konrath (1991, Jack Daniels, Tequila)

A Wake of Buzzards
by Blake Crouch and Jack Kilborn (1991, Orson Thomas, Donaldson)

A Brood of Hens
by Blake Crouch (1992, Orson Thomas, Luther Kite)

A Glaring of Owls
by Blake Crouch and JA Konrath (1993, Orson Thomas, Luther Kite)

A Murder of Crows
by Blake Crouch and JA Konrath (1995, Orson Thomas, Luther Kite, Charles Kork)

Bad Girl
by Blake Crouch (1995, Lucy, Orson Thomas, Luther Kite, Andy Thomas)

DESERT PLACES by Blake Crouch (1996, Andy Thomas, Orson Thomas, Luther Kite)

The One That Got Away
by JA Konrath (2001, Alex Kork and Charles Kork)

LOCKED DOORS by Blake Crouch (2003, Andy Thomas, Luther Kite, Violet King, Sweet-Sweet & Beautiful)

An Unkindness of Ravens
by Blake Crouch, JA Konrath, and Jack Kilborn (2003, Luther Kite, Alex Kork, Charles Kork, Javier Estrada, Kiernan, Isaiah Brown, Donaldson, Mr. K, Swanson,
Munchel
,
Pessolano
, Jack Daniels, Tequila, Lucy, Clayton
Theel
, Barry Fuller, Sheriff Dwight Roosevelt)

WHISKEY SOUR by JA Konrath (2004, Jack Daniels, Charles Kork)

The One That Didn't
by Blake Crouch and JA Konrath (2004, Luther Kite)

FAMOUS by Blake Crouch, (2004, Lancelot Blue
Dunkquist
)

Break You
by Blake Crouch (2004, Luther Kite, Andy Thomas, Violet King)

BLOODY MARY by JA Konrath (2005, Jack Daniels, Barry Fuller)

RUSTY NAIL by JA Konrath (2006, Jack Daniels, Alex Kork)

SNOWBOUND by Blake Crouch (2007, Javier Estrada)

DIRTY MARTINI by JA Konrath (2007, Jack Daniels)

Truck Stop
by JA Konrath and Jack Kilborn (2007, Donaldson, Jack Daniels, Taylor)

Serial
by Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch (2008, Lucy, Donaldson)

Killers
by Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch (2008, Lucy, Donaldson, Luther Kite, Kurt Lanz, M.D.)

A Schizophrenia of Hawks
by JA Konrath and Blake Crouch (2008, Luther Kite, Alex Kork)

AFRAID by Jack Kilborn (2008, Taylor)

DRACULAS by Jack Kilborn, Blake Crouch, Jeff Strand, and F. Paul Wilson, (2008, Clayton
Theel
, Kurt Lanz, M.D.)

FUZZY NAVEL by JA Konrath (2008, Jack Daniels, Alex Kork, Swanson,
Munchel
, and
Pessolano
)

ABANDON by Blake Crouch (2009, Isaiah Brown)

CHERRY BOMB by JA Konrath (2009, Jack Daniels, Alex Kork)

TRAPPED by Jack Kilborn (2010, Taylor)

ENDURANCE by Jack Kilborn (2010, Sheriff Dwight Roosevelt)

SHAKEN by JA Konrath (2010, Jack Daniels, Mr. K, Luther Kite)

Lovebirds
by JA Konrath (2011, Lucy, Donaldson)

STIRRED by Blake Crouch and JA Konrath (2011, Jack Daniels, Luther Kite)

RUN by Blake Crouch (2013, Kiernan)

Thanks for reading!

Blake Crouch

BONUS FEATURES

Interview with Blake Crouch by Hank Wagner

Originally Published in
Crimespree
, July 2009

According to his website, Blake Crouch grew up in
Statesville
, a small town in the piedmont of
North Carolina
. He graduated from the
University
of
North Carolina
at
Chapel Hill
in 2000, where he studied literature and creative writing. He currently resides in the
San Juan
Mountains of southwestern
Colorado
. Crouch’s first book,
Desert Places
, was published in 2003. Pat Conroy called it “Harrowing, terrific, a whacked-out combination of Stephen King and
Cormac
McCarthy.” Val
McDermid
described it as “An ingenious, diabolical debut that calls into question all our easy moral assumptions.
Desert Places
is a genuine thriller that pulses with adrenaline from start to finish.” His second novel,
Locked Doors
, was published in July 2005. A sequel to
Desert Places
, it created a similar buzz. His third novel,
Abandon
, was published on July 7, 2009.

HANK WAGNER: Your writing career began in college? 

BLAKE CROUCH: I started writing seriously in college. I had tinkered before, but the summer after my freshman year, I decided that I wanted to try to make a living at being a writer. Spring semester of 1999, I was in an intro creative writing class and I wrote the short story (called “
Ginsu
Tony”) that would grow into
Desert Places
. Once I started my first novel, it became an obsession. 

HW: Where did the original premise for
Desert Places
come from? 

BC: The idea for
Desert Places
arose when two ideas crossed. I had the opening chapter already in my head... suspense writer receives an anonymous letter telling him there’s a body buried on his property, covered in his blood. I didn’t know where my protagonist was going to be taken though. Around the same time, I happened to be glancing through a scrapbook that had photographs of this backpacking trip I took in
Wyoming
in the mid 90’s. One of those photographs was of a road running off into the horizon in the midst of a vast desert. My brain starting working. What if my protagonist is taken to a cabin out in the middle of nowhere, by a psychopath? What if this cabin is in this vast desert, and he has no hope of escape? That photograph broke the whole story open for me. 

HW: Why a sequel for your second book? Affection for the characters? 

BC: It was actually my editor’s idea. I was perfectly happy walking away from the first book. But once she mentioned it during the editing of
Desert Places
, I really started to think about where the story could go, wondered how Andy might have changed after seven years in hiding, and I got excited about doing it. And I’m very glad I did, because I would’ve missed those characters. Even my psychopaths are family in some strange, twisted way. 

HW: Of all the reviews and comments about your books, what was the strangest? The meanest? The nicest? The most perceptive? 

BC: The strangest: This was a comment about me and the reviewer wrote something to the effect that I was either a super-talented writer with an immense imagination or one sick puppy. I think that’s open to debate. The meanest: From those [expletive deleted] at
Kirkus
. Now, keep in mind, this is my first taste of reviews and the reviewer absolutely savaged my book. It was so mean it was funny... although I didn’t see the humor for some time. The review ended, “Sadly, a sequel is in the works.” The nicest: That’s hard to choose from. I particularly loved the review for
Locked Doors
that appeared in the
Winston-Salem Journal
. The reviewer wrote, and this is my favorite quote thus far, “If you don’t think you’ll enjoy seeing how Crouch makes the torture and disembowelment of innocent women, children and even lax store employees into a thing of poetic beauty, maybe you should go watch Sponge Bob.” The most perceptive: The reviews that recognize that I’m trying to make a serious exploration of the human psyche, the nature of evil, and man’s depravity are the ones that please me the most. 

HW: Do you strive for realism in your writing, or do you try more to entertain? 

BC: First and foremost, I want to entertain. I want the reader to close the book thinking, “that was a helluva story.” Beyond that, I do strive for realism. I want the reader to identify with my characters’ emotions, whether it’s fear, sadness, or happiness. The places I write about, from the
Yukon
to the Outer Banks to the
Colorado
mountains are rendered accurately, and that’s very important to me, because I want the reader to have the benefit of visiting these beautiful places in my books.