Reading & Signing with John Lutz, Author of Serial
On August 10, 2011 | 5 Comments

Reading & Signing with John Lutz, Author of Serial
by Tif Sweeney

On the last day of July, I hit the road to the Central West End to visit Left Bank Books and attend a local author event featuring New York Times Bestseller and St. Louis’ own, John Lutz.  He was reading from and signing his latest thriller release, Serial, starring lead character Detective Frank Quinn.

Lutz, an author with a long list of published work, has been writing thrillers before the genre was termed as such.  In fact, he has his own definition of a thriller:  “suspense novel with velocity.”  As I was awaiting the event to begin, I opened up the book and began reading the first few chapters.  In just a few short pages, I immediately discovered exactly what he meant by velocity!  The story jumped right in and I reluctantly put the book aside to listen to the author speak.

During his short speech, he shared his purpose in writing about serial killers.  He takes a “plausible villain” and puts a “familiar” but “fresh” spin on his adventures.  We all know that serial killers exist.  We do not know why they kill and what necessarily motivates them.  We know that many come from a darkened childhood.  Many of us that read thrillers of this sort, appreciate a new perspective on a familiar topic.  And, Lutz relies on this for his success!  I also discovered during his question and answer sessions that within his latest novel, cameos can be found of real-life police officers in the St. Louis area who were killed in the line of duty.

Personally, John Lutz is a new-to-me author.  I have come to discover since attending his event that I was already unknowingly familiar with his work and many of you may be as well.  It was his novel SWF Seeks Same that was made into a major motion picture, Single White Female, starring Bridget Fonda in 1992.  I may have discovered John Lutz and his work as I was saying good-bye to the end of July, but I am definitely saying hello to a long list of books to read in my future!

For more information on the author, I encourage you to visit his website, John Lutz Online.