"Stalked"

Brian Freeman is the international bestselling author of psychological suspense novels featuring detectives Jonathan Stride and Serena Dial. Immoral, his debut thriller, won the Macavity Award for Best First Novel and was a finalist for the Edgar, Dagger, Anthony, and Barry Awards. His second novel, Stripped, was named among the top 10 mysteries of 2006 by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Stalked is the latest book in the series. Freeman applied the Page 69 Test to the new novel and reported the following:

I always enjoy the Page 69 Test, because it creates a framework in which an author can judge whether he has carried out his vision consistently. The reality is that you should be able to pick any page in a book and feel that it is representative of the work as a whole, in terms of suspense and characters. If it’s not, well, you’ve probably fallen short of what you want to achieve.

So why not page 69? That’s as good a page as any.

In the U.S. hardcover edition of Stalked, page 69 finds Jonathan Stride interviewing a cocky investment banker about the disappearance of a Duluth woman who has a bizarre obsession with sexual violence. The interview gives Stride his first glimpse of the disturbing sexual underground in the city and raises a name from his own past that he would prefer to forget. Stride doesn’t know it yet, but his discovery here will open the door on a stalker whose targets will include the two most important women in Stride’s life.

This is exactly why I call my novels “psychological suspense.” The plot peels away the emotions, secrets, and sexuality of the characters chapter by chapter. And the investigators are not merely observers; their own pasts and emotions come into play, and they must navigate a minefield of difficult moral choices.

As page 69 begins, Stride is on the outside looking in. By the end of that page, he and those closest to him have been drawn into a disturbing game.

Read an excerpt from Stalked, and learn more about the book and author at Brian Freeman's website and his blog.

The Page 69 Test: Stripped.

My Book, The Movie: Stripped.

Visit the complete list of books in the Page 69 Test Series.

--Marshal Zeringue