"The Sunshine Man"

Emma Stonex is the author of The Lamplighters, which was a Sunday Times bestseller and has been translated into twenty-five languages. Before becoming a writer, she worked as an editor at a major publishing house. She lives in Bristol with her family.

Stonex applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Sunshine Man, and shared the following:

From page 69:

‘He’d grown accustomed to seeing the change in the weather from an up-high window in his flowery dell, a postage-stamp square of cloud and sun and pale white light, deep purple at night, but to be in it and feel it and smell it were things he’d forgot, not forgot exactly for the detail was still there, still in him, buried beneath the thickets of the years, delayed but not lost, rising notes he recognized from when he’d been a boy and the rain had smelt the same then, of a ha’penny kept too long in his pocket, but Donna said it wasn’t ha’pennies any more, it was pounds and fivers, and he wasn’t a boy now, he was a man.

It was true what they said, that you didn’t know up from down, left from right, spin him around and tell him which way and he wouldn’t know still, not a fegging clue, would likely go stumbling out into the road and that would be curtains, day one and then done, and sure they’d say after it was destined that way, he’d had a dent in him right from the start, stupid too, gone in the head, evil and dumb (what it was to be both), as evil and dumb as they come. But he’d been banged up an eight-stretch in a cell it took five seconds to circuit, five point five to be precise, two steps down one side, three down the other, back to the door where the voices came in – “Open up, Walsh! Open up, Parker! Open up, Maguire!” – then slop-out in the troughs and back to his bunk for a diet can of porridge, an ounce of sugar if he was lucky, trapped in the walls and the hours and the fug of his brain, in the haze of weed and the waste of his life, slow and slack and forever stopped still, yet out here it was everything everywhere, all in a hurry in a place too busy, too many, lights changing and rain chucking and the world tremendous and too much.’

The Page 69 Test works eerily well for The Sunshine Man. Page 69 is the first time we get our male protagonist, Jimmy Maguire’s, perspective, on the day he’s released from prison; from this point on the plot deepens and becomes more complex. It’s uncanny how the gear of the book shifts from page 69 and readers are invited into the dual narrative.

The Sunshine Man is a revenge thriller about a woman, Birdie Keller, who hunts down her sister’s killer after he’s freed from jail. Up to page 69 we receive Birdie’s viewpoint only, and side with her radical mission: she’s an ordinary wife and mother, sending her children off to school and seeing her husband off to work, then she puts a gun in her handbag and heads off to London to meet and pursue her adversary. We’d imagined the picture was clear – Birdie’s in the right, Jimmy’s in the wrong – but page 69 changes everything. We see inside Jimmy’s head, and, as the novel progresses, we start to question all we’ve been told.

Although page 69 is written in the third person, it’s an involved third person because it taps into Jimmy’s train of thought and manner of speaking (in other chapters we hear from him in the first). This gives the reader a fine idea of the tone of the book and the significance of this unreliable narration: neither Jimmy nor Birdie are trustworthy protagonists and their ‘truths’ shouldn’t always be believed; their pasts are inextricably entwined and each one has an agenda.

My greatest hope with The Sunshine Man was to complicate the idea of a villain – is anyone ever a hundred percent evil? Can a villain also be a victim? Is it possible to retain, every time, those binaries of right and wrong, good and bad, or can there be an in-between? Jimmy’s entrance on page 69 captures this element for me, because Birdie has portrayed him thus far as an out-and-out devil, yet here we see somebody human, vulnerable and overwhelmed. From here Jimmy is unknowingly chased down to the south coast of England by his shadowy predator, and soon he and Birdie will meet again. Who will walk away from their confrontation, and which will win out – forgiveness or revenge?

Follow Emma Stonex on Instagram.

Q&A with Emma Stonex.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Bleeding Woods"

Brittany Amara is an author, screenwriter, actress, and model with a passion for science fiction and fantasy that ventures beyond space and time. She loves writing about curious aliens, morally gray protagonists, other dimensions, rifts in reality, and all things playfully wicked. When she’s not working on something new, Amara can be found stargazing, collecting stuffed animals, and baking pumpkin bread. She grew up in Bronx, New York, and graduated summa cum laude from SUNY New Paltz in 2021 with a degree in digital media production, creative writing, and theater arts. In 2024 she furthered her storytelling journey at Queen’s University Belfast. Since then, her work in various genres has been recognized by film festivals and writing competitions across the globe.

Amara applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Bleeding Woods, and reported the following:

From page 69:

“Thanks, guys,” he whispers.

“Good night, Joey,” we reply in choral synchronicity.

An exchange of goodnights circles through the space. Finally, we fall quiet, but it’s obvious our internal monologues are ripe with terror. To look outside the windows would be to face fear incarnate. The light of the moon effuses only a feeble stream of light, and that stream illuminates a minuscule fraction of our surroundings. The rest is pure, inky darkness. Chthonic chaos. Shadows and silhouettes.

Eventually, Grayson’s and Jade’s breath patterns turn slow and cyclic. They were able to drift off, even with something so caliginous watching from between the gaps in the trees. Every hair on my body stands at attention, antennae detecting danger. Still, the most unnerving aspect of this impromptu sleepover is the fact that I am not nearly as afraid as I should be. I can’t stop replaying the way Jasper called to me. It claws at every corner of my consciousness, creating a sensation similar to when one first allows alcohol past their lips. Intoxication. Euphoria. A welcome loss of control.

I should be as scared as Joey. I should be masking my fear like Grayson and Jade are. I should be upset by the possibility that we may never see bars on our phones again. I should feel something, just like I should have felt something when my parents’ eyes stared lifelessly into mine.

“I saw it.” Joey’s voice shakes me from my thoughts, as tiny and timid as a mouse’s squeak.

“The thing you were hearing. I saw it.”

“What did you see?” I whisper.

“It. I didn’t say anything because I—I didn’t want it to hear me.” His breathing turns ragged.

I pause too long for any of my incoming reassurances to be reassuring. “Nothing is going to happen, Joey.”

“You don’t know that,” he whimpers.

“I know not all scary things are bad. What if he’s just lost like us?”

He stays silent, and after fifteen or so minutes pass, I turn to face my window.

As though I’d given some sort of nonverbal consent, something squirms within the abyss.

I'm delighted to say that I believe the Page 69 Test works well for my book! By some uncanny magic, it actually feels like exactly the kind of scene I'd hope to see in a teaser trailer if it ever gets adapted for film. Horror stories rely so heavily on tense, atmospheric build-up to their most terrifying moments. In The Bleeding Woods's case, much of the opening is designed to set the stage for exactly what we arrive at beyond this very page. Fear hangs in the air. A monster waits beyond a car window. The main character cannot help but empathize with him, even though her travel companions think otherwise. Is there more to him than meets the eye? More to this forest altogether? The essence of the story lives in the flavor of fear, trepidation and internal conflict woven through this brief section. Needless to say, I'm positively mystified by Marshall McLuhan's advice to book browsers.

Page 69 of The Bleeding Woods has revealed itself to be special for another reason. In rereading it, I can see how this is precisely when I discovered a sense of rhythm and confidence in my writing. At the cusp of when everything begins to go downhill for the characters, I felt a flare of bravery in me. I realized that, though The Bleeding Woods is a horror story, it was mine. There was nothing to be afraid of, especially not the chaotic joy of experimenting with my own unique voice. Right before making the world terrifying for Clara and her companions, I became fearless.

Visit Brittany Amara's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Bleeding Woods.

Writers Read: Brittany Amara.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Daughters"

Corinne Demas is the author of 39 books including two collections of short stories, seven novels, a memoir, a collection of poetry, two plays, and numerous books for children. She is a professor emeritus of English at Mount Holyoke College and a fiction editor of the Massachusetts Review.

She grew up in New York City, in Stuyvesant Town, the subject of her memoir, Eleven Stories High, Growing Up in Stuyvesant Town, 1948-1968. She attended Hunter College High School, graduated from Tufts University, and completed a Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. She lived in Pittsburgh for a number of years, teaching at the University of Pittsburgh and at Chatham College.

Demas applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Daughters, with the following results:

From page 69:

Meredith hadn’t seen Wylie for several years, but even with his hair cut shorter (and by the looks of it, done by a barber rather than himself) and some grey in his mustache, he still looked like the gawky teenager who hadn’t gotten used to his newly acquired height, his arms too long for his sleeves.

“How’ve you been, Merry?” he asked.

“Not bad, and you?” She’d come out to the driveway after Wylie’s truck had pulled up. He always used to drive disreputable pickups, their bumpers plastered with so many stickers it looked as if that’s what held them together, but this was a new truck, clean enough to drive into the city.

“She prefers Meredith, now,” said Evan, then he added, “but around here, with family, she’s still Merry.”

“Do I count as family?” asked Wylie, and he gave her a smile that seemed a little sad too.

“Sure, why not?” she said. She stepped behind Eloise, put her hands on her daughter’s shoulders, and gave her a little nudge forward. “And this is Eloise.”

“Hi, Eloise,” said Wylie. “I heard about you from your uncle.”

“What did he say?”

“He said you were, let me see . . . ten years old?” He winked at Meredith.

The Page 69 Test works beautifully for Daughters. It gives readers a taste of the novel, and it’s the enticing opening page of Chapter 8 where Wylie first makes his entrance. Hints about him earlier in the novel suggest he will influence the course of the story.

Daughters centers on the relationship between Delia, a Suzuki violin teacher on the cusp of retirement, and her adult daughter, Meredith, an artist, who gave up playing the violin as a teenager, a sore point between them. Meredith has fled her home in L.A. and her marriage, and she turns up at her old home in New England—where Meredith’s mother and step-father still live--with her seven- year-old daughter, Eloise in tow.

Wylie is Meredith’s older brother Evan’s best friend, and she had a crush on him when she was younger. We suspect there might be something still going on between them. Earlier in the novel (page 16) when Eloise discovers a “good luck” rabbits foot on a key chain in her mother’s old bureau, Meredith reveals it was given to her by Wylie. Meredith “wasn’t ready to think about Wylie, but now that was impossible. She hadn’t let him know she was back, but he’d find out from Evan soon enough. And then what?”

The “then what?” is what fiction is all about. And here, on page 69, we see how things begin to unfold in Daughters.

In the chapter preceding page 69 we learn that Wylie is a controversial figure from Meredith’s past. When Delia hears that he’s coming over she “felt a little stirring of fear.” She wonders if Wylie has anything to do with Meredith’s leaving her husband, and is anxious about the possibility they could have a relationship now. One of the questions that fuels Daughters is how do mother/daughter dynamics change—or need to change- -when the daughter in question is now an adult.

Dialogue is an essential ingredient in Daughters, and page 69 is primarily dialogue. In this scene we get to witness the subtle sexual tension between Wylie and Meredith, and we also get to see Wylie meet Eloise for the first time. Wylie’s interactions with Eloise are crucial to the plot of the novel and influence whether he and Meredith have a chance for a future together. Of course we hope they do.

Visit Corinne Demas's website.

Q&A with Corinne Demas.

The Page 69 Test: The Road Towards Home.

My Book, The Movie: The Road Towards Home.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Deeper than the Ocean"

Born in Havana, Mirta Ojito is a journalist, professor, and author who has worked at the Miami Herald, El Nuevo Herald, and the New York Times. The recipient of an Emmy for the documentary Harvest of Misery as well as a shared Pulitzer for national reporting in 2001 for a series of articles about race in America for the New York Times, Ojito was an assistant professor of journalism at Columbia University for almost nine years. She is the author of two award-winning nonfiction books: Finding Mañana: A Memoir of a Cuban Exodus and Hunting Season: Immigration and Murder in an All-American Town. Currently, Ojito is a senior director on the NBC News Standards team working at Telemundo Network.

She applied the Page 69 Test to Deeper than the Ocean, her debut novel, and shared the following:

From page 69:

[My senses were on high alert as if I was covering a] protest or a revolution. I felt cold but was sweating. My mouth tasted like copper, and I realized I was chewing the inside of my cheek. I tried to bring my attention back to the phone now that I could finally hear my mother clearly.

“I was asking if you had found the place with the mulberry trees? I know what they are for,” my mother was saying.

The trees! Yes, of course. I had forgotten to google them.

“And what are they for?” I asked impatiently. It seemed somehow important, though I wasn’t sure why.

“They’re the only food silkworms eat. Apparently, they used to weave silk on the islands. Maybe that’s something to investigate, right?”

The answer both surprised and deflated me a little. Worms? Really? I was confused and my clothes were thoroughly drenched. Beyond the lobby windows, I could see the timid rays of the sun pushing through the dark clouds. The storm had passed as quickly as it had come. All was calm outside, but inside I felt strangely agitated.

Although page 69 in my book begins mid-sentence and continues for just a few more paragraphs of dialogue, the test works because it gives readers a sense of foreboding and a sense of the dynamic between two important characters. The page comes at the end of an intense and important scene in what, if the chapters were numbered, would be chapter 9.

My book is written in two voices -a contemporary one, the voice of Mara Denis, a 55-year-old freelance journalist who is searching for her family history in Spain’s Canary Islands- and that of Catalina Quintana, her elusive great grandmother who carries a secret that has haunted and altered the story of the family.

Chapter 9 is crucial because it describes the moment when Mara begins to uncover the clues that will eventually unravel the mystery of her grandmother. The scene described on page 69 gives the reader a glimpse of Mara’s relationship with her mother, and it alludes, somewhat, to her phobia of the sea. In this case, she is drenched because of a passing rainstorm, but she is agitated -a state that refers both to her reporter’s sense that she is about to discover something important (the sun pushing through the dark clouds) and to her ancestral fear of the water.

Visit Mirta Ojito's website.

My Book, The Movie: Deeper than the Ocean.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Scot's Eggs"

Catriona McPherson was born in Scotland and lived there until 2010, then immigrated to California where she lives on Patwin ancestral land. A former academic linguist, she now writes full-time. Her multi-award-winning and national best-selling work includes: the Dandy Gilver historical detective stories, the Last Ditch mysteries, set in California, and a strand of contemporary standalone novels including Edgar-finalist The Day She Died and Mary Higgins Clark finalist Strangers at the Gate. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, The Crimewriters’ Association, The Society of Authors and Sisters in Crime, of which she is a former national president.

McPherson applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Scot's Eggs, and reported the following:

From page 69:

no reason for the killer not to leave the bodies there in the car.’

‘How can she know there was no reason to—?’ I said.

‘She can’t!’ said Kathi. ‘I’m not agreeing, I’m just reporting. She’s feeling hurt and helpless and she’d rather feel hurt and like she’s doing something. If she’s willing to pay us to find her mom and pop, who are we to turn down work?’

‘What am I missing?’ I said.

‘Highlighter, contouring, a really good blow-out, a well-fitting bra . . .’ said Todd. ‘Just kidding. Not. Yeah, Kathi, what are we missing? Because everything you’ve said so far sounds like we’d be taking money under false pretences from vulnerable people and probably getting arrested for interfering with a police investigation too.’

‘Not false pretences,’ said Kathi. Then she ruined it. ‘Not exactly. What I think we should do is defer the retainer until the case is closed to the Millers’ satisfaction. They’re going to think that means finding their mom and pop alive and well and rebuilding their iron levels on a tropical island. We know it means giving them proof that their parents are dead, even if it’s the cops who take over and work out whodunnit. I can live with that.’

‘But what makes you think we can do either quicker and better than Molly?’ I said.

‘For one thing, we’ll be trying,’ Kathi said. She held up a hand as I started to interrupt her. ‘I’m not saying Molly won’t be trying to solve the case; I’m sure she will, but she’ll be working for the deceased, the state, and her own promotion prospects. Not the kids. They’re orphaned in more ways than one.’

‘Like DC,’ I said. ‘Gotcha.’

‘What?’ said Kathi. ‘DC . . . Universe, you mean?’

‘If only she did,’ said Todd.

Page 69 strikes again! I think it's fair to say that anyone who's completely uninterested and unentertained by this page from Scot's Eggs probably wouldn't get much from the book as a whole. The page opens in the middle of one point and ends in the middle of another, but the people on page 69 are central to the series and we find them very much doing what they tend to do. There are two running jokes represented here too and a nod to an important recurrent character.

Trinity for Trouble is the PI wing of a complex joint business venture that also includes Trinity for You (make-overs), Trinity for Home (de-cluttering) and Trinity for Life (counselling). Todd, Kathi and Lexy (the narrator) do a lot of bickering as they solve crimes so the conversation they're having here is typical. Molly, referenced in this particular bicker-fest, is a detective in the local PD and one of my favourite characters outside the Last Ditch crew themselves.

One of the running jokes started in book one (when Todd caught sight of Lexy's knicker drawer and disapproved of her penchant for comfortable cotton) and will carry on as long as the series does. Scot's Eggs is book eight. The other running joke is Eggs-specific. In this novel, Lexy is studying for her US citizenship test, which includes learning the constitution. Much to the exasperation of her friends she finds shoe-horning in allusions to the amendments - here it's the twenty-third - is the best way to cement them in her memory. I had a lot of fun getting an amendment Easter egg into every chapter. This was one of the longer reaches. Some of them were just sitting there.

Visit Catriona McPherson's website.

The Page 69 Test: Go to My Grave.

Writers Read: Catriona McPherson (November 2018).

My Book, The Movie: The Turning Tide.

The Page 69 Test: The Turning Tide.

My Book, The Movie: A Gingerbread House.

The Page 69 Test: Hop Scot.

The Page 69 Test: Deep Beneath Us.

Q&A with Catriona McPherson.

The Page 69 Test: The Witching Hour.

Writers Read: Catriona McPherson (September 2024).

Writers Read: Catriona McPherson (December 2024).

The Page 69 Test: Scotzilla.

My Book, The Movie: Scotzilla.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife"

Martin Edwards has been described by Richard Osman as "a true master of British crime writing." His novels include the eight Lake District Mysteries and four books featuring Rachel Savernake, including the Dagger-nominated The Puzzle of Blackstone Lodge. He is also the author of two multi-award-winning histories of crime fiction, The Life of Crime and The Golden Age of Murder. He has received three Daggers, including the CWA Diamond Dagger (the highest honour in UK crime writing) and two Edgars from the Mystery Writers of America. He has received four lifetime achievement awards: for his fiction, short fiction, non-fiction, and scholarship. He is consultant to the British Library’s Crime Classics and since 2015 has been President of the Detection Club.

Edwards applied the Page 69 Test to his newest novel, Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife, and reported the following:

Of the 24 crime novels I’ve written, Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife is the trickiest when it comes to applying the Page 69 Test. In fact, it’s the trickiest book I’ve ever written in a variety of ways – above all, because it’s a novel about game-playing, which is garnished with puzzles. The idea was to create a twisty contemporary mystery novel in the finest Golden Age traditions, with a small group of guests and their hosts cut off from the outside world by snow in the village of Midwinter at Christmas. The book has an interactive element, so that readers can play along if they want to. They can do this in one or more of three ways. First, by following the Rules of the Game at the start of the book and trying to solve the main mystery; they can also check out how many clues they spotted because there’s a Cluefinder with page references (as they are in my Rachel Savernake historical mysteries). Second, by trying to solve the game that the six main characters are competing to win, a challenge set them by the mysterious Midwinter Trust. Third, by solving the incidental puzzles that are found in the first half of the book - before the body count in the village of Midwinter starts to rise.

With so much going on, no single page can capture every aspect of the story. Page 69 forms part of the main story – and I was always determined to make sure that, regardless of all the interactive ingredients of the book, it had to be a good read as a novel. On page 69 there’s a conversation between two of the key characters at Midwinter, Harry Crystal, a failed crime writer, and Baz Frederick, a podcaster. All the guests are connected with the publishing business and all have fallen on hard times. There are a lot of jokes about books and the world of writing. On page 69, there is a sense of fun and also danger, and that captures the spirit of Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife.

Visit Martin Edwards’s website.

Writers Read: Martin Edwards (April 2013).

The Page 69 Test: The Frozen Shroud.

The Page 69 Test: Dancing for the Hangman.

The Page 99 Test: The Arsenic Labyrinth.

The Page 99 Test: Waterloo Sunset.

My Book, The Movie: Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife.

Writers Read: Martin Edwards.

Q&A with Martin Edwards.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Hear Her Howl"

Kim DeRose writes dark, magical stories about strong, magical girls for teens and former teens.

She is the author of Hear Her Howl and For Girls Who Walk Through Fire, which was selected for ALA’s 2025 Rise: A Feminist Book Project List, received a starred review from School Library Journal, praise from Kirkus Reviews and Booklist, and was the recipient of the 2024 Millikin Medal for Excellence in Young Adult Fiction.

She grew up in Santa Barbara, California, earned her MFA in film directing from UCLA, and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY as a recovering Catholic and ex-good girl.

DeRose applied the Page 69 Test to Hear Her Howl with the following results:

I was familiar with this test, having done it for my debut, For Girls Who Walk Through Fire, but it was really interesting to once again do it for Hear Her Howl.

On page 69 we are with our main character, Rue Holloway (who has been sent away by her mother to an all-girl’s Catholic boarding school for kissing another girl) and Charlotte Savage (the school’s rebellious outcast, who is Rue’s semi-foe but soon-to-be love interest) as they are approached by Mother Superior. Rue has secretly acted out, and the school has blamed Charlotte, and in this moment we discover whether or not Rue is going to fess up and clear Charlotte’s name.

While this scene doesn’t tell you the full story of Hear Her Howl (for example, we have no idea about why Rue has been sent away, or the book's speculative element, i.e. that the girls within this book are reclaiming their wild and can or will turn into wolves), what it does reveal is a pivotal turning point between Rue and Charlotte - and their relationship is central to the book. It also establishes the strict system that they are both operating within, in the form of Mother Superior. And, without giving any plot points away, this page also leaves us with a big question about how things are going to move forward between Rue and Charlotte.

Visit Kim DeRose's website.

Q&A with Kim DeRose.

The Page 69 Test: For Girls Who Walk through Fire.

My Book, The Movie: For Girls Who Walk through Fire.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Deadly Trade"

Sara Driscoll is the pen name of Jen J. Danna, coauthor of the Abbott and Lowell Forensic Mysteries and author of the FBI K-9 Mysteries and NYPD Negotiators series. After over 30 years in infectious diseases research, Danna hung up her lab coat to concentrate on her real love—writing “exceptional” thrillers (Publishers Weekly). She is a member of the Crime Writers of Canada and lives with her husband and four rescued cats outside of Toronto, Ontario.

She applied the Page 69 Test to her latest FBI K-9s novel, Deadly Trade, and shared the following:

From page 69:

“How fast will it work?”

“Within a couple of minutes. Once I’m sure it’s stopped, I’ll hydrate and bag this one.”

Todd walked back to the circle of the clearing. “Meg called it, then? We’re looking at wildlife trafficking?”

“Definitely,” Byrne agreed. “And it’s not the first we’ve seen of it here.”

“Most people think of wildlife trafficking as the trade in animal parts,” said Hale. “Rhinoceros horns, shark fins, bear gallbladders. Many of these animal parts are used in Eastern medicine or are considered delicacies. But what happens is animals are killed, or worse, stripped of those parts and left to die a slow and agonizing death. We don’t have as much of that happening here because we’re a remote archipelago. Our wildlife either flew, swam, or were brought here as an invasive species. We don’t have the kind of desirable land mammals a lot of wildlife trafficking revolves around. We don’t have pangolins, rhinoceroses, or elephants. We do, however, have seahorses and endangered sea turtles. Then there’s the birds.”

“They’re trafficking the birds for parts?” Meg asked.

“It’s not all about parts of animals.” Hale came to stand behind Byrne, his eyes on her hands. “There are streams of wildlife trafficking. Some animals are used as food delicacies—shark fin soup, pangolin meat, or eels as unagi, a celebratory treat that’s supposed to increase stamina. Some are used in medicine—bear gallbladders, seahorses, and pangolin scales, bones, and heads.”

“Sounds like it’s unlucky to be a pangolin,” Todd murmured.

“It’s why they’re nearly extinct.” Byrne’s tone was scathing. “It’s a tragedy. And their value is incredibly overblown. There’s no scientific evidence it’s effective medicine, yet they continue to die.”

Deadly Trade passes the Page 69 Test with flying colors as it strikes at the heart of the novel—wildlife trafficking.

Meg Jennings and her new husband Todd Webb are on their Hawaiian honeymoon with Meg’s search-and-rescue canine, Hawk. Their first week is spent in relaxed seclusion on Lanai, but then they fly to the Big Island to delve into the island’s natural beauty and to start working out so they don’t lose their edge as a K-9 team or firefighter, respectively. But trouble always seems to find them, and in the middle of a remote fern forest on the eastern slope of Mauna Loa, Hawk alerts to something alarming. Not able to ignore the alert in case Hawk is sensing someone in trouble, they investigate and find themselves coming face-to-face with wildlife traffickers attempting to capture and bag endangered birds for a buyer on the black market.

Local FBI and US Fish and Wildlife agents are called in after the traffickers scatter, and while the wildlife agent works to rehydrate and stabilize injured birds, the teams discuss the issue of wildlife trafficking in Hawaii. This is where we are on page 69, as Special Agent Jeremy Hale, an agent of Hawaiian descent out of the Honolulu field office, explains wildlife trafficking as the world knows it. He then goes on to describe the trade in exotic birds, the rarer the better. Hawaii is the extinction capitol of the world and is a target for bad actors who dabble in the capture of extremely endangered species, selling the creatures to the highest bidder, lining their pockets while pushing species ever closer to extinction.

Sadly, this is not a fictitious issue. Real species are under threat not only from loss of habitat and climate change, but from wildlife traffickers looking to make sky-high profits no matter the cost. Deadly Trade is an exciting thriller, but it also offers a glimpse into a horrifying, all-too- real ongoing crisis alongside the hope given by those who fight against it.

Visit Sara Driscoll's website.

The Page 69 Test: Lone Wolf.

The Page 69 Test: Storm Rising.

The Page 69 Test: No Man's Land.

The Page 69 Test: Leave No Trace.

The Page 69 Test: That Others May Live.

The Page 69 Test: Echoes of Memory.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Ganymedan"

Originally from Nigeria, R.T. Ester moved to the United States in 1998 and, catching the creative bug early on, studied art with a focus on design. While working full time as a graphic designer, he began to write speculative fiction in his spare time and, since then, has had stories published in Interzone and Clarkesworld.

Ester applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, The Ganymedan, and reported the following:

From page 69:

The guide was saying something about the protein manufacturer that owned most of the factory buildings. Minutes elapsed while he prattled parrot-like in V-Dot’s ear. They zipped past water towers and power plants, past new housing developments erected shoddily over what had been public parks, past storage facilities, shops with heavy foot traffic in and out of them, hospital buildings, train stations with long lines of passengers waiting to board.

They passed between a row of spokes reaching like monoliths toward the hub. The guide waved back at children inside a lift car going up a spoke. A beamcar overtook them. Then another. V-Dot began to plot his escape from this one.

This is a passage from page 69 of the paperback copy of The Ganymedan, and I would say it paints a good picture of the wider work, but only in broad strokes. On its own, it maybe gives the impression that the story's antagonist might be a protein manufacturer, which at least sounds like something the actual antagonist may have controlled through an investment company. The lift car in a spoke and the mention of a 'beamcar' will probably drive away anyone in the science fiction aisle by accident, so I think it succeeds as well.

In a way, The Ganymedan is about people plotting their escape from all kinds of vehicles. V-Dot has his own method, and the contrast between how he goes about it and how other characters he encounters find their own escape is something I tried to explore here and there.

Visit R.T. Ester's website.

Writers Read: R.T. Ester.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Tarot Reader"

Finley Turner is a thriller writer. Initially convinced she wanted to be a professor, she got her master's in religious studies at Wake Forest University, focusing on new religious movements, cults, and religious violence. During her program, she applied for a student position in the university library and quickly realized she would rather be an academic librarian than be at the front of a classroom teaching. She worked as an archivist at Wake Forest University for six years after getting her master's in library and information science from UNC Greensboro. She now writes and parents full time.

Turner applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Tarot Reader, with the following results:

On page 69 of The Tarot Reader, our main character Jade is being questioned by the police regarding her phony tip to the police:

My patience was wearing thin. “Like I said, it’s hard to keep track.” The silence in the room was stifling and it was becoming clear that at least Woolridge found my tip suspicious. “Have you found any more information about the councilman?”

“We’re not at liberty to say just yet,” McCade said.

“Well, I hope he’s found safe and sound.”

“But only if he’s found exactly where you said he’d be,” Woolridge said low and fast.

“Excuse me?”

McCade glared at him before he stuck his hand out to me. His palms were dry and rough against my clammy, nervous skin. “Thank you for your time.”

Detective Woolridge didn’t bother shaking my hand and was already walking to the door. He looked up at the shop’s sign above the door frame. “Nice speaking with you Madame Ravencroft,” he said with derision.

“You too, Detective Woodruff,” I said back, a wide, insincere smile on my face. He let out a nearly silent huff, the kind that tilts your chin up and back. I took pleasure in the fact that it doubled his chin, when he clearly cared enough about his appearance to spend hours in the gym.

They glanced at each other and walked out of the shop. My heart raced with pride in myself for jabbing back at him—making him feel he was insignificant enough that not even his name was worth remembering. When they were out of view of the shop window and I sat, my heart rate slowed, regret and embarrassment twisting their fists around my heart.

Why did I say that? What is wrong with me?

The detectives didn’t actively accuse me of anything, but Woolridge made it more than clear he held no respect for me nor my profession. The last thing I needed was to sharpen that derision into action, his dislike for me driving him to pin something on me.

I lowered my forehead on the tarot table where my cards lay scattered. As I sat there with my eyes closed, I wished I’d never submitted the tip at all.

The Tarot Reader passes the Page 69 Test with flying colors, with some caveats. In one sense it’s successful because we’re thrown right into the crux of the book: Jade, our phony psychic, doesn’t think before she acts and never considered the fact that her phony tip might look suspicious to the police. And of course, it has. Jade is a reactionary woman, raised by her parents to be cunning but rash. She’s a good person at her core, but all she’s ever known is to scam and bark at those who get in her way. She knows it’s not how she wants to behave, but she just can’t seem to change, so she often gives into the temptation of behaving badly.

The only shortfall of this test may be that the reader would expect the police investigation to be at the forefront of the entire novel. It provides a sense of urgency and panic, but in my opinion, the most stressful aspect of this book is wanting your main characters to not get caught in their lies and perhaps just once consider telling the truth.

Visit Finley Turner's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Engagement Party.

Q&A with Finley Turner.

Writers Read: Finley Turner.

--Marshal Zeringue

"When We Talk to the Dead"

Ian Chorão is a writer and psychotherapist in private practice in Brooklyn, New York. He lives with his wife, who is a filmmaker and professor; they have two children.

Chorão's new novel, When We Talk to the Dead, is his first book of horror.

Like his main character, Chorão appreciates that the space between feeling and creation, reality and imagination is often ambiguous at best.

He applied the Page 69 Test to When We Talk to the Dead and shared the following:

A group of friends, college sophomores, on a bus. Sally, our main character, Maeve, her best friend, Omisha and her boyfriend, Marcus. They’ve just watched a disturbing video Sally has posted on her YouTube channel.

“Maeve is back on the video, scrolling, freezing on the deranged figure lunging at the camera, face blurred with movement, covered in filth and hair, vicious, feral, mouth open like an attack dog.”

Maeve is deeply upset by how disturbing the video is (not on this page, the film is Sally being attacked and killed by a feral human). Omisha and Marcus laugh it off—they’re more concerned with being alone with each other. Maeve knows the film isn’t literally real, but she wants Sally to assure her it isn’t real, in emotional terms.

Sally plays it off, but Maeve’s genuine upset allows Sally to recognize how disturbed the video she made is, and she begins to wonder.

“Looking at the frozen image, Sally thinks, I made this, so whatever it is is real. But what is it? Like a flame or a wave, it is there, but trying to catch hold, it dissolves out of reach.”

This test is wild: you get so much! Obviously, all the plot isn’t on a single page (they are going to a long-deserted island where Sally lived until she was 6 when her family experienced a horrific tragedy) but you’re very much inside the emotional action propelling the story. And all the interpersonal dynamics, which will cause intense strife on the island, are right there. Also there: how much Sally is part of the group, but how much her past and hidden inner turmoil set her apart.

It was surprising to see how much can be there on a single page. The page ends with everyone laughing at Maeve for being so dramatic. Deep down, Sally knows her friend has intuited something that's cause for genuine concern. But Sally joins in laughing kindheartedly at Maeve, underscoring a major theme of the book, the tension between wanting to be seen vs. the desire to hide from what's genuinely upsetting.

Follow Ian Chorão on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

Writers Read: Ian Chorão.

Q&A with Ian Chorão.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Irish Goodbye"

Heather Aimee O’Neill is the author of two poetry collections: Memory Future (winner of the University of Southern California’s Gold Line Press Award) and Obliterations (co-authored with Jessica Piazza, published by Red Hen).

The Irish Goodbye is her debut novel.

As a developmental editor and assistant director of the Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop, O’Neill has worked with hundreds of writers who have gone on to publish with major publishing houses.

She lives in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, with her beautiful wife, two sons, and—she hopes, one day—a dog.

O’Neill applied the Page 69 Test to The Irish Goodbye and reported the following:

Though I’m familiar with this exercise, I hadn’t tried it with my own book, so it was exciting to see where it took me. Page 69 of The Irish Goodbye places the reader in the middle of a scene between Maggie, the youngest sister, and Cait, the oldest sister. They’re at a pizzeria waiting to pick up the family’s dinner and having a discussion that, in many ways, epitomizes what’s wrong with the family: no one is speaking honestly.

On the surface, the conversation is about their deeply religious mother’s reaction to Maggie bringing home her girlfriend, Isabel. But Maggie isn’t revealing the true source of her anxiety about the weekend, and while Cait pretends to listen to her sister, she’s actually preoccupied with thoughts of Luke, her first love and the real reason she’s returned home after five years.

Removing one’s mask and showing up as real and vulnerable with the people who supposedly know you best is a major theme in the book, and I think this scene captures it in a quick snapshot. Plus, what’s about to happen on the next few pages change not only the course of the weekend, but the entire family’s dynamic—so you could say that this scene sets up the story’s primary catalyst.

Visit Heather Aimee O'Neill's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Irish Goodbye.

--Marshal Zeringue