Tuesday, October 29, 2024

"What Goes Around"

Michael Wendroff is an author and marketing consultant, and has an MBA from NYU. His background is running marketing and advertising for Fortune 500 companies, and he now runs a global consulting practice (one of his clients is a $4 billion firm headquartered in India). He has homes in New York City and Sarasota.

Michael Wendroff applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, What Goes Around, and reported the following:
Page 69 of What Goes Around is dialogue between two women, a cop and a detective, discussing over tacos and red wine the protagonist's relationship with another detective she's just been paired up with. The protagonist, Jill, had had a stormy relationship with her new partner, Jack, when they were together at the police academy. "I couldn't stand the sight of him," Jill said. Jack is in the mold of Jack Reacher, while Jill has a very different style. In the last sentence of the page, she remembers her father, who had been a patrolman that died in the line of duty.

I feel this is partly representative of the book.

It does represent the character development, which I believe is key in a thriller--your readers must get to know and empathize with the characters, otherwise the thrilling parts will be much less thrilling.

It is also representative of the book given the last line about Jill's father who had died. Part of that is because his death was a key motivating factor her entire life, but part of that is also because of what he represents in terms of the major twist ending. Spoiler alert-I can't spoil it and tell you why!

Page 69 is also interesting in that it references the two protagonists, Jack and Jill (yes, Jack and Jill!) and it leaves the reader wondering what will happen with that relationship. Will they continue to be enemies? Will they evolve into an excellent working relationship? Will the relationship become even something more? Read What Goes Around to find out!

By the way, the inspiration for this book was what my mother said to me the moment I was born. I was put on her chest, she looked deeply into my eyes, and said, "Oh! So nice to see you, again."
Visit Michael Wendroff's website.

--Marshal Zeringue