Carter Blake on Audible Plus

 If you're in the USA and a member of Audible Plus (kind of like the Audible version of Netflix), you can currently stream the first four Carter Blake audiobooks for free.

Go here to see them in the Audible Plus catalog.

Eric Meyers did a really great job narrating these books, and I'm reminded that the American audio covers are all pretty good. Audiobook jackets can be a total mess for rights reasons, but I think these all hold up well and bear some relation to the plot of each book.

Happy listening.

Q&A with Book Addict Shaun

While carrying out an intensive review of my web presence (okay, procrastinating), I noticed that some of the links to older articles and interviews have become broken. I'm going to start reposting old material here so it doesn't disappear into internet oblivion.

Also yay, recycling.

This was from the sadly-defunct Book Addict Shaun page - Q&A first, and his generous review of my second novel The Samaritan below.

1. Can you introduce Carter Blake for those readers who are yet to meet him?

Carter Blake is a free agent who specialises in finding people who don't want to be found. He has a shadowy background in intelligence and special operations which has furnished him with the skills and experience to make him the best at what he does. As we read more about him, we start to get a bit more detail about his past.

2. The Carter Blake series is set in the US. Why do you think so many UK authors choose to set their thrillers outside of the UK? 

Good question, and I think there are a few reasons. One of the most important for me was the fact that I've always loved American books and films, and it's always a good idea to write the kind of thing that you enjoy. I also think there is an advantage for UK authors writing about America because we share a language and many of the same cultural touchstones, but we bring an outsider's perspective as well. That's a good thing for writing any fiction, but particularly crime.


3. How much research did you do before writing The Killing Season and The Samaritan? What struck me is how authentic they felt in terms of their setting...

Thank you! I do some general research before I start writing, but only enough to get me started. A lot of the real detail is added as I write and in subsequent drafts. I find it easier to come up with the characters and the big scenes and then try to ground them in reality as far as possible. In some ways that was easier for The Samaritan because it's mostly set in Los Angeles and I've spent some time there.

4. Was it a lot of pressure having to follow up a successful first novel? What was it like getting a quote from Lee Child?

I was actually really lucky with timings on that, because The Samaritan was finished before Killing Season was published. It felt like I had the warm glow of having done my homework ahead of time. It was a different sort of pressure for the second book, because on the one hand I had a deadline and the expectations of my publisher, but on the other I had the confidence of knowing
 that they liked the first book, so I had clearly done something right.

The Lee Child quote was a fantastic boost, as he's one of my literary heroes. I got the chance to say hi to him at Crimefest this weekend, and he was really approachable and encouraging about the book.


5. Without going into too much detail we often learn a lot about Carter Blake's past, in The Samaritan especially, is he a character that you have fully plotted out or do you yourself learn more about him as you write?

I have a pretty good idea of his background and where he's going, but I definitely do learn more about him as I write. I think it's more fun that way, because I get to find out more about him and flesh out his character and history over several books. Without giving anything away, you find out more about his past in The Samaritan, and even more in the third book, but there
 are still things about him I don't know yet. Like his real name...


6. What does a typical writing day look like for you?

I tend to write at night time. I have a day job and young children, so a typical day tends to mean putting the kids to bed and then typing away until midnight or so. Right now I'm editing the third book, so basically every spare moment is taken up with that.


7. This series is one of the most exciting new thriller series I have read in recent years. Can you reveal anything about the future of Carter Blake? Can we assume this is hopefully going to be a long-running series?

Thank you, that's really encouraging to hear! The big thing in his immediate future is that his past is about to come back to bite him in book 3. The ramifications of what happens in that book will spill over into the next one. I certainly hope it will be a long-running series, and I have ideas for another few Blake books after the fourth one. The great thing about the character is he can go anywhere and get involved in a lot of different types of adventures.


8. Having worked incredibly hard to become a published author, what have you found to be the most exciting thing about the whole process? 

It probably won't come as a big surprise, but the single most exciting thing has to be walking into a bookshop and seeing a real book on the shelves with words inside that you wrote. I'm really glad that physical book retailing is surviving so far in the 21st century, because while seeing your book listed on Amazon is nice, it's not the same thing. In general I feel incredibly lucky to have such a great agent and publisher, and to be so supported in what I'm doing.

Book Addict Shaun's review of The Samaritan (May 3, 2015):

The Killing Season - the debut novel from Mason Cross - was a great success and certainly one of the more enjoyable books that I have read this year. I was incredibly relieved to have a review copy of The Samaritan to read rather than having to wait after the thrilling conclusion delivered by Mason in The Killing Season. Mason proves in The Samaritan that the comparisons to the various bestselling authors are not just marketing tools, he has created a character in Carter Blake that can easily stand alongside the likes of Jack Reacher.

In The Samaritan the mutilated body of a young woman discovered in the Santa Monica Mountains points LAPD detective Jessica Allen in the direction of a serial killer - the MO being the same as one she witnessed a couple of years ago on the other side of the country. 'The Samaritan' preys on lone female drivers who have broken down, and with no leads or traces left behind, the police are stumped. Enter Carter Blake, a skilled manhunter with an ability to foresee the Samaritan's next moves but a man who leaves Jessica and her colleagues with a couple of suspicions. Blake has his work cut out attempting to stop the Samaritan, and might just find his life once again on the line not least because he also recognises the MO as that of a man from his past.

The opening establishes to the reader just the kind of person Carter Blake is, as well as giving a little bit of background and insight as to what his 'job' is. What I especially enjoy is how refreshing he is as a character, making this series one of the most exciting new thriller series I have read for a long time. In The Samaritan Mason Cross tells the story in the present day, but interweaves Blake's past to add to the overall mystery and the story here is incredibly strong. If someone asked you to describe what you expect from a thriller I'm sure most people would list: fast-paced, relentless, action-packed etc and whilst it is a bit of a cliche to describe books in that way, that is exactly what is delivered in The Samaritan.

What struck me first in The Killing Season and again in The Samaritan is how truly American these books feel. Being written by a British author, you hope that they can bring to the story that authenticity, and Mason Cross definitely does. Add in some brilliantly vivid descriptions both of the setting and the scenes themselves and this is an incredibly exciting read. In terms of plot it is once again difficult to talk further than the blurb, but what I most enjoyed was learning more about Blake's history, and the way that it was used throughout the story. I actually thought I had a couple of the twists worked out, but I have to admit I failed to see a couple of killer twists that were revealed right before the conclusion. The Killing Season had a heart-stopping, thrilling ending and this was delivered again in The Samaritan and then some.

Thriller fans looking for something fresh, and to feel that excitement you get upon discovering an author such as Mason Cross would be well-advised to check out this series.

The Samaritan is available in paperback, ebook and audio now.

Swedish paperbacks

Author copies time! I always love getting editions from other countries to see how the book looks on shelves across the world.

This is the Swedish paperback edition of The Samaritan - titled Den Onde Samariten (The Evil Samaritan).

If you're in Sweden, it's on sale now. Glad läsning!

I just found a great review from Dast Magazine last year, when the hardback came out. I don't speak much (okay, any) Swedish, but it's always fun to get Google to translate it:

By Mason Cross
The Samarithan, 2015
Translated by Gabriel Setterborg
Modernista, 2018
ISBN 978-91-7781-179-4, 431 pages

It is really strange that such an exhausted plot as the hunt for a serial killer can become so infernal exciting. Another remark is that authors of this very American genre are a Scot from Glasgow who embraced the really hard-boiled style that for seven, eight decades was introduced by Frank Morrison "Mickey" Spillane, among others. You are drawn very quickly into the evil Samaritan, Cross other thriller after last year's A long track of blood that introduced the human hunter Carter Blake.

The title comes from the fact that the serial killer got the nickname Samariten by offering help to women who got a motor stop, but instead of assisting he tortures his victims before cutting his neck with a saw-toothed knife. In the United States, such crimes have become a frightening reality along long and solitary routes of highway and according to the police, they are difficult to solve.

When a landslide exposes the bodies to three victims in the mountains near Santa Monica, the Los Angeles police investigator Jessica Allen is summoned, and this is not the first time she has seen anything like it - though on the other side of the continent. No traces, small chances of finding an offender.

A little hope is raised when Carter Blake arrives and offers his services, but initially suspicion is apparent. Blake's profile is too good for what they found out about the killer. But it turns out that the helper is a veritable track dog with a slightly scary ability to figure out the next Samarit's trait. And such comes when the killer raises his job to new, frightening levels. It is unpleasant but so exciting and temples that you do not want to stop reading, both about the hunt itself and about the protagonist's past that is about to set it up for him.

Mason Cross was born in 1979 in Glasgow, where he still lives with wife and three children. His previous book was nominated for Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. One doesn't need a load A long track of blood to keep the evil Samaritan . The books are independent of each other but if you want to know Carter Blake better (I think one wants it) it doesn't hurt to read the debut - and the following. Because there will be more.

LEIF PETER JONSSON

Readers Club competition winners

A big thanks to everyone who entered both the Facebook and the Readers Club competitions to win Written in Blood bookmarks and other goodies.

Winners came from as far afield as Singapore and the Netherlands - one of the best things about this gig is finding out you have readers in places you've never been.

The Facebook winners were posted earlier this week on my page - incidentally, go like the page, if you haven't already.

Members of my Readers Club who won a signed deleted scene from Presumed Dead and a set of snazzy Written in Blood bookmarks were:

Alec Hooke

Gina Rae

Lisa Gray

Malcolm Gillies

Tasha Tay

Tim Windram

Amy Beth Marantino

Anne Carlin

Esmie Langston

Mariandel Vlemmix

...and the winner of the special, Readers Club-only grand prize of the bookmarks, deleted scene and a signed US hardcover edition of The Samaritan was Michael Chapleo.

Congrats to the winners, thanks to all who entered, and if you'd like to know about my next Readers Club exclusive, you can sign up for free right here.

If you're in the UK, my Written in Blood episode airs on CBS Reality on Tuesday evening - I'll be doing a live Twitter Q&A during the show, so feel free to tweet a question.

Soundtracks - The Samaritan

Welcome to the second instalment of me looking at the music referenced in my books, and how I use it to create a kind of soundtrack to the action. You can read the first instalment, on The Killing Season, here.

The Samaritan was the second Carter Blake book, and I set it in Los Angeles because I wanted to channel that long history of noir from Chandler to Ellroy to Connelly. It's also a city I've visited, and found fascinating. The book sees Blake on the trail of a killer who preys on victims who have broken down in remote locations.

Black Hole Sun | Soundgarden



The first chapter of the book is told from the point of view of one of the Samaritan's victims as she drives through a rainy LA night. Black Hole Sun is playing on the classic rock station she's tuned to, and she thinks about how weird it is that something from the 90s is already classic rock.

It is a classic though, and I love the way both the music and the video become progressively more sinister as they go. In the story, it helps to foreshadow the 90s flashbacks, and the memories of a key character.

Desolation Row | Bob Dylan



I was reminded of this when I was Googling for Samaritan references (what, that's research, not procrastination. I don't know what you're talking about.) If I had gone with an epigraph for this book, it would probably have been :

The Good Samaritan, he's dressing, he's getting ready for the show
He's going to the carnival tonight on Desolation Row

I think it gives a nice sense of foreboding about the book. The lyrics of this song are amazing (of course they are, it's Dylan) and it's the final track on what is, for my money, his finest album: Highway 61 Revisited.

In the book, Desolation Row is downtown LA after midnight, when all the people have left and it's a ghost town. Blake turns the radio on in his car (a recurring theme, given the killer's MO) and this is playing...


Girl of My Dreams | Gene Austin



I was looking for an old-time crooner song to be playing when Blake infiltrated the Samaritan's hideout, because if there's one thing guaranteed to make a serial killer's lair more spooky, it's a crackly old recording of a 1920s pop song.

I remembered this song from the movie Angel Heart, and thought if it worked for Alan Parker it would work for me too. It also hints at the end of the book, where we meet the girl of the antagonist's dreams.

My My, Hey Hey | Neil Young



Kimberley, the woman Blake suspects is the Samaritan's final target, uses the most famous line from this song: better to burn out than fade away as a yearbook quote.

Again, although this song was released in 1979 on the Rust Never Sleeps album, it's also a 90s reference, because Kurt Cobain quoted it in his suicide note. Speaking of which...

Polly | Nirvana



A key character in the book is a Nirvana fan. They're also one of my all-time favourite bands, and this is one of their most deceptively creepy songs. Just an acoustic guitar, none of the usual feedback or screaming, but quietly disturbing in both lyrics and mood.

This one isn't specifically mentioned in the novel, but I was playing it a lot while I wrote the book. Got some rope, have been told / Promise you, have been true...

• Buy The Samaritan here

• Buy 'Black Hole Sun' by Soundgarden
• Buy 'Desolation Row' by Bob Dylan
• Buy 'Girl of My Dreams' by Gene Austin
• Buy 'My My, Hey Hey' by Neil Young
• Buy 'Polly' by Nirvana

Next time: Young again, Hawkins and Creedence in Winterlong / The Time to Kill

Soundtracks blogs:

• The Killing Season
• The Samaritan
• Winterlong / The Time to Kill

Den Onde Samariten - Swedish edition

The Swedish edition of The Samaritan is going to be published by Modernista as Den Onde Samariten (The Evil Samaritan) next April. 

Really looking forward to seeing this one, as the Modernista hardback of Killing Season was one of my absolute favourite foreign editions.

If you're in Sweden, you can preorder a copy from Bokus or Adlibris. Tack för att du läser!

Giveaway winners

The Goodreads giveaways to win signed copies of The Time to Kill and The Samaritan have closed, and they got a really amazing response.

The winners are Kristen from Staten Island, NY and Marion from Courtenay, British Columbia. Congratulations Kristen and Marion, and thanks to everyone who entered.

If you want to find out about future giveaways and exclusives, keep an eye on the blog or sign up to my Readers Club for occasional, non-spammy updates.

Book giveaway time

There are a pair of Goodreads giveaways running at the moment to win signed UK paperbacks of The Time to Kill (aka Winterlong in America) and (The Samaritan).

These giveaways are open worldwide, and it only takes a second to register to win by clicking on the handy links below, so what's stopping you?

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Time to Kill

by Mason Cross

Giveaway ends April 16, 2017.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Samaritan

by Mason Cross

Giveaway ends April 16, 2017.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

For more news, competitions and exclusives, you can sign up to my Readers Club with a couple of clicks. No spam, scout's honour.

American Giveaway Extravaganza

Winterlong, the third book in the Carter Blake series (aka The Time to Kill in the UK) is being published in the USA on February 7 2017, and you can preorder it in gorgeous hardcover right now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Indiebound.

If you can't wait that long, you can enter the Goodreads giveaway right now to win a copy. My American publisher Pegasus is celebrating the new book by giving away copies of the first two books in the series at the same time. All you have to do is register for the giveaway before January 16th.

To enter, just click on the cover to go to the giveaway (enter individually for each book).
This is open to readers with a US address only, but I'll be running a UK giveaway very soon, so watch this space. If you want to kept in the loop for news and competitions, remember to join the Readers Club.

Good luck!

 

Win an exclusive advance copy of Winterlong

Win The Samaritan

Win The Killing Season

Two extremely cool covers I didn't know existed

It's always nice to see new editions of the books, but I stumbled across the American large print covers on Amazon recently. I hadn't seen either of these, and they're both absolutely beautiful.

I also love the way American covers always point out it's A NOVEL just in case you're confused.

Just thought I would share.

Competition - win an audiobook

Competition time!

I'm giving away a copy of the audiobook of The Samaritan on CD (read by the fantastic Eric Meyers) to a lucky member of the Mason Cross Readers Club. This competition is open worldwide, and to new and existing members of the readers club.

All you have to do is sign up using the handy form below by midnight GMT on Monday 31st October (one of my favourite days of the year). The winner will be randomly selected from the list and contacted for a mailing address.

Join the Mason Cross Readers Club

Email Address

First Name

Last Name

Joining the readers club is a good idea anyway - you get a heads-up when a new book is published, plus exclusives and competitions like this one. No spam guaranteed, and you can unsubscribe any time with one click.

Good luck!

Q&A with Magna Large Print Books

This is a Q&A with me published on the Facebook page of my large print publisher Magna Books.

Magna published The Killing Season in large print last year, and The Samaritan is coming out on November 1st.


Mason Cross is the author of the Carter Blake thriller series, which began with The Killing Season. Recently described as a ‘bestseller in the making’, Cross’s second book, The Samaritan, was picked for the Richard and Judy Spring Book Club earlier this year. His third book in the series, The Time to Kill, came out in the summer and will be available in large print in November and in audio next April. Mason lives in Glasgow with his wife and three children and juggles his writing with a day job in IT.

1. Can you tell us about your journey to becoming a writer?
I always loved writing stories at school, and I was lucky that my parents and teachers were always really encouraging. As a kid I wrote science fiction and action stories, and some Choose Your Own Adventure style stories, which I would print out and sell at school. After university I remembered how much I loved writing anything that wasn't an essay and, inspired by Stephen King's On Writing, began writing short stories and submitting them to magazines and competitions. I piled up a heap of rejections and eventually managed to get published in a couple of places. I also uploaded some of my work to HarperCollins's Authonomy website, and was surprised when I was contacted by the top-flight agent Luigi Bonomi, who had read some of my work online. He signed me up and gave me some great advice, and a couple of years on I landed a book deal with Orion. It's scary to think how much luck is involved, but it demonstrates the importance of getting your work out there.

2. Have you always written thrillers and crime stories or did you start off with a different genre?

I've always leaned towards crime and noir, although I did write a few horror stories when I was younger. For me, mystery is an essential element of any story, and crime and thrillers seem to be the most natural structures for exploring that. That said, if I had an idea that would work for a different genre, I would certainly pursue it.

3. On an average day, how much time do you spend writing? Is it difficult to juggle writing with your day job in IT?

Most of the writers I know have a day job and/or kids, and I have both. It just means that discipline is even more important: I have to make sure I hit a certain number of words in the time I have available, which is usually night-time after my three children have gone to bed. When I'm writing I'll try to fit in some words whenever I have downtime: during lunch, on trains, whatever. It helps that I'm using a different part of my brain than I do at work, so it doesn't feel like one long working day.

4. What do you find are the best and the worst things about writing?

I love starting work on a fresh book when the possibilities are infinite and you're excited to explore a new story and characters. The worst thing is the midpoint crisis, which almost every writer I know experiences, when you can't see how you're going to finish this thing and start to doubt your abilities. I hate that part, but you just have to grit your teeth and fight through to the other side.

5. Your novels are set in the United States, have you ever lived there? How do you do the research for your books?

I've never lived in the States, but I've visited a few times and spent time in LA, San Francisco and New York. Like most people, I do a lot of research online: the internet is a fantastic resource for everything from the geography and history of a particular place to sunrise and sunset times, to the intricate details of cyber terrorism. I'm also lucky to have American friends who will read early drafts, highlight any mistakes and give me invaluable local knowledge.

6. Are you planning to write any thrillers set in Scotland?

I have a half-finished psychological thriller set in Glasgow that I keep meaning to go back to. It's different from the Carter Blake books - more influenced by Hitchcock and Ira Levin. I'd love to have the time to finish it, so I can find out how it ends.

7. Do you know how your stories are going to end before you start writing them?

Sort of. I write a reasonably full outline of about four pages. That gives me enough idea of the plot to get going, but I always make big changes along the way. The ending always comes out differently from how I had planned - I need to have written the rest of the book first to be able to work out the ending.

8. What’s the best writing advice anyone’s ever given you?

Write every day, but don't overdo it. Hearing about authors committing to writing two thousand words a day used to really put me off, until someone suggested I try to hit 500 a day. 500 words is a manageable amount: it doesn't seem too daunting, you can do it in half an hour or less, and if you do that every day, in six months you'll have the first draft of a novel.

Interview by Nicky Solloway at Magna Large Print Books.

Goodreads Giveaway - The Samaritan

Time for another giveaway - if you'd like to win a signed copy of UK paperback edition of Richard and Judy Book Club selection The Samaritan, all you have to do is register for the giveaway on Goodreads using the handy button below.

This is open to everyone in the world - all you have to lose is a couple of clicks.

Good luck!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Samaritan

by Mason Cross

Giveaway ends September 18, 2016.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

P.S. - watch this space for another giveaway soon.

This one is just going to be members of the Mason Cross Readers Club, which you can sign up for in a couple of clicks right here:

Join the Mason Cross Readers Club

Email Address

First Name

Last Name

WHSmith signing tour

I'm pleased to announce that I'm going to be doing a mini-signing tour of WHSmith stores in central Scotland over the next couple of months. The tour is focusing on The Samaritan, because The Time to Kill isn't out in paperback until next year.

WHS has been a big supporter of me (not least through the Richard and Judy Book Club promotion), so I'm looking forward to doing my first actual book tour with them.

You can see full details of these events both on the WHSmith Events blog and my website, but here are the dates. If one of the stores is near you, come along and say hello!

• Saturday 22 October - Hamilton, 12-3pm
• Saturday 29 October - East Kilbride, 12-3pm
• Saturday 12 November - Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, 12-3pm
• Saturday 19 November - Ayr, 12-3pm
• Saturday 26 November - Livingston, 12-3pm
• Saturday 3 December - Stirling, 12-3pm

 

 

O Samaritano

O Samaritano is available now!

This is the Portuguese translation of The Samaritan, published by Editora 20/20's imprint Topseller. I loved their Killing Season cover (scroll down to see it) and this one is just as good.

As always, the blurb is below, followed by Google's stab at translating into English. Portuguese readers can buy a copy here.


Sobre a obra:

Após uma noite de tempestade, em Los Angeles, a detetive Jessica Allen é chamada ao local onde houve um deslizamento de terras. O motivo? Uma descoberta macabra: foi encontrado o corpo de uma jovem cujo pescoço foi degolado com um corte invulgar. No mesmo dia, são descobertos perto daquele local outros dois corpos mutilados de maneira semelhante. A detetive descobre que se trata da obra de um assassino que opera há mais de dez anos, sem nunca ter sido apanhado. É conhecido como o «Samaritano » e captura jovens desamparadas, cujos carros avariaram, deixando-as paradas e sozinhas na estrada. É então que Carter Blake aparece para oferecer os seus serviços a esta investigação policial. O secretismo em volta das suas verdadeiras intenções leva a detetive a desconfiar dele. Mas quando o Samaritano prossegue com uma escalada de assassínios, os dois terão de se unir para o deter de uma vez por todas…

Sobre autor:

Nasceu em Glasgow, na Escócia, em 1979.
Licenciou-se em Línguas e fez uma pós-graduação em Tecnologias de Informação, o que lhe permitiu descobrir que tem muito mais êxito com as palavras do que com os computadores.
O Caçador é o seu romance de estreia, da série Carter Blake. O 2.º volume, O Samaritano – que a Topseller também publicará –, foi selecionado para o Richard and Judy Book Club, um selo de qualidade.

***

About the work:

After a stormy night in Los Angeles, Detective Jessica Allen is called to where there was a landslide. The reason? A gruesome discovery: the body of a young man was found whose neck was beheaded with an unusual cut. On the same day, they are discovered near that place two mutilated bodies in a similar way. The detective discovers that it is the work of a killer who has been operating for over ten years, without ever being caught. It is known as the "Samaritan" and capture disadvantaged young people, whose cars avariaram, leaving the charts and on the road alone. It is then that Carter Blake appears to offer its services to this police investigation. Secrecy around their true intentions leads the detective to distrust him. But when the Samaritan continues with a murder climbing, the two must come together to stop him once and for all ...

About the author:

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1979. He graduated in Languages ​​and has a graduate degree in Information Technology, which allowed him to find that you have much more success with words than with computers.  The Hunter is his debut novel, Carter Blake series. The 2nd volume, The Samaritan - that Topseller also publish - was selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club, a seal of quality.

O Cacador (The Killing Season) is also available.

De Samaritaan - Dutch edition

De Samaritaan is out in the Netherlands today from Luithingh-Sijthoff - go here to buy! For editions in other languages, check out my website.

Blurb as follows in Dutch, Google translate effort below that:

De samaritaan    - Mason Cross 

De samaritaan van Mason Cross is het tweede boek over manhunter Carter Blake. Voor de lezers van Lee Childs serie over Jack Reacher.

Een sadistische seriemoordenaar aast op alleen reizende vrouwen met autopech. De pers heeft hem al 'de Samaritaan' gedoopt, maar zonder aanwijzingen en sporen komt het politieonderzoek al snel tot stilstand.

Dan komt Carter Blake in beeld, die de donkere gave heeft om de volgende stappen van de Samaritaan te voorspellen. FBI-agent Jessica Allen en haar collega's zijn echter achterdochtig, want hun nieuwe bondgenoot heeft verdacht veel overeenkomsten met de man die ze zoeken...

'Tot de verbeelding sprekende personages, spannend plot, strakke stijl en flink tempo. Wat wil een mens nog meer?' Vrij Nederland Detective en Thrillergids

'Een bloedspannende thriller vol spanning, avontuur, corruptie, complotten en een vleugje romantiek.' De Telegraaf

***

The Mason Cross Samaritan is the second book about Manhunter Carter Blake.  For readers of Lee Childs series about Jack Reacher.

A sadistic serial killer preys on women traveling alone with car trouble.  The press him 'Samaritan' baptized, but without evidence and traces is the police investigation quickly to a halt.

Dan Carter Blake comes into the picture, which has the dark ability to predict the next steps of the Samaritan.  FBI agent Jessica Allen and her colleagues, however, are suspicious, because their new ally has suspicious similarities with the man they are looking for ...

"Until imaginative characters, exciting plot, sleek style and fast pace.  What does a man want more?"  Quite Netherlands Detective and Thriller Guide

"A very exciting thriller full of suspense, adventure, corruption, collusion and a touch of romance."  The Telegraph

May I count on your vote?

The Richard and Judy Spring Book Club is coming to an end at the end of this month, to make way for eight new titles for summer. It's been a fantastic experience and an honour for me to have The Samaritan selected as one of the titles.

The polling is now open to vote for the winner of the Spring Book Club.

You can vote in literally ten seconds: two clicks and an email address (used for administration, they don't retain your email or spam you).

Obviously I would appreciate any votes for The Samaritan enormously, but all eight of the books are deserving selections.

Voting closes on 28th April - go forth and exercise your democratic right!

Notebook art

Just wanted to share these fantastic doodle art pages by German reader and reviewer Kaisu - how awesome are these?

This one is based on Killing Season (Der Rushhour Killer in German)...

and this is what The Samaritan (Blut Instinkt) inspired...

As someone who can barely draw a smiley face, I love stuff like this, and it's such a compliment that someone has translated my books into an extremely cool word art diagram thing.

There are from Kaisu's review blog Life4Books, where you can also read her reviews of Der Rushhour Killer  and Blut Instinkt and see more amazing work like this.

Competition - win a signed copy of The Samaritan US hardcover

There was a really fantastic response to the Goodreads giveaway of The Killing Season a couple of weeks ago, so I thought I'd try something different this time.

This time, you can win a signed, hardcover first American edition of The Samaritan. All you have to do is sign up to my mailing list between now and midnight GMT on Sunday 6 March 2016.

I promise not to spam you with daily ramblings - I only send an update when a new book is coming out or something actually interesting is happening.

Sign up to the Mason Cross mailing list

Email Address

First Name

Last Name

The lucky winner will be selected at random and contacted by email (obviously) to let them know they've won and to get a mailing address. The competition is open to anyone, anywhere in the world. I'll sign it, personalise it if you want, doodle on it if you don't mind terrible artwork, and post it to you, wherever you may be.

Good luck!

Meeting Richard and Judy

It's the featured week for The Samaritan in Richard and Judy's Book Club this week, which means it gets top shelf promotion in WHSmith and seems to be on special offer for half price in some branches.

As my former boss and new head honcho of Uber Glasgow Chris Yiu reports, it looks like they're flying off the shelves...

Someone's popular at @EDI_Airport @WHSmith this morning @MasonCrossBooks #TheSamaritan #RandJBC pic.twitter.com/UNwl1lXHjz

— Chris Yiu (@clry2) February 15, 2016

It also means my Richard and Judy podcast is live, so you can now head over there to listen to my interview with R&J. There's a new post from me there on the inspiration behind the book.

You can still read Richard and Judy's reviews in full on the Book Club blog, check out their Q&A with me or read a free sample of the book.

It seems like ages since I recorded the interview, but I thought it would be good to record for posterity what it's like getting to meet Richard and Judy to talk about your book.

After arriving in London, I met Angela and Virginia from Orion for coffee before the interview. While I attempted to suppress my nerves, we chatted about the interview and lots of other things: the cover for Winterlong, the pronunciation of Eurydice (I had only recently discovered it's you-RID-uh-see, not you're-a-dice), and the fact Angela had passed by a guy dressed as an Imperial Stormtrooper at the railway station (guess what movie was coming out that day).

At the appointed time, we reported to reception at the upmarket hotel in Covent Garden where Richard and Judy were recording the podcasts, and I was ushered into a room to record some of the pre-interview material. This involved a short reading from The Samaritan, and talking briefly about how I write.

Laura Barnett arrived for her session after me - I had met her at a Hachette event a few months before and loved her novel The Versions of Us, so it was nice that we both made the list. I'm Facebook friends with Ruth Ware too, and although we didn't get a chance to see each other on the day, it was great to see In a Dark, Dark Wood on there too.

A helper came to tell us that Richard and Judy were ready and led me through to the room where they were recording. It was a strange but wonderful experience, like stepping inside a television. They were both lovely. When Richard kicked off his introduction, I was reminded why they've been a fixture of British TV and radio for so long. I kind of wish he could introduce me at all my events.

They asked me about the novel, about why we're drawn to violent crime stories, about how I came up with my pseudonym. I also learned that the hands are always set to ten past ten in wristwatch adverts. You can't unsee this once you're aware of it.

And then, before I knew it, we were done. We snapped a few pictures with me sitting on the couch with R&J (throughout which I couldn't stop thinking I am on the couch with Richard and Judy) and then it was downstairs to the bar to catch up with my editor Jemima and lots of the Orion team who had come along to celebrate. Judi Dench was there too. Although not part of our party, regrettably.

To say it was an insanely cool experience would be an understatement; it's the kind of wildly unrealistic ambition you dream about as an aspiring author. Since then, it's been wonderful to hear from new readers and to see the book alongside the other book club selections in pride of place in branches of WHSmith the length and breadth of the UK.

To quote Ferris Bueller, I highly recommend it.