Please welcome New York Times best selling author ALLISON BRENNAN to our Month of Romantic Suspense!
(This is meant to be an elk, since Allison hails from Elk Grove, CA and I grew up in Elk Grove, IL)
New York Times and USA Today bestseller Allison Brennan is the author of thirteen novels and three short stories. A former consultant in the California State Legislature, she lives in Northern California with her husband Dan and their five children.
An only child, Allison entertained herself on rainy days by both reading and making up her own stories. Thinking she had to have a "real" job after dropping out of college, Allison worked in the California State Legislature as a consultant, married Dan Brennan in 1993, and they subsequently had five children and made their home outside Sacramento.
But Allison never stopped writing. In fact, she began over 100 books that she never finished. After turning 30, then giving birth to her third child, Allison decided to actively pursue a career in writing. Committing herself to write a book from beginning to end, she wrote five complete novels before selling The Prey in 2004. Two years later it was released and nudged the New York Times list at #33. The first four manuscripts have been destroyed and will never see the light of day.
With her first book Allison's publisher asked if she could write two books connected in some way to The Prey. Since that book was already written and in production, plot options were limited. During the copyediting stage, she tweaked the backstory of her heroine so that she had two friends from the FBI Academy, and they became the heroines of The Hunt and The Kill. Her "Predator Trilogy" was the first of four loosely connected romantic thriller trilogies. Each story is a complete work with a separate hero, heroine, and villain with some recurring characters that can be read individually or in order.
Crime fiction, mysteries, and romantic suspense have always been Allison's favorites, so it's no surprise that her romantic thrillers have a dark suspense edge. Reviewers have called her books "terrifying," "mesmerizing," "fast-paced," "pulse-pounding," "wonderfully complex," "layered," and "a master of suspense - tops in the genre."
Allison's research shelf is filled with numerous true crime and research books, such as 65 Ways to Kill Your Victim in Print, Practical Homicide Investigation, Book of Poisons, and Tales from the Morgue. Her favorite research trips included a tour of the Sacramento County Morgue - complete with autopsy - and her eight week FBI Citizens Academy course, where she competed at the gun range and won a much coveted award by the SWAT commander: the "My Characters Shoot Better!" award. All of this has been supplemented by trips to the Quantico, interviews with law enforcement officials nationwide, and conversations with experts of all kinds in fields of forensics and technology.
Crime fiction is not Allison's only interest. Growing up, she immersed herself into the more supernatural worlds of Stephen King, Dean Koontz and John Saul, reading horrific suspense, unable to put the page-turning - and rather terrifying--books aside. Before she even sold her first book, she came up with a series based on the Seven Deadly Sins - as demons released from Hell by an evil occult seeking the key to eternal mortality.
After the initial success with her Predator Trilogy, Allison put the Seven Deadly Sins idea aside to pursue the crime and suspense genre exclusively. Nearly seven years after the original idea for a supernatural saga however, she finally launched her Seven Deadly Sins series in early 2010 with Original Sin. Now, her crime research books share wall space with quite different research material, from The Black Arts to An Exorcist Tells His Story; Lilith's Cave to The Encyclopedia of Hell.
The first three supernatural thrillers - Original Sin, Carnal Sin, and Mortal Sin - will be released in 2010. They are contemporary and grounded in the world as it is today, with the exception that the Seven Deadly Sins are incarnate demons who, when they touch someone, that individual loses his conscience and acts on his personal worst sin - to deadly results. Forensics and police investigations also plays an important part in the series so while the series is definitely paranormal, it's grounded in criminal procedure.
Allison continues to write her trademark romantic thrillers. In early 2011, she'll launch a series starring Lucy Kincaid, a favorite character from her No Evil trilogy. The stories will tackle complex and current issues in law enforcement through the eyes of Lucy, an FBI recruit; her brother Patrick, a computer genius who's recovering from a two year coma; and Sean Rogan, a private security expert.
Writing three books a year is more than a full-time job, and so is raising five kids, but Allison believes life is too short to be bored. When she's not writing, she's reading, playing video games, watching old movies or new television shows, driving to or attending volleyball / basketball / football / soccer games, and on occasion even makes it to the gym where she enjoys people-watching more than the exercise.
Here's a link to Allison's website: http://www.allisonbrennan.com/
This is Allison's most recent book:
Synopsis
Haunted by chilling memories of demonic possession and murder, Moira O’Donnell has spent seven years hunting down her mother, Fiona, whose command of black magic has granted her unprecedented control of the underworld. Now Moira’s global search has led her to a small California town that’s about to become hell on earth.
Tormented by his own terrifying past and driven by powers he can’t explain, ex-seminarian Rafe Cooper joins Moira’s dangerous quest. But Fiona is one devilish step ahead. Hungry for greater power, eternal youth, and stunning beauty, the sorceress is unleashing upon the mortal world the living incarnations of the Seven Deadly Sins.
Together with a demonologist, a tough female sheriff, and a pair of star-crossed teenagers, Moira and Rafe are humanity’s last chance to snatch salvation from the howling jaws of damnation.
It's the first in a her SEVEN DEADLY SINS series. Next up is CARNAL SIN on June 22, 2010, followed by MORTAL SIN in Fall 2010.
Here's the website for this series: http://www.allisonbrennan.com/seven/
Allison also has stories in these anthologies:
Allison blogs here:http://www.murdershewrites.com/
She's on MySpace here: http://www.myspace.com/allisonbrennan1
She's on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/Allison_Brennan
Here are some links to interviews, reviews, etc.:
http://www.romantictimes.com/authors_profile.php?a
http://thebookbinge.com/2010/01/review-original-si
http://lorisreadingcorner.blogspot.com/2010/01/ori
On the Random House site:
author spotlight
Allison Brennan is the New York Times bestselling author of twelve romantic thrillers, including The Prey, Speak No Evil, Killing Fear and Sudden Death. Original Sin launches her new supernatural thriller series based on the Seven Deadly Sins. Prior to her writing career, she worked for thirteen years as a consultant in the California State Legislature. She lives in Northern California with her husband, Dan, and their five children. A member of Romance Writers of America, International Thriller Writers and the Horror Writers Association, when she’s not writing or reading, Allison enjoys playing video games and attending her kids sporting events.
