ABOUT THE OTHER WOMAN :
Jane Ryland was a rising star in television
news—until she refused to reveal a source and lost everything. Now a disgraced
newspaper reporter, Jane isn’t content to work on her assigned puff pieces, and
finds herself tracking down a candidate’s secret mistress just days before a
pivotal Senate election.
Detective Jake Brogan is investigating a possible
serial killer. Twice, bodies of unidentified women have been found by a bridge,
and Jake is plagued by a media swarm beginning to buzz about a “bridge killer” hurting the young women of Boston.
As the body count rises and election day looms, it
becomes clear to Jane and Jake that their investigations are connected…and that
they may be facing a ruthless killer who will stop at nothing to silence a
sandal.
With its dirty politics, dirty tricks, and a barrage
of final twists, THE TOHER WOMAN is the first in an explosive new series. Seduction,
betrayal and murder—it’ll take a lot more than votes to win this election!
As one character warns: You can choose you sin, but
you cannot choose your consequences.
Cover
Quotes:
Lisa
Scottoline says “Riveting!”
Louise
Penny says "Thrilling!”
Sandra
Brown says “Wholly entertaining!”
Joe
Finder says "Hank is a star!”
Carolyn Hart says “
Speed-of-light pace. Riveting suspense. A breakout book.”
Karin Slaughter
says: “A powerful fusion of political intrigue and crime that
keeps the reader captivated.”
Lee Child says
"I knew Ryan was good—but I didn’t know she was this good!”
THE CANDIDATE meets BASIC INSTINCT
in award-winner Hank Phillippi Ryan's new high stakes, jet-fueled political
thriller. Blending the world's two oldest obsessions, sex and political
intrigue, THE OTHER WOMAN is a high-octane mix as timely and topical as today's
headlines. Ryan joins the thriller elite and THE OTHER WOMAN belongs at the
top of your reading list!
Julia Spencer-Fleming
Julia Spencer-Fleming
BOOKLIST: starred review
Ryan…knows
her way around politics at the highest levels, and use uses that knowledge to fashion
a revenge-fueled plot that twists and turns at breakneck speed. Political
skullduggery and murder make a high-octane mix for a perfect pre-election
thriller.
Library
Journal: Starred review
Ryan, the Anthony and Agatha Award-winning author of
the Charlotte McNally mysteries (Drive Time; Prime Time), employs her
investigative reporting and political background to craft a dizzying labyrinth
of twists, turns, and surprises. Readers who crave mystery and political
intrigue will be mesmerized by this first installment of her new series.
DONNELL: Good
morning, Hank, thank you for joining us today.
I know you live in Boston, but let’s put you on the spot. If you could live anywhere in the world,
where would it be, and why?
HANK: See, I’m
a reporter, so I’m going to need to know some answers before I tell you. I do
love my house, a white Victorian (from
1894) in a Boston suburb, we have a lovely garden, and a swimming pool in the
back where mallards come to visit every spring, a willow tree and rambling pale
pink roses. So—I’m pretty happy there. However—if I could have endless money,
and an instant babel-fish multi-lingual ability—I’d live in oh, Tuscany, with
the cypress trees and fresh peaches and pecorino cheese, and gorgeous wine and
black flats with capri pants, and windy roads and the scent of rosemary and history and beauty everywhere you look. And
coffee. Or, with the agreed-upon money and language skills, smack in the middle
of bustling Paris, with the fabulous light and wonderful food, the history, the
architecture, the shopping, the ice cream and the baguettes with sweet butter.
And coffee! And the clothes and Hermes
and Chanel and string quartets in the stained glass of Chartres.
And I’d have a gorgeous apartment in the 6th
arrondissment or a 14th
century farmhouse in Castellina (with electricity, please..)
DONNELL:
What’s your favorite room in your house? And why?
HANK: OH, too
hard. My study is fabulous, it really is, and it is a MESS. There are floor to ceiling
bookshelves on one whole wall, but there are still stacks of books and files on
the floor. It’s covered with my posters and souvenirs—well, here’s a photo. My desk is an antique semi-circular
“hunt” desk, I think they call it, and my bay window looks out over a huge
sugar maple. The room is so chaotic and
file-filed—when people come over, I don’t even clean it up. It is what it is.
DONNELL: What’s
the one thing during the day you won’t go without?
HANK: Sadly?
Coffee.
DONNELL: THE
OTHER WOMAN is the start of a brand new
series. How hard was it to give up your
first protagonist, Charlie McNally, and tell us about your new
protagonist? How are your protagonists
alike, how are they different and what would they think of each other?
HANK: Jane
would look up to Charlie. Admire her. Which Jane would think is a very funny thought,
and one that had never crossed my mind. Charlie s 46, worried about getting old
in TV. She’s smart and successful—but is married to her job, and wonders what
happens to a TV reporter when the camera doest love her anymore. She’d tell
Jane to be more protective of her personal life.
Jane is younger, tougher, harder. Still funny—in a
droll way. Very devoted to her job. Jane is a little more vulnerable, since
she’s been fired for protecting a source. So in THE OTHER WOMAN, she’s reeling a bit, trying to get back on
her feet after a huge career setback. Jane might be falling into the same “it’s
all about the job” trap that Charlie did—if that’s a trap!—but she’s also madly
in love with a cop. And for a reporter, that’s impossible. So she’s focusing on
work—because to focus on her personal life, she thinks, would be a disaster.
Funny to think about this. We all make choices as
our lives progress. Both of these characters are examining the choices they‘ve
made—and deciding whether it’s time to make a change in priorities. Will they
do anything different? Well, that’s the surprise.
DONNELL:
You’re hosting a dinner party.
Your characters are invited. Who
would you leave off the guest list? Tell
us why?
HANK: Oh, easy one, Donnell. Let me just say, at the
outset, that nobody in my books is a real person. Let me just be clear! But in
every reporters life there’s the one person, usually an editor, who has decided
they know what’s best. And by gosh, they are going to MAKE you do that. Whether
it’s really “best” or not.
Now, as writers,
we know that editors can be wonderful—especially the ones who let you be a
better you. You know? Whose goal is to cultivate your skills, challenge you
with their knowledge, help you blossom into a better writer.
But other editors are more interested in making you
be what THEY want to be. They stomp your voice and try to change you into
them. There’s a character in the TIME
books who’s like that—the fictional Angela—and I’d be much happier having
dinner alone!
DONNELL: With
technology changing in the blink of an eye, are you current? Is it important to be? Why or why not?
HANK: Oh, well, who knows. I work in TV, and when I
started we used film. When “videotape” was developed, we never thought it would
last. But I’m very comfortable with live shots, and going undercover with a
hidden camera, and TV technology, and computers, and digital video editing, and
my smart phone and computer and social media.
The only thing I’m really baffled by is videogames.
NO idea about videogames. I’ve never played one.
DONNELL: Packrat or organized?
HANK: An
organized packrat. There’s a part of me that says—what if I need that? I’ll
just tuck it away over here for later.
But I know where it is! I make lists and lists and lists and love to check
off what I’ve done. I have a words-a-day chart to make sure I write enough
words so I’m not behind on my deadline. I’m still always behind, but at least I
have some idea of HOW behind I am.
My clothes in my closet are in color-order. (Which
is kind of easy, come to think of it—black, black, black.)
HANK: When
would that happen?
DONNELL:
What’s your favorite holiday?
Favorite tradition?
HANK: Thanksgiving! Definitely. I love having
thanksgiving dinner with my family, I love organizing and scheduling and cooking
all the traditional things. (It’s such a triumph when it all comes out at the
right time.) We MUST have stuffing and cranberries and all kinds of pie. We
have champagne and oysters Rockefeller for appetizers. Oh, I also love the 4th of July—we
make lobsters and corn and sit outside and watch the fireworks!
DONNELL: Are
you superstitious?
HANK: Yes. I admit it. I mean—okay, I know it’s not
logical. And my husband is not superstitious, not at all, and we are quite a
pair. DO NOT PUT THAT HAT ON THE BED! I say. DO NOT STIR THAT COFFEE WITH A
KNIFE! He looks at me as if I’m the wackiest person on the planet.
But let me say, about writing, I am NOT superstitious.
I have two rocks on my desk, carved with “patience” and “imagine.” But I consciously don’t have any writing rituals,
nothing that I do or say or chant or incant, no special t-shirt I have to
wear. That’s because I don’t want to
make my writing dependent on anything mystical, you know? Writing well is magic
enough. It’ll come, I have to believe, without me trying MAKE it happen by some
superstitious thinking.
But I do throw salt over my shoulder. And I’m not
happy when a black cat crosses. And I will not walk under a ladder. I mean—why?
DONNELL: You’re
famous for conducting interviews: If you could talk
with any person in the world, past or present, who would it be?
HANK: Shakespeare. Wouldn’t that be terrific? Then I
could find out if he really wrote the plays, first of all. If yes—and I bet he
did—then think of all the wonderful writing things he could teach! Oh, I’d love
that. Edith Wharton. She was so brilliant—I’d love to just listen to her gossip
and hear her views on society and writing. (Don’t you love that she wrote in bed,
and just dropped the pages onto the floor for the maid to pick up?)
OH, a funny question? Well, there’s a car chase—or
is there?—in THE OTHER WOMAN. Are you a good driver? Who’s better, you or our
spouse/significant other? Do you backseat drive? What’s your favorite thing to say
to when you’re annoyed while driving? (I yell “MERGE MERGE this is a MERGE situation!” And
my husband just shakes his head.)
Or—let me think. A serious one. THE OTHER WOMAN is
partly about an honorable and tough reporter who’s trying to decide how
important it is to report the possibility that a candidate in a pivotal
election may be having an affair. What do you think about that? How much of a
candidate’s personal life matters to
you? Think: John Edwards, Monica Lewinsky, Arnold Schwartzenegger, Anthony
Weiner…would it change your vote? Should the public know?
twitter @hank_phillippi
Blogging at http://www.JungleRedWriters.com @junglereds
