Want to go behind the scenes on my writing?
Reporter Jennifer Mayerle of WCCO-TV in Minnesota did a great profile on me last night. It focuses on my taking over Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne franchise — and looks at my other mysteries and thrillers, too.
If you want to see it, it’s archived on the WCCO website, so click here to watch.
Of course, the segment includes clips from the Bourne movies, so don’t get confused between me and Matt Damon. Ha ha ha.
It’s the holiday season! So I know you’ll be making a list…and checking it twice…
Just in case you need some suggestions for gifts for your family and friends (or for yourself), here’s a collage of my four most recent novels. THIEF RIVER FALLS was a huge reader favorite; it has nearly 10,000 reviews on Amazon so far. THE BOURNE EVOLUTION — my first Jason Bourne book for the Robert Ludlum estate — was just named by Kirkus Reviews as one of the best mysteries and thrillers of 2020. THE DEEP, DEEP SNOW — my New York Times bestselling Audible Original — is now available in paperback and e-book. And of course, Jonathan Stride is back in FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND, which reads like a stand-alone and is a great place to get to know my long-running Stride series.
While you’re shopping, don’t forget to pre-order my next stand-alone thriller, INFINITE, due out March 1. It just got a starred review from Kirkus, which called it “a dizzying delight.”
Ho ho ho…and happy reading!
Here’s a nice little year-end treat. Kirkus Reviews lists THE BOURNE EVOLUTION among its Best Mysteries and Thrillers of 2020!
Some pretty cool company to be keeping here…Connelly, Lackberg, Nesbo, Paretsky…
Want more Jason Bourne? THE BOURNE TREACHERY is due out July 27, 2021, and it’s available for pre-order now.
We’re nearing the end of 2020…yes, I know, I know, hold the applause. But this has also been a busy book year — and now that I’ve finally released my fourth (!) book since January, I figured it would be a good time to go back and take a look at what I’ve put in your hands this year. Remember, the Christmas shopping season is coming soon!
The first novel of 2020: THIEF RIVER FALLS, a stand-alone thriller about a writer in lonely northwestern Minnesota trying to rescue a young boy who’s being hunted by everyone around him (including the police). Last month, Amazon listed THIEF RIVER FALLS among its top 1o bestselling mystery/thrillers of the year so far, and the book is closing in on 9,000 reader reviews.
This summer, I had the incredible honor of taking over Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne series, with my Bourne thriller THE BOURNE EVOLUTION releasing in July. I’ve been thrilled by the many readers and reviewers who felt as if they’d stepped right back into a Ludlum novel with this one. It’s a complete stand-alone, so even if you’re not a long-time Jason Bourne book fan (or movie fan), you can dive right in.
In September, my Duluth-based police lieutenant Jonathan Stride finally returned after a two-year hiatus in FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND. As Bookreporter said, “FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND is by far Brian Freeman’s most emotional novel, and to say that the ending is a wild one would be a gross understatement. Jonathan Stride is one of the more complex and therefore likable characters in crime fiction, and this latest entry in the series is a clear standout.”
Is three new books enough? Well, not this year. Okay, THE DEEP, DEEP SNOW isn’t actually new — it came out as an Audible Original in 2019 and hit the New York Times Bestseller list. But print readers have been waiting for the book ever since, and a paperback edition (e-book, too!) finally arrived in October. The book got a starred review from Publishers Weekly, which called it “enthralling” and said “readers will have a tough time putting this one down.”
So now we’re really done for the year. But you better get reading! I’ll be back in early March with an all-new standalone thriller, INFINITE, which I can’t wait to put in your hands.
For years, you’ve asked me: What’s your favorite novel of all the books you’ve written? That’s always been a hard question for me to answer, because after 22 novels, I love each of my stories in a different way. But THE DEEP, DEEP SNOW may well be my personal favorite among my books.My New York Times bestselling mystery THE DEEP, DEEP SNOW finally arrives in a paperback edition on October 27. You can click here to learn more.
This book first appeared as an Audible Original last year, with narration by the amazing actress January LaVoy. I listened to the whole audio edition myself recently, and I have to tell you, I had tears running down my face. She does an absolutely magnificent job. Even if you’re not a fan of audiobooks, this one may well convert you.
Ever since, readers have been clamoring for a print edition. The book came out in e-book earlier this year, but never fear, the print edition is almost here, too. I hope you love it, because this book may well be my favorite novel of anything I’ve written.
“Enthralling,” said Publishers Weekly in their starred review. “Freeman brings all the characters to life, highlighting their strengths as well as the darkness that lies within each of them, thus adding a delicious sense of uncertainty as to their motives. Readers will have a tough time putting this one down.”
You can do so on Amazon, Goodreads, BN, wherever you go to share information about books. Reviews don’t have to be long — just a sentence works fine! But it really does help, both to trigger the automatic marketing that online retailers do, and to build enthusiasm among other readers.FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND marks the tenth Jonathan Stride novel, going all the way back to IMMORAL in 2005. Which naturally begs the question: Do you need to start at the beginning?
In fact, I deliberately write my series books as standalones, so that you can begin anywhere and get a full, rich experience of the characters. I tell readers: You wouldn’t expect to limit yourself to friends you met in your teens or twenties. You’ll meet people throughout your life, and if you enjoy them as people, you’ll want to find out more about the stories that made them who they are. That’s the way a good series should work, too. Once you meet Jonathan Stride in FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND, I hope you’ll want to go back and read some of his earlier stories, too.
Critics agree! Here’s what North Carolina’s Mountain Times says: “Ten books into Brian Freeman’s Jonathan Stride series, “Funeral for a friend” traverses a literary tightrope that few authors can manage: the novel works equally well as a standalone for a first-time reader, or as part of the fuller Stride canon for his longtime fans….Freeman’s characters here are as developed as his plot, and even if this is your first foray into the Stride universe you’ll come to know Serena, Stride, Cat, Maggie and others as family.”
They also praise the book’s “masterful diversions, deceptions and angular plotting.”
So even if you’re new to Stride, dive in.
It’s here! My new novel FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND is available now in e-book, hardcover, and audio. I hope you’ll get your copy and dig in.
Fans of my books know that I like to write thrillers that deliver an emotional punch. And that’s what you’ll get in FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND. I don’t write about super-heroes or super-villains. I want my characters to be real people with stories you care about – even as you’re gasping for breath and turning the pages to find out what happens next.
This is my tenth novel in the Jonathan Stride series, and many early readers have told me that FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND is their favorite book yet. It’s a book that showcases Stride’s passionate loyalty as a hero, but it also leaves you wondering: How far would a truly decent man go to protect someone he loves?
Are you new to the series? Don’t worry, I write each book so that the characters and plots stand on their own, so you can dive right in. Of course, once you get to know Stride, I hope you’ll want to go back and discover his earlier adventures, too.