Back Cover:

A KILLER’S CLOSING IN…

When her client and old college friend is murdered, P.I. Kat Justice knows the killer will come for her next. Her survival depends on finding her unknown enemy first…and working with homicide detective Mitch Elliot, her onetime crush. It’ll take all her professional skills to ignore the sparks between them, but Kat can’t allow the handsome cop to get close. She’s seen too many people she loves die, so she vows just to do her job without getting emotionally involved. Yet keeping her distance may not be the best way to protect her heart—or their lives.

(Book 2 of 5 in the Justice Agency Series)

My Writing Takeaway: Can I just say: Susan Sleeman is one of my new favorite CCR/Suspense authors. I’m gonna say it. She is. She’s right up there with Dee Henderson and Irene Hannon. When I was at the beach this past summer, I mentioned in a blog post that I had gone to a little book shop and gotten a lot *ahem, around thirty* books. Among locating some of the books by authors I’ve already read, I noticed a few small paperbacks from Love Inspired (for those of you who do not know what Love Inspired is, it’s a branch of Harlequin publishing that is devoted to producing clean, Christian romance novels in all different genres). Anyway, I wasn’t sure about some of these books, because I didn’t know the author. However, after I read “Dead Wrong”, I was so glad that I had bothered to get another one of Susan’s books; it was so good! It has romance (of course), action, mystery, and SUSPENSE. In fact, I had not even finished reading the first chapter when I was on the edge of my seat…well, bed (it was the middle of the night). My brother burst in, wondering if I was still awake, and I practically jumped out of my skin—I was so scared. 😛 See, one of the MANY things I love about Susan Sleeman’s writing style is the way she starts off her stories. From the very beginning, from the very first page even, she grabs her reader’s attention.

I won’t give spoilers on this book because 1) I strongly dislike when people do that to me and 2) you should actually READ IT but I will say this: Sleeman opens her book by describing a highly dangerous scenario. The suspense builds as the MC is thrown into the action and even though the reader really has no idea what on earth is going on or who the MC is, they can’t help but be captivated by what’s happening; the result is a reader who can’t put their book down or go to sleep without finding out what happens next (or at least, that was true in my case). What I like to call this technique of capturing your reader is a “hook”. Right from the get-go, Susan Sleeman “hooks” her readers with a dramatic opening scene, which effectively brings them into action and gets them to continue through the story just to see how the conflict in the beginning is resolved. This technique is usually the most effective when applied to a mystery/thriller/suspense story, but it can be used in any genre as a way to catch your readers by surprise and get them interested in your story. While I was reading it, the story seemed follow a “reverse-plot” pattern; it opened at what seemed to be the climax of the story followed by some falling action when most stories usually go through an exposition, conflict, rising action, THEN climax and falling action/resolution. Again, this keeps the reader on their toes and breaks away from the status-quo of plot lines.

As I mentioned before, the reader doesn’t really know much about the MCs at the beginning because they are too focused on the action taking place in the first few chapters. However, this sheds light on another thing Susan Sleeman excels at: she reveals bits of the character’s backstories a little at a time, showing first the character’s behavior/personality and then explaining to the reader why they act the way they do. When getting to know some in real-life, how often do you meet someone for the first time and know everything that ever influenced them and how that’s attributed to their behavior? Unless you’re a telepath, the answer is never. In the same situation, how off-putting is it when you meet someone and they tell you everything about themselves? It’s a little weird, isn’t it? Well, it’s the same thing when you get to know the characters of a story. What Susan Sleeman does is uses the hook to bring the readers into her story, then lets them observe the characters; how they talk, interact, think, their likes/dislikes, etc. Then, she starts to hint at what exactly in their backstories has attributed to their personalities—what it is that is making the characters do what they do. Again, this is something I like to call “backstory breadcrumbs” in that the author is leaving a trail of information about the character for the reader to follow until they finally get to the know character and see the significance of the character’s past in relation to the story. The “hook”, when paired with “backstory breadcrumbs” is an excellent way of keeping your story fresh and enticing to your readers, which is exactly what “Dead Wrong” exemplifies.

In addition, Sleeman uses 3rd Person Limited in her story, which I know, I’ve lamented before about how tedious using that viewpoint can be, but she really does a wonderful job of giving you the full picture of what is going on inside the heads of both MCs while advancing the plot of the story; no game of catch-up here.

Also, DIALOGUE. I love her dialogue. It’s so real and funny, just like the characters; all her characters, though believers, are very, very, VERY flawed. They struggle with trusting God, not worrying, and forgiveness, which is something I think we can relate to. Not only that, but Susan herself talks about her own struggle with trusting God in a letter to her readers in the back of the book. She points out that trusting God is not a “one and done” kind of thing; it’s a continual, conscious choice to let God be in control of your life every moment of everyday and I just love that. Her characters are also well-developed; I almost feel like I could sit down with them and have some tea or something. 😛 Finally, Sleeman focuses specifically on the use of the dialogue to tell her story. What is said, and what is not said, on the page drives the story. She gives descriptions that give the reader very vivid pictures of the setting and accurately explains the way the characters are speaking (intonation), but she doesn’t go overboard. She’s eloquent and able to get her point across without the use of any fluffs or frills to cloud her writing; there is a balance between being descriptive, advancing the action of the story, and letting the characters truly speak for themselves that is inspiring. I hope that one day, I can find that balance in my own writing as well.

So in closing, here are my basic writing takeaways (sorry there was so many!):

1. Use a “hook” at the beginning of your story; surprise your reader!
2. Let your readers get to know your characters slowly by using “backstory breadcrumbs”.
3. Make your characters relatable, and well-rounded. Ask yourself: could I sit down with my character like they were a real person? If not, figure out what needs to change to make your character more believable.
4. Let your dialogue speak for itself; cut down on the “fluff” in your writing but be descriptive enough to let your readers “see” and “hear” what is happening; find your balance.

Well, that’s all for now. If you haven’t had a chance to read any of Susan Sleeman’s books, I highly suggest that you do soon (it’s in our online store btw). You won’t be sorry, and her suspenseful stories are perfect for this spooky time of year! 😉

*”Dead Wrong” includes some scenes of violence.*