Get to Know Brian

Brian Freeman is an international bestselling author of psychological suspense novels featuring Lieutenant Jonathan Stride. His books have been sold in 46 countries and 18 languages and have appeared as Main Selections in the Literary Guild and the Book of the Month Club.

“Who is Brian Freeman?” says bestselling author Michael Connelly. “This guy can tell a story.”

Nelson DeMille echoes that sentiment, saying, “Brian Freeman is a first-rate storyteller.”

Brian’s debut thriller, IMMORAL, won the Macavity Award and was a nominee for the Edgar®, Dagger, Anthony, and Barry awards for best first novel. IMMORAL was chosen as International Book of the Month by book clubs around the world, a distinction shared by bestselling authors such as Harlan Coben and Karin Slaughter. He published his second novel STRIPPED to widespread critical acclaim in 2006. STRIPPED hit the Globe and Mail bestseller list in Canada and was named one of the top 10 mysteries of the year by the South Florida Sun Sentinel. The novel was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award.

The Library Journal review of his third novel, STALKED, noted that “Freeman just keeps outdoing himself with each book.” The Chicago Tribune called STALKED “a perfect blend of psychological suspense and crime fiction.” His fourth book, IN THE DARK (called THE WATCHER in the UK), was released in 2009. Publishers Weekly gave the novel a starred review, calling it Brian’s best book yet, “harrowing and heartrending.”

Brian's latest thriller, THE BURYING PLACE, is due out soon around the world. Upon its release in the UK in 2009, the reviewer at the Daily Mail in London called it her discovery of the year, saying: "Fleshed-out characters, high tension and terrifying twists put Freeman up there with Harlan Coben in the psychological crime stratosphere."

The drama in Brian's books is driven by the emotions and secrets of the characters. "My goal is to write books with haunting characters and a lightning-fast pace," he says. "My stories are about the hidden intimate motives that draw people across some terrible lines. The twists and turns keep you turning the pages, and each piece in the puzzle gives you new insight into the heroes, victims, and villains."

"I don't like books where the characters are all good or all bad," he adds. "I want them to live in the real world, where morality means tough choices and a lot of shades of gray. I hope that's why readers relate so intensely to the people in my books."

For Brian, launching a worldwide publishing career at age 41 was the culmination of thirty years of fascination with writing suspense fiction. “I started my first ‘novel’ in sixth grade,” he recalls wryly. “It was about the death of a chess grandmaster. This was in the Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky days. I called it Checkmate. Who knows, I may yet go back to that one.”

He credits two unusual sources for his career: his grandmother and his eighth grade composition teacher. “My grandmother really spurred the family obsession with crime fiction. She used to tell us, ‘I’m reading this great new book. It’s got lots of bodies in it!’” His middle-school teacher spotted his obsession with writing and encouraged him to follow it. “She pretty much scrapped the lesson plans for me and simply told me to sit in a corner and write. The next summer, I finished my first full-length novel.”

Freeman rattles off a list of novels he wrote at various points in his life as he honed his craft: a thriller about the kidnapping of a U.S. president; a surreal erotic fantasy about a classical composer (“perfect for an idealistic college kid,” he says), and then three mysteries ranging from racial violence in Minnesota to sexual obsessions in a revival Shaker community to sins and crimes among the super-rich of Newport, Rhode Island.

“I recall James Michener saying that you should only get published after you’ve written a million words,” Freeman says. “By the time I wrote IMMORAL, I must have been just about there.”