Ben Willis, senior commissioning editor at Orion, has acquired World Rights in debut thriller Neon by G.S. Locke. Publication has been set for spring 2020.
Set in Birmingham, Neon tells the story of desperate detective Matt Jackson, who teams up with hitwoman Iris to track down the serial killer responsible for murdering his wife. But the killer, dubbed "Neon" for the way he displays his victims among elaborate, snaking neon light installations, is also on the hunt - and has both Jackson and Iris in his sights.
G.S. Locke said: "For some time, I've had this powerful image in my head of a desolate detective sitting alone in a cafe, picking up the phone and ordering his own murder after his wife is killed by a serial killer. With that, DCI Jackson was born, and with him, Iris, a contract killer who I hope is as fierce and unrelenting a character as Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander and Killing Eve's Villanelle. What follows is a story of survival, revenge, an unorthodox investigative partnership, and a serial killer with a particular fondness for neon art."
Willis said: "Neon is everything I love about a proper serial killer thriller - but it's also so much more. It's got twists and turns aplenty but, most surprisingly, at its heart are two brilliant characters with a unique dynamic that will both thrill and surprise fans of the genre. A kind of literary mash-up of Luther, The Snowman by Jo Nesbø and No Country For Old Men, Neon is set to light up the British crime fiction scene in 2020."
G.S. Locke is a Birmingham-based British crime writer.
Set in Birmingham, Neon tells the story of desperate detective Matt Jackson, who teams up with hitwoman Iris to track down the serial killer responsible for murdering his wife. But the killer, dubbed "Neon" for the way he displays his victims among elaborate, snaking neon light installations, is also on the hunt - and has both Jackson and Iris in his sights.
G.S. Locke said: "For some time, I've had this powerful image in my head of a desolate detective sitting alone in a cafe, picking up the phone and ordering his own murder after his wife is killed by a serial killer. With that, DCI Jackson was born, and with him, Iris, a contract killer who I hope is as fierce and unrelenting a character as Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander and Killing Eve's Villanelle. What follows is a story of survival, revenge, an unorthodox investigative partnership, and a serial killer with a particular fondness for neon art."
Willis said: "Neon is everything I love about a proper serial killer thriller - but it's also so much more. It's got twists and turns aplenty but, most surprisingly, at its heart are two brilliant characters with a unique dynamic that will both thrill and surprise fans of the genre. A kind of literary mash-up of Luther, The Snowman by Jo Nesbø and No Country For Old Men, Neon is set to light up the British crime fiction scene in 2020."
G.S. Locke is a Birmingham-based British crime writer.
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