HENRY FRANKS: The Agent Angle

What better way to celebrate a book release than to hear from the agent who first discovered it? That’s right, today we’ve got Ammi-Joan Paquette on Emu’s Debuts!

Here is what she had to say when HENRY FRANKS first found its place at Flux:

There’s some very exciting news to share today, launching another terrific first-time author: I’m overjoyed to announce that Peter Salomon has accepted an offer for his debut YA novel, THE MEMORY OF HENRY FRANKS, which will be published by Brian Farrey at Flux in winter 2013. This moody, haunting tale is a mystery-suspense-thriller all twined together with some lovely, lyrical writing. Here’s a little snippet about the story, to whet your appetite for what’s to come: Sometimes, the only thing worse than forgetting is remembering. Sixteen-year-old Henry Franks almost didn’t survive the accident that claimed his mother’s life and, suffering from post-traumatic amnesia, he relies upon his father to tell him who he is. If he can trust his father. A modern Frankenstein story, THE MEMORY OF HENRY FRANKS details one man’s obsessive desire to save his son and one boy’s need to find himself. While a serial killer stalks the small southern town he lives in, Henry unearths the bitter truth behind his mother’s death—and the terrifying secrets of his own dark past.  Many congratulations, Peter!

And this is what she has to say now, on the eve of HENRY FRANKS’ release:

MC:   I have to ask, are you a scary movie, ghost stories around the campfire kind of person? And what was it that first drew you to this story?

AJP:   I am not a fan of the traditional blood-and-guts horror/slasher movie, but I love movies with chills and a spooky, creepy tone—even more so if there is a jaw-dropping twist ending that catches me entirely by surprise. All of those latter were things that draw me to Henry Franks, in particular because the atmospheric tone was so well rendered. Months after my last reading, I can still conjure up the texture of the air, the cloying feel of the sweltering summer heat, the slow-creeping, budding love between the two main characters. Wonderful!

MC:   One reviewer said, “I love when an author distracts you with all these big things going on, that the tiniest detail will go unnoticed until the end and you remember, “Oh, I hadn’t thought of that.” Kudos! And, the ending broke my heart.”

And another put it this way: “Trust me – you will never see the answer coming. It hits you like a ton of bricks and leaves you with your mouth hanging open muttering “What?!?”

I  love stories with a secret twist or inevitable surprise at the end. Without giving too much away, would you agree that the ending is one of the best things about this book?

AJP:   Absolutely! One of the best things you can do in a story that involves any kind of mystery is to end up in a place, or with a solution, that hits the reader as feeling entirely unexpected, and yet perfectly inevitable at the same time. Those are the kinds of books where you close the back cover and immediately want to go back to page one and begin all over again.—I will refrain from spoilers, but I think that Henry Franks is just that type of book!

MC:   Most reviewers (after giving HENRY FRANKS a 5 star rating) go on to describe the story as disturbing, creepy, thrilling, mysterious, intriguing, etc. If you could pick just one word to describe Peter’s debut novel, what would it be?

AJP:   Unforgettable!

Many thanks to Joan, and huge congrats to Peter and HENRY FRANKS!