https://booktrib.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/otho1-press-scaled-credit-Denny-Henry-Photography-crop300.jpg
Otho Eskin
Thriller/Mystery
Lawyer and former diplomat launches new crime thriller series featuring homicide detective Marko Zorn
Otho Eskin published his first thriller, The Reflecting Pool, to great reviews and book club interest in 2020. The novel follows Marko Zorn, a D.C. homicide detective who has a strong ethical compass but refuses to play by the rules. The sequel, Head Shot, also featuring Marko Zorn, will be released on December, 7, 2021.
Before he turned to writing fiction, Otho Eskin served in the U.S. Army and in the United States Foreign Service in Washington, Syria, Yugoslavia, Iceland and Berlin as a lawyer and diplomat.
Otho’s career in the Foreign Service unknowingly prepared him for thriller writing later in life as he witnessed political corruption. While stationed in East Berlin during the cold war, the East German intelligence service (Stasi) published a book entitled Who’s Who in the CIA. This propaganda effort listed Otho and was intended to claim that he was a U.S. spy. (He was not!). This was part of the East German and ultimately Soviet disinformation campaign to make the work of the U.S. Foreign Service officers serving abroad more difficult.
Otho Eskin has also written a number of plays which have been professionally produced in Washington, New York and in Europe. Learn more about Eskin on his website.
Click here to read our reviews of The Reflecting Pool and Head Shot.
https://booktrib.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Otho-Eskin-Bibliography-2.jpg
BOOKS:
The Reflecting Pool (2020)
Head Shot (2021)
Biggest literary influences:
John Le Carré, Patricia Highsmith, John Grisham, Ann Cleaves, and Lee Child
Last book read:
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
The book that changed your life:
I’ll have to keep reading until I find that one…still searching!
Your favorite literary character:
Prospero from Shakespeare’s THE TEMPEST. Prospero is a great creative genius, who gives up his magic skills to return to a normal life – and of course Shakespeare’s language surrounding this character is so incredibly vivid.
Currently working on:
Well, my next book HEAD SHOT, which is completed, is being released on December 7th. But I am currently working on the third in the Marko Zorn thriller series – I can’t give away the title, but I can say that Marko is going to take on big Pharma!
Words to live by:
“Whoever fights with monsters should see to it that he does not become one himself.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
Advice for aspiring authors:
Revise and rewrite. You’ve written your book and it seems pretty good. You’re anxious to get feedback from your teacher, your agent, your editor, so you are ready to send it. Don’t. Carefully review it and do rewrites. There is always room for improvement to make your work go from pretty good to great. One of the best techniques is to read your manuscript out loud, starting on page one. It’s amazing how many glitches you will find and how many improvements you can make.
Testimonials:
“Eskin’s busy sequel to 2020’s The Reflecting Pool piles one problem after another on the broad shoulders of Washington, D.C., homicide detective Marko Zorn. Those who prefer breathless action to careful reflection will enjoy this one.”
— Publishers Weekly
“An authentically nail-biting thriller—it’s Robert B. Parker meets David Balladic in this fast-paced page-turner. Otho Eskin has created such a brilliant character in his Marko Zorn: wise and eloquent, witty, and surprising. And quietly, heartbreakingly, brave. This chilling political thriller is wonderfully textured with a high-stakes emotional drama—and I could not turn the pages fast enough. Head Shot is instantly cinematic—and completely entertaining!”
— Hank Phillippi Ryan, USA Today best-selling author of Her Perfect Life
“Zorn gets it done, legally or otherwise…. Eskin keeps this plot moving with his foot slammed to the accelerator.”
— Men Reading Books
