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Neil Nyren

Neil Nyren

Neil Nyren is the former evp, associate publisher, and editor in chief of G.P. Putnam’s Sons, and the winner of the 2017 Ellery Queen Award from the Mystery Writers of America. Among the writers of crime and suspense he has edited are Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, John Sandford, C. J. Box, Robert Crais, Carl Hiaasen, Daniel Silva, Jack Higgins, Frederick Forsyth, Ken Follett, Jonathan Kellerman, Ed McBain and Ace Atkins. He now writes about crime fiction and publishing for CrimeReads, BookTrib, The Big Thrill, and The Third Degree, among others, and is a contributing writer to the Anthony/Agatha/Macavity-winning How to Write a Mystery.

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Neil Nyren

Thrillers

A Mystery and a Mind Unravel in “The Silent Patient”

Alex Michaelides grew up reading Agatha Christie “obsessively,” but she never wrote anything like this. The Silent Patient (Celadon Books) grips you immediately, but where it goes is completely unpredictable – and it takes you to dark corners of the human psyche you never knew existed. “I love him so totally,…
Neil Nyren
February 6, 2019
Thrillers

Ancient Truths, Modern Evil, in Hearts of the Missing

The spirit of Tony Hillerman hovers over every page of Carol Potenza’s debut novel Hearts of the Missing (Minotaur), so it’s no surprise that, when still unpublished, it won the 2017 Hillerman Prize for the best first mystery set in the Southwest. Hillerman’s spirit is far from the only ghost that…
Neil Nyren
December 4, 2018
Thrillers

Opium and Identity: 19th Century Woman Battles Crime

Port Townsend, Washington, 1887. An ex-Pinkerton agent named Alma Rosales is hunting for opium stolen from her employer, criminal boss Delphine Beaumond, one of the most dangerous women in the Northwest. Also on the hunt is a dockworker named Jack Camp, a rough brawler with his own plans for the…
Neil Nyren
November 7, 2018
Thrillers

Vanished Lives-Secrets in “Find Me Gone”

Find Me Gone  (Harper) is unusual in many respects -- in its story, its author, and the creation of the book itself. Belgian author Sarah Meuleman says it is the sum of everything she has been and done in her life: a singer-songwriter, a journalist, a television host, a writer…
Neil Nyren
October 25, 2018
Thrillers

Stuart Turton’s Intricate Plot Bends Minds and Genres

This may very well be the twistiest, most intricate crime novel you’ll read this year. A tall order, I know, given the competition, but trust me on this. The author, Stuart Turton, calls it “an Agatha Christie mystery in a Groundhog Day loop, with a bit of Quantum Leap.” Others have…
Neil Nyren
September 18, 2018
Thrillers

Howard Michael Gould’s Hollywood Thriller “Last Looks”

Those are the thoughts of Charlie Waldo, an ex-cop who’s gotten sucked into a Hollywood murder case, in Howard Michael Gould’s first novel, Last Looks (Dutton). A one-time super-cop who spectacularly messed up a triple-murder investigation, he reacted to it all by burning his life down and retreating to the woods,…
Neil Nyren
August 10, 2018
Fiction

Caged: A Serial Killer Novel With a Difference

Caged is not your typical serial killer novel. “A few years ago,” says Ellison Cooper, “I was looking for something to read and jokingly told my partner that I wished there were a crime thriller that incorporated neurology, archaeology, and dogs. It was like being struck by lightning. I couldn’t boot up…
Neil Nyren
July 11, 2018
Thrillers

Jeremy Finley Debut Journeys into the Unimaginable

Jeremy Finley is a hard-nosed professional. As the chief investigative reporter for the NBC-affiliated television station in Nashville, he’s spent more than 15 years exposing corruption, financial abuse, and criminal activity, and won some of the highest honors in journalism, including multiple Emmys, Edward R. Murrow awards, and IRE (Investigative…
Neil Nyren
June 4, 2018

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