What is Jon McGoran reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Jon McGoran, author of Drift.

His entry begins:

One of the cruelest hardships of my life as a busy writer is that I am often forced to choose between reading and writing. Lately though, I’ve somehow been managing to do a good amount of both – putting together a respectable page count for Deadout, the sequel to my novel Drift, and reading some truly fine books. This might explain the dark rings under my eyes, but there is nothing like an impending deadline (or one receding in the rearview) to help boost your productivity. And nothing like some great books to keep you up reading, when you should be collapsing to sleep after a night spent writing.

I made a couple of much-anticipated book purchases just before going to BEA for a couple of signings, one with my publisher, Tor/Forge, and one with the Mystery Writers Association (MWA). At the MWA booth, I had the great pleasure of meeting (briefly) George Pelecanos, and the even greater and more sustained pleasure of reading his newest, The Cut.

Pelecanos has an economical and effortless style that immediately pulls you in and involves you in his characters, and his...[read on]

About the book, from the publisher:

When Philadelphia narcotics detective Doyle Carrick loses his mother and step-father within weeks of each other, he gains a twenty-day suspension for unprofessional behavior and instructions to lay low at the unfamiliar house he’s inherited in rural Pennsylvania.

Feeling restless and out of place, Doyle is surprised to find himself falling for his new neighbor, Nola Watkins, who’s under pressure to sell her organic farm to a large and mysterious development company. He’s more surprised to see high-powered drug dealers driving the small-town roads—dealers his bosses don’t want to hear about.

But when the drug bust Doyle’s been pushing for goes bad and the threats against Nola turn violent, Doyle begins to discover that what’s growing in the farmland around Philadelphia is much deadlier than anything he could have imagined...

Quick, clever, and terrifying, Jon McGoran’s Drift is a commercial thriller in the tradition of Nelson DeMille’s Plum Island.

Learn more about the book and author at Jon McGoran's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

Writers Read: Jon McGoran.

--Marshal Zeringue