Five top novels that reveal secrets of the publishing world

Jeff Somers is the author of We Are Not Good People, the Avery Cates series, Lifers, and Chum. He has published over thirty short stories, including “Ringing the Changes,” which appeared in the Best American Mystery Stories 2006 anthology. One of his five favorite novels that reveal publishing world secrets, as shared at the B&N Reads blog:

The Accident, by Chris Pavone

Any novel that can make a character a “subsidiary-rights director” without boring the pants off the reader is a great achievement—but Pavone, who surely lost a friend or two in the publishing industry with this thriller, pulls it off and much more. Literary agent Isabel Reed receives an anonymous manuscript called The Accident that reveals dirt on a powerful media magnate, and finds herself at the center of a ruthless effort to keep the book from being published—an effort that include killing Isabel herself, if necessary. Throughout the tense, fast-moving story, Pavone sprinkles in wonderful observations and revelations about publishing clearly sourced from his own experiences. This not only lends the book an aura of realism that serves the thriller plotting well, it makes it a secret guidebook to modern publishing.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Page 69 Test: The Accident.

--Marshal Zeringue