Serial Killers Uncut (Jack Daniels and Associates Mysteries)

A gigantic double horror/thriller novel featuring 21 different serial killers...For everyone who thinks the bad guys are so much more fun to read than the good guys, this is a book just for you. The definitive volume containing every major villain from the Crouch/Konrath Universe is here.If you haven't read anything by Crouch or Konrath, Serial Killers Uncut is the perfect introduction to the dark side of their universe. And if you enjoy a despicable bad guy (or bad girl), you're going to love this.There are close to two dozen serial killers featured in this book: Orson and Luther from Desert Places, Locked Doors, and Stirred, Mr. K from Shaken, Alex and Charles Kork from Whiskey Sour and Rusty Nail, Isaiah from Abandon, Taylor from Afraid, Javier from Snowbound, Donaldson and Lucy, plus many, many more.There are some good guys too, including Andrew Z. Thomas (Desert Places, Locked Doors), Jack Daniels (Whiskey Sour, Shaken), Violet King (Locked Doors, Break You), Tequila (Shot of Tequila), and Clayton Theel (Draculas).Serial Killers Uncut is an original 120,000 word double novel that stands alone without having read any of Konrath's or Crouch's work. If you are a more sensitive (or adventurous) reader, this handy scale rates specific categories from 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest) to give you some idea if this is your kind of book.SERIAL KILLERS UNCUT by Crouch and KonrathBad Language - 6 Scary - 8Violent - 8Funny - 4Sexy - 7Crossovers - Features characters from dozens of books in the Konrath and Crouch universe

From the Inside Flap

First, there was Serial, the collaborative smash-hit.Then came Serial Uncut, which expanded on that story.Then Killers, the sequel to Serial.Then Birds of Prey which introduced every major villain the writers had ever created into one cohesive novel. (Birds of Prey + Killers = Killers Uncut.)And now, all that and more has been brought together for this definitive, omnibus monster, which at roughly 600 printed pages, is the length of two full novels...SERIAL KILLERS UNCUTThis epic work, over two years in the making, contains Serial Uncut, Killers, Birds of Prey, Crouch's Break You, an interview with the authors, and more.BLAKE: Did you think when we started SERIAL it was going to morph into a 120,000-word double-novel? JOE: No way. This project was a strange one for myriad reasons. Wonderful, and rewarding, but strange. We're both fans of F. Paul Wilson (in fact, we wrote a novel, DRACULAS, with him), and Paul has done an admirable job linking his entire oeuvre together. The majority of his stories intermingle, and characters can pop up in seemingly unrelated books and stories. As a fan, I LOVE this. It is rewarding to see a character I remember from a previous story come back in another one. So that's the approach I wanted to take with this series. The point of SERIAL was to see how two killers interacted when they met up on the road. Then we expanded and completely intertwined our universes. My bad guys meet your bad guys, from over a dozen of our novels. BLAKE: You and I write a lot of bad guys. It was so much fun doing the killer-killer interaction in SERIAL, that we simply said, let's bring every major villain we've ever written into the same book. And not only that, let's have Joe's villains and Blake's villains share scenes together. And not just any old scenes. Scenes that perhaps set up or anticipate big events in our major works like your Jack Daniels series and my Andrew Thomas series. I think of SKU as a glove that fits into all the spaces left between our collective novels. So Charles Kork from WHISKEY SOUR has a scene with Luther Kite and Orson Thomas from DESERT PLACES. Donaldson and Orson share a scene. Alex Kork and Luther Kite share a scene. And of course, there's the centerpiece of the entire thing, "An Unkindness of Ravens." JOE: We have a 16,000 word section features Javier (Snowbound), Luther Kite (Locked Doors), Mr. K (Shaken), Alex Kork (Rusty Nail), and Charles Kork (Whiskey Sour) on the side of evil, along with cameos by Kiernan (Run), Donaldson (Serial), Lucy (Serial), Dwight Eisenhower (Endurance), Isaiah (Abandon), Swanson, Munchel, and Pessalano (Fuzzy Navel). They went up against the forces of good, Jack Daniels, Clayton Theel (Draculas), and Tequila (Shot of Tequila.) It was like a greatest hits battle royale, and so much fun to write. Which is part of the reason the end product is over 120,000 words long and took two years to complete. This double novel takes place between all of our other novels, filling in gaps, expanding back-stories, and revealing clues in our collaboration, STIRRED. BLAKE: There are some huge clues in SKU, no doubt. To me, the benefit of writing something like this, is that we're using characters who have already been battle-tested in other books. We know they work, we love to write them, and so instead of spending all our time inventing and developing brand new characters, we've taken this group and put them to work building an entire monster of a book. JOE: I'm pretty sure this hasn't been done before. Not on this scale. Not with two authors completely meshing their worlds together. At least, not in horror fiction. Comics and TV shows have been doing this for years. BLAKE: Let's talk about how our collaborative process has developed over the last two years. With SERIAL, we started out emailing each other back and forth until a scene was finished, and there was a big element of gamesmanship, of not knowing what the other guy was up to and using that energy to propel the scene into interesting places. Then we started using Google docs, allowing us to write in the same document at the same time. But what interests me most is how our writing style (when we write together) has changed. I think we've truly developed a Konrath/Crouch style that is quite different from our individual styles. It seems like we edit each other much less now, and I think that's because I know what kind of a sentence will pass your bullshit test, and vice versa. JOE: It's become pretty seamless, and we're often finishing each other's sentences, or anticipating what the other will do next. As a result, we can write 3,000 words faster than it would take either of us to write 1,500 individually, because we're rewriting and polishing on the fly. I also like it when we divvy up workloads. "Blake, go and add description to the Porter intro, and I'll work ahead on the first Alex scene." It's a lot of fun. Almost like a hive mind is writing the story. Since writing is such a solitary profession, to be able to create stories and worlds with a partner is like getting a new toy. BLAKE: You write very fast on your own, but for instance, today we wrote about 5,000 words, which is an astronomical word count for me. JOE: That's because you're slow, like a snail surfing on molasses. At the same time I was working with you, I was working with Ann Voss Peterson on FLEE, our spy novel. We did about 4,000 there, too. BLAKE: Show off. JOE: This is an unusual book. Would you call this metafiction? Experimental? Or am I being big-headed (well, more than usual) in thinking this is a natural evolution of narrative structure? BLAKE: No, I think it's all of that. But mainly, it's just two guys writing the kind of book they would be totally geeked to read if their favorite writers ever attempted such a project. JOE: Now let's talk about the sex scene... BLAKE: Um yeah...you and I have written quite a bit together, but nothing like this. And I was actually staying at your house when we wrote this, so it was a bit strange being in the same room, writing the Alex/Luther conjugal visit at the same time. JOE: I wouldn't call it uncomfortable, exactly. But it was a pretty hot scene, and there were certain points where I didn't want to make eye contact with you. That said, I think we did an admirable job of not succumbing to childish giggling. Mostly. Last question. Are we really, truly done with this story? BLAKE: I think we're done for the time being, but I don't want to say that a continuance is completely out of the question. Our characters seem to have this strange habit of never really dying. JOE: A sequel is always a possibility. There were a lot of loose ends tied up in LAST CALL, but I have a feeling some of these characters will be back...

From the Back Cover

COMPLETE BLAKE CROUCH AND J.A. KONRATH CHECKLISTS AND READING ORDERSIf you want something to do for the next two years and insist on reading every Konrath and Crouch novel, here are the orders Joe recommends:KONRATH BOOKS WHISKEY SOURBLOODY MARYTHE LISTRUSTY NAILAFRAIDDEAD ON MY FEETDIRTY MARTINIFLEEORIGINSHOT OF TEQUILAJACK DANIELS STORIES VOL. 1TRAPPEDFUZZY NAVELCHERRY BOMBSPREEDRACULASDYING BREATHJACK DANIELS STORIES VOL. 2HOLES IN THE GROUNDSERIAL KILLERS UNCUTENDURANCETHREESHAKENSTIRREDEVERYBODY DIESHAUNTED HOUSELADY 52TIMECASTERJACK DANIELS STORIES VOL. 3RUM RUNNERWEBCAMGRANDMA?TIMECASTER SUPERSYMMETRYLAST CALLHIT/EXPOSED/NAUGHTYDISTURBWHAT HAPPENED TO LORIWHITE RUSSIANJACK DANIELS STORIES VOL. 4SHOT GIRL65 PROOFSTOP A MURDER COMPLETE CASESCHASERBANANA HAMMOCKTHE NINEOLD FASHIONEDSECOND COMINGCLOSE YOUR EYESJACK ROSETIMECASTER STEAMPUNKCROUCH BOOKS DESERT PLACESLOCKED DOORSSERIAL KILLERS UNCUT (WITH JA KONRATH)STIRRED (WITH JA KONRATH)RUNABANDONSNOWBOUNDPINESWAYWARDTHE LAST TOWNRECURSIONDARK MATTERGOOD BEHAVIORFAMOUSEERIEDRACULASFULLY LOADEDUPGRADE

About the Author

BLAKE CROUCH is the bestselling author of Wayward Pines, Dark Matter, Abandon, and many others. His website is blakecrouch.com.J.A. KONRATH is the bestselling author of ten novels in the Lt. Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels thriller series. Visit Jack and J.A. at jakonrath.com.

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