New York Times and a quick update

Wow! Before I Go to Sleep has hit number seven on The New York Times bestseller list! It's also gone up to seven in The Globe and Mail's list in Canada and is back at number nine in The Sunday Times here in the UK. It's also doing really well in France, and the Netherlands, which is wonderful. To say this is a dream come true is the most massive understatement imaginable! I'm so happy and so grateful to everyone who has bought and supported and recommended the book. Thank you.

I spent yesterday on the road with the wonderful and utterly delightful Tess Gerritsen. We did a couple of events together, in Bolton and then in Nottingham, and it was truly an honour for me to be sharing the stage with her. It was also fantastic to meet some of the people who have bought and enjoyed my book - as well as those who have decided to take a chance on it, so thank you to all those who came to say hello or to get their book signed.

Today, it's off to Harrogate for the crime writing festival. I can't wait!

UK events....

After a teaser in Cambridge last night, my UK events kick off tomorrow! I'm very excited, my bag is packed (overpacked, some might say - I took less for 10 days in the US) and I'm all set to go. Tomorrow I get to meet Tess Gerritsen again (I met her very briefly last year, when she was '50 pages' into Before I Go to Sleep and told me she was 'really having fun with it' which was of course a wonderful thing to hear) and do a couple of events with her (in BOLTON and then NOTTINGHAM). Then on Friday I'm off up to HARROGATE for the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, where, on Saturday, I will be appearing on the 'New Blood' panel. Full details on my website, here.

The German Trailer

The Greek Jacket!

Before I Go to Sleep has been published in Greece, where it'd called "Amnesia" and looks like this. I think it's another splendid image - I've said it before but I'm delighted with all the jackets that the book has around the world. I'm pretty happy with the way my name looks in Greek, too. At least I presume that's my name...

The North American Tour - Part 2

A friend had sent me a message during my talk at the ALA conference. "I love the caricature of you in the Sunday Times" it said. I knew nothing of any caricature, and so slightly perturbed, I asked if I could see it, and a few days later I was sent this. I think it's pretty good, really - they've captured my likeness well, though I would never wear a Hawaiian shirt...

Anyway, back to the tour. The day after the event at the ALA conference didn't get off to a great start. It was a travel day, mostly, but I'd had some radio interviews arranged for the morning before the flight. Slightly worse for wear (having sampled some of the delights that New Orleans' nightlife has to offer the previous evening) and armed with a sheet of paper filled with phone numbers, I sat down to make the first call.

I couldn't get through. There was an odd beeping sound on the other end of the line. Panicked, I held out the receiver to the person who was delivering my breakfast (I normally don't order room service, but when you have a call to make at 6.45am and then no break until your flight at 2 needs must). 'What does this mean?' I said. She looked at me blankly. 'This sound! What does it mean?' She listened and then very politely, said it meant the line was busy. 

I called Donna, the brilliant PR person who'd been given the unenviable task of shepherding this Englishman on his first 'phone' tour. 'Which number did you call?' she said. 'The first one.' There was a pause, then she said, 'You were supposed to call that one an hour ago...'

It turns out my sheet was in Eastern Time and I wasn't. 'Don't worry,' said Donna, aware that I was about to burst into tears. I explained that I was English, and we're not used to having more than one time zone in the same country, and even though I knew that that was the case in the US it'd never crossed my mind that I might have to correct the time myself. She laughed. 'This happens,' she said. 'It's fine.' 

And it was. She rescheduled the interviews I'd missed through being stupid and asleep, and the rest of the calls went without a hitch (more or less...). And then I flew to...

Miami

I've never been to Miami before, and I wasn't really sure what to expect. The hotel was lovely, though (good job, as I was to spend most of my time sitting  in it, on the phone to radio presenters around the country) and the city itself felt very welcoming. On the first night went to Books and Books, which is a great store in Coral Gables, where I read some of Before I Go to Sleep and answered some questions from the audience. Then it was a day of interviews before another very enjoyable event in Murder on the Beach in Delray Beach. This time I didn't read from the book, but instead talked about some of the ideas in it. Once again I was struck by how interested and engaged everyone seemed, and I had a great time. 

Then it was off to South Beach, where I had a few more radio interviews to do before spending a couple of days relaxing before the flight home.

It was a great tour, all in all. Busy, but exciting, and it was wonderful to meet people who'd read the book or were interested in doing so. I hope to meet many more over the next few months!

The North American Tour - Part 1

I'm just back from my first ever book tour! I'd hoped to blog while 'on the road' - and had even taken my computer to do so - but sadly it was not to be. I've been warned that being on a tour is a little like being in a surreal bubble, but hadn't really understood what that meant. I even intended to write while I was out there, thinking working might keep me grounded, but that also was not to be. I've been going from hotel to bookstore to event to hotel to plane, and around that I've tried to fit in doing my laundry and also seeing something of the wonderful cities I've been staying in. Even when I've had a moment it's felt as though my head has just not been in the right place for anything at all creative. I'll try and recall some highlights, though.

Toronto

I've always wanted to go to Canada. I have family there, and know a few people who are from or have lived there. So I was particularly excited to be kicking off the promotion of Before I Go to Sleep in that city. After a long flight (during which I watched the film of 'Never Let Me Go' and was mightily impressed) it was straight into a lunch and interview with the National Post (read the results here). I even liked the photo of me they managed to take  - you'd never guess I was just off a plane from Heathrow (would you?). An hour or so to explore the city before a long dinner with the HarperCollins team, many of whom I'd been contacting on Twitter and all of whom were wonderful and engaging company. The following day I did my event a the Harbourfront - my first public reading! I think it went okay - I had some wonderful support and advice from my fellow speakers - Andrew Pyper and Robert Rotenberg and friends and family were in the audience. Then it was time to leave Toronto...






Houston

I didn't know anything about Houston. What I discovered on landing is that it is vast. Huge. And there is literally NO way of getting round it without transport. It's hot, too, so I spent my time there scurrying from one air conditioned place to another. I saw a lot of the city (from the inside of a car, admittedly) during an afternoon of stock signing, and still can't get over how big it is. My event, held at Murder by the Book, was well attended, though, and the audience were engaging and asked interesting questions. Such a great shop, too, with amazingly friendly and welcoming staff. I always love the passion I see in people that work in bookstores (I was going to write 'independent bookstores' there, but I saw it in those working in the chains as well) - it's fantastic to spend time with people that really care about books.

From Houston it was on to...

New Orleans

Unlike Houston, I did have an idea of what New Orleans was like. I wasn't prepared for the heat, but visually it did match up to my expectations pretty well. I'd been instructed to head straight to Cafe du Monde for beignets, so that's what I did, and I wasn't disappointed, though I think I prefer UK doughnuts and/or the deep fried churro's one gets in Spain. Beignets seemed to be a kind of cross between the two.

I really enjoyed my event at the American Library Association conference. The conference centre was vast (so big that it had been used to house families made homeless by hurricane Katrina) - so big in fact that I 'popped' to the restroom before my event and almost got totally lost. I was on a panel discussing Mystery and Horror in the library. I spoke a little about how the book came to be written, and some of the ideas behind it, and I think people were interested (though am rather ashamed to admit I ran over time  by a factor of about 100 per cent - I have no watch at the moment so just wasn't aware of how long I'd been speaking). It was really nice to meet some of the people who'd enjoyed the book afterwards as well, or just heard of it, and in particular I met one really nice woman who confessed that she was my first 'super fan' and asked, ever so politely, if she could have her photo taken with me. That was very nice, though I hope the photo came out well (I so rarely like photos of myself...).

From there it was down to a signing at the HarperCollins stand and I met a whole load more people, all of whom were charming (well, most, but let's not spoil things by dwelling on rude people) and off to another signing in a bookstore (less well attended, but I understand that every author on tour has to have at least one event with only a handful of attendees). A wonderful meal in Mister B's followed and then the next day it was on to Florida, which I'll save for part 2...

The Evening Standard's finest reads

I'm very happy that Before I Go to Sleep features in this list!