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Autotherapy. First Query Letter ever. Grateful for any suggestions.
I am seeking your representation for my first novel because I feel it strikes a resonance with Blood Harvest by S.J. Bolton in both style and setting.
A small Cumbrian town in the dark fells of the north is wracked with murder. The townsfolk of Crackenby Dene are being picked off, their throats cut, necks broken and blood removed. Detective Inspector Jake Campbell knows only what he doesn’t: who, why and how.
Then his wife and newborn child join the victims.
Reeling on the edge of suicide, he is recruited on to an informal investigation by Ruby Harper, a nosy photographer with a suspicious knack for being in the right place at the right time. Their enquiries direct them to the scientific research facility, Halebeck and a disastrous early experiment in gene therapy: super-healing soldiers. The contagious condition must be halted before it infects the wider population.
Shoulder to shoulder with mountain rescue man, Doc Murdock, Jake faces numbing revenge in a fight to the death with the killers at the summit of Halbrigg Fell.
But others yet seek the truth. Two sinister detectives from the Independent Police Complaints Commission interview the hostile investigation team with difficulty. Through the tangled truths and lies, they gradually close in on the lone survivor of the original experiment. It is the amiable Doc that opens and closes the investigation.
In this non-linear thriller, the detective isn’t the hero, the hero is a killer, the killers are victims and the villains are as good as dead. Complete at 85,000 words, AUTOTHERAPY explores the theme of healing on both emotional and physical planes. In doing so it considers the ultimate cure. Never mind the great leveller, Death is the great healer.
Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sakina Murdock on -
Hooray! Thanks for advice :)
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Permalink Reply by Candy Fite on -
Great job, Sakina! I like it!!!
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Permalink Reply by Sakina Murdock on
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Very chuffed, just got to procure a miracle now and finish the synopsis / outline :)
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Permalink Reply by Robert Edward Fahey on -
Sakina; Sounds like one heckuva read! And the final summarizing paragraph of this letter is potent!
I personally found a couple of earlier sentences a little fuzzy, but this query is a strong and intriguing read - just what you'd want it to be.
'[The detective] knows only what he doesn't ..." I think I know what you're going for, but it feels to me like the sentence was cut short. / "...with a suspicious knack for being in the right place at the right time." Loved that. / "The contagious condition must be halted ..." left me unclear as to what you were trying to communicate. Was there an outbreak of some kind of plague within the facility? Are you referring to the murders as a contagious condition?
"It is the amiable Doc that opens and closes the investigation." Reads a little passive for the climactic sentence at the crest of the otherwise building passion of your letter. But then you dive into that great summary. - Plus, I think it should be "... the amiable Doc WHO opens ..."
All in all this letter is itself a fine read, and I came away expect the book to be an exciting one. Great luck and may the query gods be with you!
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