After releasing Gale Force, a brilliant standalone (which supposedly could turn into more books down the road) thriller in 2018, Owen Laukkanen is gearing up to kick off an all-new series in 2019 with Deception Cove.
Back in May of this year, I interviewed Laukkanen leading up to the launch of Gale Force, and I asked him about the futures of Stevens and Windermere, his fan-favorite characters who’ve stared together in six novels. While not dismissing a possible return to that series, the author also made it clear that he had other stories to tell first. “I’m not sure when Stevens & Windermere will return,” admitted Laukkanen, “I have a few more stories lined up for them, but I also have a new series dropping next year and, with any luck, more Gale Force books on the horizon. So it’ll depend on the demand from readers and fans for more S&W; I am definitely susceptible to bribes.”
At the time, Laukkanen didn’t tease too much about his new series, which we now know will begin next May and see an ex-Marine and ex-convict team up for a worthy cause in Deception Cove. See the cover art and plot details below!
For fans of CJ Box and Michael Koryta, a new thriller set in remote Washington State, where a widowed ex-Marine and a misanthropic ex-convict grudgingly team up to save the only thing they have in common–the rescue dog who changed both their lives.
Widowed while deployed overseas, former US Marine Jess Winslow reenters civilian life with little more than a falling-down house, a medical discharge for PTSD, and a dog–specifically Lucy, a black and white pitbull mix trained to help Jess cope with the crippling memories of her time in Afghanistan. But Jess also inherits a heap of trouble, of her late husband Ty’s making. A corrupt deputy sheriff comes looking for a mysterious package — and leaves with Lucy, threatening to have the dog destroyed unless Jess delivers the goods allegedly stolen by her husband before his untimely death.
The next person to appear on her doorstep is a newly released ex-convict. Surprisingly, he’s there to help. The only good thing to come of Mason Burke’s fifteen years in prison was the dog he trained there for a service-animal program–Lucy. She helped keep him sane; now he’ll stop at nothing to keep her safe.
Forced into an uneasy alliance in order to save Lucy, Jess and Mason must learn to trust each other. But finding Ty’s package is only the start of their battle. To avoid becoming collateral damage in someone else’s private war, they’ll have to fight back–and conquer their own doubts and fears.
Deception Cove is a gripping story of survival and redemption set in the Pacific Northwest’s most beautiful and most dangerous coastal terrain.
Owen Laukkanen’s Stevens and Windermere novels have been nominated for the Anthony, Barry, Edgar and Thriller Awards. A graduate of the University of British Columbia’s Creative Writing program, Laukkanen spent three years in the world of professional poker reporting before turning to fiction. He currently lives in Vancouver with his dog, Lucy.
Deception Cove is slated for publication on May 21, 2019, and is currently available for pre-order wherever books are sold.
Praised as “one of today’s finest book reviewers” by New York Times bestselling author Gayle Lynds, Ryan Steck (“The Godfather of the thriller genre” — Ben Coes) has “quickly established himself as the authority on mysteries and thrillers” (Author A.J. Tata). He currently lives in Southwest Michigan with his wife and their six children.