Brian Harper

	Sign In Sign-Up

From 1992 to 1998, I published six thrillers, from Shiver (1992) to Mortal Pursuit (1998). Sadly, by '98 the sales figures of my books had dropped off pretty sharply. My publisher, with my wholehearted approval, decided that the best way to revive my career was to "reinvent" me. So I became Michael Prescott, and under that name I published nine more books, plus a tenth (Riptide) that I self-published in 2010.

Nowadays I'm starting to re-release my Brian Harper books as Kindle ebooks under my Michael Prescott name. The first of these ebook editions is Mortal Pursuit, which can be purchased from Amazon here.

Shiver, 1992

On a bad night in L.A., shy and timid Wendy Alden survives a terrifying encounter with a serial killer nicknamed the Gryphon. But the Gryphon isn't through with Wendy. His insane obsession drives him to strike at her again and again ... To survive, Wendy must discover an inner strength she never suspected she possessed.

Shudder, 1994

LAPD detective Robert Card is shaken by his latest case -- the murder of a small boy who reminds him of his own young son. What Card doesn't know is that the killer is a beautiful and seductive woman, Dominique, psychotically addicted to murder as performance art ... and she's chosen Card's son as her next victim.

Shatter, 1995

Donna Wildman, trained in profiling the criminal mind, assists the police force of a small California beach town in the investigation of a teenage runaway's brutal slaying. The trail of clues leads to the police department itself ... and perhaps to Detective Mark Logan, Donna's former fiancé, now a shattered man with secrets only Donna can learn.

Deadly Pursuit, 1996

Meet Jack Dance, ladies' man, a charming multiple murderer now on the run from the FBI. Jack seeks refuge on an isolated island in the Florida Keys, only to run into his childhood friend Steve Gardner, vacationing with his wife Kirstie. Over the next twenty-four hours the Gardners' marriage, already under strain, will be pushed to the breaking point ... because Jack and Steve share a secret, which Kirstie cannot be allowed to learn.

Blind Pursuit, 1997

Psychologist Erin Reilly is abducted from her Tucson home by a man with a bizarre problem. He's a serial killer who burns his victims alive -- and he needs Erin's help to find a cure for his obsession before he kills again. While Erin's sister Annie searches for her, Erin delves into her captor's psyche and his past, discovering a secret guilt ... and an unexpected connection between the killer and herself.

Mortal Pursuit, 1998

Rookie patrolwoman Trish Robinson has been on duty for less than a week in rural Santa Barbara County when she and her training officer answer a prowler call at a remote mountaintop estate. The two cops walk into an ambush laid by a crew of ruthless criminals who have invaded the estate and taken the residents hostage. Only Trish survives the attack. Disarmed, cut off from help, and outnumbered five to one, the young rookie must play a game of cat-and-mouse with hardened killers.

And I wrote an essay, "A Motive for Murder," which appeared in the collection The Fine Art of Murder, edited by Ed Gorman, Martin H. Greenberg, Larry Segriff, & Jon L. Breen (Carroll & Graf, 1993).

All my novels were paperback originals published by Signet Books, a division of Penguin Putnam. Paperbacks don't stay in print forever, and mine are no exception; they are all out of print now.

Obvious places to look for used copies are local used book stores, thrift shops, and libraries. But I'd say the best way to obtain the books is to search the used-book databases on the Web.

I worked as a screenwriter and freelance journalist in Los Angeles a few years before publishing my first psychological thriller, Shiver, in 1992. Five more books followed. More than one million Brian Harper novels have appeared in print worldwide, including foreign-language editions in Europe and Asia.

A: For sheer momentum, I like Mortal Pursuit the best. For plot structure, probably Blind Pursuit. My favorite character is Wendy in Shiver. She came alive in a way that some of the others did not.

A: Shiver and Mortal Pursuit have both been optioned by producers. I think the Mortal Pursuit project is defunct, but Shiver stands a good chance of being made in the near future as a low-budget independent film.

A: The most useful ones I've read are How to Write Best-Selling Fiction, by Dean R. Koontz, and Writing the Breakout Novel, by Donald Maass.