#blogtour – No Exit by Taylor Adams @Tadamsauthor @Books_n_all #guestpost #crime

It’s my stop on the tour for this book today and I have a great guest post by Taylor below but first of all here’s what the book is about.

ONE OF THE TENSEST, MOST GRIPPING THRILLERS YOU WILL EVER READ. FROM TAYLOR ADAMS, UK AND US BEST-SELLING AUTHOR.

A kidnapped little girl locked in a stranger’s van. No help for miles. What would you do?

Darby Thorne is a college student stranded by a blizzard at a highway rest stop in the middle of nowhere. She’s on the way home to see her sick mother. She’ll have to spend the night in the rest stop with four complete strangers. Then she stumbles across a little girl locked inside one of their parked cars.

There is no cell phone reception, no telephone, no way out because of the snow, and she doesn’t know which one of the other travelers is the kidnapper.

Full of shocking twists and turns, this beautifully written novel will have you on the edge of your seat. 

Perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn, Paula Hawkins, or Stephen King.

Who is the little girl? Why has she been taken? And how can Darby save her?

TAYLOR is the author of EYESHOT and OUR LAST NIGHT

12 Things I Learned Writing NO EXIT by Taylor Adams

My writing “power hours” are apparently 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. Thank God for coffee.

Book titles are hard. Originally this one was NO REST, which, although poetic and loaded with narrative meaning, didn’t quite convey the intensity/genre of the novel. My mom came up with the title NO REST, which made changing it extra hard!

Nail guns can penetrate soft targets, such as human flesh, at distances up to around 10 feet. Thanks, YouTube.

Shutting your fingers inside a door hurts. Not sure why I felt the need to test this at home, but the findings are hard to argue with.

According to Google, there’s a lot of crime at rest stops. After hours + high vehicle traffic + low police presence = a fun setting for a thriller.

NO EXIT has an alternative ending. Maybe I’ll do a blog piece on the ending I’d originally planned… this resolution was darker and twistier, but ultimately felt like too much additional “ending” bolted onto the story’s climax.

Hold onto your favorite ideas – you never know when they’ll come in handy. There’s a certain plot twist to NO EXIT that I’d been literally waiting to use for years. I’d always wanted a chance to fit it into a story, and I finally got to.

The very first word of a novel probably shouldn’t be “F***.” I have my editor to thank for that insight.

Suspense is about uncertainty. With this novel, I used many of the techniques that worked with Eyeshot, but hopefully with more finesse. The story is more complex, and develops through more reveals and reversals. The setups are better drawn, I think, and the payoffs are richer.

Heroes should make mistakes. Throughout the chaotic night, Darby screws up almost as much as she succeeds. But I hope the protagonist’s realistic stumbles – and the ways she digs in and overcomes them – make her eventual victories all the more badass.

Heroes are only as good as their challenges. Every win should be hard-fought. Every loss should hurt. And ultimately, as in real life, no one is immune to the cruel whims of bad luck.

On that note, heroes don’t always survive to the last page. I hope you enjoy…

Thanks so much for that, Taylor. I’m wincing at the thought of having shut your fingers in a door – ouch!

Please do have a look at the other blogs on the tour.

Taylor Adams directed the acclaimed short film And I Feel Fine in 2008 and graduated from Eastern Washington University with the Excellence in Screenwriting Award and the prestigious Edmund G. Yarwood Award. His work has been selected by the Seattle True Independent Film Festival and his movie reviews have appeared on KAYU-TV’s Fox Life blog. He has worked in the film/television industry for several years and lives in Washington state with his girlfriend Jaclyn and their chihuahua, cat, and python. EYESHOT is Adams’ debut novel. Film and audio rights have been sold.

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