Doug at Mission Point Press hooked me up with a book coach to do a review of my current manuscript.  Her name is Susanne Dunlap. She’s an award-winning author of historical fiction and an experienced book coach who has helped many authors. We scheduled an onboarding call for August 26th to talk about expectations and timing, but first she asked me to complete a questionnaire about my novel, Chasing Money. These are the questions she asked:

• What is the genre of your book?
• What is the point of your book?
• Who is your main character and what is his/her arc of change?
• What is the main conflict that is preventing your character from getting what he/she wants?
• Give a quick summary of what happens in your book.
• Who is your ideal reader?
• What are some comparable titles? Which books would sit next to yours in a bookstore?
• Which of those have you read?
• Write one sentence that summarizes your ideal review of your book.
• Write one sentence that summarizes your nightmare book review.

Some of these questions were easy for me to answer. The book is a thriller.  Two friends, busy raising money for a start-up business have their lives and families threatened when their new business partner is killed by Russian mobsters. The mob wants millions of dollars and a mysterious missing painting returned or the heroes will share their partner’s fate.

The point of the book is captured in its title. The book is about chasing money. Like most entrepreneurs, the main characters are consumed by the need to raise money from investors – and in this process they haven’t looked too closely at where the money is coming from. Their new partnership puts them in the crosshairs of the Russian mob, and suddenly they are chasing millions of dollars that the Russians claim were stolen from them.  The two heroes are businessmen, not criminals, but the pressure of chasing money leads them to make dangerous decisions. 

The main character is Martin Schott, and the story is told from his point of view. Martin is not a traditional hero – he’s not a tough guy, or the strong stalwart type. The two friends are very different. When he had money, Martin’s friend used to race cars. Martin used to collect fountain pens. When Martin’s in danger he gets scared and desperate. Over the arc of the story, we see Martin making questionable but very human choices to try to protect his family and his future.

I won’t go through the main conflict or the summary of what happens here, because that would give away too much information. No spoilers in this blog post! 

The question about my ideal reader was harder for me.  I’d never thought about that, probably because I’m writing this book for myself, not for any particular reader. My eventual answer was that the book would probably be most appealing to people like me, a middle-aged white American man. But I think I’m probably limiting myself too much – there are people of all ages, sexes and race who loved reading the DaVinci code. And I do think that, in addition to the traditional audience for a thriller, this book will  appeal to people who are interested in startups, in the Russian mob, in Nazi loot or in forged art.

The four comparable titles that I listed are The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown, Loot by Aaron Elkins, The Kill Artist by Daniel Silva, and Mickey Outside by David Lender. I’ve read and enjoyed them all.

My ideal review is “Chasing Money, the international bestseller that inspired the Netflix movie of the same name, is a compelling read that grabs you from the opening paragraph and never lets you go.” 

My nightmare review is “Chasing Money is a poorly-written amateurish mess that is implausible, boring, and unreadable. Don’t waste your time.”  

Any bets on which review is more likely?

Michael