Signs of life for THE FORGOTTEN MAN

The latest edition of Robert Crais‘ newsletter went out this morning and within it, some real news about his next Elvis Cole novel:

THE FORGOTTEN MAN will be released in February 2005. The prepublication reaction to this new Elvis Cole novel has been fantastic. THE FORGOTTEN MAN has been chosen as a main selection for both the Book-of-the-Month Club and the Mystery Guild. This is RC’s first ‘main selection’ by the BOTM Club, so we’re jazzed.

Those of us on the DetecToday mailing list have been talking about the seeming change in Crais’s writing style and the tortured publication history of his most recent books. When THE FORGOTTEN MAN was initially delayed till February, I had a rather, shall we say, spirited reaction to the whole thing. Most of my errant speculation hasn’t been answered, although I still wonder how much a shift in editors affected his work. In any case, the whole idea of “fantastic prepublication reaction” leaves me somewhat curious: so far, I’ve yet to see any evidence of galleys being sent to booksellers and reviewer, and so my take on prepub reaction is that it’s in-house, i.e. sales reps and publicity people employed by Random House, the parent owner of Crais’s publisher Doubleday. But do correct me if I’m wrong: has anyone seen a galley of the book yet? Report back (or email me) if you have…