Sometimes “where are they now” has a pretty wild answer

So I’m scrolling through Cluelass’s Bloodstained Bookshelf, looking at upcoming releases for late 2006 and early 2007. And one release in particular – James Patterson’s newest project, in fact – makes my eyes widen bigtime.

Why?

The other guy’s byline.

See, it wasn’t all that long ago that Michael Ledwidge was being hailed as the Next Big Thing. His first novel, THE NARROWBACK, got a ton of attention upon its release in 1998 by Atlantic Monthly Press. When his agent, Richard Pine, sold Ledwidge’s next two novels to Pocket/S&S (as well as the paperback rights to THE NARROWBACK) the publisher hailed the author as “the young pretender to the noir mystery throne currently held by Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane, and George Pelecanos.”

So what happened? The usual, I suppose. The books didn’t sell, didn’t find its audience, there could be any number of reasons. The second book in that two book deal – which began with 2002’s THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD – still hasn’t seen the light of day so far.

I’d love to know how Patterson hooked up with Ledwidge, but perhaps there may have been a clue as to Ledwidge’s future on the front cover of that particular book. Just look at who supplied the blurb….