Personal Effects: Dark Art [Hardcover]

J.C. Hutchins (Author), Jordan Weisman (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 9, 2009

Want to try it yourself?  Call the phone number shown on book's cover: 212-629-1951 and listen to the voicemail message for main character Zach Taylor.

 

Personal Effects follows the extensive notes of therapist Zach Taylor’s investigation into the life and madness of Martin Grace, an accused serial killer who claims to have foreseen, but not caused, his victims’ deaths. Zach’s investigations start with interviews and art sessions, but then take him far from the hospital grounds—and often very far from the reality that we know.

The items among Grace’s personal effects are the keys to understanding his haunted past, and finding the terrifying truth Grace hoped to keep buried:

• Call the phone numbers: you’ll get a character’s voicemail.

• Google the characters and institutions in the text: you’ll find real websites

• Examine the art and other printed artifacts included inside the cover: if you pay attention, you’ll find more information than the characters themselves discover Personal Effects, the ultimate in voyeuristic storytelling, represents a revolutionary step forward in changing the way people interact with novels.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Hutchins, author of the audiobook podcast trilogy 7th Son, makes his print debut with the stellar first of an interactive supernatural thriller series. Zach Taylor, an art therapist, must evaluate Martin Grace, a blind audio engineer suspected of a dozen homicides, to determine whether Martin is mentally competent to stand trial for the murder of hip-hop singer Tanya Gold, whose body was torn literally limb from limb. Martin claims he's an unwitting psychic sniper, foreseeing crimes actually committed by a Russian demon or Dark Man. One of his possible earlier victims was Martin's psychiatrist, Sophronia Poole, the girlfriend of Zack's dad, William V. Taylor, the New York City DA seeking to convict Martin. Weisman, an alternative reality game whiz, is responsible for the items inside the book's front pocket—a psychiatric report, family photos, death and birth certificates, etc.—that allow the reader to follow a multimedia trail of clues. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Hutchins, author of the audiobook podcast trilogy 7th Son, makes his print debut with the stellar first of an interactive supernatural thriller series.  Zach Taylor, an art therapist, must evaluate Martin Grace, a blind audio engineer suspected of a dozen homicides, to determine whether Martin is mentally competent to stand trial for the murder of hip-hop singer Tanya Gold, whose body was “torn literally limb from limb.”  Martin claims he’s an “unwitting psychic sniper,” fore-seeing crimes actually committed by a Russian demon or “Dark Man.”  One of his possible earlier victims was Martin’s psychiatrist, Sophronia Poole, the girlfriend of Zack’s dad, William V. Taylor, the New York City DA seeking to convict Martin.  Weisman, an alternative reality game whiz, is responsible for the items inside the book’s front pocket—a psychiatric report, family photos, death and birth certificates, etc.—that allow the reader to follow a multimedia trail of clues."  --Starred Publishers Weekly (June)

"Start with an eerie setting. Add equal parts House, CSI, andThe X-Files. Place yourself at the side of an accidental detective embroiled in a complex web of madness, revenge, betrayal, and secret identities. Then light some dynamite under the box most novels live in and watch the pieces land outside the pages—in art, on websites, in e-mails, and in phone numbers that give you answers when you call. This is the future of storytelling, and it’s a thrilling ride." --Anthony E. Zuiker, Creator/Executive Producer of the CSI: Franchise

"Jordan Weisman is once again the vanguard of that new form of narrative—Transmedia Storytelling. The enigmatic tapestry of characters and events slowly slips off the page, taking the reader with it into a mosaic of facts and clues that compel us to know the truth behind the murders of the accused: Martin Grace. So compelling is the journey between these precisely crafted symbiotic worlds, the reader may scarcely recognize their own transformation from passive to active, as they pick up where the text subsides and become the protagonist." --Gore Verbinski, Director

"The world may be black to Martin Grace, but he can peer deep into your soul, find where your fears slither, and make them sway like a snake charmer. Personal Effects is a rocking genre-mash that mixes mystery with psychodrama and serves it up in a high-bandwidth torrent of terror." --Scott Sigler, author of Infected and the hit podcast novel Earthcore

"J.C. Hutchins delivers another mind-ripping story that shakes the foundations of reality. In the creation of Martin Grace he offers a richly complicated catalyst for events that keeps writhing the reader on a deadly twisted hook that won't let go. Don't worry about the lap bar. It won't save you from screaming on this ride." --Patrick Lussier, director of White Noise 2, Dracula 2000, and editor of the Scream trilogy, Halloween: H20, The Eye, and Red Eye

 "Personal Effects: Dark Art was impossible to put down and almost as hard to pin down. A twisted descent into the mind of a serial killer ... a supernatural thriller about a frightening and unfathomable evil that's as old as time ... a horrific tale of dark, unearthly secrets that bind ... and kill.  "Zach Taylor is assigned to the mysterious case of psychiatric patient Martin Grace -- a suspected serial killer with an airtight alibi for the murder he's accused of committing. Zach's search for the truth leads him, and the people he loves, into a terrifying world of dark secrets an ancient evil that threatens to consume them all. Terrifying, steeped in dread and populated with vibrant and complex characters, Personal Effects: Dark Art plunges you into a hidden world of supernatural intrigue.  It's a journey you won't soon forget." --Jeffrey Reddick, writer of Final Destination
 

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; First Edition edition (June 9, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312383827
• ISBN-13: 978-0312383824
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1.2 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (87 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #945,209 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

J.C. Hutchins crafts transmedia narratives, screenplays and novels for such entertainment companies as A&E, Cinemax, Discovery, St. Martin's Press, Smith & Tinker and Leviathan Games. He has been profiled by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR's Weekend Edition, ABC Radio and the BBC.

J.C. began his career as a "new media novelist," using emerging storytelling strategies such as podcasting, social media and crowdsourcing to create and distribute his acclaimed 7th Son thriller novels.

His novel Personal Effects: Dark Art (co-written with digital storytelling pioneer and game designer Jordan Weisman) featured online and physical transmedia elements that blurred the reader's role from passive consumer to active participant. Personal Effects is presently in development as a Starz TV series, with Gore Verbinski executive producing.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Creepy, compelling, believable June 10, 2009

By M. Lafferty

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I had a chance to read an advanced copy of Personal Effects: Dark Art. This novel succeeds admirably in being creepy and scary, but the book does much more than that. For one, it paints the main characters, especially the tightly knit support system of the protagonist, in a realistic and sympathetic light. You care about these people, you want to be their friends. The action is detailed and, at times, gruesome, the kind that makes you want to cover one eye while the other eye keeps reading because you just can't stop.

The plot and characterization doesn't stop with the novel, though. The personal effects that come with the book allow you to learn more about the mysteries inside, and if you follow the websites and phone numbers, you will get more information about the goings on of the novel than the characters themselves got.

This book grabbed me, pulled me in, and didn't let go. Hutchins' narrative voice is fun to read; he makes you feel like you're sliding effortlessly into the plot. Expect more awesome from this author in the future. For now, buy this book.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Interactive, Creepy and Compelling June 9, 2009

By Tabitha Smith

Format:Hardcover

Probably the best book I've read in the horror genre in a long time. Personal Effects: Dark Art combines the classic elements of horror, thriller and dark plot with the "edge of your seat" gripping "page-turning" experience you'd get from a feature film.

What I love most about Personal Effects is that it's not JUST words on a page, it's an experience. The book is set up to give the reader visual clues, concepts and personality through the pictures and items within the novel. Even the way the text is set on the page speaks volumes to the mood, tone and feel of this book. This is a full immersion experience. If you're one of those folks who can't sit through a novel - this is the one to try.

From page one I was sucked into the story, the characters and the mystery. And I think you will be too.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars No less than the ultimate in escapism novel. And isn't that what it's all about? June 9, 2009

By Matt Wallace

Format:Hardcover

It's hard to imagine any author taking the concept a novel further than J.C. Hutchins and Jordan Weisman have with PERSONAL EFFECTS: DARK ART. What CBS have tried desperately to do for television viewers with HARPER'S ISLAND, Hutchins and Weisman have done for readers, and in far sleeker, more immersive, and just plain addictively entertaining fashion.

But at its core, PE:DA is no more or less than exactly what you want in a novel: a sprawling, engaging, thrilling, chilling read. For me it was all about the characters. PE:DA's Zach Taylor is a franchise protagonist, the kind of character you want to keep coming back to and keep hanging out with like an old friend. Far removed from the tired cliche of the flawed detective and cookie cutter forensic pathologist/investigator that take centerstage in most best-sellers, Zach is as relentless as either archetype and yet as relateable as any character from a Kevin Smith movie. He's just a guy, who happens to have a unique calling in life and an even more unique insight. The concept is a blast of cool air on the cerebral nethers. That is to say, refreshing.

But as much as I dig Zach, the real star of PE:DA is The Brink, the psychiatric hospital and subterranean setting of much of the book's most haunting sequences. Vivid, horrifying, intriguing, it is a place you will remain in long after you close the book. Believe me. I rank it right up there with THE SHINING's Overlook Hotel as one of the great set pieces in horror fiction. No hype. Just fact.

I have no doubt we're going to see the reality-bending concept of PERSONAL EFFECTS: DARK ART co-opted and rehashed by every major publisher and author before too long. Get it here in its purest, most original form first.

To sum up: Come for the story. Stay after for the experience.