Book: Nemesis
Author: Brendan Reichs
Genre: Teen & Young Adult Mystery & Thriller, Action & Adventure, Fiction
Basic Description: It’s been happening since Min was eight. Every two years, on her birthday, a strange man finds her and murders her in cold blood. But hours later, she wakes up in a clearing just outside her tiny Idaho hometown—alone, unhurt, and with all evidence of the horrifying crime erased.
Across the valley, Noah just wants to be like everyone else. But he’s not. Nightmares of murder and death plague him, though he does his best to hide the signs. But when the world around him begins to spiral toward panic and destruction, Noah discovers that people have been lying to him his whole life. Everything changes in an eye blink.
For the planet has a bigger problem. The Anvil, an enormous asteroid threatening all life on Earth, leaves little room for two troubled teens. Yet on her sixteenth birthday, as she cowers in her bedroom, hoping not to die for the fifth time, Min has had enough. She vows to discover what is happening in Fire Lake and uncovers a lifetime of lies: a vast conspiracy involving the sixty-four students of her sophomore class, one that may be even more sinister than the murders.
Arden’s Thoughts: Y’all. This book blew my mind. I read it in 4 days. I only read books that quickly when I’m on vacation. I work with quite a few clients through my marketing business and Rodan + Fields business. They’re all paying me so I try to be the best darn steward of their investments as I can be.
Now, I promise you, all my work was turned in on time and very well done, but I didn’t sleep much the week I read Nemesis. I literally could not put down the book because every page felt like a cliffhanger swirled with a character development topped off with a plot twist.
I had no idea where Min and Noah were going, why they would be murdered (sorta) every two years, who was behind the conspiracy, and exactly how in the heck would Reichs find closure in a rapidly developing story that held as many questions as it did answers.
Lucky for me, I got to interview the author himself early on a rainy Saturday morning. Even in the middle of a clean eating diet, Brendan (we’re tight now so I can toss aside AP style) engaged me from the beginning of our phone conversation. Had it not been for my Southern upbringing that taught me to not over stay my welcome, I could have chatted with him for hours.
We recounted stories of his early days as a lawyer turned writer and our most embarrassing “only a book nerd could understand” fan moments. Mine involved chasing down John Grisham and Sarah Dessen at the same conference. His… well, you’ll have a chance to meet him on tour at a bookstore near you starting March 21. You can go visit him to learn his.
And we talked about Nemesis. Because our conversation was one of true creative types, sporadic with a hint of random, it wasn’t as linear as my previous author interviews. Hopefully, you’ll capture how engaging and personable he is as I share the highlights of our conversation with you…
Arden: Thanks so much for chatting with me this morning. I’ll be upfront with you. I don’t normally read books like Nemesis and enjoy them. I’m not a thriller kind of gal. But, wow! Your book is incredible. But, I’ve gotta ask… Where did you get the idea for this plot and your characters?
Brendan: Haha, I love that question. It makes me think I’ve created something a bit original and the twists and turns might surprise my readers.
The idea came from Highlander. I was toying with the finality of death. Then, what if you died but it didn’t really count. What if you saw yourself murdered, felt it, but then… you were alive again. What would that do to you?
And really, Nemesis, is the beginning of at least a two-part series. I’m working on the next book and it’ll dive even deeper into what happens with Min and Noah… what their lives of dying and then, well not dying, do to their personal development.
Arden: Yea… it’s interesting how Min handles it versus Noah. I think the idea of several people being in a similar situation yet reacting vastly different will resonate with readers. For me, it had me wondering… would I be the best version of myself in this story, or the worst?
Brendan: True. I wanted people thinking deeper than the thriller portion of the story. I also wanted Min and Noah to be very different. I chose Min to be the stronger of the two because so often it’s the boy in the story being the strong one. I didn’t want that. I wanted my girl lead to be strong, empathetic and understanding, but really strong. I wanted Noah to be the weak one, the character barely holding it together. I think more girls need to see that in characters so I wrote that in mine.
And, I don’t like characters who are flat or one-dimensional. I want to show that not everyone is perfectly good or perfectly evil. There’s depth to who I write.
Arden: Ah! I love it. And the depth shows. I mean, when the one guy… (Ha! Just kidding. I’m not giving away any twists.)
Brendan: No! Don’t give away anything. There’s so much to uncover.
Arden: Just keeping you on your toes since you’re sans coffee this morning. So, do these characters come to you in your sleep? Do you see the plot unfolding before you as you watch college basketball? What does your crafting process look like?
Brendan: I’m a former lawyer and current MFA (Masters in Fine Arts) student. I have to know the broad strokes, and a lot of the smaller strokes, before going into it. But, then I’ll be in the middle of a day-to-day activity and the link to the entire story will come to me. I actually have a 6’x4′ whiteboard in my office. I’ll storyboard in my office, outline chapters, and then write a paragraph for each chapter.
Thrillers should thrill. For me, that means carefully crafting the story from start to finish. I need a huge outline before me to keep me focused on where I am now and where the story is taking me.
I write so my reader is engaged, entertained. And every time I finish a book, I’m convinced it’s the last time I’ll ever write. I’ve poured everything into that book.
Are you dying to meet Brendan and hear more about his latest book, Nemesis? Well, if you’re in and around the Charlotte area, plan to be at the Barnes & Noble in the Arboretum Tuesday, March 21 starting at 7 p.m. For more tour details and his other locations including the D.C. area, Charleston, and others, click here.
arden's book club 