Private investigators fight to protect client from a stalker who knows her every move in ‘I Know Where You Sleep’

Posted on | by Marissa DeCuir

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Young woman hides secrets of her own in award-winning author’s latest thriller


Herndon, VA — Alan Orloff is the author of numerous award-winning thrillers, and his latest work steps into the world of private investigation with his signature vivid characters and heart-pounding scenes. I Know Where You Sleep will have you looking over your shoulder from its very beginning.

“I know where you play,” rasps an ominous voice on the phone at Jessica Smith’s gym. “I know where you pray,” whispers the same voice at her church. The police are no help, so Jessica, tired of fleeing and unwilling to be cowed into hiding, turns to her last resort — P.I. Anderson West.

West dives into Jessica’s case, pro bono. With some overzealous help from his loose-cannon sister Carrie, he unearths a horde of suspicious men in Jessica’s life — vindictive ex-beaus, squirrelly co-workers, skittish boyfriend wannabes. But are any twisted enough to terrorize her?

After the stalker breaks into Jessica’s bedroom — “I know where you sleep” — and she goes missing, West must find her before the stalker does.

Praise for I Know Where You Sleep

“Sleep is one thing that readers won’t get much of when they pick up this stellar novel! Gripping from first page to last, Orloff’s I Know Where You Sleep virtually defines the psychological thriller. And Anderson and Carrie are two of the most compelling — and appealing — heroes in crime fiction to come along in years. You’ll love them just as much as you’ll be swept up by Orloff’s brilliant plot.”

Jeffery Deaver, New York Times bestselling author of The Bone Collector and The Never Game

“A winner! A twisty page-turning cat and mouse pursuit with a surprise around every corner. If you’re looking for a truly good guy — Anderson West is the perfect choice. This charming protagonist — a PI with heart and determination and a pure sense of justice — will captivate you. The talented Alan Orloff has created a unique and memorable character, and a terrific book.”

Hank Phillippi Ryan, bestselling and award-winning author of The Murder List

“With clock-ticking yet compassionate prose, Alan Orloff portrays one of the horrors of all our modern lives: the stalker. I Know Where You Sleep is a private eye novel for these all-too-real modern days. Orloff’s P.I. protagonist Anderson West is a man of modern personal complications and classic professional simplicity: he wants to stop evil and crime where he can — and takes readers along for the entertaining, revealing ride.”

James Grady, New York Times bestselling author of Six Days of the Condor

More about “I Know Where You Sleep”

Alan Orloff | Feb. 10, 2020 | Down & Out Books
978-1-64396-077-7 | $17.95 (paperback) | $7.99 (ebook)
Thriller | Private Investigator | Crime

When Anderson West takes on the pro-bono case of Jessica Smith, a twenty-something restaurant hostess being stalked, the last thing he expects is for his investigation to spiral into breaking and entering, assault, and legal threats from the suspects and the victim.
But that’s what happens when you run a private investigation firm with your rule-breaking, loose-cannon sister at your side.

While Anderson spends his time deducing and interviewing possible suspects, Carrie handles interrogations in her own unique—and personal—fashion. And it seems like everyone is a suspect. There are Jessica’s ex-boyfriend and current boyfriend, her incredibly creepy boss and the suspicious reverend at her church who definitely seems to be hiding something.
Or someone.

The closer Anderson and Carrie get to an answer, the more danger Jessica finds herself in. Her stalker’s notes become increasingly more threatening, trading the scary phone calls and text messages for terrifying photographs and notes at her gym, work, and home. To make things even more complicated, Jessica’s backstory begins to unravel, and the secrets of her past could potentially solve everything… if only she’d let Anderson and Carrie in.
With time ticking down, will the brother-sister investigative team be able to solve Jessica’s case before she tries something foolhardy, like facing up to the tenacious bastard on her own, armed only with a handgun and a prayer?

More about the author

ALAN ORLOFF has published eight novels, including his latest thriller, PRAY FOR THE INNOCENT, which won the 2019 ITW Thriller Award for Best E-Book Original. His debut mystery, DIAMONDS FOR THE DEAD, was an Agatha Award finalist; his story, “Dying in Dokesville,” won a 2019 Derringer Award (“Happy Birthday” was a 2018 finalist); and “Rule Number One” was selected for THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES 2018. His PI novel, I KNOW WHERE YOU SLEEP, will be published by Down & Out Books in February 2020. Alan loves cake and arugula, but not together. Never together. www.alanorloff.com

 

In an interview, Alan Orloff can discuss:

  • How to create realistic, captivating characters
  • The research that goes into his books, including completing a Citizen’s
    Police Academy
  • His quota-based writing process
  • Why crime fiction is such a persistently popular genre
  • His fiction writing workshops and tips for budding authors

An interview with Alan Orloff

How do you think your wide array of work experience has helped you to write realistic characters?

I’ve worked in offices and shipyards, factories and libraries, in hi-tech and no-tech, in government and the private sector. Which means I’ve seen a wide variety of people in a wide variety of environments, and let me tell you, people are FASCINATING—in different ways, of course—no matter where they work or what they do!

What draws you to the thriller and crime fiction genre?

Life can be tough, and the news is full of tragic events, most of which are out of my control. In my books and stories, however, EVERYTHING is in my control. I can make sure that the hero vanquishes the villain, that good defeats evil, and that justice always prevails. Which I do.

Why did you focus on P.I.’s for this book?

I grew up watching so many of the cop and detective shows in the 1970s: Mannix, The Rockford Files, Barnaby Jones, Ironside, McMillan & Wife, Banacek, Kojak, Columbo, Cannon, Baretta, Shaft, Police Woman, Tenafly, The Rockford Files, and Charlie’s Angels. And then I discovered Robert B. Parker’s Spenser! It was only natural that someday I wrote about P.I.s!

You teach fiction writing workshops when you aren’t busy writing yourself. What is some of the advice that you give to budding authors?

I think it’s so, so important to get to the end of a manuscript—to prove to yourself that you can put 80,000 words together in some kind of semi-coherent order. So I urge writers to use the BICFOK method—Butt In Chair, Fingers On Keyboard—until you type those two magical words, “The End.” Of course, that’s when all the really hard work begins (revision)!

You completed your local Citizen’s Police Academy. What did you learn through that experience that you have worked into your writing?

It didn’t take me long to realize that if I wanted to write about crime, I needed to learn more about it. So I knocked over a 7-Eleven (bada-bing). Actually, I took a Citizen’s Police Academy where we learned about all aspects of the policing business: gangs, drugs, K-9, traffic control, and investigation/forensics. We toured the county detention center (jail), we got to use a LIDAR gun, we went to the shooting range to fire a real gun, and we went on a ride-along. In fact, my ride-along was so eventful that I wrote a novel (with the first scene based on that) called, amazingly enough, RIDE-ALONG.