2018 Winner of the Ned Kelly Awards for Best Crime Fiction
"As one for whom certain story lines and characters have become as real as life itself, Crossing the Lines was a pure delight, a swift yet psychologically complex read, cleverly conceived and brilliantly executed." -Dean Koontz, New York Times bestselling author
Sulari Gentill, author of the 1930s Rowland Sinclair Mysteries, jumps to the post-modern in Crossing the Lines.
A successful writer, Madeleine, creates a character, Edward, and begins to imagine his life. He, too, is an author. Edward is in love with a woman, Willow, who's married to a man Edward loathes, and who loathes him, but he and Willow stay close friends. She's an artist. As Madeleine develops the plot, Edward attends a gallery show where a scummy critic is flung down a flight of fire stairs...murdered. Madeleine, still stressed from her miscarriages and grieving her inability to have a child, grows more and more enamored of Edward, spending more and more time with him and the progress of the investigation and less with her physician husband, Hugh, who in turn may be developing secrets of his own.
As Madeline engages more with Edward, he begins to engage back. A crisis comes when Madeleine chooses the killer in Edward's story and Hugh begins to question her immersion in her novel. Yet Crossing the Lines is not about collecting clues and solving crimes. Rather it's about the process of creation, a gradual undermining of the authority of the author as the act of writing spirals away and merges with the story being told, a self-referring narrative crossing over boundaries leaving in question who to trust, and who and what is true.
For fans of Paul Auster, Jesse Kellerman, Vera Caspary's Laura, Martin Amis, Haruki Murakami, Marisha Pessl
Industry Reviews
A tour de force! Crossing the Lines is a brilliant blend of mystery, gut-wrenching psychological suspense and literary storytelling. The novel stands as a shining (and refreshing) example of meta-fiction at its best--witty and wry, stylish and a joy to read.--Jeffery Deaver "Jeffery Deaver, New York Times best-selling author " "This is an elegant exploration of the creative process, as well as a strong defense of the crime-fiction genre, as Gentill illustrates the crossing of lines between imagination and reality. Rich with insights that can add pleasure to the reading of crime fiction."--Michele Leber "Booklist " "Fans of postmodern fiction will enjoy this departure from Gentill's 1930s series (Miles Off Course, etc.). It's an exploration, as one character puts it, of 'an author's relationship with her protagonist, an examination of the tenuous line between belief and reality, imagination and self, and what happens when that line is crossed.'"--Ian Littauer "Publishers Weekly " "Crossing the Lines is a book that smiles and offers cake while it thinks. Sulari Gentill delivers ideas and narrative entertainment, and it's a bonus that her novel is also sub-acidly satirical."--Robyn Walton "The Australian " ..".Crossing the Lines is a worthwhile read."--Katrina Niidas Holm "Mystery Scene Magazine " "Crossing the Lines is a new entry in a small sub-genre of metafiction in which we not only see writers at their craft but also see lines between reality and fiction blend so far that the fourth wall is just a distant speck in the rearview mirror."--Annie Smith "NetGalley " Crossing the Lines is a book that smiles and offers cake while it thinks. Sulari Gentill delivers ideas and narrative entertainment, and it's a bonus that her novel is also sub-acidly satirical.
--Robyn Walton "The Australian " Crossing the Lines is a new entry in a small sub-genre of metafiction in which we not only see writers at their craft but also see lines between reality and fiction blend so far that the fourth wall is just a distant speck in the rearview mirror.
--Annie Smith "NetGalley " Fans of postmodern fiction will enjoy this departure from Gentill's 1930s series (Miles Off Course, etc.). It's an exploration, as one character puts it, of "an author's relationship with her protagonist, an examination of the tenuous line between belief and reality, imagination and self, and what happens when that line is crossed."
--Ian Littauer "Publishers Weekly " As one for whom certain story lines and characters have become as real as life itself, Crossing the Lines was a pure delight, a swift yet psychologically complex read, cleverly conceived and brilliantly executed.
--Dean Koontz "Dean Koontz, New York Times Bestselling author " I thoroughly enjoyed the glamour of the ocean voyage, the warmth and wit among the friends, and yet all the time, simmering beneath the surface, was the real and savage violence, waiting to erupt. The 1930s are a marvelous period. We know what lies ahead! This is beautifully drawn, with all its fragile hope and looming tragedy.
--Anne Perry "Anne Perry, New York Times best-selling author on A Decline in Prophets " A delightful, cerebral novel featuring a crime writer who grows dangerously enamored with her main character. As the interplay between creator and created reaches Russian-nesting-doll complexity, it forces us to question the nature of fiction itself.
--Gregg Hurwitz "Gregg Hurwitz, New York Times best-selling author of Orphan X and The Nowhere Man " This is an elegant exploration of the creative process, as well as a strong defense of the crime-fiction genre, as Gentill illustrates the crossing of lines between imagination and reality. Rich with insights that can add pleasure to the reading of crime fiction.
--Michele Leber "Booklist " A tour de force! Crossing the Lines is a brilliant blend of mystery, gut-wrenching psychological suspense and literary storytelling. The novel stands as a shining (and refreshing) example of meta-fiction at its best--witty and wry, stylish and a joy to read.
--Jeffery Deaver "Jeffery Deaver, New York Times best-selling author " I thoroughly enjoyed the glamour of the ocean voyage, the warmth and wit among the friends, and yet all the time, simmering beneath the surface, was the real and savage violence, waiting to erupt. The 1930s are a marvelous period. We know what lies ahead! This is beautifully drawn, with all its fragile hope and looming tragedy.--Anne Perry "Anne Perry, New York Times best-selling author on A Decline in Prophets " A delightful, cerebral novel featuring a crime writer who grows dangerously enamored with her main character. As the interplay between creator and created reaches Russian-nesting-doll complexity, it forces us to question the nature of fiction itself.--Gregg Hurwitz "Gregg Hurwitz, New York Times best-selling author of Orphan X and The Nowhere Man " This is an elegant exploration of the creative process, as well as a strong defense of the crime-fiction genre, as Gentill illustrates the crossing of lines between imagination and reality. Rich with insights that can add pleasure to the reading of crime fiction.--Michele Leber "Booklist " A tour de force! Crossing the Lines is a brilliant blend of mystery, gut-wrenching psychological suspense and literary storytelling. The novel stands as a shining (and refreshing) example of meta-fiction at its best--witty and wry, stylish and a joy to read.--Jeffery Deaver "Jeffery Deaver, New York Times best-selling author "
