The Next Big Thing

ISBN-10: 0778315339 ISBN-13: 9780778315339 Published: Harlequin MIRA, 08/27/2013 Pages: 352 Language: English

Continuing Flyleaf's pretty spectacular run of author events, Jason Mott will be launching his debut novel The Returned at Flyleaf tomorrow. The Returned has been garnering some great reviews and impressive pull-quotes from the likes of Douglas Preston and Eowyn Ivey, and has had the rights optioned for a television show by Brad Pitt's production company. As Independent Weekly noted on its Eight Days a Week feature, this may very well be the best chance you'll have to see Mott before he really blows up.

The Returned's plot revolves around a very sci-fi premise: what would happen if our departed loved ones started returning to life? This begins to happen all over the world, eventually returning Harold and Lucille Hargrave's (our protagonists) long-dead son to their family. Naturally, this causes its fair share of problems-- over-population, prejudice, etc.-- but Mott is less concerned with the sociological implications of his sci-fi scenario than the emotional ones. The Returned is, at its heart, a meditation on grief, but it's not without sprinklings of humor, Southern charm, and even a few action sequences. If you would like to see for yourself how Mott took on such a difficult topic, I'll see you at Flyleaf 7:00 tomorrow.