Cover Reveal: REPUTATION by Sara Shepard
Dutton Books | Available December 3rd, 2019
Mark your calendars, psychological thriller readers--Sara Shepard, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Pretty Little Liars series, has a new adult suspense novel on sale later this year: REPUTATION, coming December 3rd, 2019 from Dutton Books! Thanks to Sara’s team at Dutton, I’m absolutely thrilled to reveal the (gorgeous!) cover for REPUTATION on CBTB today -- and not only that, but CBTB readers will also be treated to a mini Q&A with Sara right here, too!
This is a personal dream come true for me - I’m a huge fan of Pretty Little Liars, and couldn’t be more excited for Sara’s newest adult suspense release later this year. If you love juicy suspense novels with twists, turns, and lots of intrigue, you’ll want to add REPUTATION to your reading list immediately.
Read on to get the inside scoop on Sara Shepard’s newest release, including plot details, a mini Q&A with the author, and a look at the book’s gorgeous cover!
COVER REVEAL: REPUTATION
By Sara Shepard
About REPUTATION:
In this perfectly-paced new novel from Sara Shepard, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Little Liars, the women of a tight-knit college town learn through gossip, scandal, betrayal, and even murder, who their neighbors and husbands really are.
Aldrich University is rocked to its core when a hacker dumps 40,000 people's e-mails—the entire faculty, staff, students, alums—onto an easily searchable database. Rumors and affairs immediately leak, but things turn explosive when Kit Manning's handsome husband, Dr. Greg Strasser, is found murdered. Kit's sister, Willa, returns for the funeral, setting foot in a hometown she fled fifteen years ago, after a night she wishes she could forget. As an investigative reporter, Willa knows something isn't right about the night Greg was killed, and she's determined to find the truth. What she doesn't expect is that everyone has something to hide. And with a killer on the loose, Willa and Kit must figure out who killed Greg before someone else is murdered.
Told from multiple points of view, Reputation is full of twists, turns, and shocking reveals. It's a story of intrigue, sabotage, and the secrets we keep—and how far we go to keep them hidden. Number one bestseller Sara Shepard is at the top of her game in this brand-new adult novel.
Mini Q&A: Sara Shepard
Author of Reputation
Crime by the Book: First things first, thank you so much for stopping by Crime by the Book to give us a sneak peek into your newest psychological suspense novel, Reputation. We have so much to look forward to when this book hits shelves in December! In your own words, what is Reputation about?
Sara Shepard: Thank you so much for having me! It's a total treat, and I'm a huge fan! So Reputation is about a group of people in a community who are affected by an email hack. Some of them are affected directly, and some of them worry about being affected, as they have things to hide. As with so many of my books, of course there's a murder-- and a twisty investigation. But more than that, it's about family, friendship, secrets, dredging up old wounds, and how far you'd go to keep things hidden. Some people would go quite far!
CBTB: What inspired you to write this story? Was there one “lightbulb moment” when the concept for this book popped into your head, or did it develop over time?
Sara: So actually, Reputation was kicked around as a TV series idea before it was a book. Someone I work with mentioned an idea of a community-wide hack, as the Sony hack had happened recently. And then it grew from there. A few characters have always been the same-- Willa and Kit, the sisters, and I feel like Laura has always been the same sort of person. But it has definitely been an evolution. I wish I had books that just popped into my head but with most of them, it's a lot of trial and error, writing and rewriting, and going in one direction and realizing that there's a much better path that I haven't yet tried.
CBTB: If you had to describe Reputation in 3 adjectives, which would you choose?
Sara: Juicy, stealthy, surprising.
CBTB: Tell us about Reputation’s protagonists, Kit and Willa. Who are these women? How would you describe them to someone meeting them for the first time?
Sara: Kit and Willa are sisters, but they weren't very alike growing up and aren't very alike now. Kit is more of the social one of the group-- the people pleaser. Willa is driven and a little bit dismissive of people-- she doesn't like getting close. She's the more sarcastic of the two. Kit is more aspirational/ optimistic. Willa's a good person to tell your problems to-- she's an investigative journalist, and yearns for the truth. On the other hand, Kit would be a fun person to get a drink with because she'd probably always keep the conversation light and fun.
CBTB: I love suspense novels that take place in a university setting, which makes me doubly excited for Reputation! What do you think makes a university a perfect backdrop for a psychological thriller?
Sara: I'm a sucker for setting stories in locales that have an air of reverence about them. The fictitious college, Aldrich University, is touted as one of the best schools in the country...it's hard to believe anything would ever go wrong in a place like that. But colleges are also the breeding grounds for bad habits, backward traditions, and a lot of cover-ups. It was so easy to brainstorm nasty stuff that came out about people in the hack-- all I had to do was Google "college scandals" and it was all right there! Also, at colleges, you're supposed to feel "safe"-- it's a place of learning, you're paying a lot of money for people to protect and watch over your children-- you don't want to imagine all the horrific events that could happen. There's a scene where we see the school actually being hacked--computer monitors going dark, freaking out, strange messages coming on the screen, and a database popping up of everyone's emails, available for public consumption For me, that's more horrific than a murderer hiding in a corner!
CBTB: No spoilers, of course, but can we expect a plot twist or two in this story? I can’t wait to dig in!
Sara: Yes, there are a few twists! There are two main questions-- one, who is the killer, and two, who did the hack. I think-- I hope!-- readers will be surprised by both.
Many thanks to Sara Shepard for taking the time to answer my questions about her newest suspense novel, Reputation! Mark your calendars - Reputation hits bookstores December 3rd, 2019.
Book Details:
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Dutton (December 3, 2019)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1524742902
ISBN-13: 978-1524742904
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