Abrahams, Peter 1947-

Personal

Born June 28, 1947; married Diana Gray (a teacher), 1978; children: Seth, Ben, Lily, Rosie. Education: Williams College, B.A., 1968.

Addresses

Home—Cape Cod, MA. E-mail—pa@cape.com.

Career

Writer. Worked as a spear fisher in the Bahamas, 1968-70; Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, radio producer.

Awards, Honors

Edgar Allan Poe Award nomination for best novel, Mystery Writers of America, 1994, for Lights Out; Edgar Allan Poe Award nomination, and Agatha Award for best children's/young-adult fiction, both 2006, both for Down the Rabbit Hole.

Writings

JUVENILE NOVELS; "ECHO FALLS MYSTERY" SERIES

Down the Rabbit Hole, Laura Geringer Books (New York, NY), 2005.

Behind the Curtain, Laura Geringer Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Into the Dark, Laura Geringer Books (New York, NY), 2008.

ADULT NOVELS

The Fury of Rachel Monette, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1980.

Tongues of Fire, M. Evans (New York, NY), 1982.

Hard Rain, Dutton (New York, NY), 1988.

Pressure Drop, Dutton (New York, NY), 1989.

Revolution Number 9, Mysterious Press (New York, NY), 1992.

Lights Out, Mysterious Press (New York, NY), 1994.

The Fan, Warner Books (New York, NY), 1995.

A Perfect Crime, Ballantine Books (New York, NY), 1998.

Crying Wolf, Ballantine Books (New York, NY), 2000.

Last of the Dixie Heroes, Ballantine Books (New York, NY), 2001.

The Tutor, Ballantine Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Their Wildest Dreams, Ballantine Books (New York, NY), 2003.

Oblivion, William Morrow (New York, NY), 2005.

End of Story, William Morrow (New York, NY), 2006.

Nerve Damage, William Morrow (New York, NY), 2007.

Delusion, William Morrow (New York, NY), 2008.

OTHER

Red Message, 1986.

(With Sidney D. Kirkpatrick) Turning the Tide: One Man against the Medellin Cartel (nonfiction), Dutton (New York, NY), 1991.

Contributor to anthologies, including 666, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2007; and Up All Night, Laura Geringer Books (New York, NY), 2008.

Adaptations

The Fan was adapted for film by Frank Darabont and Phoef Sutton and released by TriStar, 1996. The "Echo Falls" novels have been adapted for audiobook by HarperAudio, beginning 2006.

Sidelights

Peter Abrahams is the author of critically acclaimed crime novels that include Nerve Damage, Oblivion, End of Story, and Lights Out, the last which was nominated for the Mystery Writers of America's coveted Edgar award. Turning to a younger readership, the Massachusetts-based novelist and father of four is also the creator of the "Echo Falls" mystery novels, which includes the award-winning Down the Rabbit Hole and Behind the Curtain. Commenting on his books to Kay Longcope in the Boston Globe, Abrahams stated: "I'm interested in putting ordinary people into extraordinary situations, as [British film director] Alfred Hitchcock did, rather than making James Bond-type superheroes and putting them in life and death situations. You can generate a lot more dread. I want to directly attack the imagination, to ensnare it. That's the way a good book works for me."

In Down the Rabbit Hole readers meet thirteen-year-old Ingrid Levin-Hill, a middle-school student living in small-town Connecticut. A fan of famous literary sleuth Sherlock Holmes, Ingrid is also a likeable eighth grader with a love of soccer. When a woman the girl has met is found murdered, Ingrid recognizes that their brief friendship makes sleuthing an obligation. As the mystery surrounding the woman's death thickens, the girl develops a useful friendship with Joey, the son of the town's chief of police. She also manages to keep up with the clues while studying and rehearsing the title role in a stage version of Alice in Wonderland. Calling Down the Rabbit Hole "good, smart entertainment," Claire Rosser praised Abraham's novel for its realistic setting and for a heroine who "acts in ways most of us readers wouldn't dare to attempt."

In Behind the Curtain Ingrid and Joey team up to prove the truth of her allegations about a local drug ring that may be selling steroids to her older brother Ty. Meanwhile, Grampy is hoping to keep his farm from greedy land developers and Ingrid's father seems preoccupied with worries about his job. With its focus on the steroid crisis among young athletes, Abrahams's novel addresses "a timely issue [that] gives this mystery a ‘ripped from the headlines’ flavor," according to Connie Fletcher in Booklist. Noting Ingrid's similarly to teen sleuth Sammy Keyes in the mystery series by Wendelin Van Draanen, Kliatt contributor Rosser called the novel "entertaining and well constructed." In School Library Journal Denise Moore dubbed Behind the Curtain "a fast-paced mystery with well-defined characters," and in Kirkus Reviews a critic concluded that Abraham's "wonderfully realized" young sleuth shines in "a deliciously plotted, highly satisfying adventure."

The "Echo Falls" series continues with Into the Dark, which Rosser deemed "the best [installment] of all." Here the mystery centers on a murder committed on Grampy's farm, and Grampy is arrested as the suspected killer. When the elderly man refuses to give police an alibi, Ingrid decides to come to his rescue and follows the mystery back into Grampy's experiences during World War II. Praising the suspense that builds throughout Into the Dark, School Library Journal contributor Sheila Fiscus added that "Ingrid's ability to not only think through the crime but also solve it is impressive." Noting that "the hallmark of this series is the author's revealing of clues to readers ahead of Ingrid," a Kirkus Reviews contributor described the teenage sleuth as "intrepid."

One of Abrahams' early adult thrillers, Lights Out, focuses on Eddie Nye. Finally released from prison on trumped-up drug charges, Eddie is quickly plunged into dangerous intrigue while investigating the circumstances of his frame-up. Also adapted as a feature film starring Robert DeNiro and Wesley Snipes, The Fan focuses on Gil Renard, a divorced and down-and-out traveling salesman, and Bobby Rayburn, an arrogant and successful baseball player. Renard, a baseball fanatic who has slid into committing petty crimes, is obsessed with Rayburn. He manages to become caretaker on Rayburn's estate while also planning to murder the star athlete on the playing field. According to a Publishers Weekly critic, in Lights Out Abrahams presents readers with "a fascinating and memorable character" in Eddie, making the book "consistently interesting and suspenseful." In Booklist, Wes Lukowsky called The Fan a "firstrate thriller," and Library Journal reviewer Marylaine Block termed it an "excellent novel."

A complex marriage is at the heart of another thriller, A Perfect Crime. Here Roger Cullingwood is in an unhappy marriage, and his employment situation has not been the best for months. The man's idyllic perception of his life is finally shattered when he learns that his wife, Francie, is romantically involved with a well-known local psychologist. Determined to restore his enormous ego, Roger engineers a complex plan to kill his wife but loses control of the scheme after enlisting the help of a convicted murder. In Booklist Thomas Gaughan cited the novel's "complex and compelling" plotting and "sharp and almost flawless" dialogue. A Perfect Crime "is fast-paced, tense, even witty as it careens to its bloody conclusion," noted Karen Anderson in her Library Journal review.

What will a middle-class kid from a small Colorado town do to pay for a prestigious university education in New England? Abrahams presents one possible scenario in Crying Wolf, "a suspense novel built around kidnapping, extortion and youthful stupidity," according to a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Nat, a high school valedictorian, uses his $2,000 essay-contest winnings to help his mother cover the tuition for his freshman year at Inverness. When his mom loses her job, Nat decides to subsidize his education by kidnapping, hatching his "victimless" scheme with the help of wealthy twin friends from school.

The title character in Abrahams' thriller The Tutor was likened by a Publishers Weekly contributor to the Hitchcock character Norman Bates of Psycho fame: an apparently ordinary and pleasant fellow who gradually emerges as a sinister threat to an entire family. Hired by the suburban Gardner family to prepare son Brandon for his Scholastic Aptitude Test, tutor Julian Sawyer manages to penetrate the weaknesses of the family members, guiding each toward a personalized, destructive objective. It is up to Brandon's teenaged sister Ruby to unravel the emerging clues and save her family from danger. "Once again this author finds menace in dailiness," the Publishers Weekly reviewer observed, and a Kirkus Reviews critic viewed the plot of The Tutor as "the familiar laced with lingering irony."

In End of Story, Abrahams "solidifies his reputation as one of the best contemporary thriller writers around," proclaimed a Publishers Weekly contributor. This novel takes readers to upstate New York as they follow protagonist Ivy Seidel. Trained as a writer but finding it difficult to find work, Ivy eventually gets a job at Dannemora Prison, teaching writing to inmates. When a poem by one of her incarcerated students professes innocence, Ivy decides to clear the man's name, her efforts recounted by Abrahams in what Booklist contributor Keir Graff described as "prose [that is] "cool and vivid, [and] keeps the focus … on the story."

A sculptor with only months to live is the focus of Nerve Damage. Here Abrahams' "succinct prose" conveys the mystery surrounding the untimely death of the ill man's wife's in a helicopter accident, using "more than enough substance … to keep readers … engrossed," according to Booklist critic Thomas Gaughan. In another thriller, Delusion, a tropical storm leaves in its wake a formerly hidden videotape that sheds new light on the murder of Nell Jarreau's boyfriend twenty years before. Now married to the chief of police, Nell is haunted by the crime and fascinated by the now-released convict, who she may have incorrectly identified as the murderer. In Booklist, Stephanie Zvirin praised the thriller's complex characters, concluding that in Delusion "readers catch a glimpse of how betrayal and loyalty can be equally deadly."

In Oblivion Abrahams moves into the detective genre. Private investigator Nick Petrov is trying to locate a missing teen, but the memory loss and mental confusion he experiences due to a cerebral hemorrhage slows and then halts his investigation. The challenges both in Nick's career and his personal life soon entwine in what New Yorker critic Joyce Carol Oates referred to as "a Dali landscape of baffling clues, memory lapses, and visual hallucinations." As Abrahams' story unwinds, the psychological fear associated with Nick's amnesia inspires fear: The fragmented clues available to him cause him to question his own integrity. Could he himself be a criminal—even a murderer? Oates called Oblivion "gratifyingly attentive to psychological detail, richly atmospheric, [and] layered in ambiguity."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Armchair Detective, spring, 1990, William J. Schafer, review of Pressure Drop, p. 238.

Booklist, August, 1992, Peter Robertson, review of Revolution Number 9, p. 1998; February 1, 1994, Wes Lukowsky, review of Lights Out, p. 996; January 15, 1995, Wes Lukowsky, review of The Fan, p. 868; July, 1998, Thomas Gaughan, review of A Perfect Crime, p. 1827; August, 1999, Karen Harris, review of A Perfect Crime, p. 2075; January 1, 2000, Vanessa Bush, review of Crying Wolf, p. 833; March 1, 2006, Keir Graff, review of End of Story, p. 43; May 1, 2006, Connie Fletcher, review of Behind the Curtain, p. 47; February 15, 2007, Thomas Gaughan, review of Nerve Damage, p. 37; February 1, 2008, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Delusion, p. 5.

Boston Globe, February 22, 1988, interview by Kay Longcope.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, September, 2006, review of Behind the Curtain, p. 4.

Entertainment Weekly, April 21, 1995, Gene Lyons, review of The Fan, p. 49; March 15, 2007, Jennifer Reese, review of Nerve Damage, p. 72.

Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 2002, review of The Tutor, p. 588; June 15, 2003, review of Their Wildest Dreams, p. 817; December 15, 2004, review of Oblivion, p. 1151; February 15, 2006, review of End of Story, p. 143; April 1, 2006, review of Behind the Curtain, p. 341; August 1, 2007, review of 666; February 15, 2008, review of Delusion; March 1, 2008, review of Into the Dark.

Kliatt, March, 2005, Claire Rosser, review of Down the Rabbit Hole; May, 2006, Claire Rosser, review of Behind the Curtain, p. 4; March, 2008, Claire Rosser, review of Into the Dark, p. 6.

Library Journal, August, 1980, Samuel Simons, review of The Fury of Rachel Monette, p. 1655; April 15, 1982, review of Tongues of Fire, p. 823; December, 1987, A.M.B. Amantia, review of Hard Rain, p. 126; May 1, 1991, review of Turning the Tide: One Man against the Medellin Cartel, p. 89; July, 1992, Michele Leber, review of Revolution _9, p. 119; February 1, 1994, Dan Bogey, review of Lights Out, p. 109; February 1, 1995, Marylaine Block, review of The Fan, p. 97; August, 1998, Karen Anderson, review of A Perfect Crime, p. 128; December, 1998, Danna Bell-Russel, review of A Perfect Crime, p. 173.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, June 27, 1982, Raymond Mungo, review of Tongues of Fire, p. 10; January 17, 1988, Charles Champlin, review of Hard Rain, p. 10.

New Republic, September 9, 1996, Stanley Kauffmann, review of The Fan, p. 37.

New York, July 5, 1982, Rhoda Koenig, review of The Fury of Rachel Monette, p. 103.

New Yorker, April 4, 2005, Joyce Carol Oates, review of Oblivion, p. 94; April 2, 2007, review of Nerve Damage, p. 79.

New York Times Book Review, February 21, 1988, William J. Harding, review of Hard Rain, p. 20; October 11, 1998, Marilyn Stasio, review of A Perfect Crime, p. 28.

Publishers Weekly, June 27, 1980, review of The Fury of Rachel Monette, p. 79; April 9, 1982, Barbara A. Bannon, review of Tongues of Fire, p. 43; November 6, 1987, Sybil Steinberg, review of Hard Rain, p. 58; September 29, 1989, review of Pressure Drop, p. 60; April 19, 1991, review of Turning the Tide, p. 54; June 1, 1992, review of Revolution Number 9, p. 50; January 10, 1994, Sybil Steinberg, review of Lights Out, pp. 43-44; January 23, 1995, review of The Fan, pp. 58-59; July 20, 1998, review of A Perfect Crime, p. 206; January 10, 2000, review of Crying Wolf, p. 42; July 1, 2002, review of The Tutor, p. 55; August 4, 2003, review of Their Wildest Dreams, p. 56; April 4, 2005, review of Down the Rabbit Hole, p. 60; February 27, 2006, review of End of Story, p. 34; January 15, 2007, review of Nerve Damage, p. 32; February 18, 2008, review of Delusion, p. 136.

Quill and Quire, February, 1990, Paul Stuewe, review of Pressure Drop, p. 27.

School Library Journal, May, 2005, Susan W. Hunter, review of Down the Rabbit Hole, p. 120; April, 2006, Denise Moore, review of Behind the Curtain, p. 133; March, 2008, Sheila Fiscus, review of Into the Dark, p. 193.

Spectator, January 30, 1982, Harriet Waugh, review of The Fury of Rachel Monette, pp. 22-23.

Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), August 2, 1992, Richard Martins, review of Revolution Number 9, p. 5.

West Coast Review of Books, July, 1982, review of Tongues of Fire, p. 33.

Voice of Youth Advocates, June, 2005, Cyndi Gueswel, review of Down the Rabbit Hole, p. 124; April, 2006, Barbara Johnston, review of Behind the Curtain, p. 37.

ONLINE

HarperCollins Web site,http://www.harpercollins.com/ (October 15, 2008), "Peter Abrahams."

Peter Abrahams Home Page,http://www.peterabrahams.com (October 15, 2008).

WritersBreak Web site,http://www.writersbreak.com/ (October 15, 2008), Jennifer Minar, interview with Abrahams.