Jurjevics, Juris 1943–

PERSONAL: Born 1943, in Latvia; married Jeanne Heifetz (a writer and editor).

ADDRESSES: Home—Brooklyn, NY. Office—Soho Press Inc., 853 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.

CAREER: Worked in publishing, 1968–; Soho Press, New York, NY, cofounder, publisher and mid-1980s–. Military service: Served in U.S. military during Vietnam war.

WRITINGS:

The Trudeau Vector (novel), Viking (New York, NY), 2005.

Southwest Review, member of advisory board.

SIDELIGHTS: Juris Jurjevics was born in Latvia in 1943. He and his family lived in refugee camps in Germany for five years before they immigrated to the United States, where Jurjevics grew up in New York. Jurjevics served in the Vietnam War, and then in 1968 got his start in the publishing industry. During the mid-1980s, he cofounded the independent Soho Press, where he serves as publisher.

Jurjevics's first novel, The Trudeau Vector, is a biotechnical thriller. The story follows American epidemiologist Jessica Hanley as she travels to the northern part of Canada to determine why several scientists have died—three of them suddenly and inexplicably, one by stripping naked and allowing himself to freeze to death. Hanley is forced to leave her dyslexic son behind for the duration of her investigation, and must also battle the effects of the long winter nights, among other distractions, as she attempts to sort out the mystery. A contributor for Kirkus Reviews remarked that the novel includes "lots of very entertaining and very weird science within a workable thriller plot," while a Publishers Weekly reviewer noted that Jurjevics's book "will lure those with a taste for deep science, medical intricacies and a plot that twists and shines like the aurora borealis."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 2005, review of The Trudeau Vector, p. 656.

Library Journal, August 1, 2005, Teresa L. Jacobsen, review of The Trudeau Vector, p. 68.

Publishers Weekly, September 27, 2005, John F. Baker, "Publisher Sells Own Thriller," p. 12; June 6, 2005, review of The Trudeau Vector, p. 35.

ONLINE

Southwest Review Online, http://www.southwestreview.org/ (September 1, 2005), "Juris Jurjevics."