I Hunt Killers Art I Hunt Killers Fan Art

Apologies for the potentially misleading title of this mail. Permit me state right upwards forepart: In that location is no fourthI Hunt Killers volume.

Only therecould take been.

I figure now thatBlood of My Claret has been out for a couple of weeks, I might every bit well get ahead and tell the story of what-might-have-been. If you're interested in behind-the-scenes nitty-gritty, you may observe this interesting.

Oh, and of course: Spoilers beneath forBlood of My Claret!

So, some groundwork: I first proposedI Hunt Killers to my publisher way back in 2009. In the proposal, I wrote — towards the end — the following:

The book can stop two means. If it'due south a standalone, so Jazz — with his intimate knowledge of his father's secrets — catches him before he tin can get out of town and returns him to jail.

Just I think the story is actually a trilogy.

It went on from there to explain how a trilogy would build on the kickoff book.

Why did I propose two possibilities? Well, because here's a undercover for y'all: If you are the sort of author who lives on the bestseller lists and gets big, fatty movie deals and has readers voluntarily sacrificing puppies in your award, then a publisher would bethrilled to purchase a trilogy from you on the footing of just a proposal.

I am non that sort of author. I am a run-of-the-mill dude who writes books. I didn't want the publisher to see plans for a trilogy and retrieve,Sounds skillful, just risky. What if the kickoff book tanks? Then nosotros're on the hook for two more! So I gave them an out:Look, I want to do a trilogy, but trust me — I tin can exercise one book, if I have to.

One book or three books. Like shooting fish in a barrel, right?

Well, the publisher came back and said… Two books.

Of course.

What was I going to exercise? Aye, if I had to, I could tell a truncated version of the story in ane book, cross my fingers and hope that it did well enough to warrant returning to it someday. Or I could tell the whole affair in three.

Justtwo?

I gambled; I wrote that first volume as if I would accept three, not two, hoping that when the publisher saw the final product, they would be thrilled enough to desire more.

Time went by and they agreed to a third volume just before I started writingGame. Whew! ⁱ

But and then I had a thought: What if I didfour books?

As I worked onGame, I started to run across new possibilities. Sending Jazz to New York opened up whole new worlds to him, something I hadn't considered originally. I started thinking nearly it and realized that going to four books could be actually dramatic.

My publisher hadjust agreed to a tertiary volume…and the beginning ane wasn't fifty-fifty on sale even so! I knew it was risky (and borderline egomaniacal) to insist on a  fourth, just I did information technology anyway.

They said… "Allow us call back most information technology." And then gave me a appointment by which they would requite me their decision.

Fine. I finishedGame. I Hunt Killers hit shelves. Things were moving along.

Except…

Except I couldn't start on the third volume because I didn't know if it would be the last 1! ⁱⁱ Then I waited and I waited, and I kept thinking of how I would structure the two final books. And allow me tell you something — if yous hated theGame cliffhangers, you would havelost your mind over what I had planned for the ending of the 3rd book!

Determination 24-hour interval loomed and something funny happened. I sat down and I looked at my plan for Books 3 and iv, and I thought to myself, "I don't know if I want to practice it this way later all. I think three books might be the way to become."

My agent called me. "I'm pretty confident they're going to let you do the fourth book," she said, "just nosotros'll know tomorrow."

I told my wife that night: "If they want a 4th volume, I'll do information technology, just I'm not sure information technology's the correct style to go any more. I feel like an idiot for even pushing for it."

And the next day, my amanuensis's gut proved wrong. The publisher came dorsum and said, "We actually think this should be three books."

I have never in my life been so relievednon to sell a book! ⁱⁱⁱ

If y'all're curious, this is how Books 3 and 4 broke down in the alternate universe whereI Hunt Killers is a tetralogy, not a trilogy:

Volume 3 (The Crow King) would have picked up with the cliffhangers from Game and proceeded much the same…at first. But Billy doesn't impale Hat. Instead, it turns out Hat is one step alee of everyone. New York goes insane — at that place are at least two serial killers on the loose, one of whom just blew up an flat building to encompass his tracks. Jazz escapes from the hospital to track down Baton and observe his mom, realizing that communicable Chapeau is the shortest way to get to Billy. He's hunted by Hughes while he hunts Hat. When he catches Hat, Hat explains — in a crazy babble — about the Crows and warns Jazz of the Crow King. He and Hat fight; Hughes barges in and kills Chapeau. Jazz manages to escape and, at present aware of the Jack Dawes alias, tracks downwards Baton.Mom Skypes in. Jazz and Baton fight, Jazz stabs Billy in the back, turns to the iPad and says, "You're next."

Blast. Stop of Book iii. Commence a year of people screaming things similar, "Is Billy actually dead? Is Jazz's mom really Ugly J? How could you terminate some other book on a bewilderment?"

Volume four (Killswitch) picks upward ten seconds later. We learn that Jazz paralyzed Billy rather than killing him. ⁴ Jazz begins the hunt for his mother, kickoff digging up his grandpa to find Baton's "memoir," which spells out more of the Crows, leading him to the Crow King. At that place'south a nationwide manhunt for Jazz, whoshould plough himself in, but instead holes up in the Nod to immerse himself in Billy'due south memoir. He breaks into G. William's firm — "You're the but homo who's ever stopped ane of them; tell me how." — and G. William explains to him the events of Lucky Day. With his newfound knowledge of the Dawes identity, he starts hunting Crows, tracking them down 1 by i, interrogating them for data most the Crow King, then leaving them for the cops. Somewhen, he tracks downward Ugly J, and things proceed as they do inBlood of My Blood.

Whew! As you can see, the emotional arc of the story is the same, just the scope would have been much broader. I'thou glad, though, to take only the three books. I call back it'due south a tighter, stronger story this way. And, quite honestly, I'm glad not to take another yr of people complaining well-nigh cliffhangers. 🙂

1. What would I have done if I'd had to wrap things upwards in two books? I honestly don't know. I could have gotten to the catastrophe in ii books, but it would have felt emotionally truncated and I don't remember anyone would have been happy with it.
2. This, in instance yous're wondering, is why at that place were 18 months betwixt Books 2 and 3. No i's fault — we just didn't retrieve information technology through when that decision date was set.
3. And past the way, this is the origin ofLucky 24-hour interval. Originally, it was intended to be an extended flashback in Book 3 or Volume 4, but at present at that place was no room for it. At the same time, I wanted to offersomething for cliffhanger-suffering readers to read while they waited for the final book, so it worked out nicely.
4. My ane regret in the three-book solution is that you guys plant out Jazzwasn't a murderer after just a few pages.