Lee Child: MatchUp

ERIC VAN LUSTBADER published his first international best seller, The Ninja, in 1980. Since then he’s written more than twenty-five bestselling books, which include not only his own works, but, a continuation of the famed Jason Bourne series. His work has been translated into over twenty languages. Before turning to writing full-time, he enjoyed highly successful careers in the New York City public school system, where he still holds licenses in both elementary and early childhood education, and in the music business, where he worked for Elektra Records and CBS Records. He lives in both New York City and Long Island. Find out more at ericvanlustbader.com.

GAYLE LYNDS is the New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of ten espionage novels, including The Assassins, The Book of Spies, and The Last Spymaster . Her career began oddly—with short stories published in literary journals while at the same time writing male pulp fiction. After that, her first novel, Masquerade, was listed by Publishers Weekly among the top ten spy novels of all time. Still focusing on suspense and geopolitics today, she’s hailed by Library Journal as “the reigning queen of espionage fiction.” With Robert Ludlum, she created the Covert-One series. A member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, she cofounded International Thriller Writers with David Morrell in 2004. She lives with her husband in Maine. Get all the details at www.GayleLynds.com.

VAL McDERMID didn’t have the practical skills to make a success of writing stage drama, and her first agent did nothing to help her acquire them. Instead, he fired her as a client. That’s when she turned to crime writing (thrillers, on this side of the pond), a genre she’d always enjoyed reading. She started writing Report for Murder in 1984, but the book wasn’t published until 1987. Thirty-five more novels have followed (look who got the last laugh on that inconsiderate agent). She splits her year between writing and promoting, living in South Manchester and Edinburgh. To learn more visit valmcdermid.com.

DAVID MORRELL was a mild-mannered college professor when he wrote a novel called First Blood (1972), a story about a Vietnam veteran suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder who comes into conflict with a small-town police chief, the two fighting their own version of the Vietnam War. That troubled veteran was named Rambo. He went on to write many more New York Times bestselling thrillers, including the classic spy trilogy The Brotherhood of the Rose, The Fraternity of the Stone, and The League of Night and Fog . Lately, he’s been exploring 1850s Victorian London in his Thomas De Quincey series. With Gayle Lynds, in 2005, he cofounded International Thriller Writers. He lives with his wife in New Mexico. To explore more, visit davidmorrell.net.

KATHY REICHS is actually Dr. Kathy Reichs, one of only eighty-two forensic anthropologists ever certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology. For years she consulted to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in North Carolina, and she continues to do so for the Laboratoire de Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale in the province of Québec. Her first novel, Déjà Dead, became a New York Times best seller. There have been twenty-three Temperance Brennan novels since, most #1 New York Times best sellers. The hit Fox TV series Bones is based on her books. She divides her time between Charlotte, North Carolina, and Montreal, Québec. All things Kathy Reichs can be learned at kathyreichs.com.

CHRISTOPHER RICE wrote four New York Times bestselling thrillers, received a Lambda Literary Award, and was declared one of People magazine’s Sexiest Men Alive—and all before he was thirty years old. His debut novel, A Density of Souls, was published when he was but twenty-two. It became both a controversial and overnight best seller, greeted with a landslide of media attention, much of it devoted to the fact that he is the son of famed vampire chronicler, Anne Rice. Nowadays, with his best friend, New York Times bestselling novelist Eric Shaw Quinn, he has his own Internet radio show. You can download, or stream, every episode at TheDinnerPartyShow.com. For more on Chris visit christopherricebooks.com.

JOHN SANDFORD is the pseudonym of John Roswell Camp, who won the Pulitzer Prize for journalism in 1986. He is the author of forty published novels, all of which have appeared on the New York Times bestseller lists, most in the #1 slot. He is also the coauthor of three young adult books with his wife, Michele Cook, and coauthor of the science fiction thriller Saturn Run with Ctein. The past is one of his passions, and he is the principal financial backer of the Beth-Shean Valley Archaeological Project in the Jordan River Valley of Israel (with a website at rehov.org.). He has homes in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and in the countryside near Hayward, Wisconsin. Learn more at johnsandford.org.

LISA SCOTTOLINE is an Edgar Award winner and New York Times bestselling author of suspense fiction. She also writes a humorous nonfiction series with her daughter Francesca Serritella, which began with Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog. She has served as president of Mystery Writers of America and has over thirty million copies of her books in print, published in over thirty-five countries. She lives in the Philadelphia area with an array of disobedient pets. Get better acquainted with her at scottoline.com.

KARIN SLAUGHTER is the New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of sixteen novels and countless short stories (they could actually be counted, but she’s too lazy). Her work has been translated into thirty-five languages and has sold nearly forty million copies. She enjoys running and not running. She once swam with sharks in Australia, went weightless in the zero-g Vomit Comet, jumped naked into the Baltic after a bracing sauna in Finland, and plans to enter the suborbital space program once stuff reliably stops blowing up. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia, and divides her time between the kitchen and the living room. Learn more at karinslaughter.com.

INTERNATIONAL THRILLER WRITERS was created in 2004 as a worldwide organization geared to authors of thriller fiction and nonfiction. Currently, more than 3,800 members are scattered across 47 countries. Combined, they have more than 3 billion books in print. Each year, the organization gathers for ThrillerFest, a 5-day celebration of the genre. To find out more, visit www.thrillerwriters.org.

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2017 by International Thriller Writers, Inc.

“Honor & . . .” copyright © 2017 by Sandra Brown Management, Ltd. and C. J. Box

“Footloose” copyright © 2017 by Val McDermid and Really Scary Books/Peter James

“Faking a Murderer” copyright © 2017 by Temperance Brennan, L.P. and Lee Child

“Past Prologue” copyright © 2017 by Gabaldon Literary LLC/Diana Gabaldon and Steve Berry

“Rambo on Their Minds” copyright © 2017 by The Gayle H. Lynds 2016 Revocable Trust and Morrell Enterprises, Inc.

“Short Story” copyright © 2017 by Karin Slaughter and Michael Koryta