Today is the day. Chasing Daylight, the newest Garrison Chase mystery, is out in the world.
Here is the setup. Chase tags along on his girlfriend Carrie’s work trip to San Antonio, expecting a few easy days off. Then a courtesy visit to his late father’s oldest friend lands him inside a fully automated smart home. And the longer he stays, the less he trusts what it is showing him.
I want to tell you a little about where this book came from, without giving anything away.
A House That Knows Everything
Think about how many things in your home are listening right now. The speaker on the counter. The doorbell camera. The thermostat that knows when you leave for work. We invite all of it in because it is convenient, and most of us never think twice.
I started wondering what would happen if you dropped a man like Garrison Chase into a house like that. Chase is a lot of things. Tech-savvy is not one of them. He reads people, not screens. So I built him the worst possible place to be stuck: a ranch in the Texas hill country where every door, light and camera answers to a voice assistant named Vera, and the house knows far more about what is going on than he does.
Chase reads people, not screens. So I locked him in a house that only speaks screen.
All in One Afternoon
I gave myself a rule for this book. The whole story happens in a single afternoon. No darkness to hide in. No waiting for nightfall. Everything Chase faces, he faces in broad daylight, with the clock running the entire time.
It made the writing harder, and I think it made the book faster. There is no breathing room for Chase, and I hope there is none for you either.
The Heart of It
Underneath the tension, this is a story about fathers and sons. Chase lost his dad when he was a boy. Hank Drummond was his father’s best friend, and Chase shows up at his door with a box of old photographs and a lot of questions about the man he barely got to know.
Hank has stories. Some of them are about Chase’s father. Some of them he is not telling. That is all I will say.
A Little Texas Flavor
Chase may be a long way from home in this one, but he did not go hungry. If you have ever been to central Texas, you know the barbecue alone is worth the trip. I made sure he got some before everything went sideways.
GET YOUR COPY
Signed copies of Chasing Daylight are available now. Get yours here.
Near York today? Come celebrate with me in person. I will be on the Author Publishing Panel at Martin Library in York from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. I would love to say hello. You can see all my upcoming events here.
New to Garrison Chase? You can find the whole series here.
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Now, a question for you. Would you trust a house that talks back? Tell me in the comments whether you have gone all in on smart home gadgets or kept them out the front door.
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