The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon | April 7, 2023

Ramón Rodríguez, star of the WILL TRENT TV show based on Karin Slaughter’s novels, appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. He taught Jimmy how to Salsa and discussed working with a dialect coach to develop his character’s sound. Click below to watch:

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

Ramon also appeared on GMA, GMA3 and The Tamron Hall Show where he touted the show and shared stories from his time on set. 

GMA3

The Tamron Hall Show

GMA

Bank Street College of Education | April 1, 2023

Opal Lee and What It Means to Be Free: The True Story of The Grandmother of Juneteenth by Alice Faye Duncan, illustrated by Keturah A. Bobo. Tommy Nelson/Thomas Nelson. ISBN: 978-1-4002-3125-6

Yellow Dog Blues by Alice Faye Duncan, illustrated by Chris Raschka. Eerdmans BFYR/Eerdmans. ISBN: 978-0-8028-5553-4

The Struggle for the Right to Vote by Alice Faye Duncan, illustrated by Charly Palmer. Calkins Creek/Astra BFYR/Astra Publishing House. ISBN: 978-1-68437-979-8

Each year members of the Children’s Book Committee review thousands of titles for accuracy, literary quality, diversity, emotional impact, and social relevance and organize them according to age, topic, and genre. The Committee is composed of volunteers with an established expertise in the field of children’s literature, including librarians, authors, teachers, psychologists, and booksellers.

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The Root | March 18, 2023

“You Never Know” is the latest work from Connie Briscoe, named one the “100 Black Novelists You Should Read” by USA Today. In her first new fiction in over a decade, Briscoe centers on a hearing-impaired woman who realizes that she’s married to a man who may not be what he seems.

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Crime Reads | March 17, 2023

Although Briscoe is a prolific author in genres like romance, historical fiction, and nonfiction, her first official work of domestic suspense, You Never Know is a sly commentary on classics like Jane Eyre and Rebecca updated for our times.

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BookRiot | March 7, 2023

For domestic suspense fans: Alexis Roberts is living in fear after a recent break-in and attempted assault. The police don’t have much to go on since it was in the dark, making it difficult for Alexis to see, and she didn’t have her cochlear implants in, making it difficult for her to hear. She’s alone in a giant house, her husband having disappeared when she confronted him with her discovery that his previous wife was missing and presumed dead. Was her attacker a stranger…or someone she knows?

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shereads | March 2, 2023

Alexis Roberts is scared and shaken after someone breaks into her home and attempts to assault her while she is asleep. Unable to find her cochlear implants during the invasion, Alexis, who is hearing impaired, has little details to share with the police during their investigation. A year prior, Alexis meets Marcus and believes she’s met the man of her dreams, but when they marry, Marcus becomes cold and distant. As Alexis digs up his past, she finds out his ex-wife is missing and presumably dead, and when she finds out? Marcus disappears. Trapped and vulnerable, Alexis beings to wonder what Marcus is really capable of as she wait for her intruder to return.

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Booklist Online | February 15, 2023

Briscoe, who has been writing historical fiction and romance for nearly three decades, makes her first foray into domestic suspense. Protagonist Alexis is a hearing-impaired woman of color in her late thirties, attractive and successful in her career. She decides to end her relationship with her obsessive boyfriend, Paul, after she meets Marcus, a handsome attorney. Their whirlwind romance is spontaneous and a refreshing change. When Marcus proposes after just six months, Alexis agrees to a hastily assembled wedding despite her parents’ concern that she has hardly had a chance to get to know him. Turns out they were right. Marcus turns “reckless, even dangerous.” The dangerous part is not just his professional dealings, but the fact that his first wife, Charlene, is missing and suspected dead. Alexis is left wondering what to do when Marcus disappears, and she nearly drowns fleeing an intruder who breaks in one night and attempts to assault her. More drama than suspense, but Briscoe’s fans will still find much to enjoy.

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MadameNoire | January 30, 2023

Denene Millner is a woman of many words. Her writing career started at the Associated Press fresh out of Hofstra University. At a tender age, editors identified the literary GOAT she’s blossomed into. After an eight-year stint as an entertainment and political reporter with the New York Daily New, Millner’s career took a sharp turn. The young journalist added a New York Times Best Selling author to her resume, after her book The Sistahs’ Rules: Secrets for Meeting, Getting, and Keeping a Good Black Man in 1997–and it was up from there. To date, Millner has authored over 31 books and, now, is the Vice President and publisher for Denene Millner Books, her own book imprint that centers storytelling for Black children.

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Literary Hub | January 26, 2023

The 41st John Dos Passos Prize was awarded to Uruguayan American writer Carolina De Robertis (The President and the Frog; Cantoras; The Gods of Tango) by Longwood University. The Dos Passos Prize is the oldest literary award given by a Virginia college or university, and every year honors an “American writer who experiments with form, explores a range of voices and deserves more recognition.”

“In clear, precise prose, De Robertis makes audible the beating hearts of people navigating a terrifying world,” said Dos Passos Prize committee chair Brandon Haffner said in a statement. “But De Robertis’ stories aren’t so much interested in exploiting that terror for narrative suspense as they are in interrogating what compassion and resilience look like in the face of confounding policies and state violence.”

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Great Opening Lines | January 18, 2023

The house screamed, “Fire!” from every orifice.

After seven words, we are fully engaged, and the narrator makes sure we stay that way as the opening paragraph unfolds.

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GARDEN & GUN | JANUARY 4, 2023

Crime-writing queen and Atlanta resident Karin Slaughter sees her creation Will Trent come to life in this new series featuring the fictional Georgia Bureau of Investigation special agent, played by the Puerto Rico native Ramón Rodríguez. The first episode, which has garnered generally good reviews, aired at 10:00 p.m. on ABC on Tuesday, January 3, and is also available on Hulu to stream; new episodes will air and stream on subsequent Tuesdays. Can’t wait?

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NEWSWEEK | JANAUARY 3, 2023

Karin Slaughter's bestselling crime novels Will Trent are being brought to life on the small screen, and Ramón Rodríguez relished the opportunity to dig into the "compelling, complicated" character the author created, he told Newsweek.

Rodríguez takes on the titular role of Special Agent Will Trent, who works for the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI) in Atlanta and who is tasked with solving a grisly murder and missing persons case.

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PARADE | JANUARY 3, 2023

New series based on Karin Slaughter's bestselling novels joins strong ABC drama lineup.

Will Trent season 1 will lean heavily on the stories from Karin Slaughter's first Will Trent novel, Triptych.

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VARIETY | JANUARY 2, 2023

Rodríguez benefits, perhaps, from the source material; Trent, a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent based in Atlanta, emerged from the mind of novelist Karin Slaughter. Here, he’s an astute but fallible sleuth, brought to the point of frustration both by his learning disability and an incident in which he seemed to have missed crucial clues.

“Will Trent” will premiere Tuesday, January 3 at 10 p.m. ET

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B&N Reads | December 28, 2022

A new year means it’s time for a new #TBR, and we couldn’t be more thrilled about the upcoming January releases! With big names returning with new stories, debut authors that we are falling head over heels for, and beloved characters giving us a constant as the years change, our most anticipated books in kids and YA for January 2023 are certainly ones you won’t want to miss! 

Let Me Call You Sweetheart
Mary Lee Donovan, Brizida Magro

Whether you’re a sugar pie, cutie poo or darling delight, Let Me Call You Sweetheart is everything a picture book should be. Mary Lee Donovan’s poetry and Brizida Magro’s art go together like seasalted caramel and cookies n’cream (or whatever your personal equivalent would be). 

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ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION | December 28, 2022

Georgia Bureau of Investigation special agent Will Trent is a figment of Atlanta author Karin Slaughter’s imagination come to life in 10 best-selling books.

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SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL | OCTOBER 21, 2022

Ride On by Faith Erin Hicks

Who is the mysterious new girl at Edgewood Stables? When Victoria shows up one day to ride the horses she tells the others there that she does not need new friends. But why is she here? And what happened at her stable before?

Dragon Bones: The Fantastic Fossil Discoveries of Mary Anning by Sarah Glenn Marsh, ill. Maris Wicks

Born in 1799, no one would have expected Mary Anning to be remembered as the mother of paleontology. The story of a scientist that couldn’t stop digging up impressive, ancient sea creatures.

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LIBRARY JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 1, 2022

Vital Lies by Daniel Pyne. Brilliance Audio. (Sentro, Bk. 2). Feb. 2022. 11:57 hrs. ISBN 9781713594390. $34.99. THRILLER

In Cold War Germany in the 1980s, teenager Aubrey Sentro is an entry-level intelligence operative for the CIA. When she discovers that an entire CIA unit’s cover is about to be blown, she sacrifices herself to give them time to escape. She is captured and handed over to former Stasi agent Günter Witt, who beats, rapes, and impregnates her. Often drugged, she is told by her captors that the baby was stillborn. Then the Berlin Wall falls, and the Cold War is over. Sentro returns home to her family but with memory loss and ongoing PTSD. Thirty years later, Witt reappears in connection with a series of bombings in Europe. Meanwhile, a woman claiming to be Aubrey’s daughter also surfaces with deadly intent. When Aubrey and her daughter are drawn into the search for answers and put in peril, Aubrey must recover the long-buried truth about her past. This is Pyne’s second book (after Water Memory) in the “Sentro” series. Narrator Christina Traister skillfully presents the many voices and accents necessary to make the story come alive.

VERDICT Listeners of spy thrillers will enjoy this book. Recommended.

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