Jamie Freveletti, whose 2009 debut novel, Running from the Devil (Emma Caldridge series) garnered both a 2010 Barry Award for Best Thriller and a Thriller Award for Best First Novel, has just received even further acclaim. Reporter Rick Kogan, in the Jan. 22, 2011 issue of the Chicago Tribune, revealed that Freveletti has been selected to continue the late Robert Ludlum’s Covert-One series. That decision was made by Ludlum’s estate.
Ludlum, who died in 2001, was an acknowledged master of the thriller genre, having authored numerous standalone and series titles. Ludlum’s Covert-One series takes its name from the top-secret governmental organization for which his protagonist, Lt. Col. Jonathan Smith, works.
The Covert-One series consists of eight titles. The Hades Factor (2000), which Gayle Lynds co-authored, was the only title published during Ludlum’s lifetime. The other seven titles were penned by Lynds, Philip Shelby, Patrick Larkin, Keith Ferrell and James H. Cobb, each of whom based their books on the characters Ludlum had created.
Freveletti will now continue this tradition. “It is a little weird, just having these characters ... handed to me, but I like them, and I do have a great deal of freedom in the story I am creating,” Kogan quoted Freveletti as saying. “This whole Ludlum project is such an honor. I'm working as hard as I can to make the novel something true to his genius.”
Ludlum’s estate is not alone in seeking writers to continue the work of established series authors. During the past year, both the Conan Doyle estate and that of Ian Fleming have pursued that course. The Ian Fleming estate selected Jeffrey Deaver to continue the James Bond books. Deaver’s Carte Blanche will be released in the U.S. on June 14, 2011.
Just last week, the Conan Doyle estate revealed its choice of Anthony Horowitz to produce the first approved new release in the Sherlock Holmes series. Horowitz’s work will be out in September 2011.
Freveletti’s still untitled addition to Ludlum’s Covert-One series will be published in 2012. She will also release her third novel, The Ninth Day, in Fall 2011.
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