A year after releasing his debut novel thriller, Fridley’s Nicholas Grady is back with a suspenseful sequel, as “Under the Water: The River Holds Many Secrets” gets set for release April 30.
Taking place one year after the events of the first novel in the series, “Under the Water” features a series of surprises, thrills and action as it winds along the river parkways of Minneapolis.
From the book: The year is 1994. People are being attacked along the river parkways in Minneapolis and disappearing. No one seems to be able to find them, despite the dedicated efforts of the local police. It is up to Detective Ron Clark to solve the case, along with the help of Officer John Wallace and their young friends, Tony Jankowski and Jeff Larson. As the story unfolds, clues are slowly revealed, each one bringing the group closer to solving the case as people continue to disappear in the area. With each new clue, however, a new mystery is revealed, leading to more questions than answers. Will Ron and his team be able to solve the case before another person disappears? Will they be able to locate these victims and figure out who is behind the attacks?
Grady’s work on the book began shortly after publishing his debut novel. While he hadn’t originally planned on a sequel, the strong reviews from “Under the Bluffs” convinced him to turn it into a series.
“At that time, I already had some ideas bouncing around in my head of what it might be,” Grady said. “The second book takes place one year after the events of my first book, ‘Under the Bluffs.’ The second book, ‘Under the Water,’ does have some spoilers though, so make sure to read the books in sequential order!”
Grady felt that writing the second book was easier for the most part, yet spent more time editing this time around as he worked to come up with the best twists possible.
“I think the hardest part for me was figuring out where and when to drop the big plot twist that happens in the story,” Grady said. “It took me a while to figure out how and when to do that. I did eventually figure it out, but I was stuck on that point for quite a while.
“You want to make sure that people don’t figure things out too early. So, I had to figure out a way to make it work, as well as make it believable. Making it believable was probably the biggest challenge, but I think that I pulled it off. The story this time around deals with a mysterious cult and demon worship, and I had to find a way to make that work.”
After ‘Under the Bluffs’ had such a strong reception, Grady is excited to have his second book released to the world.
“Everyone that I have met at book signing events or connected with through social media has really loved it,” Grady said. “There have been more Tik Tok videos made about it than I can count, and the book has maintained a four-plus rating on Amazon, as well as Goodreads. I personally feel that it has gone above and beyond what my expectations were.
“I am excited for them to dive into a new and very dark mystery/suspense novel. I’m excited for them to revisit the characters that they grew to love in the first book as well. In many ways, the second book is darker than the first one. I think that people will really enjoy the concept, and I already know from having a few friends preview it, that you’re most likely not going to see the big plot twist coming until it happens.”
Grady is already deep into writing the third and final book in the series titled “Under the Snow.”
“I never started off thinking that I’d write a trilogy, but the ideas just kept coming so I wrote them down,” Grady said. “I do have to give some credit to my wife Lindsay, though, she came up with the big plot twist for ‘Under the Bluffs,’ as well as came up with an idea that inspired the third book. The third and final book will come out in 2025. After that, I do plan on starting something new, but I’m not sure what just yet.
Grady also has a short story coming out in an anthology called “Last Day Under the Sun” that will be released soon, with all proceeds going to charity.
“Under the Water” can be pre-ordered now on Amazon.
Most Popular
Comments / 0