Alum releases psychological thriller
In what he hopes will turn into a book series, Edward Weinman, MFA ’99, has just released a psychological thriller that delves into the darkness of a murder in remote Iceland.
The Ring Road (published by The Rogue Reader) was released January 7 and is the first novel in the 66 Degrees North Series.
“It’s not a whodunit,” Weinman said. “It’s a ‘Will they get away with it?’”
The story is about an American ex-police officer named Hobson who travels to Iceland to re-assess his life after a divorce. But while there, a destructive volcanic eruption grounds air flights and forces Hobson to assimilate with recluse locals — when he finds himself thrust into a murder case.
“He has to come to terms with what happened to him in the past,” said Weinman, “and he does that while trying to help these people survive.”
Weinman, who studied Writing, Literature and Publishing at Emerson, describes himself as someone who spent several years as an expat in Iceland. The Ring Road is loosely based on his experience living in Reykjavik. He says many people in the tiny country live a life of relative isolation.
“The story shows what isolation can do to a person and how it translates toward violence,” Weinman said. “Iceland is not a violent society on the outside, but there are elements you see — not as a tourist — but as someone living there.”
Weinman worked for several years as a freelance journalist before writing books and films, most notably co-writing A Little Trip to Heaven, a psychological thriller starring Forest Whitaker, Jeremy Renner, and Julia Stiles, which screened at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.
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