An Introduction to Double Exposure

High Velocity by Michael Connelly

When you read the words of praise that are found on the back covers of every book that is published these days, you often see the promise that you will not be able to stop reading it once you’ve begun. That you will be glued to your seat, that this is a page-turner that cannot be put down or aside.

Well, as I write this, I am fifty-three years old. I have read a lot of books so far, somewhere in the thousands. I have to report that the experience described above so often and on so many books has only happened to me three times. And one of those times was when I sat down to read this book, Double Exposure, by Michael Lister.

That not only makes this book worth reading, in my opinion, but worth studying as well. How does Lister accomplish this? How do you make a reader shut out the TV and the family and the rest of the whole wide world and sit still for 200-plus pages of written story? In this day and age it seems to me to be an impossible accomplishment.

My study and my conclusion is that Lister accomplishes this by adhering faithfully to that adage that less is more. On every page and in every paragraph of Double Exposure, less is always more.

Let’s begin with the story – the framework into which that author puts his words. (And I promise not to give too much away.) A man goes to the woods, makes a terrible and dangerous discovery, and now must find his way out of the woods in order to bring this discovery to the people. That’s it. That is the essence of this book’s story.

It is the words and how they are chosen and how they are delivered that make this book special. Less is more. Always. Lister chooses the road not often traveled. He elects the minimalist approach. He takes a poet’s view to the novel. Short sentences – many times only one word – combine to create a velocity in the story that cannot be denied. The reader is compelled to move with the same speed, to move through these woods like a man running for his life.

It is so easy to do the opposite. To take a moment and lard it with language. To say in ten words what needs only one. It is the writer’s prerogative to create and more words mean more creativity, right? It can, but not always. Not here. Here the words are short and swift. Elegiac, like a two-hundred page poem. They skip on the waters of the imagination like well-polished stones. Together they create the secret ingredient of every good book ever written; momentum. This book flat out moves and it inexorably takes the reader along for its ride. You are glued to your seat. You can’t put this book down until the last page. There is an art in that, no doubt in my mind.

-- Michael Connelly

Will He Survive the Night?

Following his dad's death, Remington James returns to the small North Florida town where he grew up to assume his father's life -- taking care of his dying mother and running the local gun and pawn shop.

Picking up a camera again after a long hiatus, Remington returns to his first love, pursuing in earnest his lifelong dream of becoming a wildlife photographer.

One fateful fall evening, as the sun sinks and the darkness expands, Remington ventures deep into the river swamp to try out some new equipment and check his camera traps.

Encountering the kind of wildlife that made him want to be a photographer in the first place, Remington gets some of the best shots of his life, but he's about to happen upon the most dangerous animal of all -- a feral, patient, sociopath who wants Remington dead.

While checking his camera traps, scanning the eerie images of overexposed deer and bats and foxes, Remington comes across the most haunting images of his life --- the frame-by-frame capture of a shocking crime.

By exposing the criminal, Remington has exposed himself to danger, even possible extinction. Hunted like an animal, by the predator and his psychotic friends, Remington must do two things: make it through the night and make it to the river --- and the odds of doing either are slim to none.

An ode to the wild wonder of North Florida, Double Exposure is a minimalist marriage of the literary novel and the action adventure story.

Lyrical, literary, and told in poetic photographic impressions, Double Exposure is filled with far more than just exciting adventure and suspense. It's a meditation on life and death and art and meaning you won't soon forget.

North Florida Author Michael Lister’s “Double Exposure” won a Bronze Medal for General Fiction in the 2009 Florida Book Awards.

The Florida Book Awards –the nation’s most comprehensive state book awards program– was established in 2006 to recognize, honor, and celebrate the best Florida literature published the previous year. It is coordinated by The Florida State University Libraries, and co-sponsored by the Florida Center for the Book, State Library and Archives of Florida, Florida Historical Society, Florida Humanities Council, Florida Literary Arts Coalition, Florida Library Association, “Just Read, Florida!,” Florida Family Literacy Initiative, the Program in American and Florida Studies at Florida State University, Florida Reading Association, Florida Association for Media in Education, Florida Center for the Literary Arts, the Friends of FSU Libraries, and Florida Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America.

“This is a real honor,” Lister said. “I’m a Florida writer. Florida is the landscape I’m painting with my palette of words, my actual and spiritual home, so to win a Florida Book Award is extremely gratifying. And of all my books, “Double Exposure” is the one most centered in this land. It’s my love letter to wild North Florida.”

This is the fourth year of competitions in the Florida Book Awards, which has seven categories for books published in 2009. “The culture of books in the Sunshine State continues to prosper,” notes FBA Director Wayne A. Wiegand. “These FBA winners clearly prove it.”

Submissions were read by seven juries of three members each nominated from across the state by cosponsoring organizations. Jurors were authorized to select up to five medalists in each of the seven categories.

“From the very beginning, “Double Exposure” has been a very special book for me,” Lister said. “So many wonderful things have and continue to happen with it—from critics and readers responses to environmental education and conservation efforts to the brilliant play director Jason Hedden produced to foreign sales to feature film interest. I’m so very grateful.”

When asked why “Double Exposure” was submitted in the general instead of popular fiction category, Lister said, “It’s true, “Double Exposure” is a literary thriller that can be classified broadly as crime fiction, but my publisher and I thought that by submitting the book in the general fiction category we were letting it stand on its literary merits.”

In his introduction to “Double Exposure,” #1 New York Times Besteslling Author, Michael Connelly, calls the book “Elegiac, like a two-hundred page poem, with words that skip on the waters of the imagination like well-polished stones.”

Lister and the other winners will be recognized at a banquet during the Florida Library Association Conference Banquet on April 8 in Orlando.

“Double Exposure” is absolutely riveting! Elegiac prose, insightful
characterization and a wonderfully ingenious plot.” Michael Connelly

“Michael Lister possesses a poet’s eye, an environmentalist’s intellect, a
conservationist’s fire, a North Floridian’s wisdom, and a mystery writer’s
talent for intrigue. Double Exposure contains all of this and more. What a
fine book!” Connie May Fowler

“Engrossing. Michael Lister has masterfully chosen wonderful words to paint both a humbling picture
of a special Florida environment and a story of intrigue and danger.” Jonathon King

“Michael Lister’s Double Exposure is simply stunning. I raced through it, hardly able to breathe. It’s
riveting—a remarkable blend of thriller and literary novel. Double Exposure cannot be read—it must
be devoured. Lister’s accomplishment deserves major recognition.” Carolyn Haines

“A great thrill ride! I remember when David Morrell’s “First Blood” appeared in paperback. On the
cover was a statement that went something like: “the publisher envies you the opportunity of reading
this book.” I felt that way reading this trenchant, racing, instantly involving novel!” Ron Hansen

“As an artist, Michael Lister is not afraid to take a risk. And his gamble pays off big for the reader, in
Double Exposure, a great stylistic achievement, cleverly imagined, and cleverly realized on the page. It
is jazz on paper. Double Exposure is a fast paced, can’t-put-it-down page-turner.” Terry Lewis

2009 Florida Book Award Winner

“Double Exposure” is absolutely riveting! Elegiac prose, insightful characterization and a wonderfully ingenious plot." Michael Connelly

"A Hitchcockian thriller. A spellbinding page-turner .” Booklist

"Lyrical, evocative prose, reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road.'” Panama City News Herald

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