Century teams with GQ on new Parsons crime novel serialisation

Tony Parsons’ sixth and final installment in the DC Max Wolfe detective series, #taken, is being serialised online by British GQ ahead of the novel's publication with Century in April 2019.

The book, slated for publication in hardback on 18th April (£12.99), will be previewed one chapter at a time on GQ.co.uk over the course of the following weeks, ultimately seeing the novel made available to the magazine's readership for free in its entirety. The first chapter went live yesterday at 3pm and the final chapter will go live in the week commencing 15th April.

With Selina Walker, publisher at Century, promising the novel to be one of Parson's "very best", Dylan Jones, editor of British GQ, called the initiative "a rare and exciting venture" and "another example of how we are delivering and expanding our content on GQ.co.uk in a completely new way."

The plot of #taken centres on the investigation of a young mother's kidnapping by way of career criminals' glittering mansions, sleazy strip joints and secret dungeons, "from murderous hatreds of today to the unspeakable crimes of half a lifetime ago".

"Sharing brilliant stories is at the heart of what we do and we hope this innovative online serialisation with GQ will bring Tony Parson’s gripping crime novels to readers who love them as much as we do," Walker added of the collaboration with GQ.

Parsons commented: "I am happy and excited that the sixth Max Wolfe novel, #taken, is to be serialised online with British GQ. From Charles Dickens to Tom Wolfe, some of the greatest story-tellers of all time published novels in serial form and it is time for that tradition to be revived for the digital age. I believe that long-term fans of the Max Wolfe series will enjoy the chance the read #taken before it is published, and I hope that the GQ serialisation will introduce some new readers to the world of Max Wolfe."

According to Nielsen BookScan Parsons' DC Max Wolfe series has sold just under 288,000 units for £1.6m. All his books in total have sold 3.2m copies for £19.8m.