Severn House nabs Pinter's new sci-fi thriller

Severn House has signed Past Crimes, Jason Pinter’s new science-fiction thriller examining our obsession with true crime.

Senior commissioning editor and acting editorial director Rachel Slatter acquired world English rights from Amy Tannenbaum and Jessica Errera at the Jane Rotrosen Literary Agency. Past Crimes will be published by Severn House in February 2024.

Past Crimes is set in a future world in which nearly all human interactions have migrated to a virtual world, Earth+. The synopsis says: "In this virtual world, dozens of companies compete to license crimes – from murders and cults to heists and kidnappings – as entertainment. Now the enigmatic founder of Past Crimes, Crispin Lake, has announced their most ambitious simulation yet: The Blight, based on an infamous cult led by Harris West, a madman who radicalised hundreds inside the virtual world to carry out a global mass suicide in the real one. But Harris West’s widow, Cassie, remains convinced her husband was framed."

Pinter is the author of the Rachel Marin series (Thomas & Mercer), the Henry Parker thriller series (Armina Press/ Mira Books/ Tantor Audio), and the standalone novel The Castle (Armina Press/Tantor audio). He has been nominated for the Thriller Award, the Strand Critics Award and the Barry Award, among others.

His books The Mark (Mira Books/ISIS Large Print Books) and The Stolen (Mira Books) both appeared on the Heatseekers chart in The Bookseller. He is also the Founder of Polis Books, an independent publishing company he launched in 2013.

Pinter said: “My goal with Past Crimes was to write a compelling speculative thriller that tackled the notion of true crime as billion-dollar entertainment, where every life (and death) has a price, and I’m thrilled to be publishing it with Severn House.”

Slatter commented: “We’re so excited to be working with Jason to publish Past Crimes. It’s not just a page-turning thriller – the questions it raises are, like the best of spec fic, topical and important ones: about society’s love for the salacious details of crime, and true crime in particular, and where that could lead; about big tech, and the outrageous power we allow c.e.o. billionaires to hold; and what could happen if we sleepwalk into allowing our data to be increasingly monitored and shared.”