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Posts Tagged ‘Teresa Sorkin’

THE WOMAN IN THE PARK News!

Thursday, August 29th, 2019

10 Chilling end of summer thrillers

It’s starting to get dark at 8 o’clock now, instead of 9. Any activities after 5 pm are going to start requiring a jacket. Oh, and pumpkin everything is officially back on the market. You know what this means: fall is approaching. With the end of summer quickly approaching, here are my top ten end of summer thrillers to devour before the sweaters and jeans start to circulate your wardrobe.

The Woman in the Park by Teresa Sorkin and Tullan Holmqvist

There was no holding back when it comes to the writing power in this novel. It’s psychologically brilliant, cinematically stunning and features a powerful heroine and pacing that will make your heart race. Sarah Rock has it rough. Her therapist is clinical and emotionless, her husband and his mistress are the worst and her kids show her no respect. This could be a love story when she meets a really handsome man in the park and she is immediately crushing on him… but this is no love story. When a woman goes missing in the same park, Sarah is the prime suspect. Her mystery man is nowhere to be found, her husband doesn’t have her back, and her therapist is working with the police. This one is relatively short at under 250 pages but jam-packed with suspense, reveals and an ending that will blow your mind. Pack your SPF for this beach read – I say that because when I read this one, I was so wrapped up in the story that I suffered a major sunburn.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

To learn more about The Woman in the Park, click here.

THE WOMAN IN THE PARK News!

Thursday, August 29th, 2019

ARC / BOOK REVIEW: THE WOMAN IN THE PARK

“It’s books like this that make me wanna start a book club page so we can discuss, Reader! The Woman In The Park is a debut novel that had me captivated at the start. The Prologue drew me in so effortlessly.

In the beginning, I felt a little sorry and sad for Sarah. She believes her husband is having an affair. Her kids are in boarding school. She religiously goes to therapy (nothing wrong with that). And she has A LOT of time on her hands. Life is going on without her and you feel it too.

When Sarah meets Lawrence, I was a bit surprised she begins an affair with the ever-so mysterious man (even though the synopsis clearly states she has a lover). I didn’t think Sarah really had it in her to cheat on her husband. She just seems like a fragile bird.

However, when the facts and the details of this thriller began to NOT add up (when as a reader you get this sense that something is just not right), I teetered between feeling a bit sad for Sarah who is going thru what appears to be a midlife crisis to being a bit weary and cautious as she doesn’t seem to be all there mentally. And I LOVE it. I love how I was forced to think of Sarah as both the victim and the potential perpetrator.”

To read the rest of this review, click here.

To learn more about The Woman in the Park, click here.

THE WOMAN IN THE PARK News!

Thursday, August 29th, 2019

BOOK Q&As WITH DEBORAH KALB

Teresa Sorkin and Tullan Holmqvist are the authors of the new novel The Woman in the Park. Sorkin is a television producer and Holmqvist is a writer, investigator, and actor.

Q:  How did you come up with the idea for The Woman in the Park, and for your character Sarah?

A: We put ourselves in the mind of a woman who really does not know what is real and what is not and imagined an elegant New York woman who meets a mysterious man in Central Park and gets dragged into something darker.

We both have children and have spent many hours in the park with them and the story grew out of that common experience and observing people. We are both storytellers and observers, Teresa as a writer and producer of TV and film and Tullan as a private investigator and writer with a background in acting, and we both love a character-driven approach to stories.

To read the rest of the Q&A, click here.

For more information about The Woman in the Park, click here.

THE WOMAN IN THE PARK News!

Thursday, August 15th, 2019

Review: SUMMER THRILLER, TERESA SORKIN AND TULLAN HOLMQVIST’S PAGE-TURNER IS THE BEACH READ YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR

You may not know the term “domestic thriller,” but you probably have read one—that is, if your library holds books by Gillian Flynn, Greer Hendricks or B.A. Paris. This summer, add two new names to that list: authors Teresa Sorkin and Tullan Holmqvist, whose novel The Woman in the Park (Beaufort Books) promises to be one of the best new iterations of the genre.

The story kicks off with a mystery: Police arrive at the New York City apartment of Sarah and Eric Rock, to ask Sarah about a missing person—a woman in the park. From that scene-setter to the epilogue, chapters told from Sarah’s point of view alternate with a psychiatrist’s session notes. We get to know the stylish, 40-something mother in therapy with a doctor who uses hypnosis in treatment. Adultery and madness, as well as erotomania, where a person believes another person is in love with them, are explored, deepened with quotes from Émile Zola’s classic novel of passion and murder, Thérèse Raquin. To reveal more would spoil the surprises in this delicious tale, but suffice it to say, the authors have brought to life Sarah’s self-doubt, personal fears and face-off with reality on every page.

To read the full interview, click here.

To learn more about The Woman in the Park, click here.

THE WOMAN IN THE PARK News!

Thursday, July 18th, 2019

KIRKUS STARRED REVIEW

“In Sorkin and Holmqvist’s debut thriller, a married woman meets an alluring stranger and later becomes a criminal suspect.

“Manhattanite Sarah Rock is certain that her husband, Eric,has been having an affair with his co-worker, Juliette. Sarah, who has suffered from depression in the past, is experiencing “blackout periods” and having nightmares about her spouse and his suspected mistress. As a result, she’s been seeing a therapist, Helena Robin, for months. With her two children away at boarding school, Sarah feels like she’s lost her sense of purpose. Then one day in Central Park, she meets a handsome, charming man named Lawrence.Despite the brevity of their initial, platonic encounter, Sarah can’t get the stranger off her mind, and subsequent park bench rendezvous quickly lead to an affair. Weeks later, the police visit Sarah to ask her questions about a missing person case. They’re looking for a woman whom Sarah has seen at the park; it turns out that Lawrence may have a connection to her, so Sarah is reluctant to tell the cops anything. More bombshells follow, and after the cops accuse Sarah of a very serious crime, she starts to realize that her sense of reality may be distorted. The authors’ sharply written and persistently tense tale is divided into two parts: the first follows Sarah’s growing relationship with Lawrence, and the latter offers a series of shocking revelations. Throughout, Sarah is an enigmatic, continually evolving protagonist. Readers are privy to Dr. Robin’s periodic notes, for example, which make it clear that Sarah has something buried in her past. Still, Sarah remains sympathetic, as her candid perspective makes her eventual paranoia seem reasonable. Her emotional responses are raw and convincing, as when she cries alone in a parking lot or examines her body for presumed flaws. Some readers will likely foresee a major plot turn before Sarah does, but her valiant attempts to make sense of what’s happening spark unexpected twists.

“A delightfully complex mystery with a compelling protagonist.”

The review is posted here, and more info on THE WOMAN IN THE PARK can be found here.

THE WOMAN IN THE PARK News!

Tuesday, July 16th, 2019

SHELF AWARENESS BOOK TRAILER OF THE DAY

The book trailer for THE WOMAN IN THE PARK was selected as the Shelf Awareness Book Trailer of the Day!

Shelf Awareness develops and distributes e-newsletters about books and the publishing industry. To learn more about Shelf Awareness, click here.

To view the book trailer, click here.

For more on The Woman in the Park, click here.

THE WOMAN IN THE PARK News!

Tuesday, July 9th, 2019

Interview: “Romantic Desperation and Erotomania in The Woman in the Park“

Rebecca Coffey of Psychology Today interviews Teresa Sorkin and Tullan Holmqvist!

Q: The Woman in the Park is full of the kind of murder mystery surprises that were everywhere in Gone Girl. And, like Gone Girl, your book is about women and madness. As you wrote, did you keep in mind great mad heroines from literary history like Medea, Anna Karenina, and Ophelia? (“Frailty, thy name is woman,” Hamlet said.) And of course the madness of The Woman in the Park hearkens to the murderous insanity of Thérèse in Thérèse Raquin, which is the nineteenth century novel that your book’s protagonist is reading. Each chapter of your novel begins with an excerpt from the nineteenth century one. Tell me whether great literature about madness and women inspired you. And if so, how did it?

A: One of the books that we two authors had in common as favorites was Thérèse Raquin. The character was so misunderstood and mad. She evoked a feeling of loneliness that we wanted to portray. Many great works of literature were about madness and women.

Teresa Sorkin: One of my favorite characters of all time, Jay Gatsby, exhibited moments of delusion. He had delusion of grandeur and some erotomania towards Daisy. She was a bit mad, as well. As Lawrence says in the novel. “Isn’t all passion mixed with madness at times?” Tullan and I feel that is true in life as well as in literature.

Tullan Holmqvist: I’ve been inspired by many “mad” characters in literature, theater and film. In particular, Shakespeare, the Greek dramatists, and Ingmar Bergman have made strong impressions on me. I grew up discussing and reading a lot about the human psyche and the nature of human beings with my mother, who was a psychotherapist. She surrounded us with interesting thinkers, artists, and writers. I’ve always been interested in why humans behave the way they do. I ask a lot of questions and am interested in both the light and dark side of life.

To read the full interview, click here.

To learn more about The Woman in the Park, click here.

THE WOMAN IN THE PARK News!

Monday, June 24th, 2019

Tar-Heeled Reader: A Review

“Oh my, what a whirlwind of a read and so tense! Sarah Rock meets a stranger in the park. She needs to get away from her life and all the overwhelming baggage she is juggling right now, and this handsome fellow may be her ticket out.  

“Then, a woman goes missing in the park, and Sarah is a suspect. Everyone turns on her including her husband and therapist, and now her lover is also missing. 

“I was on the edge of my seat wondering what was true versus lies. The Woman in the Park is a quick read, one that is perfectly paced, original, and shocking. I can’t say too much more because I don’t want to give anything away. 

“Sorkin and Holmqvist write seamlessly, and their debut novel, The Woman in the Park, is an utterly captivating read.” -Jennifer

For more information about the book, click here.

THE WOMAN IN THE PARK Reviews

Friday, May 10th, 2019

“Obsession and loneliness intersect with explosive results in this thrilling story of a woman whose life is a total mystery—even to herself. Tense, cinematic, and relentlessly suspenseful, The Woman in the Park will have you addicted, consuming one chapter after another until you reach its chilling conclusion.” — Megan Collins, author of The Winter Sister

“The Woman in the Park is a spine-tingling read that makes you question all your assumptions from one page to the next. Imagine if The Girl on the Train and The Hours had a baby, it would be The Woman in the Park. Part Thriller, part literary homage. I thoroughly enjoyed it!” —Adam Mitzner, author of A Matter of Will

“The Woman in the Park is one of those novels that you can’t stop thinking about even when you aren’t reading it. Hooked me from the very first page until the shocking end! A must read!” —Marina Di Guardo, author of La Memoria Dei Corpi

“The Woman in the Park is an insanely smart, dark trickster of a thriller. Go ahead. Scan the horizon for clues. Become obsessed. Have a great time. Read it twice. (I did.)” —Rebecca Coffey, author of Hysterical: Anna Freud’s Story

“Like a Rubik’s cube, The Woman in the Park twists the perception of reality and fantasy, keeping the reader hooked and curiously searching for the solution. Intriguing, intelligent and multifaceted.” —Vera Näsström, author of All Is As It Should Be

“Fast and thrilling, Sorkin and Holmqvist’s novel The Woman in the Park kept me guessing until the final page. There’s no tranquility to this Manhattan’s Upper East Side, just darkness, disquiet, and suspense.” —James Sturz, author of Sasso.

“This richly textured, beautifully written, and intricately plotted thriller, with a deeply sympathetic female protagonist, is at once a page-turner, a story of loss and redemption, and a beautiful testament to the power of the human spirit. The Woman in the Park is a remarkable achievement. I loved it.” —Caroline Nastro, author of The Bear Who Couldn’t Sleep

For more information about The Woman in the Park, click here.