Revised: The Death List "What a mockery hath death made of thee?"

Step into "The Death List,"a spine twisting thriller, woven from the mind of award winning crime writer Paul Johnston.

Dwelling in a crappy two room flat, he can barely afford. Matt's' writing career is dead and his idea of a master plan is nonexistent. He throws his publishers and even his ex-wife under the bus in order to muster the self fulfillment he’s missing. One reason because his books aren’t selling like they use to and he’s been out of commission for quite sometime. His outlook on the biz is that publishers are looking for the hot young twenty somethings. Not the rugged looking author, whose photograph scares more than one sensitive child. Not to mention his website is also on the brink of extinction. Instead of averaging five messages a day from adoring fans he’s lucky to get five a week. His daily displacement activities include, checking his mail box, browsing his email, and even personally replying to responses from whomever is left of his fan base.

Still what more could a guy ask for? All Matt could do was hope, or…beg but even that demolishment of dignity was in vain. So he’d gone off at the mouth an kind of torched his career. Things would get better…Even if the money wasn’t piling or the creative juices weren’t flowing. Its just a small rut. He’d come back on top again…So he thought.

Trapped within the great abyss of self pity, abandonment and folly, crime novelist Matt Wells finds himself in a dire bind. With the devil pulling the strings.

Unlike Paul Johnstons' Quint Novels or even his Greek Novels, The Death List strays away from his usual routine (the Greek setting, fictional location, futuristic take or the Private eye ). In fact The Death List is set in London, a place the author calls home. The voice approach with this book was different as well, making good use of the third person format. We truly get to see inside the mind of Johnstons vibrant characters, raw and uncensored. The reader holds the secrets to the uncertainties of character situations but those discoveries may or may not elude to what may befall Matt Wells.

The Death List not only portrays a more personal aspect of how Johnston felt as being out of the loop due to illness but the relationship between a crime novelist and his/her material. It's quite interesting; what lines might a writer cross for that number one best seller? Whether threatened, bitter or just revenged crazed could ones sense of morality be swayed given the situation? What's truly good and what is evil?

Paul Johnston takes a interconnected approach as well, which can either make for an interesting turn of events or a confusing one. Rereading is not the option for everyone but given suspenseful aspect to the material it’d be worth it. Every detail has meaning unraveling fact after fact. In some instances statements are reiterated to display/build on key personality attributes and morals of different characters or even to lump a particular group together. Like the White Devil notion from Websters plays. These people were the hypocrites, corrupt evil doers lurking beneath layers of apparent probity. Johnston modernizes yet recycles this idea putting Jacobean revenge tragedies to good use. Setting the scene for an unlikely ending that'll have audiences raving.