Author hoping for Wigan success with new novel

He is bringing out Tough Season in the Sun, his second book which uses the 13-man code as the background for its dramatic events.

Like his first book, Tough Season, the new novel follows the adventures of loose forward Greg Duggan.

This time, though, Chris has shifted the action from the north of England and rugby league’s heartlands to the Canary Islands, with the central character lacing up his boots for the fictional club Lanzarote Eruption.

Chris’s fiction has drawn comparisons with best-selling writer Dick Francis for the way he uses sport as the canvas for the action.

And, just like his previous book, Chris says he thinks Wigan readers will find much that is familiar in Tough Season in the Sun.

He said: “There are certainly one or two people in the book that I can imagine Wigan readers might think ‘that’s so-and-so’ or ‘I know who that is’, but I can guarantee they are all characters from out of my head.

“This book is even more explosive than the first and is set out for anyone who really enjoys crime thriller fiction.

“There are murders, abductions, chases, corruption and plenty of action, not just on the field but in the boardroom and bedroom too.”

The author is hoping the new book will be as successful as its predecessor, which was nominated for a Dagger Award from the Crime Writers’ Association in 2020.

Chris draws the rugby league elements from a lifetime supporting the 13-man code and says the sport’s recent expansion experiences partly inspired his decision to jet off to the sun for the new book.

He said: “After setting my first book in the sport’s heartland, particularly thinking of old grounds like Central Park and the big rugged players that took no prisoners, I wanted to take the reader on a real adventure and somewhere completely different.

“I also wanted it to be a place everyone identified with and where I could develop amazing storylines. We all know what happened to Toronto Wolfpack in the real world last year but I thought of what it would be like having a team playing somewhere we all go for our holidays.”

Chris is already hard at work on a third novel, which he hopes will be published in September.

Tough Season in the Sun can be ordered directly from Chris or from his publisher Great Northern Books and is also available to order from a number of chain and independent bookstores as well as in e-book format for Kindle.

Find out more about his writing at www.chrisberry.tv

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