by April Scheinoha
Reporter
Thief River Falls left a big impression on Brian Freeman. It was one that he wouldn’t forget even though he hasn’t stepped foot in the city for about 22 years.
“I filed away in my head that this would be a perfect setting for one of my books,” said the New York Times bestselling author.
Two decades later, he finally had the perfect marriage of setting and plot. The novel “Thief River Falls” was born. “It’s a thriller,” said Freeman. “It’s probably the most unusual thriller I’ve ever written.”
“Thief River Falls” follows Lisa Power, ironically the author of a book titled – “Thief River Falls.” Freeman explained that Lisa has survived some tragedies that took away her whole family. Now, she is a tortured ghost of her former self living outside of the Thief River Falls city limits. She attempts to rescue a lost boy with a terrifying past before it’s too late for both of them.
The book has piqued the interest of area residents, and it hasn’t even officially been released yet. Currently, it is available as an e-book on Amazon First Reads. It has been #1 on the Amazon Kindle chart for the last two weeks.
Local residents will have an opportunity to hear from the Woodbury resident in about three months. He will talk about the book in northwest Minnesota Thursday, April 23. Programs are set for 4 p.m. at the Red Lake Falls Public Library and 7 p.m. at the Thief River Falls Public Library.
It will be the first time that Freeman has visited Thief River Falls since his inaugural trip. Back then, he was sent to Thief River Falls to write a freelance article about Digi-Key for Twin Cities Business Monthly. The remoteness and drama of Thief River Falls, including the drama of the city’s name, garnered his interest.
At that time, Freeman was writing part-time while working as the director of marketing and public relations for a Minneapolis law firm. However, he never forgot Thief River Falls, including when he finally made the jump to becoming a full-time author about 15 years ago.
It was a journey that he had envisioned as a boy. In sixth grade, he started his first mystery novel. Freeman continued writing stories. Soon, his eighth grade composition teacher realized her student’s interest and talent. She encouraged him to continue writing his stories in her class. Her encouragement was rewarded after Freeman published his first book, “Immoral,” in 2005. He thanked her in the acknowledgements of the book and also in person at a book-signing for it.
Since then, Freeman has written more than 20 psychological thrillers. He enjoys the drama that emerges from the secrets and backgrounds of his characters.
Freeman gets some of his ideas from true crimes. This plot was a different beast. “Honestly, I don’t really know how this particular story popped into my head,” he said.
Once Freeman had an inkling where he wanted to go with the plot, it was off to the races. Usually, it takes him weeks to work out the plotline of a story. With “Thief River Falls,” it came to him in a matter of a day or two. He worked on “Thief River Falls” starting in late 2018 and into summer 2019, when he wrapped up edits of the manuscript.
“I’m really looking forward to coming back up to Thief River Falls,” said Freeman, who plans to retrace the places he researched and mentioned in the book.
Freeman enjoys featuring real parks, cemeteries and restaurants in his books. “Thief River Falls people should feel right at home when they read the novel,” he said.
“Thief River Falls” is available now as an eBook on Amazon First Reads. Otherwise, it will be available in all formats Saturday, Feb. 1.