After talking to them on the phone, Zhou Yan didn't work anymore and went to bed directly. He was quite tired from running around all day.
When Zhou Yan was sleeping here, it was just 12:30 noon in New York time.
Harry Kane was playing ball with friends outside when he suddenly received a call from Zhang Youan and took the clubs back home before finishing the game.
At almost two o'clock, a young man rang the doorbell of his house and gave him a manuscript.
After getting the manuscript, Harry Kane felt as if he had found a treasure. He had already started to look through the manuscript in his hand before he even walked to the sofa.
This is the English manuscript of Zhou Yan's new book "Shutter Island". Harry Kane has been waiting for this manuscript for a while, so he couldn't wait to come back as soon as Zhang Youan called him.
The story of the novel is set in a mental hospital called Boston Bay, where criminals who are mentally insane due to serious crimes are detained.
This closed and mysterious mental hospital is like an invisible black hole, attracting countless eyes. Once you step into it, you will find yourself trapped in an endless mystery.
A disappearance case occurred on the island, and federal policeman Teddy and his partner were sent to the island to investigate the disappearance case.
But the purpose of Teddy's trip is not simple. In addition to investigating the disappearance, he also wants to find the murderer of his wife and children on the island.
But the process of finding the murderer is not easy. As the investigation deepens, Teddy discovers that the island seems to have some ulterior secrets.
And these secrets are all related to the murderer he wants to find.
......
The pace of the novel was beyond Harry Kane's expectation. He originally thought that a traditional writer like Zhou Yan would explore more about human nature when writing such detective novels. Ignore the development of the story.
But the reality was completely contrary to what he expected. The novel was very fast-paced and had almost no extension, allowing readers to immerse themselves in the story. The writing technique was not at all like those of writers.
Harry Kane is led step by step into the mystery by the text of the novel. Many things seem to have clues, but they are all hidden in the fog and cannot be clearly seen.
And every time Harry Kane felt that he was about to grasp the truth, he found another reversal. The key is that every reversal was very smooth.
In addition, the narrative perspective of the novel is very flexible, always intertwining between Teddy's memories and reality, which makes people even more confused.
This sense of dislocation should be deliberately designed by Y to challenge readers’ thinking.
Every seemingly simple and irrelevant plot may be closely connected to the truth. Harry Kane does not dare to slack off for fear of missing important clues.
In a daze, Harry Kane felt like he was having an intellectual contest with someone.
But this object is uncertain.
He may have assumed the role of the protagonist Teddy and is fighting against the mastermind behind everything.
It may also be from the reader's perspective, competing with the author.
There is even a possibility that he is competing with the protagonist Teddy.
The last one may have puzzled Harry Kane the most, even horrified him.
Until the end, when Harry Kane saw the truth of the ending, he suddenly realized that no wonder he felt like he was competing with the protagonist. It turned out that it was all fake.
The murderer he was looking for to kill his wife turned out to be himself.
When seeing this paragraph, Harry Kane's reaction was almost the same as that of the protagonist, he couldn't believe it.
Yes, I can’t believe it.
In fact, looking back now, the protagonist seems to be vaguely aware of, or recalling, who he is, but subconsciously he is unwilling to accept it.
Thinking of this, Harry Kane's scalp felt a little numb.
He obviously didn't understand this while reading the novel, but subconsciously he felt the same as the protagonist.
Many of the previous details can confirm all this.
Recalling some of the previous details, Harry Kane turned the manuscript to the front again and began to confirm the details he had just seen one by one.
After Harry Kane reorganized the previous details, he was even more impressed by the power of Y's new book. The details were so flawless.
It is precisely because of such perfect detail processing that he was tightly pulled into the storyline when reading the novel, and the protagonist's deep inner feelings were also projected onto him.
It is precisely because of these details that the subsequent reversal is both sudden and reasonable.
As a professional who has been immersed in the book industry for many years, Harry Kane knows that the sales volume of this novel cannot be bad.
First of all, it is of excellent quality and very special.
The quality of the book is good, but the story is even more important.
Many good books may not achieve good sales, but special books are often very popular.
Besides, Harry Kane knows that a movie adapted from this novel is already in preparation.
This means that "Shutter Island" already had a unique advantage during its early promotion.
And even without the movie, the name Y alone is attractive enough.
Although Y is almost not famous in the American book industry, he is very famous in the music industry, film and television industry.
American readers are very interested in celebrities writing books across borders and are willing to support them.
After most people become celebrities, they will eventually go one way - selling books.
However, most of the books sold by celebrities are their autobiographies or some storytelling articles.
It is very rare for someone like Y to write a novel in a serious manner.
At that time, not only the music fans of Y will support it, but also other people who like to join in the fun. Everyone will also be curious about what it is like for a musician to write a novel.
......
Harry Kane thought about it for a while, then picked up the phone and dialed.
Soon, the phone was connected, and a rich man's voice came from the other side, "Hello."
"Dante, it's me, Harry." Harry Kane smiled road.
The man opposite also smiled, "Harry, why did you call me suddenly?"
"Of course it was because I wanted to chat with you."
"Harry, you know Yes, I don’t mind chatting with you for a while, but I know you definitely didn’t make this call just to chat with me. Tell me, what’s going on?”
“I have a friend who wants to publish a book, so I’m calling to ask you.”
“A book?” Dante’s voice was full of surprise, “Just A book actually asked you to call me?" Harry Kane smiled, and on the other end of the phone was Dante Self, the head of the commercial book department of Bantam Book Group.
If it were just an ordinary book, it would really not be worth calling Dante personally, but "Shutter Island" is not an ordinary novel, and its author is not an ordinary author.
"Dante, do you know Y-chou?" Harry Kevin asked.
“Y-Chou? It seems familiar, but I forgot where I heard it.”
Dante Self doesn’t pay much attention to the music industry, so he is very interested in Y-Chou. I don’t know much about it, maybe I heard his name in the news occasionally but didn’t write it down.
"Y is a very outstanding musician. He just won the Oscar for Best Score this year. In addition, Mariah Carey's "Young and Beautiful" and "Some Like You" were both composed by him."
"Oh , I remember these two songs were written by a Chinese, right?”
These two songs are so popular, even if Dante Self doesn’t pay attention to the music industry, he is familiar with this song. Song.
And "Someone Like You" is still very popular recently, and it is still on the list every week, but it just doesn't always dominate the top of the list when it first came out.
The song "Someone Like You" set a record. After the single was released, it stayed at the top for 17 consecutive weeks, becoming the single that has won the championship for the longest time.
This record is very scary, because there are only fifty-two weeks in a year, and a song must win one-third of the weekly championships, which means that this song has undisputed dominance that year.
The key is that being the number one for seventeen weeks also means one thing, that is, this song must have been on the chart for far more than seventeen weeks.
It can’t be number one in the seventeenth week and then fall off the list in the eighteenth week.
Under normal circumstances, after falling out of first place, you can basically stay at the top of the list for a while.
It is no exaggeration to say that in the past few months, the song that has been heard most in the streets and alleys is "Someone Like You".
Of course, "Young and Beautiful" has not been listened to less. Although this song has not been released for a long time, it has already become a classic song.
Now Mariah Carey will sing these two songs whether she is performing in a commercial or singing.
Hearing that Dante Self knew some information about Zhou Yan, Harry Kane smiled and said, "Yes, he is a Chinese. I think he should also be the Chinese with the highest sales volume of music albums. , or Asian."
"His achievements are indeed amazing, but why do you suddenly want to talk about him?" Dante Self asked strangely.
“Because Y-chou is the author of this book.”
"Oh, I understand." Dante Self felt that he had understood the situation. "He wrote an autobiography and wanted to publish it?"
"No, no, no, if he just wanted to publish an autobiography, It’s an autobiography, there’s no need for me to call you.”
“It’s not an autobiography?”
“It’s a novel, a suspense novel.” >"Suspense novel?" Dante Self became a little interested.
He knew that if it were just an autobiography, there would be no gimmicks at all.
But if this famous musician wrote a suspense novel, it would be more attractive.
"Yes, a suspense novel, and a very good suspense novel. I forgot to tell you that Y-chou is not just a musician, he is actually a well-known writer. His novels are in China Hometown , as well as Neon , are films with a high profile that won the Special Jury Prize at the Berlin Film Festival a few days ago. "Tree Hole" is adapted from his movie of the same name."
Dante Self's jaw almost dropped, "You mean, he is also a novelist? The movie was adapted from the novel in Berlin. The kind that has won awards at film festivals?”
“Well, he is very well-known in the Chinese literary world.”
Harry Kane said this very skillfully. Zhou Yan is indeed very well-known in the Chinese literary world, but his popularity is not entirely due to his few novels, but more to his other identities.
But when Dante Self listens to it, he will think that Zhou Yan’s works have a strong influence in China.
Of course, although they are old colleagues, it is impossible for Dante to believe whatever Harry Kane says. He will definitely verify some information.
However, for things like winning the Berlin Film Festival, Dante has basically believed it, because this kind of information is so easy to check, and there is absolutely no need for Harry Kane to lie about this kind of thing.
If it is true as Harry Kane said, then Y-chou's new book does have great potential, and it is indeed worthy of Harry Kane's call.
At this time, Dante had already started to get interested. Although their Bantam Group was the leader in the industry, they also focused on performance. There was no way he would let go of a work like this that was destined to be a best-seller.
"Harry, let's do this. I'll ask James to contact you... No, you should just show me the manuscript of the novel."
James is the editor-in-chief of the editorial department. , usually James does the reading of the manuscript, but this time Dante decided to read it himself first.
On the one hand, he is very interested in this novel, and on the other hand, he is also selling Harry Kane's face. After all, Harry Kane has already taken the initiative to call.
Although Harry Kane no longer works for the group, his career is getting better and better, and he is still their customer. This relationship must still be maintained.
"Okay, I'll send it to you in a moment. In addition, I want to tell you something."
"What?"
"This novel has been spotted by Warner Bros. To be adapted into a movie, the preparations for the movie are basically completed and filming will start in a while. By the way, the director is Martin Scorsese. "
"What, the movie has been adapted?" Dante's voice suddenly rose an octave higher.
A novel is about to be adapted into a movie, and the movie director is Martin Scorsese, and Dante Self knows what this means.
As long as nothing unexpected happens, it will definitely be a best-selling novel.
After hearing that the novel had been adapted into a movie, Dante Self became even more interested in the novel.
"Harry, you must come today."
Harry Kane smiled and said, "Haha, just prepare the coffee and wait for me."
< br>"No problem, when you come, I will make you coffee myself."
...
Harry Kane didn't waste any time and went to Dante Self's office with the manuscript that afternoon.
After Dante Self finished reading "Shutter Island", he hugged the manuscript tightly and refused to let go for a moment.
He said that he was bound to get this novel, as long as the conditions were met.
However, Harry Kane said that he was only responsible for bringing the book to Bantam. As for the specific negotiation of terms, Y-chou's agent would have to come.
Dante was afraid of having too many nightmares at night, so he asked Harry Kane to call Zhang Youan on the spot.
After the phone call, the two parties roughly understood each other's wishes, but the specific conditions had to be discussed further.
The two parties had a pleasant conversation. Although they did not completely reach an agreement, they basically had a clear understanding of the other party's bottom line, and they were sure that they could accept the other party's bottom line. (End of this chapter)