Zuiker Hunts A Serial Killer

More details emerge about CSI creator Anthony Zuiker's first "digi-novel", Sqweegel.

CSI Files previously reported that Zuiker's first book would be released on September 8, 2009. The book will be called Sqweegel (not Dark Chronicles as was originally reported). It is the first title in the Dark Chronicles series.

The Dark Chronicles books will follow Steve Dark, an FBI agent and member of the secret Special Circumstances unit, as he hunts the elusive serial killer Sqweegel. Sqweegel is a psychopath who has killed 35 people over the course of 23 years. Dark is the only person who ever came close to catching Sqweegel, but he left the business after something terrible happened to his family.

Sqweegel disappeared for a while, but he eventually reemerged and claimed another victim. The person he killed has important connections, and it becomes even more vital to find Sqweegel. In order to do that, the FBI needs to find Dark and convince him to come back.

"Reading this novel will have the same effect on you as when you first watched Se7en or Silence of the Lambs on the big screen," Stef Bierwerth, editorial director for crime and thrillers at the Michael Joseph section of Penguin Group UK, said in a press release. "It's incredibly dark, twisted and will make you face your worst nightmares. Steve Dark and Sqweegel are set to become the Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter of the 21st century."

The novel guides readers to 20 "cyber bridges" on the internet. This content is designed to enhance the reading experience, but the bridges are not essential to understanding the story. In addition to the cyber bridges, other online content will be made available to fans of the series: FBI 'personnel files', audio clips of phone conversations, e-mails and suspect psychological reports.

There are two more books planned for the Dark Chronicles series, which will be released at six month intervals. It is expected that more titles will be developed. In addition to the novels, plans are in the works to create storylines and characters specifically for the digital world. Film and television spinoffs are also expected.

The original information is from booktrade.info and The Bookseller.

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