Hutch’s supernatural thriller, Personal Effects: Dark Art, was one of the first transmedia novels created for adults. Publisher’s Weekly gave the book a starred review, calling it a “stellar first.” Library Journal said Dark Art “may herald the future of modern fiction.”

Co-written with digital storytelling pioneer Jordan Weisman, Dark Art follows the extensive notes of art therapist Zach Taylor’s investigation into the life and madness of Martin Grace, an accused serial killer who claims to have foreseen, but not caused, his victims’ deaths. The items among Grace’s personal effects are the keys to understanding his haunted past... and finding the terrifying truth the patient hoped to keep buried.

Dark Art combined the experience of a traditional thriller novel with a transmedia-fueled “out of book” narrative. Clues in the novel — and objects that came with the novel, such as ID cards and photos — propelled readers into an online experience where they became investigators, learning more about Grace’s mystery than hero Zach Taylor ever could.

Readers could:

• Call real phone numbers and even hack into a character’s voicemail

• Google the characters and institutions in the text — and find real websites

• Examine the art and other printed artifacts included inside the cover to learn more information than the characters themselves discover

• Read archives of blog posts from characters

• And much more

Praise for Personal Effects

“This is the future of storytelling, and it’s a thrilling ride.”
—Anthony E. Zuiker, creator/executive producer of CSI:

“So compelling is the journey between these precisely crafted symbiotic worlds, the reader may scarcely recognize their own transformation from passive to active, as they pick up where the text subsides and become the protagonist.”
—Gore Verbinski, director of The Ring and Pirates of the Caribbean 1-3

“It will linger in your thoughts, challenge your sense of self, and transform every benign shadow into something to fear.”
—Daniel Myrick, co-writer/director of The Blair Witch Project

“Impossible to put down. Terrifying, steeped in dread and populated with vibrant and complex characters. It’s a journey you won’t soon forget.”
—Jeffrey Reddick, writer of Final Destination