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Gregg Hurwitz Launches Another Book in Brentwood

The writer, who used to live here, celebrates the publication of "You're Next" at Diesel on Thursday.

Author Gregg Hurwitz was at Diesel, A Bookstore in Brentwood Country Mart on Thursday night to celebrate the publication of his latest thriller, You’re Next.

The former Brentwood resident, 37, is about to begin an 18-city book tour, but said he always launches his books from Brentwood.

“When I first moved to L.A., I lived in Brentwood for the first several years and my first eight book launches were done at the beloved and the late, great Dutton’s bookstore,” Hurwitz said. “So I was thrilled when Diesel opened here. This will be my third launch at Diesel.”

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Bookseller Diane Leslie, who worked at Dutton’s and now works at Diesel, has introduced Hurwitz at all of his book launches.

“I met him just before he published his first novel and I could tell he was a very bright boy. I knew the book would be fantastic,” Leslie said. “I feel like every year Gregg writes a better book than the year before.”

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You’re Next tells the story of Mike Wingate, a 4-year-old boy who is abandoned at a playground and raised in foster care. Mike grows up with only a few, fragmented memories of his parents, but becomes a successful contractor and has a wife and daughter that he loves.

Then the unimaginable happens. Something from Mike’s past, a past he doesn’t even remember, comes back to terrorize him and his family.

“What’s intriguing and bizarre is that these people know more about his past than he does. He never finds out why he was abandoned. He never knows who his parents were. But these people start to zero in and terrorize his family and Mike starts to realize the lengths he has to go to to protect them,” Hurwitz said.

Hurwitz’s last few books have been about an average everyman who happens to be having the worst day of his life.

“So you’re meeting him and picking up someone during some of the most extraordinary circumstances imaginable and figuring out how this normal person is going to react to that,” he said.

Hurwitz read excerpts from his new book and spoke to a packed house at Diesel before taking questions from the audience and signing copies of his books for fans.

Wendy Moreno of Woodland Hills has read Hurwitz’s Do No Harm and The Kill Clause and said she couldn't wait to read his new book.

“I just think he’s an amazing writer. The characters are unique and crazy and wonderful all at the same time,” Moreno said.

You’re Next is available in hardcover for $24.99 at Diesel and other bookstores.

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