James Patterson's Latest Novel Will Literally Self-Destruct

One copy will explode; others are only readable for 24 hours
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 21, 2015 11:27 AM CST

Reading a James Patterson book is all about thrills, though usually they're just on the page. But his new novel, Private Vegas, will, he says, let readers "become a character in their own thriller." That's because one copy of the book is due—literally—to explode, with a SWAT team in charge of the blast, the Washington Post reports. The reader of that copy will have to be a serious fan: He or she will pay $294,038 for the book and a luxury trip to an undisclosed location, as well as a five-course meal with the author, Fast Company reports. According to a promotional video, that fan will read the explosive book "from afar using gold binoculars."

But experiencing the self-destructing book doesn't require you to go to all that trouble. A thousand readers can share the experience digitally via an app version of the book. They'll only get 24 hours to read it before it self-destructs in "a cinematic and spectacular way," ad company Mother says, per Fast Company. In fact, those readers may get even less time to read the book, since others can visit SelfDestructingBook.com and "steal" their reading time. Finally, if you prefer your thrills to last a little longer, you can get an actual copy of the book on January 26, when it arrives in stores. As far as we know, that version won't self-destruct. (More James Patterson stories.)

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