By now, you've perhaps seen the cover for The Unseen I posted earlier. Maybe here, maybe on Amazon, maybe elsewhere on the web.

I like the cover. It's got a certain creepy factor to it, yet it also says "mainstream suspense" a bit more than my previous two covers. (I loved the covers for my first two books, as well, I must say. But then, I'm the kinda guy who loves horror stories, so my taste probably isn't representative of the reading public's.)

But you see, that's not the end of the cover story. The fine folks at Thomas Nelson decided to push the envelope a bit more on the cover, and I think they hit it out of the park with a fancy-schmancy new design. This cover, to me, is perfect; it accomplishes the three things I think any good cover should do.

1) It gives a hint of the story. The sliver of door opening, with the hand on the edge of it, captures the essence of this story about people who live inside other people's offices and homes, spying on their everyday lives.

2) It matches the tone and mood of the story. The Unseen, more than either of my first two books, is a plot-driven suspense tale. At the same time, it has a dark undercurrent (because, well, everything I write has a dark undercurrent), and this cover captures both the suspense and the subtle feeling of unease quite well.

3) It begs to be picked up and opened. When I'm browsing the bookstore, I always stop and open books when I find covers I find particularly compelling. This design, by breaking the traditional two-dimensional structure and making the cover itself part of the overall design, does just that.

Aside from that, it's pretty hard to miss the title, isn't it? I mean, you can read that at 50 paces.

Have I already said I love this cover?