WKU English professor, David Bell, latest novel “She’s Gone” made the New York Times Bestseller list. 

“She’s Gone,” the first young adult book by Bell, follows Hunter, a Kentucky high school student, who wakes up in a hospital bed to learn that he and his girlfriend, Chloe Summers, were in a car accident — but Chloe has disappeared. Other students begin to believe that Hunter may have murdered Chloe. Hunter has to prove to his community that he is innocent.

“The reason the New York Times list is important is because it’s the gold standard in the publishing industry,” Bell shared. “It’s the one that everybody places the most weight on and it’s the one that gets the most attention for everybody.”

Bell has previously published 15 adult suspense novels.

“It’s really a dream come true to be on that list, because it’s just a goal I think a lot of writers want to achieve, maybe all writers want to achieve, and I’ve certainly wanted to achieve that for many years.” 

Bell explained there is an increase in attention in the publishing industry when an author releases a first book in a different genre than before. 

“It takes a lot of different elements all coming together at one time,” Bell said. “In terms of ‘She’s Gone,’ it was just that all these different things came together. The stars lined up for this to happen.”

Editor-in-Chief Debra Murray can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @debramurrayy.