The Book Stall (811 Elm Street in Winnetka) is excited to welcome Winnetka native Lori Brand to the store on Tuesday, June 11 at 6:30 pm for a discussion featuring her new book, Bodies to Die For! Perfect for fans of You Shouldn’t Have Come Here and None of This Is True, Ms. Brand’s debut title is a brilliant psychological thriller that will have readers wondering whether the perfect body really is worth dying for. With breakneck pace and keen insights, Bodies to Die For takes a hard look at social media, the $70 billion diet industry, and the war on women’s bodies. Ms. Brand will be in conversation with bestselling crime novelist David Ellis.
 
This event is free with registration. To register, please visit our website or CLICK HERE. 
 
More About the Book: Popular fitness influencer Gemma has transformed herself from a Before into an After, complete with washboard abs, thriving business, and gorgeous husband. But social media can be deceiving. Offline, the cutthroat world of bikini bodybuilding may just eat her alive. That’s if she’s not first devoured by the secret nemesis that lurks beneath her polished surface, waiting to destroy her. Software engineer Ashley is fat and frustrated, until Ashley falls in with a mysterious and radical sect of Fat Activists who are fighting back, by any means necessary. She’s never felt so alive, so full of purpose. She’ll do whatever it takes to ride this high, destroy Diet Culture, and win the approval of her charismatic leader.
 
Gemma and Ashley are on a collision course headed for the Olympia, the bodybuilding competition where futures are made. But when Gemma’s toughest rival turns up dead, and more fitness girls fall like dominoes, it’s beginning to look like the body image war has gone too far.
 
Halley Sutton, bestselling author of The Hurricane Blonde, says, “Bodies to Die For is a wild, twisty romp through the world of bodybuilding and murder. Brand does an excellent job of showing how diet culture really is hell—no matter the size of your body. A perfect thriller for any readers looking for Ruth Ware meets the podcast Maintenance Phase.”
 
More About the Author: Lori Brand is a lifting enthusiast, group fitness instructor, yoga teacher, and software quality engineer. In past lives, she's been a gymnast, dancer, Playboy model, and bodybuilder. Her time in the body wars trenches led to her realization that getting strong, rather than shrinking, is the way out. In an effort to spread the word, she's had articles published in STRONG Fitness Magazine, T-Nation, Inside Fitness Magazine, D'FYNE Fitness Magazine, and more. Bodies to Die For is her first novel. Find out more about her HERE. 
 
More About Our Conversation Partner: David Ellis is a judge and an Edgar-award-winning author of ten novels of crime fiction, as well as eight bestselling books co-authored with James Patterson. His novels have been translated into more than ten languages worldwide. His latest book, Look Closer, is a favorite with book clubs and crime readers alike, and his new psychological thriller, The Best Lies, is out in July. In December 2014, Dave was sworn in as the youngest-serving Justice of the Illinois Appellate Court for the First District. He lives outside Chicago with his wife and three children. You can learn more about him HERE.