Alumni Spotlight: Jeremy Finley
B.A. 1995, Radio and Television; College of Mass Communnication and Media Arts
Alumnus Pens Sequel to Page-Turner Debut Novel
The Darkest Time of Night, the debut novel from Southern Illinois University Carbondale alumnus Jeremy Finley ’95, was called one of the best books of summer 2018 by People magazine and the New York Post.
Now, the SIU Carbondale Radio, Television, and Digital Media graduate has penned a sequel to that supernatural thriller — The Dark Above is set for release in July by St. Martin’s Press.
Lauded as a page-turner perfect for fans of shows like The X Files and Stranger Things, the new novel picks up fifteen years after the end of the previous story, following main character William Chance after his discovery of a sinister truth behind a series of mysterious disappearances.
Finley’s first published novel represented the culmination of a dream he’d had since fifth grade.
“It literally was my plan all along, although, I soon realized I would have to do something else in journalism to earn a living while I tried to reach that goal,” he told SIU Alumni magazine in a story published last fall,” Finley said.
Finley is currently the chief investigative reporter at NBC-affiliate station WSMV-4 in Nashville, Tennessee. His career in investigative reporting has resulted in criminal convictions, congressional action, and recompense for scam victims.
He has won 20 regional Emmys and Edward R. Murrow awards for his reporting, among other accolades. Yet, it wasn’t the life of investigating reporting that spawned Finley’s idea for a thriller. It came from his mother-in-law, who worked an unusual job for a time years ago.
“I was back in Carterville (Illinois)…talking to my mother-in-law in her kitchen. This sweet, unassuming lady suddenly mentioned that when her husband was in law school years ago, she was a secretary in the astronomy department at Northwestern University,” Finley recounted in an interview with SIU Alumni magazine.
“She (said she) worked for a professor who was a well-known UFO researcher, and part of her job was to take messages from people all over the world who wanted to contact him regarding extraterrestrial experiences or sightings they had encountered,” Finely said.
After ruminating on those extraordinary stories for a night, Finley started to form the plot of The Darkest Time of Night.
Its sequel, The Dark Above, comes out on July 23 in bookstores and online. Want a personalized copy? Touch base with Finley on his website.
Finley lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his wife and daughters.
Portions of this article were taken from a Fall 2018 SIU Alumni magazine article written by editor emeritus Gene Green.
Alumni Spotlight celebrates our Saluki Alumni and their memories of their time at SIU Carbondale. We focus on a different Alumni each week, and publish the feature on Wednesday afternoons on our Facebook and Twitter pages.
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