--- title: A Famous Writer Wants You to Pay $300,000 for a Book That Will Literally Explode description: You have to read it through binoculars, though. authors: - name: Jacob Davidson url: https://money.com/author/jacob-davidson/ at_money_since: 2014 articles: 106 covers: - Lifestyle - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/JakeD former_staff: true published: '2015-01-23T17:29:14.000Z' modified: '2015-01-23T17:29:14.000Z' section: Lifestyle tags: - crazy promotions - exploding book - James Patterson - private vegas - self-destructing book word_count: 339 canonical: https://money.com/james-patterson-exploding-book-private-vegas/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![150123_EM_ExplodingBook](https://img.money.com/2015/01/150123_em_explodingbook.jpg?crop=0px%2C390px%2C5700px%2C3206px&quality=85) Author James Patterson has a...let's say, *creative* plan to promote his newest thriller, *Private Vegas*. Along with a normal version of the book, the best-selling writer is giving out 1,000 advanced copies of his book through a custom iPad app that "self-destructs" after one day. Cute. But that's not all. In addition to the "self-destructing" iPad versions, Patterson is also selling one copy of the book that actually does explode in 24 hours. Seriously. Like it has a bomb in it. As described on the promotion's website, [themosthrillingreadingexperiencemoneycanbuybyjamespatterson.com](http://themosthrillingreadingexperiencemoneycanbuybyjamespatterson.com/), this special exploding copy can be yours for the low, low price of $294,038. That money will get you the following: - A first-class flight to an undisclosed location (the site suggests said location is a dormant volcano); - A two-night stay in a luxurious boutique hotel; - A Champagne-stocked bar to provide refreshments during your read; - A bomb squad that will hold the book while you read it through gold binoculars engraved with James Patterson's initials; - A five-course dinner with Patterson himself; and - An autographed copy of the entire Alex Cross book series. This all sounds super fake, but the website—and we all know we can trust websites, right?—says the promotion is real: "Very, very expensive, but real." Patterson asks for "serious inquiries only," but as a brave journalist willing to do anything for a major story like this one, I filled out the offer form anyway, just to see what would happen. Patterson's people, as represented by an email bot, immediately send email promising that I would "hear from \[them\] soon," but it's been 23 minutes since then and I haven't heard anything. That's not the kind of punctuality you want from someone trying to sell you a $300,000 time bomb. So there you go, buyer beware. But before you drop almost three-hundred grand on this novel, consider the fact that Patterson writes his books with an [assembly-line-like team](http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/01/james-patterson-best-selling-author) of co-authors, so it's probably [not a work of genius](http://qz.com/331030/my-attempt-to-read-james-pattersons-new-book-in-the-24-hours-before-it-self-destructed/), and you can get a whole lot of champaign for less than $300,000. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/james-patterson-exploding-book-private-vegas/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Lifestyle", "item": "https://money.com/lifestyle/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Entertainment", "item": "https://money.com/entertainment/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "A Famous Writer Wants You to Pay $300,000 for a Book That Will Literally Explode" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/james-patterson-exploding-book-private-vegas/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/james-patterson-exploding-book-private-vegas/", "name": "A Famous Writer Wants You to Pay $300,000 for a Book That Will Literally Explode", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2015-01-23T17:29:14.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/james-patterson-exploding-book-private-vegas/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/james-patterson-exploding-book-private-vegas/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2015-01-23T17:29:14.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "A Famous Writer Wants You to Pay $300,000 for a Book That Will Literally Explode", "articleSection": "Lifestyle", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2015/01/150123_em_explodingbook.jpg?crop=0px%2C390px%2C5700px%2C3206px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "150123_EM_ExplodingBook" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jacob Davidson", "url": "https://money.com/author/jacob-davidson/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/jacob-davidson/#author", "image": "https://money.com/content.money.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/jake-davidson-2.jpg?crop=35px%2C18px%2C872px%2C872px&resize=640%2C640&quality=85&strip&ssl=1", "email": "jake.davidson@yoh.timeinc.com", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/JakeD" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2015-01-23T17:29:14.000Z", "description": "You have to read it through binoculars, though.", "abstract": "You have to read it through binoculars, though.", "@id": "https://money.com/james-patterson-exploding-book-private-vegas/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2015-01-23T17:29:14.000Z", "wordCount": 339, "keywords": [ "crazy promotions", "exploding book", "James Patterson", "private vegas", "self-destructing book" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Lifestyle", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifestyle" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Entertainment", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entertainment" ] } ] } ] } ```