Atlanta author Christopher Swann has joined the industrious ranks of an elite group of local authors that includes Karin Slaughter and Mary Kay Andrews who publish a book every year.
“I’m making up for lost time,” says Swann, speaking by phone from his family vacation in Hilton Head. “I knew when I was 13 years old I wanted to do this, and it took me a lot longer than I thought it would to get my first book published.”
His fifth and latest book, “Never Back Down” (Crooked Lane Books, $29.99), is the third in his Faulkner Family series. It kicks off in high gear with Susannah “Suzie” Faulkner, a private detective who finds missing people, posing as a caterer at a fancy soiree in an attempt to free a young woman from the clutches of her rich, abusive boyfriend. But the escapade goes horribly wrong when Suzie’s nemesis Finn resurfaces.
Finn is a war veteran who served with Suzie’s father in Iraq and believes he was cheated in a criminal caper the two men pulled off. Bent on revenge, Finn has been tormenting Suzie for more than a year by threatening to kill her brother Ethan and Uncle Gavin if she doesn’t pursue him in a twisted cat-and-mouse chase across the U.S.
A 20-something pansexual who is as proficient at handling a Glock as she is delivering a blow with her hands, Suzie is an indelible figure who started out as a minor character in “Never Turn Back,” the first book in the Faulkner Family series. In the beginning she was a 10-year-old child meant to eat a plate of peas for dinner on the night her parents were killed, but to Swann’s surprise, the character took on a life of her own and refused to consume the cold legumes.
He became so taken with the character’s rebellious nature, the second book in the series, “Never Go Home,” was written from Suzie’s adult perspective, as is “Never Back Down.”
“Anytime I write a scene with her and I don’t know what to do, I just stop thinking about it and go, OK, what do you want to do? And her voice in some part of my brain says, I want to do this. And it’s usually something unsafe or dangerous or something I definitely would not do, which makes her a lot of fun to write,” he says.
“She’s very skilled and she’s good at what she does, but she can be reckless and she can make mistakes, and I think most readers appreciate that.”
Fans of the Faulkner Family series are advised to take their time and savor “Never Back Down” because it’s the last in the series — at least for a while.
“I’ve got an idea for another story for Suzie Faulkner which would be set a few years in the future, so that’s something I can always come back to, but for the moment I think the series is on pause,” says Swann, whose contract with Crooked Lane Books has expired.
But that doesn’t mean he won’t publish a book in 2024. If the publishing gods deem it so, he’ll have a standalone thriller out next year co-authored with his wife, Kathy, a psychologist.
Currently in the revision process, the book’s working title is “Lake Belle,” and it will be published under a pseudonym. Set in a fictitious town on a lake in Georgia, it was inspired by recent news reports about the discovery of human skeletons in a lake where water levels had dropped precipitously low due to climate change.
“We write very different things, and our writing styles are pretty different, which is good. Our strengths complement each other,” says Swann. “We had a whole lot of fun writing it and coming up with two different storylines and writing back and forth and trying to figure out the best way to put that story together. It was a good experience.”
“Never Back Down” launches with an event featuring Swann in conversation with author Peter Farris at 2 p.m. July 23 at FoxTale Book Shoppe in Woodstock. For details go to foxtalebookshoppe.com. He also appears at A Night of History, Mystery, Mayhem & Music presented by Bookmiser at 7 p.m. Aug. 22 at Brimstone Restaurant & Tavern in Alpharetta. Admission is free but registration is required. Go to bookmiser.net for details.
Suzanne Van Atten is a book critic and contributing editor to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. You can contact her at svanatten@ajc.com.
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