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Never Turn Back
(2020)(The first book in the Faulkner Family Thriller series)
A novel by Christopher Swann
Linwood Barclay meets Michael Farris Smith in this Georgia-set domestic thriller about family, vengeance, and atonement, from critically acclaimed Southern mystery novelist Christopher Swann.
The bonds of family never truly let go.
In fact, its grip only tightens the further you try to run: crushing and crippling.
Ethan Faulkner is a precocious child with a brilliant but troublesome sister, a war vet for a father, and a weary mother trying to manage their family. One night a young woman rings their doorbell, desperate to hide from two men who are pursuing her, when one of the two barges in after her. The struggle leaves both of Ethan’s parents dead.
Years later, Ethan has a successful teaching career and a budding relationship with a coworker. But he hasn’t quite followed through on his promise to his dying father—to take care of his sister. Susannah is not an easy person to keep tabs on, is a handful even when the tabs are kept, and quite frankly, Ethan wants her to suffer for preventing him from getting to his dad before he died all those years ago.
It was a long time ago and Ethan tries to put all of it behind him. But that’s easier said than done. When news of a brutal murder breaks with evidence pointing to Ethan as the prime suspect, all the painful memories of his past come rushing to meet him. Lyrically conveyed with emotion and nuance, Never Turn Back is a powerful story about family, vengeance, and how some actions echo through the years with irreparable consequences.
Genre: Mystery
The bonds of family never truly let go.
In fact, its grip only tightens the further you try to run: crushing and crippling.
Ethan Faulkner is a precocious child with a brilliant but troublesome sister, a war vet for a father, and a weary mother trying to manage their family. One night a young woman rings their doorbell, desperate to hide from two men who are pursuing her, when one of the two barges in after her. The struggle leaves both of Ethan’s parents dead.
Years later, Ethan has a successful teaching career and a budding relationship with a coworker. But he hasn’t quite followed through on his promise to his dying father—to take care of his sister. Susannah is not an easy person to keep tabs on, is a handful even when the tabs are kept, and quite frankly, Ethan wants her to suffer for preventing him from getting to his dad before he died all those years ago.
It was a long time ago and Ethan tries to put all of it behind him. But that’s easier said than done. When news of a brutal murder breaks with evidence pointing to Ethan as the prime suspect, all the painful memories of his past come rushing to meet him. Lyrically conveyed with emotion and nuance, Never Turn Back is a powerful story about family, vengeance, and how some actions echo through the years with irreparable consequences.
Genre: Mystery
Praise for this book
"Christopher Swann understands the dread that an incidental glance, a casual comment, silence between two characters can conjure. And it's with this delicate but sure touch that he tells the story of a man trying to make sense of his violent past and prevent it from destroying the new life he's built." - Emily Carpenter
"Christopher Swann never disappoints. Swann's unmistakable voice catapults this suspenseful story to the finish line, one dark secret at a time. A must-read." - J T Ellison
"The past comes back—with a vengeance—to bite a good-hearted teacher and his brash, broken sister in Swann’s excellent latest. I loved this twisty, sexy, fast-paced thriller." - Joshilyn Jackson
"An intelligent and layered mystery that had me burning through the pages. The balance of darkness and redemption without losing a bit of the tightrope tension is a skill most writers achieve only after an entire career." - Brian Panowich
"Christopher Swann never disappoints. Swann's unmistakable voice catapults this suspenseful story to the finish line, one dark secret at a time. A must-read." - J T Ellison
"The past comes back—with a vengeance—to bite a good-hearted teacher and his brash, broken sister in Swann’s excellent latest. I loved this twisty, sexy, fast-paced thriller." - Joshilyn Jackson
"An intelligent and layered mystery that had me burning through the pages. The balance of darkness and redemption without losing a bit of the tightrope tension is a skill most writers achieve only after an entire career." - Brian Panowich
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