BORROWER OF THE NIGHT

For his debut novel, Shadow of the Lions, Chris Swann was a finalist for the Townsend Prize for Fiction (2018) and the Georgia Author of the Year award (2018), as well as being long listed for the Southern Book Prize (2018). This is his new novel.

Ethan Faulkner is a precocious thirteen-year-old with a brilliant yet sociopathic sister, a troubled father who is a veteran of the Iraq War, 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. One of the men invades the house and - after a struggle - leaves both of Ethan's parents dead.

Years later, Ethan has a successful teaching career and a budding relationship with a coworker, Marisa. But Ethan's new girlfriend proves to have issues of her own, including an unhealthy obsession with Ethan's past. When Ethan attempts to break things off with her, Marisa's reaction threatens to shatter the life Ethan has carefully constructed. Then a shocking murder, with evidence pointing to Ethan as a possible suspect, leaves Ethan has no choice but to turn reluctantly to his uncle, the man who raised him and his sister after their parents' deathsa man with a criminal history of his own.

Christopher Swann is a graduate of Woodberry Forest School in Virginia. He earned a B.A. in English from Washington and Lee University, an M.A. in English and creative writing from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and a Ph.D. in creative writing from Georgia State University. He lives with his wife and two sons in Atlanta, where he is the English department chair at Holy Innocents' Episcopal School. His next novel, Never Turn Back, will drop on September 1, 2020, with a third novel due out in 2021.