Borders Books and Music in Lihu‘e will be hosting the launch of the suspense/thriller “Death Game,” by Kaua‘i novelist Cheryl Swanson tomorrow at 2 p.m. A second book-signing event is set for Hanapepe Art Night on Friday, Feb. 9 at
Borders Books and Music in Lihu‘e will be hosting the launch of the suspense/thriller “Death Game,” by Kaua‘i novelist Cheryl Swanson tomorrow at 2 p.m.
A second book-signing event is set for Hanapepe Art Night on Friday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. at Talk Story bookstore.
Swanson began writing full-time after giving up a six-figure income as a consultant and motivational speaker in medicine and dentistry.
She was a clinical editor of Dentistry Today magazine, headquartered in New York, the author of three non-fiction books on medical technology and spoke at medical/dental schools and conventions in the United States and Canada.
The author of “Death Game,” which was published by Zumaya Publications, drew on her experiences with troubled teenagers as a child advocate to pen her first novel.
As a child advocate in San Francisco, she worked extensively with children who experienced sexual and physical abuse in their homes and had been removed from that environment by local police.
According to J.C. Hall, the author of “Legends of the Serai” and a reviewer with Epinions, “Death Game” is a “stunning debut novel with all the hallmarks of a great thriller.”
According to Mystery Scene magazine consulting editor and Edgar nominee, Jeffrey Marks, “A taut novel of suspense, ‘Death Game’ had me on the edge of my seat from the very first chapter.”
MidWest Review, December 2006 said: “Talented author Cheryl Swanson maintains a quick pace that reaches a spine-tingling, heart-stopping climax.”
“One con about ‘Death Game’ is that after you’re reading it, you’ll be worrying about your teenager even when she/he’s at home,” Swanson said.
The book tells the story of a teenage boy who is obsessed with Internet gaming and ends up being the prime suspect in the shooting death of the heir to a shipbuilding dynasty in San Francisco.
The novel links the seemingly harmless teenage fixation of video and Internet gaming with the training of military operatives and more sinister consequences.
“Death Game” is both timely and relevant, and a sharp reminder of the startling vulnerability of ordinary American citizens,” Hall wrote.
According to Book Review Club, “The horrifying implications in ‘Death Game’ are not far from reality in the present world we live in.”
Swanson herself is fascinated by survivors, partly because ‘Death Game’ was completed during chemotherapy. “I was diagnosed with breast cancer four years ago,” she said in a release. “Being a victim is a matter of luck — bad luck. Being a survivor, on the other hand, is a matter of character and faith. There is a lot of bad in the world — and boy, with all my research as a novelist, do I know it. And I think that gives everyone a fascination with heroes. How do they find the strength? What secrets have they learned? The world isn’t going to magically get better anytime soon, so we could all benefit from that strength.”
Swanson is not the only survivor in the family. She and her husband adopted a child from tough circumstances in Guatemala several years ago.
“My husband Bob calls our daughter Carmen and myself his two survivors,” she said. “We know something in our family about making it through tough times.”
Swanson will be featured in a live interview by Tracey Schavone on KKCR, Kaua‘i Community Radio, on Feb. 7.
She can be reached through her Web site at cherylswanson.net, where the first chapter of the “Death Game” can also be read.
