A Fire in the Night by Christopher Swann
Published: September 2021 – Crooked Lane Books
Finished copy courtesy of the publisher
Description:
Nick Anthony has retreated to the North Carolina mountains to mourn the untimely death of his wife. Once a popular professor, Nick just wants to be left alone with his grief. But when his estranged brother and sister-in-law die in a house fire, a stunned Nick learns he has a niece, Annalise, who is missing.
At the scene of the crime, the men who set the fire have realized Annalise, and the information they are looking for, got away. Feverish and exhausted, she stumbles onto her uncle’s porch, throwing Nick into the middle of the mystery of her parents’ death and the dangerous criminals hunting her down.
Hired to retrieve the stolen information at any price, private military contractor Cole and his team track Annalise to Nick’s cabin. But Nick has a hidden past of his own—and more than a few deadly tricks up his sleeve. (publisher)
My take:
Nick Anthony is still reeling from the loss of his wife to cancer. When a young teen knocks on his door he finds out he has a niece – a niece who is on the run from the people who murdered her parents (Nick’s estranged brother and wife). She needs Nick’s help and he’ll find out if he’s up to the challenge. A Fire in the Night is a compelling page-turner that left me breathless. There are mercenaries, spies, characters to cheer for, and a lovely setting that I want to visit one day. When I turned the last page I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Nick and Annalise which is always my sign of a good read. A Fire in the Night is the first of Christopher Swann’s books I’ve read and I look forward to reading more.
About the author:
Christopher Swann is a novelist and high school English teacher. A graduate of Woodberry Forest School in Virginia, he earned his Ph.D. in creative writing from Georgia State University. He has been a Townsend Prize finalist, longlisted for the Southern Book Prize, and twice been a finalist for a Georgia Author of the Year award. He lives with his wife and two sons in Atlanta, where he is the English department chair at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School.
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