Death Game Launch--Kauai

Story from Kauai news

Borders Books and Music in Lihue will be hosting the launch of the suspense/thriller "Death Game," by Kauai novelist Cheryl Swanson on January 27. A second book-signing event is set for Hanapepe Art Night, on Friday, February 9 at Talk Story—The Bookstore.

Cheryl 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 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," J.C. 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."

Cheryl 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. "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."
She 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. I gotta tell you, we know something in our family about making it through tough times."
Cheryl Swanson will be featured in a live interview by Tracey on KKCR, Kauai Community Radio on February 7th. She can be reached on her website at cherylswanson.net, where the first chapter of the Death Game can also be read.