New mystery from Gloucester-based author Peter Swanson is a thriller-in-reverse

Boston Globe

a day ago

One Thursday night in 1997, I was doing homework near the little kitchen TV when 'Seinfeld' started in reverse, and my 15-year-old mind melted.
The episode, titled 'The Betrayal,' opened with the Castle Rock logo, followed by end-credits over a freeze-frame. Then, George, Jerry, and Elaine — her face bandaged — hobble into the coffee shop, having clearly been through an ordeal.
From there, we go backward, scene by scene, until the opening scene — then even further, to when Jerry met Kramer. It was riveting.
I thought of that episode as I began Peter Swanson's Massachusetts-set thriller-in-reverse
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It's 2023, a dinner party at Thom and Wendy Graves's North Shore home, and we quickly learn Wendy wants to kill Thom because of something in their past. When Thom tells guests he's writing a mystery novel, Wendy's blood runs cold. Is he going to reveal what they did? Should she push him down the stairs?
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From there, we rewind to 2018, then 2013, ending up, eventually, in 1984 when Thom and Wendy meet on an 8th-grade class trip to Washington, D.C.
Like many of Swanson's 12 books, it's New England noir — North Shore noir, really — with a comforting Agatha Christie vibe. As a
It feels ready-made for the screen and has already been optioned, Swanson says. There's interest from Julia Roberts to star and produce,
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The Carlisle native and best-selling author, 57, spoke with the Globe from his Gloucester home, ahead of his July 8
Q.
Writing a story in reverse: how did the idea come to you?
A.
I'd had the desire to tell a story backwards, which I've been thinking about for years. I thought of the movie '
There's not a ton of stuff that goes purely backwards, but one is a play, 'Betrayal' by Harold Pinter. I saw the movie version with Jeremy Irons and Ben Kingsley. I think I was 15, and it stuck with me.
Q.
It's funny you mention that: the first thing I thought of reading this was 'The Betrayal' episode of 'Seinfeld,' which I saw at 15.
A.
What's funny about that episode is, I think there's a character called Pinter, because they're acknowledging the play.
Related
:
Q.
A lot of your books take place in New England, often Massachusetts and Maine.
A.
I write what I know and love. I grew up in Carlisle. My childhood vacations were in southern Maine. I live on the North Shore. New England, in general, makes a good backdrop to a mystery — long winters, moody ocean, maybe slightly reticent people.
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Q.
You said you lived in England for a stint growing up.
A.
We were outside London, in a town called Braintree, when I was 9, 10, 11. Then we moved back to Carlisle. I grew up next to my grandparents' poultry farm. My father was a poultry geneticist. I graduated high school in '86 and Trinity College in Connecticut in '90; I majored in English Lit. I worked at [the now-closed] WordsWorth Books in Harvard Square.
Q.
Throughout your books, Boston is always Boston, but you have a mix of fictional and real town names.
A.
I tend to make up small towns. 'New Essex' is a thin veil for Gloucester. 'Kennewick, Maine,' a town I write about often, is an amalgamation of York and Kennebunkport. When you make up your own town, you can decide what it looks like. If there needs to be a bar next to the police station, you don't get an email from a resident saying there's no bar there.
Q.
Your books are always peppered with '40s and '50s movie references. You must be an old film buff.
A.
I was a young fan of Alfred Hitchcock. I saw '
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Q.
Also distinct to all your books: Descriptions of meals, drinks, people deciding what restaurant they're going to. Are you a big foodie?
A.
I am, for sure. That might come from
Q.
This book has
A.
I don't overthink it, or over-celebrate, because it's the movie business — a lot of films go into pre-development that don't wind up as pictures. '
Q.
Right, some authors have options for years. But do you remember where you were when you found out?
A.
I was mowing the lawn, and I got this message from my film agent. It's one of those funny things where you're like,
Oh, my God, that's so exciting
— but you still have to mow the lawn.
PETER SWANSON
At Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, July 8, at 7 p.m.
Lauren Daley can be reached at