Robert Swartwood

Robert Swartwood is the USA Today bestselling and ITW Thriller Award-winning author of The Killing Room, The Serial Killer’s Wife, No Shelter, Man of Wax, and several other novels. He’s also the author of Girl Gone Mad, One Year Gone, and Dear Seraphina, written under the pseudonym Avery Bishop.

Swartwood's new novel is Enemy of the State.

Recently I asked the author about what he was reading. His reply

To start, I should note I often read several books at once: usually one digitally, one physically, and one audio-ly.

Sing Her Down by Ivy Pochoda

I've had this one on my Kindle forever. In fact, I think I somehow got a digital ARC. I remember reading the first few pages and immediately deciding to set it aside because the language was so rich that I knew I wanted to come back to it. And I've been reading it on and off for the past year. Not because it's not a good book — it's great in fact — but because it's the kind of book you want to savor. The characters and story are excellent, sure, but it's the language, the visuals, that I don't want to end.

You Like It Darker by Stephen King

I grabbed the hardcover when it came out, just as I do with pretty much all King books. I've been a King fan since middle school but haven't read many of his more recent books for whatever reason. So this collection is the first King I've read in several years, and King's writing style is like a warm blanket: it's so inviting and comforting. Plus, King slipping a short novel into a short story collection like it's no big thing is probably one of the most Stephen King thing ever. You've gotta love that.

Cold In July by Joe R. Lansdale, read by Brian Hutchison

Nobody writes like Joe Lansdale. That's why he's one of a kind. And this book — like all the rest — is a lot of fun.

Visit Robert Swartwood's website.

Q&A with Robert Swartwood.

The Page 69 Test: The Killing Room.

--Marshal Zeringue