Saturday, January 25, 2014

The Girl with a Clock for a Heart by Peter Swanson


George, upper middle class New Englander lives in a rent control apartment in an established Boston neighborhood. He works on the business side of a prominent weekly and has a comfortable, happy relationship with his longtime girlfriend. His comfortable existence is upended when he runs into Liane Decter, the college girlfriend that broke his heart many years ago. She's as beautiful as ever and claims to be in grave danger - as usual - and asks for George's help. Though he knows that he should stay clear of Liane and the drama and danger that surrounds her, George is drawn in.

Liane claims that she's being followed by a dangerous character hired by her former lover. She asks George to intervene on her behalf and to come to a settlement on her behalf. George meets with her "pursuer" and seemingly returns to a time that he'd thought was lost to him forever. But Peter Swanson's The Girl with a Clock for a Heart isn't a happy love story, it's more of a thriller/murder mystery full of unexpected twists. While most people aren't what they seem, George is the one stable character and it's from his perspective that the crazy story unfolds.

If you're looking for an unusual fun read, give The Girl with a Clock for a Heart a try.


  • ISBN-10: 0062267493 - Hardcover $19.98
  • Publisher: William Morrow (February 4, 2014), 304 pages.
  • Review copy courtesy of the publisher and the Amazon Vine Program.

About the Author:
Peter Swanson's stories and poems have appeared in the Atlantic, Measure, Mysterical-E, Soundings East, the Vocabula Review, and Yankee Magazine.  He has degrees in creative writing, education, and literature from Trinity College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Emerson College.  He lives with his wife and cat in Somerville, Massachusetts.  This is his first novel.