One Thursday night time in 1997, I used to be doing homework close to the little kitchen TV when “Seinfeld” began in reverse, and my 15-year-old thoughts melted.
The episode, titled “The Betrayal,” opened with the Fortress Rock brand, adopted by end-credits over a freeze-frame. Then, George, Jerry, and Elaine — her face bandaged — hobble into the espresso store, having clearly been by an ordeal.
From there, we go backward, scene by scene, till the opening scene — then even additional, to when Jerry met Kramer. It was riveting.
I considered that episode as I started Peter Swanson’s Massachusetts-set thriller-in-reverse “Kill Your Darlings,” which got here out June 10. The guide opens: “The primary try at killing her husband was the night time of the ceremonial dinner.”
It’s 2023, a cocktail party at Thom and Wendy Graves’s North Shore dwelling, and we shortly study Wendy desires to kill Thom due to one thing of their previous. When Thom tells visitors he’s writing a thriller novel, Wendy’s blood runs chilly. Is he going to disclose what they did? Ought to she push him down the steps?
From there, we rewind to 2018, then 2013, ending up, finally, in 1984 when Thom and Wendy meet on an Eighth-grade class journey to Washington, D.C.
Like lots of Swanson’s 12 books, it’s New England noir — North Shore noir, actually — with a comforting Agatha Christie vibe. As a thriller diehard, and longtime Swanson reader, I can say that is his strongest thus far.
It feels ready-made for the display and has already been optioned, Swanson says. There’s curiosity from Julia Roberts to star and produce, per the Hollywood Reporter.
The Carlisle native and best-selling writer, 57, spoke with the Globe from his Gloucester dwelling, forward of his July 8 event at Harvard Guide Retailer. He discusses diversifications, Alfred Hitchcock — and a “Betrayal” story of his personal.
Q. Writing a narrative in reverse: how did the concept come to you?
A. I’d had the need to inform a narrative backwards, which I’ve been fascinated by for years. I considered the film “Memento,” and a novel by Elizabeth Jane Howard, “The Long View,” a wedding story advised in reverse. However I didn’t have the plot. Then I considered the noir “Double Indemnity” story — the adulterous couple that plans to kill a husband or spouse. I believed: what if a pair plotted this and obtained away with it?
There’s not a ton of stuff that goes purely backwards, however one is a play, “Betrayal” by Harold Pinter. I noticed the film model with Jeremy Irons and Ben Kingsley. I feel I used to be 15, and it caught with me.
Q. It’s humorous you point out that: the very first thing I considered studying this was “The Betrayal” episode of “Seinfeld,” which I noticed at 15.
A. What’s humorous about that episode is, I feel there’s a personality referred to as Pinter, as a result of they’re acknowledging the play.
Q. A number of your books happen in New England, usually Massachusetts and Maine.
A. I write what I do know and love. I grew up in Carlisle. My childhood holidays have been in southern Maine. I reside on the North Shore. New England, basically, makes a superb backdrop to a thriller — lengthy winters, moody ocean, possibly barely reticent individuals.
Q. You mentioned you lived in England for a stint rising up.
A. We have been exterior London, in a city referred to as Braintree, once I was 9, 10, 11. Then we moved again to Carlisle. I grew up subsequent to my grandparents’ poultry farm. My father was a poultry geneticist. I graduated highschool in ’86 and Trinity Faculty in Connecticut in ’90; I majored in English Lit. I labored at [the now-closed] WordsWorth Books in Harvard Sq..
Q. All through your books, Boston is all the time Boston, however you have got a mixture of fictional and actual city names.
A. I are likely to make up small cities. “New Essex” is a skinny veil for Gloucester. “Kennewick, Maine,” a city I write about usually, is an amalgamation of York and Kennebunkport. Whenever you make up your individual city, you may determine what it appears like. If there must be a bar subsequent to the police station, you don’t get an e mail from a resident saying there’s no bar there.
Q. Your books are all the time peppered with ‘40s and ’50s film references. You should be an outdated movie buff.
A. I used to be a younger fan of Alfred Hitchcock. I noticed “Dial M for Murder” in England on tv; I used to be 10 or 11. These are youth, and I used to be mesmerized. As a young person in Carlisle, I’d drive to the Brattle Theater. I noticed “Casablanca,” [Hitchcock’s] “Infamous.” That was my factor to do as soon as I obtained my license.
Q. Additionally distinct to all of your books: Descriptions of meals, drinks, individuals deciding what restaurant they’re going to. Are you a giant foodie?
A. I’m, for certain. Which may come from Robert Parker’s [Boston-set] Spencer books. Spencer, the detective, was a foodie earlier than that time period existed. He all the time talked about what he would eat, what he ordered, what he cooked. Studying these as a child, it grounded these tales.
Q. This guide has adaptation interest. That’s thrilling.
A. I don’t overthink it, or over-celebrate, as a result of it’s the film enterprise — lots of movies go into pre-development that don’t wind up as footage. “Eight Perfect Murders” has been underneath choice for some time.
Q. Proper, some authors have choices for years. However do you keep in mind the place you have been if you discovered?
A. I used to be mowing the garden, and I obtained this message from my movie agent. It’s a kind of humorous issues the place you’re like, Oh, my God, that’s so thrilling — however you continue to need to mow the garden.
PETER SWANSON
At Harvard Guide Retailer, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, July 8, at 7 p.m. harvard.com/event/peter-swanson
Lauren Daley could be reached at ldaley33@gmail.com. Comply with her on Twitter @laurendaley1.
