Reading a book set in a place you already know creates an immediate sense of belonging that is both comfortable and comforting. Denver author Cynthia Swanson sets her latest novel, Anyone But Her, in the Mile High City, adding ambiance to the story while weaving in a subtle knowledge of the city’s history.

Cynthia Swanson

Swanson’s first novel, The Bookseller, was a New York Times bestseller, and won the WILLA Literary Award for Historical Fiction. Her second, The Glass Forest, was a USA Today bestseller. She has also edited and contributed to the Colorado Book Award winning anthology Denver Noir. Swanson chose to self-publish Anyone But Her.

The story belongs to Suzanne, who moves back and forth in the novel between 1979 and 2004. In the earlier story, 14-year-old Suzanne is trying to navigate a world suddenly bereft of her mother, who has been fatally shot during a robbery at the independent record store where she works.  In the 2004 story, Suzanne moves back to Denver with her husband, her teenage daughter and her 9-year-old son where her personal history collidies with a turbulent present.

Suzanne begins to wonder what pieces of her past have waited here in Denver for her return. Is the son of the man who killed her mother targeting her family? Does the desire for vengeance have a half-life, or can it be passed along to one’s children, like a gene?

This richly detailed story comes together with the skillful weaving of many threads. The death of Suzanne’s mother affects everyone in the family differently, and it’s no surprise that her father, already odd, doesn’t know how to deal with his grieving, angry teenager. Throw in Peggy, Dad’s high school girlfriend who has magically resurfaced in their lives, and you’ve got a pressure cooker starting to boil.

Suzanne’s life-long ability to see and communicate with ghosts introduces a paranormal thread to the story. Her mother affectionately calls her “my little seer,” both before and after her demise. Suzanne doesn’t control which ghosts she sees, or when she sees them, which makes a stroll through Cheesman Park, built over an old cemetery, an interesting experience. And teenage Suzanne is compelled to act when her mother’s ghost tells her that her father should remarry—anyone but Peggy, that is.

Other threads include uncertainty about Suzanne’s son, Austin. She’s not sure whether he has cognitive disabilities or is just a rambunctious and bright little boy, over-enthusiastic, perhaps, but not  dangerous. And what’s going on with her teenage daughter, acting out even though Suzanne refuses to see her behavior for what it is? This bit of irony strikes the reader, if not Suzanne, because we are allowed to see the similarities between what Suzanne herself experienced as a teenage girl and what her daughter is currently experiencing.

Astute readers will recognize a few themes common to this type of psychological suspense. Among them is the possibly unreliable female narrator, a woman of a certain age with whom the reader wants to sympathize  and root for, but whose trustworthiness becomes increasingly blemished as the story progresses. We’ve seen this before in The Girl on the Train and The Woman in the Window.

The issues facing Suzanne are also familiar and relatable— trying to establish a new career path; a surly teenage daughter; a young son with a mysterious ailment nobody can define or help; a possibly philandering husband; hearing footsteps in the dark behind her but never seeing anyone there. It’s easy to be dismissive of such common tropes, and relying too heavily on them without adding any originality can make for a boring story.

Luckily, the reader is in safe hands with Swanson, who answers every question raised and defies expectations while doing so. Her deft hand for adding layers of mystery and new complications make Anyone But Her anything but dull.