The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Enemy of the State (Book 2 of 2: The Killing Room Series) by Robert Swartwood

Episode Date: August 22, 2024

Enemy of the State (Book 2 of 2: The Killing Room Series) by Robert Swartwood https://amzn.to/471Dr5k From USA Today bestselling author Robert Swartwood comes Enemy of the State, the propulsive, thrilling, and much anticipated follow-up to The Killing Room ... The world believed Daniel Burke was dead. At least, the few people in the government who knew he existed did. Once part of an elite black op team, Burke faked his death so he could avenge his brother. Now that those responsible have been brought to justice, he plans to leave the country and start a new life. But before Burke can even get on the plane, his old team has tracked him down. The CIA believes Daniel Burke is a traitor--an enemy of the state--who must answer for his crimes. But others in government simply want him dead. Knowing he's been set up, Burke is the only one who can track down and expose the real traitor--before it's too late. About the author 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.

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You've probably read most of his books. not you have to start today and that's a contractor for listening the show no i'm just kidding but be wise if you did today we have robert swartwood on the show with us today his newest book comes out tomorrow august 20th 2024 it's called enemy of the state killing room series it's part of and we're going to get into All the details that go into it Robert Swartwood is the USA Today best selling author of the Serial Killer's Wife, No Shelter

Man of Wax and several other Novels. He is also the author Of Girl Gone Mad One Year Gone written under the pseudonym Avery Bishop. Enemy of the State is a sequel to The Killing Room, which won the 2024 ITW Thriller Award for Best E-Book Original Novel. Welcome to the show, Robert. How are you?

I'm doing great, Chris. Thanks for having me. Thanks for coming. We really appreciate having you as well. Give us your dot-coms. Where do you want people to find you on the interwebages? robertswartwood.com. It's going to be the easiest. That's just my website. Of course, you can always sign up for my newsletter. That's always nice too. I have an exclusive ebook that I wrote just for newsletter subscribers for people that can't get it anywhere else. And then of course, just on social media, Robert Swartwood Books on facebook and then robert swartwood on twitter and and instagram and yes i did say twitter because it is yeah in my heart it's still twitter i'm not

giving it up either i'm not calling it x i'm calling it twitter that's what it was always on to me i'm sure that when it's in bankruptcy they'll change the name back so robert give us a 30 000 overview the second book in this Killing Room series, Enemy of the State. Yeah, so it's the second book in the series, which really picks up right where the first book leaves off. So for readers who are not familiar of the first book, The Killing Room, it takes place in Las Vegas. It is about a businessman who wakes up in a hotel room where he doesn't know how he got there, where he is, and he finds a dead woman in the bathtub. Oh, that's like every weekend whenever I'm in Vegas. That's right.

That's right. So it's only the, but that's like the first like two chapters. And then the fun thing about that book, and that is the one you mentioned that did win the Thriller Award, which I think is actually sitting up there. It is, it is a book that constantly is changing. So it's a book that's, you know, some novels like, you know, like I enjoy the Jack Reacher books. But when you start a Jack Reacher book, you know exactly what you're getting when you go into it. But personally, as a reader, but also as a writer, I love those books where they're constantly messing with your head. You know, you think they're heading one direction and also they hit another direction and so the killing room was one of those books where

what you think is happening is not really what's happening and then there's these twists and then whatever else it ends on a cliffhanger i mean the main the main story is is completed but we kind of leave it open kind of like a marvel you know how like marvel has those end credit scenes it yeah it leaves on this this like really big cliffhanger that opens into the second book. So the second book picks up right where that one leaves off the main character, essentially the people who thought he was dead realized now that he's not. And so he's been branded a traitor or,

you know, an enemy of the state and he's on the run and he has to clear his name. And I wanted to also do, how do I want to say it? I did want to just do a typical chase novel because that type of setup is a very typical thing. And so what I often doing is taking those typical tropes in the thriller genre, crime drama, action drama, or the genres, and just trying to put a fresh spin on it or a new twist so that was my attempt with with this second book in the series oh there you go it's got the same main character running through it all is it it doesn't sound like it's standalone then sounds like you may want to read the first one first right i i've seen some reviewers mention that you probably

could read as a standalone because there are references to the first book and so i try to make i try to make it easy plus because i also understand a lot of readers don't just immediately pick up the second book after they read the first book a lot of these readers have read the first book last year and now they're going to be coming back into it so i do that that author-esque thing where i try to give a little refreshers here and there throughout the book so that what happened in the first book also is mentioned or kind of gives people those those those reminders I guess I should say there you go yeah but it's out so they can get filled in yeah but no it's definitely not like one of those like a Jack I mentioned Jack Reacher it's not like a Jack Reacher book where you could pick up book 18 and then read book five and it all makes sense. So there is definitely an arc here so far in books one and

two. Nice. And people love them. So give us a little bit about your history. How did you grow up? When did you start writing or know you had a knack for writing and all that good stuff? So the first Jurassic Park movie came out when I was in sixth grade and you know i watched the movie somewhat recently and it's a movie that the story wise i think holds up special effects still kind of hold up but imagine how it was you know back in the middle was it mid 90s at this point right it was it was it was it was it was amazing and basically it it got me into my michael crichton and so at that point i had been been reading books, like a lot of Hardy Boys and whatever else. I did enjoy reading, but I just started reading every single Michael Crichton book there was,

even some of his books under his pen name. And from there, it was Stephen King. My very first Stephen King novel was Insomnia, which if anybody is a Stephen King fan, they know that Insomnia is not really one of his more well-known books. It's not an easy book probably as an introductory to Stephen King, but I loved it. And at that point I knew, okay, this is what I want to do. I want to be a writer. And so that's why a lot of my earlier stuff was more supernatural, more horror. And yeah, a lot of short stories, some of my first books were that way. And then eventually I just kind of made that transition into just, I think my first, it was No Shelter, my first female assassin book in that series, the Holly Lynn series. And then also The Serial Killer's Wife. Those were straight up thrillers. And from that, it's just been writing thrillers. I mean, that's mostly what my passion is. Even though I thought I wanted to be be a horror writer it turned out i'm i'm naturally i guess more of a thriller writer at heart oh there you go so you like thrillers better than oh yeah i mean i i enjoy a really good

horror book but i'm just not good at it i i think some writers just they get into writing because they like a certain genre and then sometimes that that's the genre that's meant for them. But sometimes there are certain genres there. They just start gravitating toward different genre because they find out that that's what they really love. And that's where the passion is. Because I think that readers oftentimes can sniff out fakes. You know, when an author is trying too hard and they're trying to write in a genre that they don't really enjoy. They can usually just tell they're just, it's just not, you know, it just doesn't feel right. Definitely.

And you've written a lot of thrillers. The Serial Killer's Wife, massive reviews, No Shelter, Bullet Rain. That's what we call Fridays around here. I don't know what to say. It's a man of wax. Lots of great reviews on all your books why do you think that people are so drawn to you as an author that's a very good question i ask myself that every day i don't do that with a podcast i'm like why are people listening to this i i think

i don't know there's something about the way i write my books i maybe it has something to do with undiagnosed adhd I don't know, but I really try to hit the ground running. I don't spend a lot of time. Sometimes you read books where nothing takes place for like 100 pages, 200 pages, and you just keep turning the page being like, what is happening here? What's going on? I don't like that. As a reader, I just want to make sure that something is happening. So a lot of my books, and I was just thinking about this the other day, a lot of my books take place within a certain, you know, either 24 hours, 48 hours,

or at least a very compressed time period. So it's not one of those things where weeks and months are passing over the course of 300 or 400 pages. Just, you know, it's just boom, boom, boom. Things are happening really fast, which isn't to say there isn't downtime, because obviously you want to have,

you know, there's pacing and whatever else you, you don't want to make a reader be too overwhelmed, but it's, it's definitely, I think the books are not something that you're going to get bored with. And I think that's what readers appreciate most. There you go. It should be a fun read and a fun romp.

What's the future hold for you? Is there more series books in the series coming for the killing room series or maybe some of your other stuff so right now this book this is my i mean it was a it was a two book deal so i'll just say that i mean this finished the contracts could there be future books potentially i guess it really is going to depend on how well this one sells right now you'd mention i think with the bio i also write under a pen name every bishop i have an i have an audible original that'll be coming out sometime next year we don't have a pub date quite yet but that's going to be in that's going to be a novel and i can't really

i guess talk too much about that quite yet because they haven't really made any announcements but i definitely i mean the the book's done we're just waiting on you know getting finalized with and with the narrators and pub dates and all that good stuff. So there's definitely something new coming out next year. But in terms of this series, again, we'll see how things go. Yeah, it should be awesome. So what sort of pattern, when you write, do you have a pattern that you use? Like you write at a certain time, you write at a certain place.

What's some advice you can maybe give to a wannabe writers? I think my advice to wannabe writers is not probably, you know, it's more one of those do as I say, not as I do type things. Because I oftentimes, I'm more of a night owl. I like to stay up late. So oftentimes I will write late. I would love to just sleep the morning away if I can. But there are times where you just have to fit in writing wherever you can. And I think that's important to aspiring writers because oftentimes people will say, I just don't have the time to do it.

I've heard some writers who just they will write hundred words a day or even 50 words a day. It doesn't have to be, you know, 10, 10 pages a day, as long as you're writing something and anybody can, can just sit down and write a sentence that they can write a paragraph. So it's really just squeezing in that time. I think it's one of those things that if you have the passion for it, you will find the time because TV is not that important. Playing games on your tablet is not that important, especially if you feel that you have stories to tell. That's true. That's true. Everyone's got stories to tell. I think really when it comes down to it, although some people are more interesting than others,

but it's how you design it. But yeah, it's, it's, I remember when I wrote my book, I had to spend, I had an hour accountability group that I was in. And so we would focus on every day you had to put down an hour of, you know, trying to write your book and stuff. And that was really important. Like you say, just finding time and writing a book and getting into, how do you know, how do you figure out what genre you're good at? I don't know if that's a good question, but how you how did you find what you know genre works for you or what it was just what turned you on to a certain so again i had kind of grown up in the the horror genre i still have a lot of friends who write horror i had helped a friend of mine that he had a magazine at the time it was a

horror dark fantasy magazine i was an editor for that so i was reading a lot of slush which is another thing for aspiring writers if you ever if you ever have the opportunity to read slush and what we say by what we mean by slush is just the mass submission so usually a magazine when people are submitting stories to a magazine they call that slush and so being able to read you're going to see a lot of different types of quality in those stories that are being submitted and oftentimes you can tell as an editor i could tell within by the first page or two sometimes within the first paragraph whether or not an author really knew what they were doing if they had if they had what it took to get published, because there's just something that you can just tell immediately. So it's definitely something worth exploring.

Oh, that's kind of interesting. But I had these two writer friends who sat me down one time. I think we were at a mutual friend's birthday party somewhere. I think it was in New York. And they sat me down and they're basically like, what are you doing here? Why are you hanging out with us? And I said, what are you talking about? And they're like, you're not a horror writer. You don't write horror. And I basically like, what are you doing here? Why are you hanging out with us? And I said, what are you talking about? And they're like, you're not a horror writer. You don't write horror. And I was like, what?

I was insulted. Part of me was insulted. But in retrospect, I saw what they meant. And they were basically saying, even though, and again, this goes back to what you have the passion for. Sometimes you might feel like you want to write a certain genre. And again, if that's what you want to do, good on you. But I think there are times where it really comes through in the storytelling that maybe your heart or your soul just really isn't in the stories that you're

telling in that particular genre. I know a lot of writers who oftentimes they start in one genre and then they end up writing another genre. And sometimes, quite honestly, that is for financial gain. They might just not be having any luck in genre A. And so they decide to switch over to genre B, and all of a sudden they gain a readership and they're selling books. And so they just keep going. I mean, sometimes i guess you can kind of fake it just you know you can fake it till you make it fake it that's all i get through i think that's the saying i'm not sure it's been a while i feel like it's a very old saying i'm not sure yeah yeah that's how i get through life i fake it till i make it i'm still waiting for the make it

part but yeah so there you go well it's been wonderful to have you on give us a final pitch out to people on where to pick up the book your your dot coms, and all that good stuff about what's coming in the future. Yeah. So again, Enemy of the State comes out tomorrow, August 20th. All online retailers should have it. They have it's in paperback and ebook. Also the audio book. I have a great narrator, Eduardo Ballerini.

Anybody who listens to audio books on a regular basis would recognize that name. He narrated the audio book i have a great narrator eduardo ballerini anybody who listens to audio books on a regular basis would recognize that name he narrated the first book he did an amazing job i haven't i haven't heard the second book quite yet because again it hasn't been available but i'm sure he does an amazing job as well so that said audible and anywhere else you would pick up your audio books there you go people love the audiobooks now. Sometimes the reader of these audiobook thrillers and, you know, like the Brian stuff and all that stuff, they really are becoming prolific. You know, they can read it in such a way that makes it almost like a movie. Yeah. I mean, some of the audiobook narrators, they essentially have their own fan base.

You have one of my other books, you mentioned abry bishop they're one year gone britney presley narrated that that book and i think one of the very early reviews that came in on audible was somebody who had said i didn't know anything about the author of the book but i'm a huge britney presley fan so i downloaded it and i'm glad i did because i mean fortunately the person liked the book too but they were just downloading it because the narrator that that is wild you're like yeah i down you you've the audio reader whatever narrator is going to be bigger than the author that that does happen absolutely ray porter is one i mean ray porter has a huge fan base scott brickick comes to mind. Julia Whelan. Yeah, a lot of these narrators are rock stars. And I mean, and they deserve it.

They do an amazing job because it's not just reading. You know, they're just reading the book. They're performing the book in a way. Yeah. Yeah. They do amazing jobs. They do it to life. There you go.

Thank you very much for coming to the show. We really appreciate it, Robert. Thanks for having us. And then also, please come back for your future books, too, as well. Yeah. Thanks again, Chris. I appreciate it. There you go.

Order the book, folks, wherever fine books are sold, August 20th, 2024. The second book in the Killing Room series, Enemy of the State. Pick it up wherever fine books are sold. And subscribe to Robert's newsletter as well. You can get that free, I think it was an e-book or an audio book free e-book exclusive exclusive that's a great way to i should do that so there you go thanks so much for tuning in go to goodreads.com 4chatschristmas linkedin.com 4chatschristmas christmas one of the tiktok all those crazy places on the internet and be good to each other stay safe we'll see you next time