Name: The Guardians
Price: 17.95 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Andrew Pyper
ISBN: 9780385663724

From acclaimed author Andrew Pyper, a gripping novel of psychological suspense about four men haunted by a secret from childhood.

There’s no such thing as an empty house…

Trevor, Randy, Ben and Carl grew up together in the small town of Grimshaw as many boys do–playing hockey on the local team, the Guardians, and forging friendships that run deep. Twenty-four years later, Trevor, recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and faced with his own mortality, learns that his old friend Ben has committed suicide. He returns to Grimshaw to pay his respects and to reunite with Randy and Carl.

But going home means going back to the memories of a sinister crime that occurred in the abandoned house at 321 Caledonia Street–a crime that claws its way into the present, leaving its indelible mark on everyone. Chilling to the core and gripping in the extreme, The Guardians is taut psychological suspense that will leave you at once breathless and moved.

“The latest novel from Canadian author Pyper is an ambitious excursion into Stephen King territory. . . . With a well-executed narrative, both past . . . and present, strong characterization and some truly arresting images, The Guardians is a compelling and genuinely creepy read.”
— The Guardian (UK)

“Everything you could ask for in a thriller. It’s psychologically unnerving, moves like a bullet, and is fraught with so much tension you might crack a tooth reading it. Outstanding in every way.”
– Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River

“Pyper reveals his skill with pacing as the story takes on the speed of midnight dash through a graveyard. And please note: This is not schlock horror dripping with gore. Pyper expertly creates terror through mood and setting. We hear what keeps going bump in the night, but never quite see it.”
— The Globe and Mail

“A splendidly eerie haunted house story, and a superb evocation of small town life. The Guardians gripped me from its opening line and never let go.”
– John Connolly, author of Every Dead Thing and The Lovers

“A perfect haunted-house story, a crisp, eerie October night of a book that had me in its clutches from page one.”
– Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat

“So much more than a thriller. Truly great writing, haunting, intelligent, human, terrifying. Pyper is a genius.”
– Deon Meyer, author of Thirteen Hours

“A master of psychological suspense at its spine-tingling best, Andrew Pyper knows just how to lure you in to all the deep, dark places of the human heart, and then, twist.”
– Lisa Gardner, author of The Neighbor

“A dark, brooding, compelling story about the loss of innocence and the ubiquity of evil, with a finalé as bittersweet as your fiftieth birthday party.”
— The Times (UK)

“Beautifully written…The characters are drawn with extraordinary skill.”
— de Volkskrant (Netherlands)

“Pyper is the most striking Canadian crime writer to emerge in recent years and The Guardians is a characteristically intelligent move into Stephen King territory.”
— Mail on Sunday (UK)

20 Writerly Questions with Andrew Pyper

1. How would you summarize your book in one sentence?
The Guardians is a haunted house story about male friendship and the terrible burden of secrets.

2. How long did it take you to write this book?
Some version of it has been kicking around my head for six or seven years, but once I started work on it full-time, about two years.

3. Where is your favorite place to write?
My office. It’s not far from the bed.

4. How do you choose your characters’ names?
They suggests themselves, somehow. Sometimes, after a book is finished, someone will point out how the name is connected to someone I’ve known, but it always comes as news to me.

5. How many drafts do you go through?
Many drafts of the outline decreases the number of re-writes of the manuscript (a hard-won lesson). But still, I will do around half a dozen drafts of the written text, no matter how well-prepared I believe I am.

6. If there was one book you wish you had written what would it be?
Heart of Darkness.

7. If your book were to become a movie, who would you like to see star in it?
Funnily enough, I had a meeting yesterday with the producers who’ve optioned the novel, and we were spitballing this very question. I’m liking Sam Rockwell — for anything — these days.

8. What’s your favourite city in the world?
Toronto. Despite everything they say about us in Vancouver.

9. If you could talk to any writer living or dead who would it be, and what would you ask?
Hunter S. Thompson. ”Can I have what you’re having?”

10. Do you listen to music while you write? If so, what kind?
No music (I’ve never tried it, though, to be honest). I just need a chair and a desk. Sometimes not even the chair.

11. Who is the first person who gets to you read your manuscript?
My wife and agent are my first readers, and damn good ones too.

12. Do you have a guilty pleasure read?
I never feel guilty about reading anything.

13. What’s on your nightstand right now?
A Field Guide to Demons.

14. What is the first book you remember reading?
I remember reading all of Graham Greene as a pre-teen. Didn’t understand half of it, but I loved the alcoholic, angst-ridden, doomed protagonists. Funny that.

15. Did you always want to be a writer?
I always knew I would write, but I never envisioned it as a career. Until it became my career.

16. What do you drink or eat while you write?
Coffee (way too much) in the morning, then just water the rest of the day. I avoid the siren song of cookies and sugary treats in the afternoons, counting down to 5:01 PM for a glass of wine.

17. Typewriter, laptop, or pen & paper?
Desktop computer for the most part, though I take a lot of scribbled notes too.

18. What did you do immediately after hearing that you were being published for the very first time?
Went out and got drunk as a donkey.

19. How do you decide which narrative point of view to write from?
Whoever has the most to lose.

20. What is the best gift someone could give a writer?
A salary.

The Guardians

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By Andrew Pyper