Although he is the author of four
critically acclaimed supernatural/suspense thrillers, Chandler
McGrew, lives in quiet seclusion in the mountains of Maine. He writes ten to
twelve hours a day,
fueled by liberal doses of coffee and Pepsi, with only an occasional dollop of
single malt scotch
to take the edge off.
Born in Texas he lived for almost
a decade in Alaska where his first novel, Cold Heart, is set.
I Love a Mystery called the book a ‘tense and satisfying read.’
While the Contra Costa Times
said it was ‘The best opening 10 pages I've read this year...reads like
a good martini tastes:
icy cold, with flecks of terror where the ice chips should be.’
Not a bad start for a man who didn’t begin to write professionally until he was in his forties.
Chandler followed Cold Heart
with Night Terror, a psychological thriller about a woman who has lost
her only son and believes she may be losing her mind as well. Like all his
novels the book is peopled
by characters who might be your next door neighbor. Or they might be escapees
from a boobie hatch.
The Denver Post said the novel ‘...plays on the primal fears that
cause most adults to lose sleep.’
That’s an adequate description of all of Chandler’s work.
The Darkening, his third
book, is a dark, apocalyptic thriller in which two very different individuals
must not only find each other but themselves as well before discovering the path
that will lead them to
salvation. Publisher’s Weekly, the industry standard, said of the book
that it was an "addictive...one
part Rapture drama, one part Lovecraftian horror story, one part blood-soaked
chase...
a thrilling one-sit read."
Which brings us to In Shadows,
McGrew’s latest which the Chicago Tribune called "...a
born-to-be-a-TV-series story."
McGrew has the uncanny knack for touching readers and frightening the bejeesus out of them at the same time.