Silja Swaby, half Jamaican, half Finnish, is a marine biologist and author. Funded by Arts Council England, she has won competitions, and been placed in prizes and awards. She is working on a series of futuristic thrillers, featuring a female biologist whose quiet academic life takes a drastic turn. Silja has taken creative writing courses at Cambridge University and more recently Yale University, USA.

Silja tutors writers, gives workshops, and provides a critique service. She is happily unmarried and lives in deepest Somerset, UK.


Silja Swaby is pronounced Sil-yah Sway-bee.

July 04, 2013

The Empty Chair

Jeffery Deaver's thriller is set in deepest Carolina and features Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs as protagonists. And yes I did finish it and yes, I liked the pace and lack of extraneous descriptions etc. I also learned that flat stereotyped characters don't work, but more importantly why was hardly anyone what they seemed? In the end most of the bad guys were the good guys and vice versa. I feel kind of duped because even when I was in their point of view, at no time did they ever think like villains. I understand this is how he gets his twists, but I for one came away unsatisfied.

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