Susan Arnout Smith’s latest novel, “The Timer Game,” is a thriller set in unsuspecting Point Loma “” its riveting plot intertwining the charm of a quiet suburb with the horror of every mother’s worst nightmare.
“The Timer Game” is the first of Smith’s two-part book deal with St. Martin’s Press, located in New York. The book will be published in the United States as well as Italy, Germany and Taiwan. Prior to this novel, Smith has published one other book.
Born in Anchorage, Alaska, Smith moved to Colorado at a young age. After graduating with a degree in journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder, she returned to her hometown with her husband and two children. It was back in Alaska that Smith came up with the idea for her current book.
While working as an anchorwoman in Anchorage, Smith met a woman whose two children had disappeared from their small town. Smith said the mother had horrible nightmares, which worsened around Halloween.
“She imagined her children standing at her front door, in costume and unrecognizable,” Smith said of the mother.
Those images stuck with Smith long after she reported on the story, and they eventually became the seeds of “The Timer Game.”
While still a thriller, Smith said the book is more family-friendly than her earlier work, “The Frozen Lady,” a historical novel about Alaska.
“That was a book full of sex and violence,” Smith said. “I have children now, so that’s why I say [the book] is mercifully out of print.”
The second time around, Smith took a more subtle approach to suspense and fear by drawing on real-life events that, as a mother, shook her to her core.
In “The Timer Game,” the half-Portuguese protagonist, Grace Emily Descanso, lives on Scott Street, a place Smith said she always adored for its quaint charisma. Descanso and her young daughter nestle into the friendly Point Loma area, but, as thrillers go, life becomes unpredictable for the pair just as they find comfort and stability. And after a strange man takes a interest in Descanso, her daughter goes missing, turning her life into a harrowing race against time.
Smith said that mastering the art of a thriller was an undertaking, and often she turned to her mentors for support and encouragement. She pointed to childhood English teacher Dawn Troup, from Evergreen High School in Colorado, as a major support, along with her husband, Fred.
“When I say, ‘Tell me again I can do this,’ they are the people that say, ‘Yes, you can do this,'” Smith said of her family and teachers.
Smith has worked as a writer in many capacities, including novelist, journalist, scriptwriter and playwright.
Her work has appeared in movies on Lifetime, ABC and CBS. She is currently working on a film called “God’s Photo Album,” which revolves around a young teacher’s dedication to educating children. It is a take-off of a nonfiction book written by Shelly Mecum, who graduated from the University of San Diego in Point Loma.
Additionally, Smith has been an essayist for “Weekend Edition” on National Public Radio. She is the winner of the Stanley Drama Award as a playwright.
“The Timer Game” will be available in bookstores in January 2008. But for now, she remains a contented resident of Point Loma, which, fortunately for her, has all the charm of the fictional locale without the suspense.