Local author to launch his second crime novel
Ballydangan resident Eoghan Egan has just published his second novel, The Other Side of Fear, with Red Dog Press.
The launch of the book will take place on Saturday, March 26 from 7pm to 9.30pm at Bistro 18, Dunlo Street in Ballinasloe.
The book is the sequel to Hiding in Plain Sight which centres around a serial killer who roams the midlands of Ireland.
A native of Strokestown, Eoghan wrote his first story aged nine.Eoghan now lives in Ballydangan, Athlone, and divides his time between Roscommon and Dublin.
The sequel picks up from where Eoghan's debut finishes off about a serial killer that no one would expect. He is married, has an impressive job, sits front seat at mass and is a pillar-turned-killer of the community.
The Other Side of Fear also features a story about a girl who was trafficked, has gone through hell and come out the other side. “I overheard a conversation about trafficking while writing the book and it then became an element of the story.”
The main characters, Ferdia and Hugh, have a good cop/bad cop dynamic which readers will enjoy. “Ferdia is a big man, loud, brash, the life and soul of the party with a good heart while Hugh is the complete opposite. He is an introvert and likes to find solutions to problems and tries not to ruffle any feathers.”
“I want my heroes to figure things out for themselves and I want the reader to feel that the character could be them or their sister.”
Mr Egan always enjoyed the crime fiction genre and read plenty of Enid Blyton, the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew as a child.
“I loved the thrill of adventure and danger. My father was a fan of crime fiction and Agatha Christie and I was influenced by this. My house was also a hub for card players as my father loved playing cards and they used to tell ghost stories around the table.”
Eoghan's childhood very much influenced his love of reading and writing and the talented wordsmith was read Jane Austen and Mark Twain by his father's uncle at a young age. “He gave me a love of words and used to get me to write down words that were different and then tell me to make a story from it.”
The accomplished author was shortlisted for the 2018 Bridport Short Story Prize, and Listowel’s 2019 Bryan McMahon Short Story Award Competition. His novel was a contender in literary agent David Headley’s opening chapter pitch competition. He previously studied Computer Programming and is a Creative Writing graduate from Maynooth University.
Eoghan is working on the third and final book in the crime series and is also hoping to publish a selection of short stories next year.