A DARLINGTON-BORN author has topped the Kindle charts.

Snatched, a thriller penned by 32-year-old Stephen Edger, is currently sitting at the top of Amazon’s Kindle charts after being downloaded more than 75,000 times.

The popular e-book is Mr Edger’s fourth novel and follows the story of a missing seven-year-old and the teacher trying to solve the mystery of her disappearance.

Mr Edger, who began writing seriously less than four years ago, said he has been left amazed by his swift success.

He said: “I always had this idea that I wanted to write. As a child, my school reports praised my vivid imagination.

“I wrote my first novel in 2010 and tried to find an agent but was unsuccessful so used Amazon’s Kindle platform and published that way in 2011.

“Following modest sales I had the bug and wanted to try it again. I did so and I’ve been quite surprised at how quickly I’ve got to this point.

“I am just amazed, Snatched is getting a lot of good reviews and it’s great to know so many people have taken a chance on it.”

Despite holding down a day job in a bank and being a father to a three-year-old, Mr Edger manages to write prolifically, with an output of around 2,000 words a day.

Giving advice to future authors, he said: “If you can find time to write 1,000 words a day within three months you could have finished writing the first draft of a novel.

“Publishing it can be a challenging journey but if you want to write, it is worth it. It’s been a steep learning curve but an incredible experience for someone with no real background in writing, just the motivation to write.”

For more information about Mr Edger and his books, visit stephenedger.com.