Title: Before She Knew Him
Author: Peter Swanson
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: March 5, 2019
Purchase Link: Amazon
My Rating: 4 Twisted Hearts
*Many thanks to the publisher for an arc of this book via Edelweiss plus
Synopsis:
Catching a killer is dangerous. And could be fatal if the best bait . . . is you.
From the hugely talented author of The Kind Worth Killing comes an exquisitely chilling tale of a young suburban wife with a history of psychological instability whose fears about her new neighbor could lead them both to murder . . .
Hen and her husband Lloyd have settled into a quiet life in a new house outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Hen (short for Henrietta) is an illustrator and works out of a studio nearby, and has found the right meds to control her bipolar disorder. Finally, she’s found some stability and peace.
But when they meet the neighbors next door, that calm begins to erode as she spots a familiar object displayed on the husband’s office shelf. The sports trophy looks exactly like one that went missing from the home of a young man who was killed two years ago. Hen knows because she’s long had a fascination with this unsolved murder—an obsession she doesn’t talk about anymore, but can’t fully shake either.
Could her neighbor, Matthew, be a killer? Or is this the beginning of another psychotic episode like the one she suffered back in college, when she became so consumed with proving a fellow student guilty that she ended up hurting a classmate?
The more Hen observes Matthew, the more she suspects he’s planning something truly terrifying. Yet no one will believe her. Then one night, when she comes face to face with Matthew in a dark parking lot, she realizes that he knows she’s been watching him, that she’s really on to him. And that this is the beginning of a horrifying nightmare she may not live to escape. . .
Review:
Henrietta (Hen) and Lloyd are a childless couple who have just moved into their new home outside Boston. Hen is an illustrator - an emotionally fragile woman with a bipolar disorder controlled with medications. Thankfully, it's been some time since she's experienced an "episode". Lloyd is a caring, supportive husband who always watches his wife closely for any sign of relapse. The next-door neighbors, Matthew and Mira, invite Lloyd and Hen over for dinner - a getting-to-know each other evening including a tour of their home. Hen spots something that leads her to believe her neighbor might be a killer, and just like that she becomes obsessed with proving it. Readers must figure out if she's right or suffering an episode. The resulting dark twists and turns almost gave this reader whip-lash! Go into this one blind, but be sure to buckle up tight as the ride is indeed bumpy, devious, and quite dark. About the time Swanson lulls you into thinking you have it all figured out, he changes course and is off and running in an entirely different direction forcing readers to hang on for dear life.
I'm always delighted to find a new-to-me psychological thriller author who can keep me engaged and burning through pages as Peter Swanson did with Before She Knew Him. Through unreliable narrators, he spins a dark suspense story featuring dysfunctional characters in seemingly everyday situations whose lives suddenly spiral out of control. At times, I found the story to be just a bit far-fetched, and yet it remained intense and believable at the same time. With tension continuing to build in a well-woven plot line, an ominous tone and atmosphere of impending doom blankets the characters as well as readers. It's one of those you know it's coming . . . but from which direction and from whom? A Must Read in the suspense/thriller genre!
My Rating: 4 Twisted Hearts . . . And that's the truth!
Henrietta (Hen) and Lloyd are a childless couple who have just moved into their new home outside Boston. Hen is an illustrator - an emotionally fragile woman with a bipolar disorder controlled with medications. Thankfully, it's been some time since she's experienced an "episode". Lloyd is a caring, supportive husband who always watches his wife closely for any sign of relapse. The next-door neighbors, Matthew and Mira, invite Lloyd and Hen over for dinner - a getting-to-know each other evening including a tour of their home. Hen spots something that leads her to believe her neighbor might be a killer, and just like that she becomes obsessed with proving it. Readers must figure out if she's right or suffering an episode. The resulting dark twists and turns almost gave this reader whip-lash! Go into this one blind, but be sure to buckle up tight as the ride is indeed bumpy, devious, and quite dark. About the time Swanson lulls you into thinking you have it all figured out, he changes course and is off and running in an entirely different direction forcing readers to hang on for dear life.
I'm always delighted to find a new-to-me psychological thriller author who can keep me engaged and burning through pages as Peter Swanson did with Before She Knew Him. Through unreliable narrators, he spins a dark suspense story featuring dysfunctional characters in seemingly everyday situations whose lives suddenly spiral out of control. At times, I found the story to be just a bit far-fetched, and yet it remained intense and believable at the same time. With tension continuing to build in a well-woven plot line, an ominous tone and atmosphere of impending doom blankets the characters as well as readers. It's one of those you know it's coming . . . but from which direction and from whom? A Must Read in the suspense/thriller genre!
My Rating: 4 Twisted Hearts . . . And that's the truth!
Cross My
Heart . . . xxx
Sandra
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