“Read this!” My #bookreview of HER EVERY FEAR, by Peter Swanson @PeterSwanson3 @FaberBooks

“Had me literally gasping out loud. Read this book!”

THEY SAY

Following a brutal attack by her ex-boyfriend, Kate Priddy makes an uncharacteristically bold decision after her cousin, Corbin Dell, suggests a temporary apartment swap – and she moves from London to Boston.

But soon after her arrival Kate makes a shocking discovery: Corbin’s next-door neighbour, a young woman named Audrey Marshall, has been murdered. When the police begin asking questions about Corbin’s relationship with Audrey, and his neighbours come forward with their own suspicions, a shaken Kate has few answers, and many questions of her own.

Jetlagged and emotionally unstable, her imagination playing out her every fear, Kate can barely trust herself. so how can she trust any of the strangers she’s just met?

In the tradition of such greats as Gillian Flynn and Harlan Coben, Patricia Highsmith and James M. Cain, Her Every Fear is a scintillating novel, rich with the chilling insight and virtuoso skill for plotting that has propelled Peter Swanson to the highest ranks of thriller writing.

I SAY

I’m a huge Peter Swanson fan ever since reading his second novel, The Kind Worth Killing, which became my absolute favourite read of last year. When people ask me for a recommendation, it is still that book that springs to mind every single time. So…quite a lot of expectation to live up to for this tale.

Chilling, well-written, cleverly plotted, and characters who are uncomfortably, realistically horrible – just as with The Kind Worth Killing, Her Every Fear features all of this. It is curiously constructed though. I’m not sure how else the story could have been told, and because it is utterly brilliant and unputdownable, it works. Against all odds, Peter Swanson pulls it off. But there were a couple of times when the writer in me felt the construction was curious, and strangely weighted here and there, as it swapped between perspectives. It’s such an engrossing storyline though that the thought is fleeting and doesn’t spoil the overall pace.

I lost myself in the characters: The delicate Kate, who has already been through so much, and may not survive (either mentally or physically) this next challenge. Corbin, a weak man with terrible secrets. Henry, a chameleon and master manipulator. And the strange neighbour who sees everything, and is prone to obsession…

This isn’t a whodunit, as you discover that fairly quickly, but the storyline’s twists and turns had me hooked and I was desperate to discover just what was happening, and why. The final confrontation had me literally gasping out loud.

In summary…I loved it!

Her Every Waking Fear is not quite up there with The Kind Worth Killing, but is only a smidgeon beneath it. The merest whisker. That is high praise indeed. My only advice? Read this book!

Want to know more about Peter Swanson and how he creates such incredible books? Then read on – I’ve got a great chat with him, too!

Hi Peter! Tell us about yourself…

I am a full time crime writer living just outside of Boston, Massachusetts. When I’m not writing crime thrillers, I’m probably reading a crime thriller, and when I’m not doing either of those two things, I am trying to organize the ridiculous number of books that are threatening to take over my very small office.

I’ve published two novels—The Girl With a Clock For a Heart, and The Kind Worth Killing. My newest thriller — Her Every Fear — comes out in January, 2017

How do you pick character names? Do any have special meaning to you?

Some names—usually of the main characters—have special meaning. For example, Ted Kimball, the frustrated-poet detective in The Kind Worth Killing is called Ted after Ted Hughes, and Kimball was my grandmother’s maiden name, and also my sister’s middle name. It’s a surname I associate with goodness, and Ted, especially compared with the other characters in the book he exists in, is one of the good guys.

But Ted Kimball’s name is an exception. Most of my character’s names are… TO READ THE INTERVIEW IN FULL, CLICK HERE