Book Review: Before She Knew Him | Peter Swanson

The best type of psychological thriller, in my opinion, is the type that leaves your mind spinning after you finish and your jaw dropped, and rereading the final scenes to try and understand if you read that right. Peter Swanson’s Before She Met Him is like falling through a rabbit hole where everything is backwards, upside-down, tilting, and reversed until you get to the end and you try to think backwards and understand how you could have missed it!

About the Book

Catching a killer is dangerous—especially if he lives next door

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.

Reflection

I truly don’t want to give away too much, but I can’t recommend this book enough! It is a bit of a wild ride. You will think you know where it is headed and then at some point you’ll realize it has taken a series of turns and turned into a different story than you imagined. And that will keep happening! Everything will be subtly different—bad is sometimes good, murder is sort of mundane, the most deceitful are the most honest. And then expect it all to change again!

Hen and Lloyd have just moved to a new neighborhood when they are invited to dinner with another couple, Matt and Mira. But when Hen spots an item displayed on Matt’s shelf, she knows something isn’t right. The item is linked to a murder that occurred two years prior, and suddenly Hen knows exactly who Matt is and what he may have done.

But Hen has her own secrets. An obsession with this very murder led her down a dark path. Now, she is trying to convince her husband to believe her, but how can he after everything Hen has done? Suddenly, Hen’s obsession seems to have re-emerged. But just because she is jumping back into old habits, doesn’t mean she is wrong…

Truly I found all of the characters in this fascinating, but Hen is particularly interesting. She’s that perfect sort of fragile and spirited that makes you not entirely sure if she is stable or reliable as a narrator. The story itself has some turns and the ending is (pardon the pun) absolutely killer! Seriously, I never saw it coming! That’s all I’m willing to say because I’m afraid to spoil. But do yourself a favor and read this book!!!

Thank you to TLC Book Tours and William Morrow Books for my copy. Opinions are my own.

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

About the Author

Peter Swanson is the author of five novels, including The Kind Worth Killing, winner of the New England Society Book Award, and finalist for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger; Her Every Fear, an NPR book of the year; and his most recent, Before She Knew Him. His books have been translated into 30 languages, and his stories, poetry, and features have appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, The Atlantic Monthly, Measure, The Guardian, The Strand Magazine, and Yankee Magazine. He lives outside of Boston, where he is at work on his next novel.

Find out more about Peter on his website and follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.