A Novel by Peter Swanson, William Morrow, January 2017
* An e-galley was provided by William Morrow and Edelweiss for an honest review.
Her Every Fear by Peter Swanson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
HER EVERY FEAR by Peter Swanson is a riveting and suspenseful mystery which may make you suspicious of everyone you meet. Set in both Boston and London, it weaves the lives of the main characters into a web of anxiety, fear and distrust. The story takes place over a few days and starts out in Kate Priddy's point of view (POV), adding other characters' POVs as it goes along.
Kate has just arrived in Boston to spend six months experiencing life in a new place and taking design classes. She's agreed to a house switch with her second cousin, Corbin Dell, who she's never met, as he's been transferred to London for the six months. Kate has been anxiety ridden since she was a little girl but now has PTSD from a horrific attack by her ex-boyfriend five years ago. As she walks down the hallway toward her cousin's condo door, she encounters a girl who pounds on a neighbor's door. That girl believes something bad has happened to her friend. Later on, Kate finds out that the neighbor, Audrey Marshall, was killed. Then strange things start happening to Kate in her cousin's condo--slight changes to things around her, cat left inside when she knows she let it out into the hallway--enough to where she questions her sanity. This makes the reader wonder if Kate is an unreliable narrator or if something odd is really going on.
Corbin Dell first visited London as a student. Though he was a bit of a loner, he began dating a bartender at a local pub. He didn't really gel with the other American students but partied with them on occasion. He left town when his studies ended, with a big secret and a regret that follows him daily. Corbin arrives in London to work his six months at about the same time that Kate arrives in Boston. He emails her to thank her for the switch in homes and the detailed info she left him about the neighborhood. He also sends an email to Audrey, even though he knows she won't answer him.
Alan Cherney has lived in the condo building for about a year. He moved in with his heiress girlfriend, but since she's left him, he has to move out again within the month. He has been obsessed with Audrey for a long while, almost to the point of being a stalker.
Henry Wood was the life of the party in London. Every person he met was a friend, and the other American students tended to gravitate toward him. Corbin saw him around school, but didn't really interact with Henry until near the end of their studies in London. Though they parted under unusual circumstances, they renewed their acquaintance back in the USA and became bosom buddies. Eventually they parted ways and Corbin moved on with his life. But he still remembers Henry, and apparently, Henry has never forgotten Corbin.
All the characters have strengths and weaknesses, and no two are alike. By using the various POVs, the author reveals a bit of each character's personality and the reason behind their current actions. I'm giving the book 4.5 stars because with every new POV, I had to figure out where it began in the timeline of Kate's experiences. The pace of the novel would've benefitted from giving the time, day and city at the beginning of each change in POV.
Even though I felt that the killer was inferred before the final traumatic scene, the interplay between the characters and the intensity of the plot kept me captivated throughout the story. The author is a master in writing suspense and creating tense scenes, and readers will be engrossed in this novel to the very end.
If You Liked This, You May Also Like: THE KIND WORTH KILLING and THE GIRL WITH A CLOCK FOR A HEART by Peter Swanson, EVERYTHING YOU WANT ME TO BE by Windy Mejia, I SEE YOU by Clare Mackintosh, THE DRY by Jane Harper, THE SLEEPWALKER by Chris Bohjalian View all my reviews