Thriller

A creepy thriller about a woman with a troubled past who suspects that her next door neighbor is a murderer.

I found this book compulsively readable; the (two) plot twists really took me by surprise and I completely kicked myself for not seeing one of them coming. However, as much as I enjoyed it, I felt that the small bit of the vulgarity towards the end felt entirely too forced. Vulgarity doesn't normally bother me, but when it's done poorly, I feel that it really cheapens the overall impact of the story at hand. ( )

This was a really interesting, fast read. I thought there would be some kind of build-up to Hen thinking that her neighbor was a murderer, but it jumped right in in the very first chapter. It changes viewpoints in the chapters, mostly alternating between Hen and Matthew so we learn a lot really quickly.

Character development...of the two main characters, we get to see alot about them and get backstory. The other more minor characters (namely, the spouses) didn't get a whole lot of development or details.

There was a sub-plot that I think we really could have done without (I won't say what it was so as not to say any spoilers) and I don't entirely know what the point of it was. The plot/story overall was engrossing and well-written. There were a few places where the sentence structure seemed a little weird and I had to re-read the sentence a couple of times to understand what they were saying, but other than that, the writing was superb. There was a twist at the end that I wasn't really expecting, and one question that I still have and will never get an answer to.

All in all, great novel. If you like suspense, whodunit, or a little bit of intrigue, then I would recommend this to you. I will warn you that there is mention of mental disorders, so if that's something that you would have issues reading about, then maybe you should choose something else. If you are a fan of Riley Sager, Tana French, or Karen Harper you will probably enjoy this one. ( )

Intense and riveting, Peter Swanson always keeps me on the edge of my seat with his amazing books and story telling. ( )

It starts with a dinner between next door neighbors. Mira thinks she and husband Matthew need more friends, only upon inviting Henrietta (Hen) and Lloyd over and while giving a tour of their home, does she realize that her husband might have been right to isolate them. When Hen spots a fencing trophy that reminds her of a murder victim, Dustin, with whom she had previously been obsessed, a chain of suspicion and murder is set into motion that would divide even the closest friends. The reason Hen was so obsessed with Dustin’s murder? You’ll have to make it through to the last chapter, but it is one of a dozen contrived-feeling plot points in a novel I can only refer to as “phoned in.”

I don’t enjoy writing negative book reviews, but I didn’t like Before She Knew Him nearly as much as I had hoped I would. Similar in many ways to The Kind Worth Killing, Before She Knew Him doesn’t have the same unexpected feeling to it. Hen is mentally ill and has a history of making false accusations (conveniently, this is why no one believes her when she is the sole eye witness to a murder). People are dying, yet the police dismiss Hen out of hand to the point that she and Lloyd become more or less vigilante. The murderer sees Hen as unreliable, too, and uses that as the reason he feels comfortable disclosing the fact that he’s a serial killer. And Hen, being the most gullible person on earth, apparently thinks she can stop him? At what point did she go from children’s book illustrator to skilled therapist? Enter brother Richard, who feels shoe-horned into the plot. His sparse POV chapters feel awkwardly-constructed and jumpy at best. His role in this whole story frustrates me beyond words.

Peter Swanson is an undoubtedly talented author whose previous book warrants its received accolades, but Before She Knew Him recycles the idea that there are folks who “deserve” to die. Matthew is a killer with a conscience, who repeatedly claims to kill only men who have wronged women, a cause he’s taken up after a turbulent childhood with an abusive father. This isn’t a particularly original backstory and it lends to an even less thrilling plot that unfolds more or less how one might expect it to with the exception of a poorly-constructed “twist” ending that leaves me shaking my head. I stuck with this one, but I am glad to put it behind me. If you want to read a story that more accurately captures a mentally ill, unreliable character, read The Woman in the Window. Yeah, I know the story about the author but he did do a well-researched agoraphobe. If you haven’t read The Kind Worth Killing but are thinking of picking up this one, do yourself a favor and get the other book. If you’ve read it already, go into this one with lowered expectations. I let the buzz around Before She Knew Him get to me. This is certainly only an opinion, but I wish I hadn’t.

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