Before She Knew Him is the latest release from a favourite author of mine, Peter Swanson, and was published by Faber Books on 7th March 2019.  I received a free ARC of this book which has in no way influenced my review. Peter Swanson is a must read author for me.  If you haven't read The Kind Worth Killing then you're really missing out.  It's one of the books I recommend ALL the time when asked.  Swanson's other books are equally as good.  Check out my reviews for Her Every Fear and All The Beautiful Lies by clicking the links.  When I heard Faber & Faber were about to publish Before She Knew Him I dropped everything else I had scheduled to read it! Before She Knew Him is another example of what a master Swanson is at writing characters.  The book is all about Henrietta (or Hen to absolutely everyone) and her new neighbour, Matthew.  Both characters have 'something' about them which immediately intrigued me.  I wanted to know what was going to happen, what their story was going to be.  Being new to the neighbourhood Hen and her husband Lloyd attend a block party where it is plainly obvious that they are unlike their new neighbours.  They don't have children whereas everyone else does.  There is one other childless couple present at the party though; Matthew and Mina.  Mina invites Hen and Lloyd to dinner one evening and feeling obliged, they go.  Whilst on a tour of the Dolamore's house Hen sees something which takes her breath away.  She knows Matthew's deep dark secret... Before She Knew Him is a wonderful slow burn of a novel which held my attention from beginning to end.  I felt invested in the characters.  I liked Hen's obsession with the morbid and macabre, how events in her past made her the perfect unreliable narrator.  I liked how polished Matthew's character was and his ability to justify his secret dark side.  I also thoroughly enjoyed how convinced I was by the story.  There is one particular twist in the story which made me gasp out loud.  Before She Knew Him was a very satisfying read. Would I recommend this book?  I would if you're after a psychological thriller that is chock full of suspense with really interesting characters.  You won't necessarily like them but oh boy, you'll want to see their story through to the end.  An intriguing page-turner of a plot where the characters are everything.  Another blinder from a brilliant author and I can't wait to see what Swanson has for us readers next. I chose to read and review an ARC of Before She Knew Him.  The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

I received a free ARC of this book which has in no way influenced my review. Peter Swanson is a must read author for me. If you haven’t read The Kind Worth Killing then you’re really missing out. It’s one of the books I recommend ALL the time when asked. Swanson’s other books are equally as good. Check out my reviews for Her Every Fear and All The Beautiful Lies by clicking the links. When I heard Faber & Faber were about to publish Before She Knew Him I dropped everything else I had scheduled to read it! Before She Knew Him is another example of what a master Swanson is at writing characters. The book is all about Henrietta (or Hen to absolutely everyone) and her new neighbour, Matthew. Both characters have ‘something’ about them which immediately intrigued me. I wanted to know what was going to happen, what their story was going to be. Being new to the neighbourhood Hen and her husband Lloyd attend a block party where it is plainly obvious that they are unlike their new neighbours. They don’t have children whereas everyone else does. There is one other childless couple present at the party though; Matthew and Mina. Mina invites Hen and Lloyd to dinner one evening and feeling obliged, they go. Whilst on a tour of the Dolamore’s house Hen sees something which takes her breath away. She knows Matthew’s deep dark secret… Before She Knew Him is a wonderful slow burn of a novel which held my attention from beginning to end. I felt invested in the characters. I liked Hen’s obsession with the morbid and macabre, how events in her past made her the perfect unreliable narrator. I liked how polished Matthew’s character was and his ability to justify his secret dark side. I also thoroughly enjoyed how convinced I was by the story. There is one particular twist in the story which made me gasp out loud. Before She Knew Him was a very satisfying read. Would I recommend this book? I would if you’re after a psychological thriller that is chock full of suspense with really interesting characters. You won’t necessarily like them but oh boy, you’ll want to see their story through to the end. An intriguing page-turner of a plot where the characters are everything. Another blinder from a brilliant author and I can’t wait to see what Swanson has for us readers next. I chose to read and review an ARC of Before She Knew Him. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

Henrietta (known as Hen) and her husband Lloyd have settled into a quiet life in a new house outside of Boston. She’s an illustrator and works from a studio near her house and has finally found the right medication to control her bipolar disorder. But when she meets her neighbour, Hen spots a sport trophy that looks exactly like one that went missing from the home of a young man who was killed two years ago. Hen’s been fascinated with that unsolved murder and decides to do some digging. I loved “The Kind Worth Killing” and have read a new Swanson every year but found it a cycle of diminishing returns. While this is streets ahead of “Every Vow You Break”, it does rely a lot on coincidence and chance and there is a sense of it being overwritten (I found myself skimming huge chunks of text in the latter half of the book). Having said that, the interplay between Hen and her neighbour are well done, the twists are nicely worked in and a major one took me by surprise, which is a good sign. Recommended, but not the best place to start with the writer.

My enjoyment of this felt as perversely thrilling as the book's plot. This is a quick, easy read with characters interesting enough to hold readers attention, due to the book’s style of narration. I don't believe this is written with the intention of pulling of any great big twist. I thought where the story was going, was so obvious, that it's intentionally made obvious for readers to build anticipation toward the big reveal for the characters and how they'll react. The strongest element of this book, it's narration, is also the story's weakest link. It made the plot highly predictable, which, usually detracts from my enjoyment of stories (when they're easily predictable). The other strongest part of this plot is its pace. I never felt like the pace or action lightened up, or that any chapters were solely filibusters. I can't commend the pace of this enough. This isn't a mind blowing mystery/thriller, and I suspect if I were to think about it at any great length, parts of the plot would begin to annoy me, like the closing pages and the shunned and judged protagonist due to their mental health trope. But the truth is, I couldn't put this down beyond 50%. I really enjoyed reading it, and would recommend it to those who like a speed read, don't mind fairly obvious plots and can tolerate the trope of the protagonist being judged by their mental health. I’m now very interested in reading Swanson’s other books, and will keep an eye out for whatever comes next from this author.

This is my first book by Peter Swanson and I have mixed feelings about it. It was a little slow to start and all the characters seem to be flawed in one way or another. The author seemed to have a fixation about how the characters fell asleep at night. Then suddenly the pace of the novel speeded up with twists and turns galore. The writing was good and I was definitely hooked. The conclusion was a bit sudden I felt and I knew there would be yet another twist in the tail. I would definitely read more by this author, Many thanks to Netgalley for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.