Her Every Fear by Peter Swanson

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I wanted to like this book. I actually wanted to love this book. I did not want to give this book a 2.5 star rating...The Kind Worth Killing is on my list of favorite thrillers, so needless to say, I had high hopes for this. It did not live up to the hype (which I admit was self imposed and possibly too high to begin with..but I digress).

The characters weren't believable in my opinion. Not to say there aren't extremely unrealistic and eccentric fictional characters that completely work (Joe Goldberg anyone??), but something about this group of people didn't add up. Every character in this book was braver and more aggressive than the next - even the one with supposed crippling paranoia and anxiety. They seemed to behave in a way that only made sense to move the plot along. And did no one think Alan's obsessive spying on Audrey was cause for alarm? He certainly didn't, considering he told anyone who would listen what a pervy stalker he was. And don't get me started on the lack of explanation for Corbin's whole storyline... I'm all for suspending belief when reading fictional novels, I get it, it's FICTION, but I found myself needing an extra grain of salt to stomach the characters in this book.

That's not to say there weren't chapters that sucked me in and made me genuinely curious to find out what really happened / who did it, but the author didn't allow me to feel that way for long. He pretty much explained how it was going to end half way through the story, and forcibly fed you the killer(s) early on, robbing me of the "ohhh emmm geeee!" big reveal moments that I thrive on. I found myself waiting (and hoping) for a twist or turn that never came, and I was left feeling a little cheated. Apparently, straightforward isn't my thing.

Maybe I am being harsh. It wasn't a horrible book, not at all. It boasts some truly unnerving scenes that will make you remember to close your blinds and always check under your spare bed. But overall, there was not enough punch in this storyline to rank anywhere near Peter Swanson's previous novel.



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