Catching a killer is dangerous—especially if he lives next doorFrom 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, … 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. . .
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The author made the bad guy so human that it was quite cary because it’s as if you can imagine anyone you live near being a killer. The narrator was excellent
Hen (Henrietta) and her husband Lloyd have moved into a new neighborhood. She is a children’s book illustrator and works in a studio. She has a mental health problem but is on medications that seem to control the bipolar episodes. Her past medical history has included stays in a psychiatric hospital and lots of therapy.
Meeting the new neighbors next door, everything seems to be going well. The couple, Mira and Matthew are also childless and they have a lot in common. Her calm comes to an end when she spots something on Matthew’s office shelf. There sits an object that she thinks went missing with the murder of a young man who was killed two years ago.
During her frenetic episodes years earlier she became obsessed with unsolved crimes.
Could her neighbor 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?
She spends time watching him, only to find him watching her. Is she in danger because of what she knows … or is this just another part of her psychosis?
This is a real page-turner with stand-out characters that are memorable. The story premise is a good one, with many twists and turns along the way to a surprising ending.
Many thanks to the author/ William Morrow / Edelweiss for the advanced digital copy of this psychological thriller. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
I could not put this one down! Swanson is masterful at grabbing you from beginning to end. Nothing better than a multi-dimensional character.
Up-all-night-reading that kept me guessing…and made me wonder about the couple next door. Compelling and sinister (in a good way–fictional), this was one twisty tale!
I’m so glad that I got the chance to read an ARC of this book from NetGalley @netgalley.
I didn’t really know what I was expecting but it really was a brilliant book. It was a murder mystery/thriller which had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. .
The first half of the book really reminded me of The Girl On The Train which I really enjoyed but I found that the differences were what made this book so good. I never expected the twist that came near the end but thought it was such a clever way to flip the whole story on its head.
It also has you second guessing each character with all the unreliable narration. The use of mental health problems showed how much help needs to be out there. I really enjoyed Hen and Matthew and thought they shared a weird type of bond that was intriguing. It did seem like fate brought them together and helped Matthew get rid of his ‘demons’.
Quick, creepy read. I definitely didn’t see the twist coming!
Intriguing read! Shortly after Hen and Lloyd, they find new friends in their neighborhood right next door. Initially believing they had something in common with this couple, Hen and Lloyd accept a dinner invitation to Mira and Matthew’s home. Things go downhill quickly after the dinner, and I found myself trying to decide if Hen was losing it or if what she has seen is indeed true. As the story continues, I went back and forth between “seriously?” and “oh wow”. Quick, interesting read.
5* Crazy Psycho Stars
This was my first read by Peter Swanson and I thoroughly enjoyed the crazy ride he took me on!
I went into the story blind and I was glad I did because I did not know what to expect and when the twists and turns were revealed they were suspenseful and very engaging.
The book is told from alternating POV’s being Hen and Matthew who are new neighbours to each other. The characters in the book are fascinating and intriguing.
I highly recommend this well written psychological thriller.
I would love to see this book made into a movie; it will be thrilling and chilling!
“Before She Knew Him” by Peter Swanson poses the question “How well could you really know another person?” Henrietta, a full-time artist and illustrator of children’s books, is pleasant and likeable. Her life is good; she had a troubled past but had come through foul weather and torrential rain to stand there in the sun. Her current cocktail of meds keeps her bipolar disorder from rearing its ugly head, and now she has her own studio walking distance from home. Her husband Lloyd takes the commuter rail into Boston for his job in public relations.
At a neighborhood block party, “Hen” and Lloyd meet Matthew and Mira Dolamore who live immediately next door. The couples became casual friends, and everyone seemed to be happy. Much later Hen would realize how wrong that first impression was. Matthew and Mira invite Hen and Lloyd over for dinner. The dinner conversation is normal, usual, perhaps boring, talk about jobs, the neighborhood, and other causal topics. Things change when Hen notices a trophy on the mantel, a fencing trophy. Later she shares her fears with Lloyd. “I’m not being paranoid or obsessive, and I don’t feel manic, but I know. Our neighbor killed Dustin Miller.”
The story progresses with the point of view shifting between Hen and Matthew, and sometimes Mira Readers get to know each of them well and follow their thoughts, and observe the possible, the improbable, and the unthinkable, all from each point of view. However, are the views of these characters accurate or are people seeing murderers where there are none? Things turn, significantly, strangely, desperately, and readers are not even halfway through, when a different voice, a first person narrative, starts with even more twists, turns. and treachery.
Characters want to pretend that nothing is wrong, but something is very, very wrong. Everyone has secrets; everyone is wrong about some things, and everyone is right about something else. Mira laments that “She had done what she wanted, and look what had happened. She had a psychotic neighbor now, out to get her husband.” Others share significant thoughts as well. “People are defined by their actions. What they do is who they are. ““Your husband made you do it.” And the most revealing comment of all, “I like to kill people.”
“Before She Knew Him” is full of secrets — personal secrets, private secrets, and shared secrets; those might be the most dangerous ones. I received a review copy of “Before She Knew Him” from Peter Swanson, and publishers William Morrow and Harper Collins. Swanson created tension on every page, and readers feel they are in on a secret, a frightening, and perilous secret. Just when readers think that nothing can be as strange as what has already happened, something even stranger happens, even on the last page.
I find myself saying “I should have known this, I should have figured this out”, but I didn’t and that is one reason that this thriller a strong read.
The characters in this book are certainly all flawed, some mentally ill, but I still felt them to be believable. The plot is creepy and at times a little gruesome but still believable because people are capable of murder and bizarre killing, but we aren’t quite sure what is going on.
Hen and Lloyd moved to a small suburb of Boston to live a quieter life and to be close to some renovated buildings that were being used as artists studios. Hen is an artist who is know for her rather bizarre, sometimes creepy artwork, in fact she “is aware that the more disturbing her etchings, the more interest they received”. She has gotten some great contracts for illustrating children’s fantasy books but she still likes to “do her own thing”. Hen has been diagnosed with bipolar disease ever since an incident in college. She has been consistently taking her medications and feels well until . . . .
Their new neighbors Matthew and Mira invite them over for dinner and a tour of their home. The decorating is quite modern and neutral with the exception of Matthew’s office which is dark and full of objects of various kinds, he says that he is a collector of things that just catch his eye. But what catches Hen’s eye is a fencing trophy that she is sure belonged to a young man, Dustin Miller, who was murdered at her college when she was in school.
Hen can’t get this image out of her head and decides to follow Matthew one evening. She thinks that he is stalking another victim and even goes to the police but no one will believe her because of her past mental problems. Is Hen starting to swing toward her “manic” state?
If this isn’t strange enough, Matthew invites her to meet with him, he wants to explain himself to her. He tells her about the abuse he suffered at his father’s hand while he and his brother, Richard, were young. The other things that he reveals, well I’ll leave that for you to find out!
While Hen is deciding whether or not to meet with Matthew she is thinking “Was there a part of her that was a little bit interested in hearing the details of what he’d done? She was, after all, being offered something that most people were never offered: A look inside someone’s mind. A look inside a monster’s mind. Of course anybody would be interested”, but would most people agree to meet with someone they felt sure was a murderer???
This book pulled me in from the first pages, and at times I thought I had things figured out but I was very wrong.
Lately some thrillers have left me feeling unsatisfied with the plot and characters, but this is definitely a good psychological thriller with mind bending revelations. I would recommend this book to lovers of well written thrillers.
I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through Edelweiss.
I couldn’t put this book down it was great and trying to figure it out you cant
Cat and mouse thriller
Another fast paced thriller by Peter Swanson. Hen and Lloyd move to a new house in a suburb of Boston. Then a dinner with their new neighbors spins Hen into a tailspin as she sees an object she recognizes in their house. Hen, shirt for Henrietta, is convinced their neighbor, Matthew, is a killer. But when her previous psychiatric condition makes her less than believable, Hen starts her own investigation into her neighbor. A thrilling suspenseful read!
Very twisted characters & plot. Could not get past a few chapters
Favorite Quotes:
“I was sure it was schizophrenia,” her mother said, driving Hen back to upstate New York, “because of your uncle. But turns out you’re just batshit crazy like everyone else in this family.” She’d laughed, then apologized. It was what she did.
Matthew tried hard to discern if he was actually handsome, but found it hard to do. All men looked alike to him. They either had fox faces or pig faces.
He walked the short distance to the steps that led to Hen’s porch, then stopped. “Can I come up?” he asked, and Hen thought of vampires, how they needed to be invited in.
My Review:
Holy arboretum, Batman – that was a gnarly and dreadfully diseased family tree that made the roots of my contaminated ancestry appear glossy with vitality. This tautly written missive was my introduction to the twisted and formidable brilliance of Peter Swanson and I was absorbed, enthralled, riveted, and transfixed. The little pea in my brain was on fire with wild synapses firing and misfiring in all directions while I conjured my paltry theories.
I must confess to my cranial inferiority and bow to the master as I never could have put this ingenious plot together. What a clever trickster! The duplicitous Mr. Swanson took me down a dark and convoluted road, although I don’t seem to mind being made a fool. In fact, I’d do it all over again, and plan to, as soon as possible. Mr. Swanson seems to have a rabid fangirl on his hands.
Excellent writing. He made the killer very human. It takes a magical writer to do that.
BEFORE SHE KNEW HIM by Peter Swanson is a great psychological thriller. Henrietta (Hen) Mazur and her husband Lloyd Harding have just moved into a new house near Boston, Massachusetts. Hen is an illustrator and has found a studio within walking distance. She also seems to have her bipolar disorder under control with the right meds. When their next door neighbors Matthew and Mira Dolamore invite them over for dinner Hen notices a sports trophy that looks similar to one that disappeared when a young man in their old neighborhood was murdered. Is Hen imagining things or is there something sinister going on?
Hen is a character that you can root for. She felt read and had depth. Her internal and external conflicts were well defined and believable. They arose out of characterization and circumstance rather than feeling contrived or forced.
The title was intriguing and very fitting. The prose was well-written and compelling. The plot was intense, suspenseful, shocking , absorbing, and definitely kept me engaged. The ending was unexpected with some real surprises. Overall, this book was a fabulous read.
I won a digital copy of this book in a Goodreads Giveaway. Thanks go to Goodreads, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to provide an honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.
not one of his best books. totally predictable.
WAY TOO DARK
Henrietta (Hen) Mazur and her husband Lloyd Harding are new residents of West Dartford, Massachusetts, a commuter suburb of Boston. When they attend a block party, they meet the only other childless couple, Matthew and Mira Dolamore, striking up a conversation and later meeting them at their home for dinner. During a tour of the home, Hen notices a distinctive but familiar sports trophy in Matthew’s office that sends chills through her. She believes it belongs to a murder victim whose case remains unsolved.
I went into the story blind as I’ve read enough books by this author to know that I’ll read any new ones regardless of the premise. It’s really fun to just follow a story without preconceived notions of where it might go. Good thing because there are just as many unpredictable paths here as the tried and true. Hen is an intriguing character who has so many layers I wasn’t always certain I knew her, which is part of the mystery. Hers is the main narrative along with Matthew, who is equally fascinating, and his brother, Richard. The transitions between the three voices were perfectly choreographed in such a way that I rarely found good pause points. So, I just kept going!
I loved the two narrators, though Hen’s voice carried the heft of the story. Their storytelling skills were so good, using inflections in all the right places and infusing the appropriate emotions, or lack thereof, at critical junctures. They made me so happy with my decision to wait for the audio version.
I was completely enthralled by this story. You know there’s going to be a twisty move down the road because that’s typical of a Swanson tale and it’s just a matter of how big. It crept up on me gradually so I saw a bit of it coming but was unprepared for the last irony. There’s a point where I had no clue as to where the story would lead and just loved riding through the waves. This was a wonderful listening experience. 4.5 stars
(Thanks to HarperAudio for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.)