'Her Every Fear' by Peter Swanson book review

On Jan. 10, William Morrow Publishing released Peter Swanson’s newest thriller, Her Every Fear. The novel promises to be a psychological ride through voyeurism, murder and betrayal, but I found it predictable and lacking in suspense.

Kate Priddy is an anxious British woman, made worse when her ex-boyfriend held her captive and nearly killed her before killing himself. Trying her best to heal, she accepts an apartment switch with her American cousin, a man she’s never met. After moving to Boston, she learns that her next-door neighbor has been murdered. Could her cousin have done the deed or was it the handsome man who watched her neighbor from afar? Or perhaps it was the man claiming to be a distraught ex-boyfriend? Kate needs to find out before she becomes the next victim.

This story had a lot of promise based on the premise, but it wasn’t much of a mystery. I saw everything coming before it happened, leaving the tale with very little suspense. Swanson is touted as being a master of his craft, ranking up there with Gillian Flynn, but while the story was dark, I found it hard to stay engaged. It could have had more twists and turns to add excitement, but instead plodded along and gave everything away ahead of time.

I haven’t read any of Swanson’s other novels, but they have great reviews. If you’re a fan, you may enjoy this book better than I did. I don’t read a lot of thrillers, but I went into this expecting a page-turner. Instead, I was bored. The writing style was polished, but the story was lacking.