Blog tour - A review of Her Every Fear by Peter Swanson: a thriller that is disturbing and mesmerising in equal measure

Welcome to the blog tour for Her Every Fear, the latest book by Peter Swanson.

My first Peter Swanson novel was The Kind Worth Killing – a simply superb book that I couldn’t put down.  Last year I read Swanson’s first novel The Girl With a Clock for a Heart, thinking it wouldn’t be as good – it was!  So, when I saw last July that there would be a new Swanson novel in 2017, I wondered whether Her Every Fear would be a Swanson hat trick? You guessed it, I just couldn’t wait to find out.

So, what’s the book about?  Kate Priddy is a pathological, uncontrollable worrier – from an early age, Kate believed if it can go wrong, it will. If it’s unlikely to go wrong, she still believes it will go wrong, with disaster round every corner.  This state of mind isn’t helped when Kate is brutally attacked by a domineering and controlling ex boyfriend, so she could be best described as delicate.  Surprisingly, Kate decides to “mix it up” a little by agreeing to a six month house swap with her transatlantic cousin Corbin Dell. A small London flat for a swanky Boston apartment – seems like a great idea.  The stress of the journey is bad enough, but shortly after she arrives, Kate finds her neighbour Audrey Marshall has been found dead, and soon after, it’s definitely classed as murder.  Kate needs to find out more about the circumstances of Audrey’s death, but as a stranger in the city who can she trust?

So, what did I think? Her Every Fear is a novel with a simple premise which Swanson has developed into a rich story with genuine panache.  As I read the book I quickly realised that Kate is more than a little odd, then I met Alan Cherney – he’s a peeping tom and obsessive, who Kate is instantly attracted to.  Surely this is a good clue I thought?  Just as I was starting to get my head round all this, I was introduced to her cousin Corbin Dell, and yes, he’s a bit weird too.  I read on, feeling more and more disturbed almost page by page, yet I found myself completely mesmerised by the whole thing.  It wasn’t just gripping, I was almost hypnotised by the way the book held me, despite feeling completely repelled by some of the characters and their actions.

I think Swanson’s done a cracking job with Her Every Fear.  The characters are developed superbly, with almost every single action or description, being a revelation adding an extra bit of richness to the developing plot.  And despite all the information I gleaned, I still wasn’t certain who to trust, right until the end.

Final verdict – An unequivocal yes.  Her Every Fear is definitely Swanson’s hat trick novel.

Romancrimeblogger

PS - if you want to see the other stops in the blog tour for Her Every Fear, here are the details: