Before She Knew Him

I tried. Either I wasn't in the mood or it just wasn't for me. I haven't thought of this book since I put it down in August

Pretty good, the twist was surprising but the grapefruit bit annoyed me as someone who's been on anti-psych meds before tho

3.5 Stars Rounded Down.

I called the twist a little too early for my liking but the story was fine and the characters, though flawed, weren't annoying

Strong The Girl on a Train and Gone Girl vibes with a heavy dosage of Netflix's You (I haven't read it's source material yet). A sturdy recommendation for fellow fans of mystery thrillers and the voyeurism of disturbia.

A super quick one! I read this in one day. It wasn't anything spectacular, but a solid thriller.

4.5WOWWW!! JUST WOWWThis may be in one of the top 10 thrillers that I have read for this year!! OMGG, AGAIN, WOWWFirst 3 quarter of the book was so slow that I almost considered dnfing(no joke) but then since I had a few more chapters to go decided to continue and im so glad I did!! That twist is insane(I guessed it a few pages before but it didnt spoil it for me)It also gives you a glimpse into a killers mind which was kinda interesting.I think [a:Peter Swanson 3314351 Peter Swanson https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] made the book so slow just for that huge twist and I love it. again so glad I read it and highly recommend!! Cant wait to read more books by him:)

3.5

3.5 stars for this one, the best in a line of half a dozen. Hen was not a complete moron, even though I had guessed there was something the matter with Richard I wasn't 100% sure till the end, and it was satisfying.

So my notes while reading this were “Dexter vibes” and “there is no brother.” And that pretty much sums up the entire book. Pretty run of the mill murder mystery. I was hoping for a deeper twist at the end like maybe Mira is Hen too or something. It was aight.

After the last book I read proved to be such a disaster and was a genre totally out of my comfort zone, erotica, I went back to one of my favorite genres, mystery/thrillers and picked this book up randomly. I wasn't sure what to expect but I liked the synopsis and gave it a shot. Well, I was very pleasantly surprised. This book is a good psychological thriller, just like I was hoping for. I will definitely be reading the other books by this author.

The book centers around a couple, Hen and Lloyd, who move into a new house together and after having dinner with their new neighbors things transpire and Hen becomes convinced that their neighbor, Matthew is a serial killer and a whole chain of events ensues. The premise of the book itself was very interesting to me and it delivered.

To begin with, the plot of the book, as I've mentioned before, was up there in my opinion. I'm fairly new to thriller mysteries but I've read some and this one was unique enough to peek my interest. The book itself moved at a decent pace, although the first have of the novel dragged just a little bit. We didn't find out much until a good portion into it and I prefer books that reveal a little bit at a time but even with that minor flaw I didn't want to put the book down. That is the only negative I found with this book and the reason I gave it four and not five stars.

Further on, the characterization was pretty good. It could have been better if it was written from first person but even without that, we got a good look into the various characters' psyches and I loved finding out what made them tick and why the were the way that they were. If a character doesn't have a drive behind why they are a certain way it really ruins the book for me but in this case the backstory was really delivered well and I was satisfied on that front. Overall, the characters were above average I would say.

In continuation, when talking about the writing style, it was precise and to the point, just how I like it. It was easy to follow along and brought the story to life very well. It definitely helped me to keep reading, even when the pace of the story lagged a bit. As I have mentioned before, I will be checking out the other works from this author because I really enjoyed this one a lot.

In conclusion, I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a good psychological thriller. It might not be the most exciting for the first half of the book but it picks up and more than makes up for the lack in the beginning. I don't particularly know if this is a read that will stay with me for a long time but it was definitely somewhat memorable and enjoyable while I was reading it in the moment.

Recensie van audioboek (via Storytel)

Je weet dat een auteur extreem goed is in het overbrengen van zijn personages, wanneer je bijna begint te supporteren voor een psychopathische moordenaar...

Een heel duistere, goed uitgewerkte thriller met een fantastisch twist die ik niet zag aankomen. Er blijft echter één groot vraagteken voor mij achter, omtrent de twist, waardoor er toch een kleine ontgoocheling blijft knagen en ik het geen 4-sterren kan geven. Maar los daar van heb ik enorm gesmuld van dit sinister, uniek verhaal.

Wow, what a way to kick-start your reading for 2020 (not without a couple of false starts mind you!) That was an awesome read and totally did not see that twist coming! Was brilliantly written and I would highly recommend it to others!

Finished this one and did not see the twist coming. Had to really dig deep and go back to see all the steps leading to it. Definitely some hints, I just didn't catch them. This felt very slow paced but overall I enjoyed it. I think I'm getting to know Peter Swanson as a writer and I can't wait to delver into more of his.

Solid

I enjoyed this book by Peter Swanson, and I'd like to read more of his work. I purchased the hardback copy from Book of the Month [March 2019] and I also bought the Audible version, which was really good. The story was exciting, but I was pretty upset with myself when I figured out the twist early on. The way it was revealed in the story and that scene would have been so much better to have found out that way. It was an easy read so I was able to finish it in 1 day. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys psychological thrillers with almost heroic bad guys. They really mess with your head, don't they?