I received this book for free from the TLC Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Published by William Morrow & Company on January 10, 2017
Genres: Adult, Murder, Psychological Suspense
Pages: 352
Format: eBook
Source: TLC Book Tours
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
The author of the wildly popular The Kind Worth Killing returns with an electrifying and downright Hitchcockian psychological thriller—as tantalizing as the cinema classics Rear Window and Wait Until Dark—involving a young woman caught in a vise of voyeurism, betrayal, manipulation, and murder.
The danger isn’t all in your head . . .
Growing up, Kate Priddy was always a bit neurotic, experiencing momentary bouts of anxiety that exploded into full blown panic attacks after an ex-boyfriend kidnapped her and nearly ended her life. When Corbin Dell, a distant cousin in Boston, suggests the two temporarily swap apartments, Kate, an art student in London, agrees, hoping that time away in a new place will help her overcome the recent wreckage of her life.
But soon after her arrival at Corbin’s grand apartment on Beacon Hill, Kate makes a shocking discovery: his next-door neighbor, a young woman named Audrey Marshall, has been murdered. When the police question her about Corbin, a shaken Kate has few answers, and many questions of her own—curiosity that intensifies when she meets Alan Cherney, a handsome, quiet tenant who lives across the courtyard, in the apartment facing Audrey’s. Alan saw Corbin surreptitiously come and go from Audrey’s place, yet he’s denied knowing her. Then, Kate runs into a tearful man claiming to be the dead woman’s old boyfriend, who insists Corbin did the deed the night that he left for London.
When she reaches out to her cousin, he proclaims his innocence and calms her nerves . . . until she comes across disturbing objects hidden in the apartment—and accidently learns that Corbin is not where he says he is. Could Corbin be a killer? And what about Alan? Kate finds herself drawn to this appealing man who seems so sincere, yet she isn’t sure. Jetlagged and emotionally unstable, her imagination full of dark images caused by the terror of her past, Kate can barely trust herself . . . So how could she take the chance on a stranger she’s just met?
Yet the danger Kate imagines isn’t nearly as twisted and deadly as what’s about to happen. When her every fear becomes very real.And much, much closer than she thinks.
Told from multiple points of view, Her Every Fear is a scintillating, edgy novel rich with Peter Swanson’s chilling insight into the darkest corners of the human psyche and virtuosic skill for plotting that has propelled him to the highest ranks of suspense, in the tradition of such greats as Gillian Flynn, Paula Hawkins, Patricia Highsmith, and James M. Cain.
Her Every Fear is my first foray into the world of a Peter Swanson novel, and I thoroughly enjoyed the complex, dark, and twisted voices in this character driven psychological thriller. Told in multiple points of view in larger chunks, you really get into the heads of the three main characters and dig down deep to see what makes them tick no matter how dirty and gritty the details are. While it’s marketed as a psychological thriller, I found it more of a psychological suspense as the pieces clicked into place and you find out who murdered poor Audrey Marshall.
Kate Priddy has had a hard life, with barely escaping a controlling, abusive relationship alive. After several years of practically being a shut in with her anxieties, her American cousin Corbin Dell will be working in London for six months, so they agree to house swap. Kate finds herself in a spacious and luxurious apartment in Boston, and soon comes to regret coming to America when her immediate neighbor is discovered murdered in her kitchen. Kate is drawn to tragedy and can’t help but dig into the details, especially when an old friend of Audrey’s approaches her with accusations of Corbin being the killer, so she starts to look for anything to point fingers in any direction that she can. But she doesn’t actually know her cousin or his life, and when things start to go missing or be altered in her sketchbook, Kate can’t help but wonder if someone is messing with her or if she’s still jetlagged and growing crazy.
The point of view changes also had time jumps–to the past–which were a bit hard to get used to. As the book went on and you get closer to the end, the POV changes had some repetitions that I skimmed a little since they didn’t add much to the story. It was really nice getting to know why Kate and Corbin were the people they’d become because of their pasts, and the long walks down memory lane added depth to their characters. Kate’s anxiety from when she was a child and Corbin’s privileged yet uptight upbringing were explained, and everything comes together in surprising ways.
I give Her Every Fear a four out of five. The journey as a reader in this book wasn’t so much who the murderer was since you figure that out about halfway through the book, but it was more watching the train wreck of Kate and Corbin’s lives spiral around them. The writing flowed at a nice pace and was descriptive enough to picture in my head. The tension just built page by page until it spilled over at the climax. Lovers of dark psychological suspense will like this book.
Find HER EVERY FEAR
Amazon | Books A Million | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads | Harper Collins
About Peter Swanson
Peter Swanson is the author of The Girl with a Clock for a Heart. He has degrees from Trinity College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Emerson College. He lives with his wife in Somerville, Massachusetts, where he is at work on his next novel.
Photo by Jim Ferguson
Find out more about Peter on his website and follow him on Twitter.
Connect with Peter Swanson
Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram
Peter Swanson’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS for HER EVERY FEAR:
Tuesday, January 10th: No More Grumpy Bookseller
Wednesday, January 11th: A Bookish Way of Life
Monday, January 16th: I Brought a Book
Tuesday, January 17th: Mockingbird Hill Cottage
Wednesday, January 18th: Stranded in Chaos
Thursday, January 19th: Literary Quicksand
Monday, January 23rd: Bewitched Bookworms
Tuesday, January 24th: Art Books Coffee
Wednesday, January 25th: A Bookworm’s World
Thursday, January 26th: Kritters Ramblings
TBD: Art @ Home
Latest posts by Heather (see all)
- I Made It Out Of Clay by Beth Kander - December 14, 2024
- The Greatest Lie of All by Jillian Cantor - December 7, 2024
- Apartment Women by Gu Byeong-Mo - December 5, 2024
This sounds like a fascinating read. I’m intrigued but really scared to try it out. This sounds like a book that my mom would really enjoy though. I’ll recommend it to her!!
Kris @Imaginary Reads recently posted..Heartstone by Elle Katherine White ⇉ Pride and Prejudice and Dragons
Reply »
I’m glad you enjoyed this one! Thanks for being a part of the tour!
Heather J @ TLC Book Tours recently posted..Steph Jagger, author of Unbound, on tour January/February 2017
Reply »
I just bought a frontier because the Tacomas were a bit out of my price 4×4, 6 speed, v6 with 80k miles for While OP wants a newer truck, a Tacoma in similar condition to my truck would have easily been
Reply »