Note – I received a copy of this book from the publisher through TLC Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

About Before She Knew Him

Hardcover:320 pages

Publisher:William Morrow (March 5, 2019)

Catching a killer is dangerous–especially if he lives next door

From the hugely talented author of The Kind Worth Killingcomes 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, 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 heís 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 sheís 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. . .

My Thoughts

Peter Swanson is one of my favorite thriller writers. His debut was one of the first books–if not the very first–I did a blog tour for when it was released and I’ve read all but Her Every Fear, although it’s sitting on my TBR cart and I’m planning to read it soon.

So I was excited to receive a copy of this one for review and I really appreciated it. I’m having trouble figuring out what to say in a review. It’s a book I’d LOVE to discuss, however I don’t want to give too much away.

This is a thriller, but I think it can also open a great conversation about some very real issues in our world. It very quickly went from engaging thriller about two couples to cultural commentary.

Purchase Links

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Photo by Jim Ferguson

About Peter Swanson

Peter Swanson is the author of three novels:†The Girl With a Clock For a Heart, an LA Times Book Award finalist; The Kind Worth Killing, winner of the New England Society Book Award, and finalist for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger; and his most recent, Her Every Fear. His books have been translated into 30 languages, and his stories, poetry, and features have appeared in Asimovís Science Fiction, The Atlantic Monthly, Measure, The Guardian, The Strand Magazine, andYankee Magazine. A graduate of Trinity College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Emerson College, he lives in Somerville, Massachusetts with his wife.

Find out more about Peter on his website and follow him on Twitterand Instagram.