Her Every Fear

Her Every Fear by Peter Swanson
Thriller
2017 William Morrow
Finished on December 29, 2016
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

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.

Note: I drafted this post quite a long time ago and since I like to keep the book reviews in order of when I read them, I am just now ready to publish it! Nah, I'll never get caught up, but who really cares, right?

As I say every year, December is not a very good month for reading. Christmas always seems to sneak up on me and with my busy work schedule and all the holiday preparations, I have a hard time settling down in the evening to relax with a book. Mysteries and thrillers work best at holding my attention, so when it was time to pack for our trip to Oregon, that's exactly what I needed to have in my carry-on bag. I wanted a book that would pull me in from the opening lines and have me on the edge of my seat until we landed. I've overcome my fear of flying over the years, but I still need something to entertain me for the long flights to the coast. Her Every Fear was just the ticket!

I started the book on our Christmas Day flight and was immediately engrossed in the plot (so much so, that I found myself dreaming about the characters and their dilemmas!). I've never read anything by Peter Swanson, but when I saw that he's the author of The Kind Worth Killing (which several bloggers mentioned after I finished Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris), I was eager to give his new book a try. Her Every Fear is very suspenseful and not at all convoluted (as a lot of thrillers tend to be) and Swanson kept me guessing. The grand finale was somewhat anticlimactic, but I was probably expecting a twist that wasn't necessary.

Final Thoughts:

Peter Swanson has a new fan! I can't wait to read The Kind Worth Killing.