January 2017

Did you like the film Rear Window? I did, and turning the pages of Peter Swanson’s HER EVERY FEAR harkened every chilling and suspenseful moment of watching it. The setup is like this. Kate Priddy’s life in London has been unsettling, to say the least, since she was kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend. Thus she leaps at the opportunity to jet across the ocean to Beacon Hill and apartment-swap with her cousin, Corbin Dell. His apartment is gorgeous, and it feels like she is on holiday --- until she learns that a neighbor of Corbin’s, Audrey, has been killed in the apartment next door. Kate, who already was on edge, finds her anxiety quickly scaling up, and suddenly this trip feels like a lot less than the escape that she planned.

Suspects are showing themselves at every turn, including a man who points a finger towards Corbin, which gets Kate’s mind racing. By the time she got to the apartment, Corbin was gone. Did he kill Audrey and then flee? The apartments are set around a central courtyard where you can see right into the rooms on the other side. And Kate’s mind starts to whir even more as she sees a man across there watching her.

Swanson’s pace is brisk, and at any moment you think you have the crime solved, but then another twist happens. I had read his previous thriller, THE KIND WORTH KILLING, which I also loved, and had the pleasure of meeting him and interviewing him at the Morristown Festival of Books. This is his third book, and I definitely want to make my way back to his debut, THE GIRL WITH A CLOCK FOR A HEART. More than that, I want to see what he writes next!