Her Every Fear
Ratings20
Average rating3.6
15
Ratings20
Average rating3.6
An NPR Best Book of the Year 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.
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This is the second book I have read by this author. While I did not enjoy this one as well as “The Kind Worth Killing “. It was still an enjoyable read. Kate and Corbin are cousins and they decide to swap apartment for 6 mos. Soo. After Kate arrives at her new apartment she discovers that a murder has occurred in her new apartment building. Evidence points toward Corbin. But is someone setting him up?
In the summer I know lots of people turn to light breezy contemporary novels to fly through in the sunshine but somehow beside my love of fantasy I've been finding myself turning to thrillers when I feel the need for something a little bit different. I'd heard some good things about Peter Swanson and when I saw Her Every Fear on my local library shelves I decided I'd give it a go and see how I got on.
Now firstly it's worth mentioning that I did the unthinkable with this book and started it then put it aside to read something else but this was not because I didn't enjoy it initially instead it was driven by the fact that A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab had arrived on order for me at the library as well and I could only borrow it for 2 weeks and as it is a massive book I decided to put Her Every Fear aside to focus upon that instead. I, therefore, read about 8 chapters of this before having to take a break of around a week.
This is a thriller about 2 cousins who decide to swap houses with Kate moving to Boston into her cousin Corbin's flat and allowing him to move into her London home for 6 months. Kate has a difficult history having previously suffered with a controlling, psychopathic boyfriend and she is therefore anxious and nervous and constantly hyper-aware of danger, it is, therefore, a huge blow when she finds out that one of her new neighbours in the flat she has moved into has been found dead and even more so when she thinks that potentially her cousin could be involved.
This book seemed to receive really strong reviews and I'd heard people talk well of it. I'd heard it sold as a story of Kate watching everything that is going on and being watched herself and I expected a bit more of a stalkerish type storyline and instead, I was surprised to find very little anticipation in this book. I expected dark and twisty and yet not once did I feel any building anticipation with this book. I expected a more paranoid main character but instead she didn't seem that bad to me, all things considered, she was much more balanced and calm than I had anticipated. I thought there would be lots of investigation and focus around the mystery of the people living in the block of flats, about Kate finding out about each of them and having much more of a tangled web to unfurl.
Instead around a third of the way through this book, we veer away to her cousin Corbin's point of view and suddenly everything is made crystal clear. These, in fact, were some of my favourite chapters of the novel because, at last, there was some real darkness there. The stakes are raised and I struggled with the fact that despite the fact that you should dislike Corbin intensely I kind of felt a little bit sorry for him. However, this aside, by introducing this so early in the book it answered many of our questions. Suddenly the mystery we were following wasn't quite so mysterious anymore and it was a case of just waiting for all the obvious bits to slot into place.
This was an okay thriller but it didn't really grip me enough. I wanted something to make me keep turning the pages and instead I found myself skimming through the last few chapters just so I could get it finished because by that point all the mystery had been revealed and I hadn't built up enough emotion for the characters to really be invested in how things all turned out.
A 3 out of 5 stars, but barely.
Recensie van audioboek (via Storytel)
Maar wat een unieke verhalen dat deze auteur blijft schrijven. Heel speciale invalshoeken en manieren om een verhaal te vertellen. Schitterend.
Qua intrige vond ik deze één van de mindere boeken die ik al van deze auteur las, maar desalniettemin vond ik het heel moeilijk wegleggen. Alhoewel traag met momenten, bleef ik het enorm intrigerend vinden om in de gedachten van de personages te duiken en het overkoepelende gevoel van dreiging bleef heerlijk aan het oppervlak tot aan de laatste zin.
