Reviews

Nine Lives by Peter Swanson

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bethany_with_a_book's review against another edition

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mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

mads97's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

3.5

4 stars

Nothing extraordinary, if you like murder mystery with a classic 'countdown' mechanic, this is very much comforting in its familiarity. I find myself preferring the Peter Swanson outputs when he really leans into 'fan-boy mode' with regard to his passion for classic mystery thrillers; in Eight Perfect Murders (still my favorite) he references eight murder schemes from popular literature, and Nine Lives is essentially an explicit homage to And Then There Were None.

The downside of following a tried and true formula is that it's all very expected and not particularity shocking, and can easily be interpreted as dated and boring by readers who seek surprise and twist. But I happen to be in the mood for easy entertainment and the tropey-ness of Nine Lives registers as 'cozy' for me. The experience is further enhanced by efficient writing, short chapters, and characters being relatively distinct and interesting. Still, I can admit the final revelation is slightly underwhelming, making the overall scheme a bit too elaborate for its true worth.

For me, Nine Lives is a definite step up from his previous effort, Every Vow You Break, but I can also see people finding it too old-school to be anything worth getting excited about. Going in with a managed expectation is the best way to go.

**The Book Troop Book Club April 2022 Selection**

jacquelineshea's review against another edition

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5.0

ok this was such a good book i cant even right now. the beginning was pretty good, i remember like halfway through the book i was like “this is definitely four stars”. it was good, but not fantastic. but from then on it just continued getting better and better. i kind of guessed the reveal but not all the way. so good, def recommend.

regibgray's review

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

sammy121895's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

I did not like this book at all. I should not have finished it. There was not a single one art of it I enjoyed. The beginning and middle were boring and the ending was terrible and made little sense. I also did not like the audiobook narrator. There is minimal character development, so it was hard to care when people were getting killed off because even the ones that had the potential to be likeable, didn’t have enough of a story to make me give a crap. And again, I struggle to understand where the ending came from but not in a good twisty kind of way.
Nine strangers recieve a list in the mail with their names on it. Nothing else. None of them know each other and there does not appear to be any connection between them. That is until people on the list start turning up murdered. Jessica Winslow, an FBI agent whose name is on the list, must put together the clues to figure out what connection all of these people could possibly have that is leading to them turning up dead. And she must do it before her name gets crossed off as well.

kitkat175's review against another edition

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3.0

This book I started this morning and finished around 3 or 4PM, it was a very face paced read but I did not like it as much as I thought I would, I liked eight perfect murders way better.