Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.38 AVERAGE
3.38 AVERAGE
This was just the book I needed, and I read it in three days! A fast-paced, thriller that kept me engaged the entire way through the book. A quick overview:
Jessica Winslow is an FBI agent who receives a list of nine names, including hers, in the mail. No signature or return address. None of the names are familiar to her. Then someone on the list turns up dead. Then another. You learn enough about each of the nine target's lives to care about them (or dislike a few). The story unfolds as you follow their lives after they each receive the same letter and as the FBI and a local Maine police chief try to determine a connection between the growing list of victims.
Swanson lays breadcrumbs of information along the way while building the tension and leads the reader to its final conclusion. I wasn't quite sure the last chapter was needed but it didn't take away from the book either.
If you are looking for a good thriller, I highly recommend Nine Lives.
Jessica Winslow is an FBI agent who receives a list of nine names, including hers, in the mail. No signature or return address. None of the names are familiar to her. Then someone on the list turns up dead. Then another. You learn enough about each of the nine target's lives to care about them (or dislike a few). The story unfolds as you follow their lives after they each receive the same letter and as the FBI and a local Maine police chief try to determine a connection between the growing list of victims.
Swanson lays breadcrumbs of information along the way while building the tension and leads the reader to its final conclusion. I wasn't quite sure the last chapter was needed but it didn't take away from the book either.
If you are looking for a good thriller, I highly recommend Nine Lives.
This book was an incredibly quick read, so as far as pacing and readability goes, it was good. The content was pretty forgettable and there’s no real style or craft with this one. It’s kind of like a mediocre action or suspense movie from the 90s. It’s enjoyable enough, but mediocre at best.
Creepy yet oddly mesmerizing mystery with an unusual narrative style. Nine people are on a list that is mailed (or in one case, hand-delivered) to them. Then it becomes clear that someone is killing the nine people on the list. There is a lot of jumping around in point-of-view. We hear not just from the people on the list but from law enforcement and a hired killer. Some of the people on the list are not nice people. Some are. Two form a relationship because of the list. And then their points of view stop adding to the story as each is killed in turn.
It’s kind of a weird way to tell a tale, but it worked for me as a reader. The book pays homage to Agatha Christie’s classic mystery And Then There Were None. I’ve read it before but clearly need to read it again. There were characters I did not want to see die, and one that certainly deserved to die. How are they all connected? That is the main mystery of the book. I did not guess the identity of the murderer, or the act that set the plot in motion, although I did predict a final twist.
The author gets extra credit from me for a subtle allusion to T.S. Eliot’s Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock: he “watched the girls come and go, talking of Leonardo DiCaprio.” Ha!
Peter Swanson’s writing style really engages me, and I will return for other books by the author. I read an advance reader copy of Nine Lives from Netgalley.
It’s kind of a weird way to tell a tale, but it worked for me as a reader. The book pays homage to Agatha Christie’s classic mystery And Then There Were None. I’ve read it before but clearly need to read it again. There were characters I did not want to see die, and one that certainly deserved to die. How are they all connected? That is the main mystery of the book. I did not guess the identity of the murderer, or the act that set the plot in motion, although I did predict a final twist.
Spoiler
I wonder if the author wanted to let one of the victims survive so that the murderer didn't quite get their way in the end.The author gets extra credit from me for a subtle allusion to T.S. Eliot’s Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock: he “watched the girls come and go, talking of Leonardo DiCaprio.” Ha!
Peter Swanson’s writing style really engages me, and I will return for other books by the author. I read an advance reader copy of Nine Lives from Netgalley.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel for an honest review. It has been published in March 2022.
"Nine Lives" by Peter Swanson didn't work for me, because there were too many POVs, too many characters to follow, and not enough time to get attached to any of them. I couldn't even remember their names, let alone care whether they lived or died.
It didn't help that all the characters - from the FBI agent in her thirties to the friendly village wino in his seventies - all spoke with the same voice.
The pacing is way too slow to keep the reader's attention piqued, and besides, the big reveal is offered on a silver platter at two-thirds of the book for some reason, making everything that follows pretty much irrelevant and uninteresting. After that, the reading becomes tedious, because you have already figured it out (and you don't care much for the way-too-large cast of underdeveloped characters).
The killer's secret plan, when it is revealed, makes so little sense that it could only be found inside a book. There are so many plotholes (why does the killer only put his plan in motion after all those years? Why does he go after the *wrong* generation of culprits?) Some justifications is offered on-page for each of these plotholes, but those are lame, extremely convoluted explanations, that add little credibility to the plot. My guess is the real reason behind so many weird plot choices is "Just because the author wanted to add one more degree of complication to his novel".
On top of that, there's no real investigation: the FBI agents in charge of the case don't really discover clues or use logical reasoning, they just magically guess new elements, and somehow they always get it right, even when they have so few clues to go by that no real-life detective could ever guess correctly. Every single one of their "deductions from thin air" tastes of deus ex machina.
Definitely not for me.
"Nine Lives" by Peter Swanson didn't work for me, because there were too many POVs, too many characters to follow, and not enough time to get attached to any of them. I couldn't even remember their names, let alone care whether they lived or died.
It didn't help that all the characters - from the FBI agent in her thirties to the friendly village wino in his seventies - all spoke with the same voice.
The pacing is way too slow to keep the reader's attention piqued, and besides, the big reveal is offered on a silver platter at two-thirds of the book for some reason, making everything that follows pretty much irrelevant and uninteresting. After that, the reading becomes tedious, because you have already figured it out (and you don't care much for the way-too-large cast of underdeveloped characters).
The killer's secret plan, when it is revealed, makes so little sense that it could only be found inside a book. There are so many plotholes (why does the killer only put his plan in motion after all those years? Why does he go after the *wrong* generation of culprits?) Some justifications is offered on-page for each of these plotholes, but those are lame, extremely convoluted explanations, that add little credibility to the plot. My guess is the real reason behind so many weird plot choices is "Just because the author wanted to add one more degree of complication to his novel".
On top of that, there's no real investigation: the FBI agents in charge of the case don't really discover clues or use logical reasoning, they just magically guess new elements, and somehow they always get it right, even when they have so few clues to go by that no real-life detective could ever guess correctly. Every single one of their "deductions from thin air" tastes of deus ex machina.
Definitely not for me.
DNF at 50%. Oh how I used to love Swanson, but now his books have become rushed and messy. This one feels like he had a great outline and right before it was due he added some filler around it and created a book. There’s almost nothing here, and no matter how many times the book references And Then There We’re None, it won’t make this in any way And Then There We’re None. It feels like a cheap marketing grab rather than inspiration. Not every writer can churn out a book a year, and that’s ok. It would be so much better to take the time to get it right, than lose your audience over a string of misfires.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really did not like this book. Just the fact that the main characters motivation made almost no sense to me. How he was able to pull off so many complicated murders without being caught was also astounding. Especially when police were nearby for most of them. I get the guy is rich but the amount of connections he has is insane. Also the use of the n-word and the r-word were completely unnecessary. When I got to those parts I thought this book must have been written much earlier than 2022.
mysterious
fast-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The premise was a good one, based on a classic, how could you go wrong?! There were A LOT of characters and sometimes it was hard to keep track of who was who and if they were on the list or an additional person to sort of know. The pace of the story was great, kept flowing and really didn't slow down at all which was great.
This is a 2.5 star read rounded up to a 3...that ending and the reveal of the killer and their reasoning was such a disappointment. It was like driving along full speed then crashing into a brick wall. Honestly, I think I even groaned a little listening to that explanation.
I will give Peter Swanson another shot though, reading through other reviews, it's clear this is not his finest work.
Just read the Agatha Christie this was modeled after and skip this one altogether.
This is a 2.5 star read rounded up to a 3...that ending and the reveal of the killer and their reasoning was such a disappointment. It was like driving along full speed then crashing into a brick wall. Honestly, I think I even groaned a little listening to that explanation.
I will give Peter Swanson another shot though, reading through other reviews, it's clear this is not his finest work.
Just read the Agatha Christie this was modeled after and skip this one altogether.