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A review by bookph1le
Her Every Fear by Peter Swanson
2.0
Yeah, so, I think Peter Swanson is just not a good fit for me. I've read two of his books, and both were incredibly twisted. He's very, very good at what he does, which is write some seriously disturbing characters who are very nonchalant about how evil they are. I find that a little too unsettling to read about, but I can see how it would be a good fit for some readers.
The bulk of this book was good and tense, but another thing Swanson's books tend to do is give the mystery away very early, which surprised me as much this time around as it did the first time. I've realized that his style isn't to keep you guessing until the last moment, it's to present a terrible crime and then dissect the characters involved, letting the reader into their heads so you can see their motivations. He's skilled at this, but as I said, I think it's just not for me.
The element that really broke this book for me, though, was Alan. The guy straight up admits he used to sit and spy on his neighbor. And I mean like full-on, voyeur-next-door spying. He'd sit in his darkened apartment so she wouldn't see him and would watch her with his binoculars, for crying out loud. Then he's presented as a possible love interest for Kate? There wasn't one part of that scenario that made any kind of sense to me, and even if Kate hadn't had a trauma in her past that should have negated Alan's chances outright, the dude was just plain creepy. Knowing that a guy spies on his female neighbor ought to be an automatic deal-breaker, ladies. You do not even want to go there. You don't even want to go within a thousand miles of going there.
The bulk of this book was good and tense, but another thing Swanson's books tend to do is give the mystery away very early, which surprised me as much this time around as it did the first time. I've realized that his style isn't to keep you guessing until the last moment, it's to present a terrible crime and then dissect the characters involved, letting the reader into their heads so you can see their motivations. He's skilled at this, but as I said, I think it's just not for me.
The element that really broke this book for me, though, was Alan. The guy straight up admits he used to sit and spy on his neighbor. And I mean like full-on, voyeur-next-door spying. He'd sit in his darkened apartment so she wouldn't see him and would watch her with his binoculars, for crying out loud. Then he's presented as a possible love interest for Kate? There wasn't one part of that scenario that made any kind of sense to me, and even if Kate hadn't had a trauma in her past that should have negated Alan's chances outright, the dude was just plain creepy. Knowing that a guy spies on his female neighbor ought to be an automatic deal-breaker, ladies. You do not even want to go there. You don't even want to go within a thousand miles of going there.