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A review by powerpuffgoat
Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson
1.0
Back when I read The Kind Worth Killing, I thought of Peter Swanson as a pretty average author. The book wasn't terrible, so I wasn't opposed to giving Swanson another chance.
What bothered me most about The Kind Worth Killing were the poor characterizations of female characters. Sadly, it is still a major problem in Eight Perfect Murders. Even though the author is no longer obsessed with describing the breasts of every woman who appears in this book, his female characters are written as if he's never met a human woman.
Our MC's late wife is not like other girls, what with her genuine love of poetry. But at least she's skinny eh. An agent comes to our MC with an enquiry, and he continuously wonders if she's into him. After all, she's only about 10 years his junior (this is mentioned twice). The agent, in turn, breaks all investigation protocols because she *checks notes* trusts the main character now.
One of MC's employees is young woman, who doesn't engage him very much in small talk. Besides this, she contributes very little to the plot, and then we learn she's gay. I am still no sure if this was a way to "explain" why she wasn't lusting after her boss, or some misguided attempt at LGBTQ+ inclusion. Then there's MC's store co-owners young wife, who literally propositions him.
Outside of that, you get "bad" women like an older lady who complains, or a murder victim who wrote a book about infidelity.
Now, let's talk about the plot. The premise of the novel is actually not bad. It's nothing new, mind you. Some maniac out there is using crime fiction as inspiration to murder people, what's not to get excited about?
Unfortunately, it's executed so poorly that the book gradually unravels into complete nonsense. Let's start with the obvious complaint. This book casually reveals the plots of several major crime novels with little to no warning. And hey, personally I don't even care about the spoilers, but I totally understand why some readers would be disappointed.
My biggest issue with this is that Peter Swanson uses real-world novels. Clearly, he doesn't have the imagination or writing skills to come up with original ideas. He could have come up with unique crime books, famous in-universe as the perfect murder books. Instead, this feels like a poor attempt to capitalize on existing fiction.
Also, come the fuck on with the blog. Why not make the main character a literature expert in American crime fiction? At least, this way the investigation could have involved him to figure out what other books may have inspired the killer. At least, this way there would be some substance to figuring out the killer's process.
Aside from the fact that the MC is the last person you would approach for his "expertise", none of his actions make sense. "My wife cheated on me, got addicted to cocaine again, and clearly had some sexual trauma. I guess I better ignore it completely and hope everything works out."
It makes even less sense when you learn he killed his wife.
This book, already thin on the plot front, is filled with fluff. There's a whole thing where some tourists come to buy books, and our MC regards how fat they are (yes, I'm serious) and tells us he agreed to mail their books because they had no space in his suitcase. We learn about some customer who complains a lot, about some book signings, some special editions. We know what our characters eat and drink in great detail. To what end? It doesn't serve the characters or the plot, it is pure filler.
The "mystery" is the bit that sucks the most. Aside from the lazy execution of the premise, when the killer was revealed, my sole reaction was "WHO?"In the entire parade of characters we meet in this book, this dude was the opposite of memorable, and barely made an appearance. Then, what followed was a lengthy exposition chapter of how and why he murdered these people with zero space for nuance.
It would have been bad enough if the book had ended there. Unfortunately, the readers then have to suffer through badly written retcon, where it is revealed that our MC has also murdered his wife. And maybe some other dude. But I guess murder is so run-of-the-mill to him now that he can't say for sure..
With a good mystery, a reader discovers things along with the characters, essentially solving the puzzle using the same tools. A bad mystery brings a twist out of nowhere or essentially lies to the reader to trick them out of solving the puzzle.
Aside from the fact that Swanson basically spoiled his own ending while simultaneously spoiling the Roger Ackroyd novel, I have a personal peeve for this trope. Unreliable narrator can be done really well, but this? This is LAZY. This is the author shouting "Gotcha!" like tricking the reader was the goal all along.
What bothered me most about The Kind Worth Killing were the poor characterizations of female characters. Sadly, it is still a major problem in Eight Perfect Murders. Even though the author is no longer obsessed with describing the breasts of every woman who appears in this book, his female characters are written as if he's never met a human woman.
Our MC's late wife is not like other girls, what with her genuine love of poetry. But at least she's skinny eh. An agent comes to our MC with an enquiry, and he continuously wonders if she's into him. After all, she's only about 10 years his junior (this is mentioned twice). The agent, in turn, breaks all investigation protocols because she *checks notes* trusts the main character now.
One of MC's employees is young woman, who doesn't engage him very much in small talk. Besides this, she contributes very little to the plot, and then we learn she's gay. I am still no sure if this was a way to "explain" why she wasn't lusting after her boss, or some misguided attempt at LGBTQ+ inclusion. Then there's MC's store co-owners young wife, who literally propositions him.
Outside of that, you get "bad" women like an older lady who complains, or a murder victim who wrote a book about infidelity.
Now, let's talk about the plot. The premise of the novel is actually not bad. It's nothing new, mind you. Some maniac out there is using crime fiction as inspiration to murder people, what's not to get excited about?
Unfortunately, it's executed so poorly that the book gradually unravels into complete nonsense. Let's start with the obvious complaint. This book casually reveals the plots of several major crime novels with little to no warning. And hey, personally I don't even care about the spoilers, but I totally understand why some readers would be disappointed.
My biggest issue with this is that Peter Swanson uses real-world novels. Clearly, he doesn't have the imagination or writing skills to come up with original ideas. He could have come up with unique crime books, famous in-universe as the perfect murder books. Instead, this feels like a poor attempt to capitalize on existing fiction.
Also, come the fuck on with the blog. Why not make the main character a literature expert in American crime fiction? At least, this way the investigation could have involved him to figure out what other books may have inspired the killer. At least, this way there would be some substance to figuring out the killer's process.
Aside from the fact that the MC is the last person you would approach for his "expertise", none of his actions make sense. "My wife cheated on me, got addicted to cocaine again, and clearly had some sexual trauma. I guess I better ignore it completely and hope everything works out."
It makes even less sense when you learn he killed his wife.
This book, already thin on the plot front, is filled with fluff. There's a whole thing where some tourists come to buy books, and our MC regards how fat they are (yes, I'm serious) and tells us he agreed to mail their books because they had no space in his suitcase. We learn about some customer who complains a lot, about some book signings, some special editions. We know what our characters eat and drink in great detail. To what end? It doesn't serve the characters or the plot, it is pure filler.
The "mystery" is the bit that sucks the most. Aside from the lazy execution of the premise, when the killer was revealed, my sole reaction was "WHO?"
With a good mystery, a reader discovers things along with the characters, essentially solving the puzzle using the same tools. A bad mystery brings a twist out of nowhere or essentially lies to the reader to trick them out of solving the puzzle.