Trauma, Trauma EVERYWHERE!

After reading Swanson’s novel A Kind Worth Killing which was like a cross between Strangers on a Train and Don’t Make Agreements with Psychopaths for Dummies (a book not yet written but should be), I was excited to see that Swanson had another book, which is why I picked up Her Every Fear.  A Kind Worth Killing had a hook immediately, Her Every Fear took me a little to get drawn in but after a few chapters, it was the thriller on steroids that I was hoping for.

Our main character Kate Priddy decides to escape London (and something VERY traumatic) by swapping apartments with her cousin Corbin who lives in Beacon Hill so she can take some art classes and just rebuild her life after some seriously bad things happen to her.  Immediately, Kate feels like she got the better deal because Corbin’s apartment is huge, luxurious and full of all the greatest amenities. In contrast, Kate had to explain in an email how the washing machine is also a dryer in her very cramped flat.  The apartment once belonged to Corbin’s father and Kate feels odd that it’s almost completely devoid of anything “Corbin”.  She doesn’t have much time to think about why this is because a murder occurs next door.  Already on edge from previous events that she was attempting to escape, Kate is all about hopping back on a plane and escaping but as much as she wants to leave, she also wants to know why her cousin claimed that he barely knew the beautiful next door neighbor when the Peeping Tom across the way, tells the police that he had seen them, intimately for almost a year.  Is Corbin a murderer?  Can an obsessive Peeping Tom become a love interest after he explains that he was unhealthily obsessed with the now dead neighbor (oh honey…just say no)?  If Corbin didn’t murder the neighbor…who did and why?  Is Corbin connected?

So many questions! I’d love to tell you more but I can’t because it would give it all away.  I will tell you this, you will be absolutely infuriated with all of the male characters in the book.  All of them are bad man in different degrees and yet, I believe that our author wants us to sympathize with two of them, a bit.  This pissed me off because the characters who deserved our sympathy…mostly ended up dead or probably going to need a ton of therapy in the future.  This (big) caveat aside, I thought it was a tight thriller and I was definitely surprised by the many twists and turns.   This will make a great Lifetime Movie and I mean that with all the love in my heart with zero malice.