Her Every Fear (review)

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If you don't follow me on Goodreads, you probably don't realize that I participate in the Goodreads Reading Challenge every year. And every year my goal is always the same: 100 books. Some years I make it (2015) and some years I don't (2016, but I was SO close), but we'll see how I fall this year. It's already helpfully reminding me I'm behind one book so far, so I need to get cracking.

Her Every Fear - Peter Swanson

Growing up, Kate Priddy was always a bit neurotic, experiencing momentary bouts of anxiety that exploded into full-blown panic attacks after an ex-boyfriend kidnapped her and nearly ended her life. When Corbin Dell, a distant cousin in Boston, suggests the two temporarily swap apartments, Kate, an art student in London, agrees, hoping that time away in a new place will help her overcome the recent wreckage of her life.

Soon after her arrival at Corbin’s grand apartment on Beacon Hill, Kate makes a shocking discovery: his next-door neighbor, a young woman named Audrey Marshall, has been murdered. When the police question her about Corbin, a shaken Kate has few answers, and many questions of her own—curiosity that intensifies when she meets Alan Cherney, a handsome, quiet tenant who lives across the courtyard, in the apartment facing Audrey’s. Alan saw Corbin surreptitiously come and go from Audrey’s place, yet he’s denied knowing her. Then, Kate runs into a tearful man claiming to be the dead woman’s old boyfriend, who insists Corbin did the deed the night that he left for London.

When she reaches out to her cousin, he proclaims his innocence and calms her nerves--until she comes across disturbing objects hidden in the apartment and accidentally learns that Corbin is not where he says he is. Could Corbin be a killer? What about Alan? Kate finds herself drawn to this appealing man who seems so sincere, yet she isn’t sure. Jet-lagged and emotionally unstable, her imagination full of dark images caused by the terror of her past, Kate can barely trust herself, so how could she take the chance on a stranger she’s just met? 

Sometimes I steer away from thrillers because they can get tedious for me and I can usually figure out what's going to happen and then I end up angry and annoyed (like with The Girl on the Train). But then I decide that not every thriller is going to be lame and I pick another one up, which is where I found myself as I started this one. I have to be honest and tell you that my biggest complaint with books like these is that characters are SO hit or miss for me. Kate is that miss character for me, she just... I get that she's neurotic and paranoid and obviously has trauma in her past that lends her to being that way but man alive. Just stop and use your brain a bit, can we? Can we just stop writing characters that are just... stupid? Because I'll tell you what, if I moved into my cousin's apartment for six months (a cousin I had never even met so let's be real, all the "but he's family" arguments are frankly out the window) and his neighbor is found dead? You can bet your ass I'm going to assume  he did it. I mean, am I the only one who watches crime shows? Forensic shows? Anyone?

So not only do we have that but the entire book has a stalker vibe to it so honestly, you're left kind of creeped out especially if you aren't binging on this in one or two sittings. My only other complaint is while the book switches narrative (which I'm totally OK with and it works here), every time we switched perspective we had a repeat of information. It's like the character really is assuming we aren't switching back and forth and it's frustrating because I want the meat of the story, I don't need to keep getting the same information over and over again. (And this is a person with documented memory issues complaining here, I feel sorry for all you non memory issue folks, you might have more of an issue with that.)

Overall? I'm still giving it 4/5 stars. The plot is good, the suspense is good, it has that dark and sinister vibe to it and you're questioning things right along with Kate. It was hard to put down and I found myself having a hard time falling asleep after a reading a good chunk of it. Her neighbors are all weird, we've got murder and mayhem, Kate isn't really well enough on her own but throw her in with this cast of folks and who knows what's going to shake out of the bag. If you're a fan of a good suspense and thriller, I think you're going to really enjoy this. You can purchase the book HERE, but in the meantime, you can check out the author's web page and Twitter!