About the Book

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?

My Thoughts

I read and loved Peter Swanson’s The Kind Worth Killing when it first came out so when I heard about this new book I knew I had to read it as soon as I could possibly get my hands on a copy.

I have to admit here that whilst I love a good psychological thriller, I don’t like being scared! I’m such a wimp and there are certain things that set my nerves totally on edge. This book pushed all of those buttons for me and had me completely creeped out and I absolutely loved it! I couldn’t put this book down. I read the last third of it in bed late at night and I was so freaked out that if I wasn’t reading on my Kindle Voyage I may well have had to put it in the freezer (a la Joey in Friends) but at no point could I stop myself reading.

This book is not really a whodunnit, or even a whydunnit, it’s very much a howdunnit and it’s brilliantly done. I was literally on the edge of my seat on more than one occasion whilst reading this.

I loved how this book started off all quite normally with a house swap between two second cousins who had never met but their parents knew each other. Kate has been through terrible trauma a few years previously and this is her starting to spread her wings again to prove to herself that she can live a full life despite what happened to her. I’m fascinated by books where a character has suffered trauma as I’ve been through it myself so can say from experience that the way she is is very true and believable.

Corbin, Kate’s cousin, seems a little off from very early on and the story gradually builds up to why he seems off. From then on we’re left feeling very unsure about what his connection is to the murdered woman, who lives in the apartment next to him in Boston.

The story is told from a few viewpoints and at times we get part of the story from one character and then the same period of time is then narrated from someone else’s perspective. This was how the book creeped me out so much. The idea that you’re going about your life and feeling ok and safe but you have no idea what someone else is doing or where they are, even when they may well be very close by. Just the very idea of someone watching you when you have no idea that they’re there is enough to put anyone’s nerves on edge.

I finished reading this book in one day and I’m still thinking about it days later. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who loves suspense thrillers, and to anyone who loves Hitchcock’s films (this book would make a great film!).

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Her Every Fear is out now and available from: Book Depository (Her Every Fear)