Review | BEFORE SHE KNEW HIM by Peter Swanson

Catching a killer is dangerous—especially if he lives next door

Hen and her husband Lloyd have settled into a quiet life in a new house outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Hen (short for Henrietta) is an illustrator and works out of a studio nearby, and has found the right meds to control her bipolar disorder. Finally, she’s found some stability and peace.

But when they meet the neighbors next door, that calm begins to erode as she spots a familiar object displayed on the husband’s office shelf. The sports trophy looks exactly like one that went missing from the home of a young man who was killed two years ago. Hen knows because she’s long had a fascination with this unsolved murder—an obsession she doesn’t talk about anymore, but can’t fully shake either.

Could her neighbor, Matthew, be a killer? Or is this the beginning of another psychotic episode like the one she suffered back in college, when she became so consumed with proving a fellow student guilty that she ended up hurting a classmate?

The more Hen observes Matthew, the more she suspects he’s planning something truly terrifying. Yet no one will believe her. Then one night, when she comes face to face with Matthew in a dark parking lot, she realizes that he knows she’s been watching him, that she’s really on to him. And that this is the beginning of a horrifying nightmare she may not live to escape. . .

Do you believe everything happens for a reason? Do you believe that people enter our lives at the exact time for a purpose? Then you can say that’s what happened when Hen and her husband had dinner with their new neighbors.

Hen is Bipolar and in the past had some psychotic breaks but today her medication has stabilized her. So when they are given a tour of the neighbor’s house, she knows that what she sees, a fencing trophy is the property of a student that was killed 2 years ago. But why would her neighbor, Matthew be in possession of it unless he had something to do with the murder. A murder that she has followed closely. But because of her past, nobody believes her that the murderer is living right next door, especially the police. And then she witnesses another murder.

Matthew knowing her history and that nobody is taking her seriously, he embarks on a truth session and tells her that he is indeed the killer and why. He also divulges about the abusive childhood that he and his brother Richard endured.

This is the first book that I read by this author but will be looking for more of his work. I enjoyed his writing style and that the suspense continued throughout the book, which made me want to keep turning the pages. The story was believable as well as the characters. And an ending that made me gasp!

If you enjoy Psychological Thrillers, pick this one up!

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