Nine Lives by Peter Swanson
- JetBlackDragonfly
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
Peter Swanson thrillers always deliver page turning mystery, and despite the premise, he managed to pull off surprising twists.
Nine strangers receive a cryptic letter in the mail - a list of names printed on a single sheet of paper. They don't know each other, have nothing in common, and have never met, but soon they begin to die in mysterious circumstances.
Matthew, a suburban father; Jay, an aspiring actor; Ethan, a Texas songwriter; Caroline, an English professor; Frank, an East Coast resort owner; Alison, living off men in New York City; Arthur, an oncology nurse; Jack, recently divorced; and Jessica, an FBI agent. Is it the work of a madman, or is there something that binds them together? You'll never guess.
As each person receives the letter, some ignore it, some wonder, and some Google the names. When the first victim drowns, Detective Sam Hamilton investigates, on the heels of FBI agent Jessica Winslow who searches out the people named alongside her. Soon others on the list die without warning, setting the reader on edge. We know they were targeted, but each time I was taken by surprise—not just leads, but random side characters who had nothing to do with the list. Shot, poisoned, carbon monoxide—and in no particular order. This is a thriller where anything can happen.
It's a simple premise, slightly twisted. Swanson has a knack for turning thriller tropes on their side with a knowing nod to the reader, with this an update of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. You won't discover the killer, so just enjoy the suspense and gruesome pleasure of striking names off the list—counting down to zero. For this is a case not even the detectives or the FBI can solve.
Peter Swanson has written several award-winning books including Eight Perfect Murders and The Christmas Guest. His latest novel Kill Your Darlings is being filmed starring Julia Roberts.
2022 / Tradeback / 336 pages
My other reviews of Peter Swanson:
Eight Perfect Murders
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