Book
Before she knew him / Peter Swanson.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780062838155
- ISBN: 0062838156
- Physical Description: 309 pages ; 24 cm
- Edition: First Edition.
- Publisher: New York : William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2019.
- Copyright: ©2019.
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Women illustrators > Fiction. Manic-depressive illness > Fiction. Married people > Fiction. Neighbors > Fiction. Murder > Fiction. Boston (Mass.) > Fiction. |
| Genre: | Suspense fiction. Psychological fiction. Mystery fiction. |
Available copies
- 13 of 13 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect. (Show)
- 1 of 1 copy available at Terrace Public Library.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 13 total copies.
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terrace Public Library | SWA (Text) | 35151001085166 | Adult Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2019 February #2
What would happen if a serial killer met the perfect confidant, someone who would never be believed if they revealed his or her secrets? Nothing good. Hen and Lloyd Mazur's move to the suburbs is meant to be a fresh start; Hen has recently been released from a psychiatric hospital after a manic episode sparked a dangerous obsession with the murder of her neighbor, Dustin Scott. Their first dinner with new neighbors Matthew and Mira Dolamore is going smoothly until Hen recognizes a fencing trophy in Matthew's office that she knows was taken from Scott's murder scene. Certain that Matthew is Scott's killer, Hen begins following him and soon wins a hollow victory when she witnesses him killing another man. Matthew, however, has seen her, too, andâconfident that Hen's mental-health challenges make her an unreliable witnessâhe seizes the opportunity to unburden himself. Instead of relieving pressure, though, this dangerous connection sends Matthew spiraling out of control, leaving only Hen to stop him. Swanson has crafted another bar-raising psychological thriller with this tense, unexpected spin on serial killers and those obsessed with them. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews. - Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 2019 January #1
The latest thriller from Swanson (All the Beautiful Lies, 2018, etc.) is a twisty, fast-paced tale that depicts picket-fence suburbia's seamy, murderous underside. Hen and her husband, Lloyd, have just left Boston for the tranquil burbs, and things are looking up for her. After a psychotic break sparked by the unsolved murder of a neighbor, Hen is on the mend, her bipolar disorder under control, her optimism resurgent, her career as an illustrator of dark YA books taking off. At a meet and greet she and her husband hit it off, or think they should, with their next-door neighbors Matthew and Mira, the only other childless couple nearby. But when they cross the driveway for a barbecue, the potential for neighborly coziness curdles. Hen notices a little fencing trophy on a shelf in Matthew's office and recognizes itâor wonders if she recognizes itâas one of the mementos the police reported was stolen from the murder scene in the city. When Hen recalls that the man ki lled was once a student at the prep school where Matthew teaches history, Hen grows suspicious of Matthewâand starts to stalk him. Is this a break in the case or the beginning of another fit of paranoia? And even if it's the former, who will believe Hen's suspicions given her earlier obsession with the case and the hospitalization it led to? Swanson is at his best in exploring the kinshipâor what some see as the kinshipâbetween artist and killer, one of the themes of Swanson's great model and forebear, Patricia Highsmith. Swanson isn't quite up to Highsmith's lofty mark, and he succumbs toward the end to a soap opera-like plot-twist-too-far...but for the most part, this novel delivers. A dark, quick-moving, suspenseful story stuffed full of psychological quirk and involution. Copyright Kirkus 2019 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved. - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2018 October #2
Her bipolar disorder under control, illustrator Henrietta and her husband enjoy a new house outside Boston with a nice little studio for her out back. But she's a bit obsessed with unsolved crimes, and she can't help but notice that a sports trophy perched on a shelf at the neighbors' house looks just like one that vanished from the home of a young man killed two years earlier. With a 75,000-copy first printing.
Copyright 2018 Library Journal. - Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 2019 January #4
At the start of this exceptional psychological thriller from Swanson (
Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly.All the Beautiful Lies ), bipolar Hen "Henrietta" Mazur and her husband, Lloyd Harding, have dinner one night at the suburban Boston home of neighbors Mira and Matt Dolamore, with whom they've recently bonded over their mutual childlessness. At one point, Hen spots a fencing trophy on their hosts' fireplace mantel that she believes was won by Dustin Miller, a college student who was murdered two years earlier and who attended the high school where Matt teaches history. Matt claims that he bought the trophy at a yard sale, but Hen, who's become obsessed with Dustin's case, suspects that Matt killed Dustin. The next day, when she visits the Dolamores, the trophy is missing, reinforcing her suspicions. However, Hen gets little support from Lloyd or the police because of her history of mental health problems and of falsely accusing others of murder. An uneasy relationship soon develops between Hen and Matt, whose traumatic childhood adds emotional heft to the narrative. Surprising twists help keep the suspense high to the end.Agent: Nat Sobel, Sobel Weber Assoc. (Mar.)
