Before She Knew Him- Book Review

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

From the hugely talented author of The Kind Worth Killing comes an exquisitely chilling tale of a young suburban wife with a history of psychological instability whose fears about her new neighbor could lead them both to murder . . .

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. . .

Before She Knew Him is a psychological thriller. Hen and Lloyd moved into a new neighborhood and decides to go on a get together party so they could get to know their neighbors. While at the party, Hen and Lloyd meets another couple, Mira and Matthew. The two couples instantly invite each other for dinner. While at Mira and Matthew’s house, Hen comes across an old trophy in Matthew’s study. She realizes that the trophy belonged to Dustin, who was murdered a few miles from where they live. Hen suspect that Matthew might be behind Dustin’s murder and she soon starts stalking him. Matthew meanwhile pretends to be a sociable history teacher when in fact, he has a past…

I like reading Peter Swanson’s thrillers, as they are most of the time interesting and unputdownable. This was also the same–page turning, unputdownable and you have the POVs of Hen and Matthew. However, the one major turning off point is, I kind of predicted what is going to happen in the end and it actually happened–I don’t like when the thrillers are predictable and so this was not one of my favorite thrillers of his. Nonetheless, as I mentioned, this was interesting and fast paced though the twist at the end was predictable.

Overall, this book is worth is worth 3.5 stars.