Her Every Fear (Swanson) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
Most readers won’t anticipate the Hitchcockian twists and turns in this standout suspense tale.
Washington Post


Chapter by chapter, the text peels back layers to reveal a pathological relationship between Kate’s cousin and a long-ago acquaintance that’s reminiscent of a folie à deux out of Patricia Highsmith... By then, readers, privy to much Kate doesn’t know, may be experiencing their own anxiety.
Wall Street Journal


Peter Swanson tells the engaging story of a woman battling severe anxiety who decides to radically change her life - and the horrifying results that follow - in Her Every Fear… An effective and compulsive thriller.
St. Louis Post Dispatch


[U]nconvincing psychological thriller.... The characters, especially the female ones, rarely make rational decisions, and Kate herself doesn’t consistently react in the face of grave danger in the manner of someone suffering from crippling anxiety. Swanson fans will hope for a return to form next time.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.) Psychological thriller devotees should block time to read [this] ... in one sitting, preferably in the daylight. Readers can expect the hairs on their necks to stand straight up as they are consumed with a full-blown case of heebie-jeebies.  —Mary Todd Chesnut, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights
Library Journal


(Starred review.) The skillfully conjured Boston winter creates the perfect atmosphere for breeding paranoia, which kicks into high gear with the introduction of Cherney’s Rear Window-like flashbacks. Swanson … introduces a delicious monster-under-the-bed creepiness to the expected top-notch characterization and steadily mounting anxiety.
Booklist


The book flounders a bit when Swanson enters Highsmith territory, attempting to inhabit the minds of sociopathic killers, but he does complicate things interestingly and engineers a tense and intricate finale. A solid and quick-paced thriller—but one that seems to feature a pop-up psychopath behind every door and under every bed.
Kirkus Reviews


[It] has "movie adaptation" written all over it. It has an alluring location, a fragile yet resilient protagonist and a thoroughly Hitchcockian storyline, replete with the requisite false starts and plot twists… High tension, lightning-fast pacing and psychological drama in spades.
BookPage