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When Kate Priddy agrees to a house swap with her cousin in Boston, no one is more surprised than Kate. Well, her parents maybe. To say Kate is not adventurous is an understatement, but after barely surviving being kidnapped by her psychotic ex just a few years ago, it’s no surprise that Kate’s careful. And yet, the simple expectation that she’ll say no to the request when her cousin reaches out to her is enough to move Kate to say yes.
Upon her arrival, though, Kate learns that the girl in the apartment next door has gone missing. Kate immediately jumps to murder as the logical conclusion: unfortunately she’s right. While the girl’s death certainly has nothing to do with Kate, she can’t help but be curious. As more about the girl comes to light, including a possible affair with Kate’s own cousin, the Brit becomes more entangled in the mystery, catching the attention of a very dangerous man. But will Kate unravel the clues in time to save herself?
Swanson’s latest features a character who is, as mentioned, understandably cautious and careful. And paranoid. But she’s overly aware of these things to the point that they almost become a detriment to her very safety.
Any normal girl would be concerned if someone one door away was murdered. Kate seems to have a knee-jerk reaction that results in the opposite. As with her decision to spend six months far away from home, on another continent, Kate’s assumption that the murder has nothing to do with her and therefore couldn’t possibly mean any danger to her seems to be an attempt to reclaim a sense of control and normalcy in her life.
And it’s something of an admirable quality in her as a heroine. Rather than becoming a shut in who books the first plane home, she snoops. She snoops around her cousin’s apartment. She snoops into the dead girl’s life. She snoops around the apartment building too.
And maybe snooping isn’t best decision.
Not that it makes any difference. Swanson offers up multiple perspectives throughout the novel, making it quite clear that Kate’s mere presence in the apartment means catching the eye of the killer. It makes the reader wonder if even her return to London would have kept her out of trouble.
Her Every Fear is deliciously paced twisted fun!
1/17 Becky LeJeune
HER EVERY FEAR by Peter Swanson. William Morrow (January 10, 2017). ISBN 978-0062427021. 352p.
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