On My Bedside {Before She Knew Him}

I’ve been on a real run of titles in the psychological thriller genre since October. Last week I finished Before She Knew Him by Peter Swanson. It was creepy and twisted and I really liked it! This isn’t one where you can’t wait to turn the page, but rather one where you aren’t sure what will be on the next page.

Hen and her husband, Lloyd, have settled into a quiet life in a suburban house outside of Boston. Hen (short for Henrietta) is an illustrator and has set up shop in a nearby studio, where she can forget the world and focus on her craft. After a few exhausting years of trial and error she has found the right meds to control her bipolar disorder. Finally, she’s found some stability and peace to do what she loves—create.

But when they meet the couple next door, that calm begins to erode when she spots a familiar object in the husband’s office. It looks exactly like something connected to a killing that happened years ago—one of very few pieces of evidence in a disturbing and baffling case. Hen recognizes it instantly 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 in college, when she became so consumed with a friend’s guilt that she ended up hurting someone? 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 the dark, she realizes that he knows she’s been watching him, that she really is on to him. And that this is the start of a horrifying nightmare she may not live to escape. . . .

With everything going on in the world, I’m craving something a little different these days. I’d love suggestions for books like The Storyteller’s Secret or Where the Crawdads Sing. While both had sad elements, overall I found them to be inspirational and memorable.

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11 thoughts on “On My Bedside {Before She Knew Him}

  1. A couple of friends and I are reading the Outlander series. Though we are watching the series we had not read the books. They capture your attention and take you far away from what is going on in our world today. And there is plenty of reading material to carry you through a couple of months!

  2. Even more enjoyable than the delightful Where the Crawdads Sing, in my opinion, is Giver of Stars by JoJo Moyes. Moyes based her book on true events and I give the book five stars.

  3. I just finished the storyteller’s secret this weekend. Loved it!

    Others I have enjoyed recently:

    The tea girl of hummingbird lane
    The bookwoman of troublesome creek
    American Dirt
    The Most Fun we Ever Had
    What the wind knows (fantasy component which I’m not typically into, but my whole book club loved this book)
    The Nightengale
    Once We Were brothers
    The Alice Network
    Little Fires Everywhere
    Small Great Things
    Before We were yours

  4. I just finished Tomorrow’s Bread and Today Will Be Different. I’m currently reading Love, Hate and Other Filters.

    No suggestions… I’m interested to see what others share! xo

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