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kimberlyswalters's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content and Stalking
bookishxobsession's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This whole book is a wild ride from beginning to end. The dialogue was a little clunky but the twists were things I never saw coming.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Excrement, Vomit, and Grief
literally_mint's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
heather_harrison's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Twisty murder mystery.
I went into my reading relatively blind, and expected it to be a retelling of “Strangers on a Train” (plane) but it definitely surpassed that.
All of the characters were unlikeable at best and sociopaths at worst. I enjoyed Lily’s chapters more. I found Ted to be repugnant and I ALMOST DNF’d based on his early chapters. The narrator also got under my skin to make it worse. After he died, I enjoyed the story more.
I went into my reading relatively blind, and expected it to be a retelling of “Strangers on a Train” (plane) but it definitely surpassed that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, and Toxic friendship
nugsforbugs's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
so good and fast paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
alba_marie's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
"Truthfully, I don't think murder is necessarily as bad as people make it out to be. Everyone dies. What difference does it make if a few bad apples get pushed along a little sooner than god intends? And your wife, for example, seems like the kind worth killing.
I loved my first Peter Swanson book, Eight Perfect Murders, and I absolutely hated my second of his, Before She Knew Him. I thought, actually, that I was done with this author.
But I've always been fascinated by the concept of Strangers on a Train. Though I haven't read the book yet (will do one of these days – fun aside, the book Lily was reading when she met Ted in the airport was a Patricia Highsmith novel, but not this one.), I loved the film and enjoy every time the concept is used in other contemporary crime dramas. So when I heard Swanson had tackled the idea, replacing it with an airplane, I was like, "ok, I'll make an exception and try him one more time." Even though I could already see the flaw in this plan... (duh, trains are totally anonymous, or at least they were until they started to instal security cameras. Airplanes keep records!)
This one fell between his two other books. I didn't think it was as fun as his snowy crime bookshop mystery, but it was miles beyond the serial killer dumpster fire that was Before She Knew Him.
It's divided into three sections, and each section has alternating 1st POV viewpoints between two characters, swapping out such characters each section. Because that meant 1st person POVs from a 4 different characters, I found it really confusing. I had to keep checking whose viewpoint I was reading. I found it hard to differentiate, esp. between Lily and Miranda (the men were easier to keep separate).
The concept it pretty simple: two people with a tenuous connection meet on a plane, discuss their unhappy lives and general frustrations with the "bad" people in them, and one of them agrees to help the other kill an unwanted person in their life. You probably guessed who such unwanted person is... drumroll here... yes! A cheating spouse! How original! I'm generally not sure if any of the characters were meant to be "good" or even "vaguely normal/grey" – or were they meant to be unlikeable and bad? (this is how I felt about all of them – though bizarrely, even though I didn't like them and knew they were bad, I was still half rooting for them?)
The general premise of the book is that some people are just "bad eggs" – the kind worth killing. And... judge me if you want, but I kind of agree, at least with the basic premise. Some people are simply terrible and leave the world worse than they found it. Obvious examples are people like Putin and Hitler and Trump. But leaving aside the big bad dictators or even the famous serial killers like Manson or Bundy, there are a lot of really bad people out there that make life terrible for those in their orbits. Men (it's often men, but not always) who think they can take what they want regardless of the consequences. Rapists, for example, every single one of them, are the kind worth killing. Serial abusers, domestic abusers, paedophiles, serial cheaters, corporate assholes who dump toxins into the environment to make an extra buck, oil barrons, sexist pigs...
So, it wasn't the dark concept or twisted philosophy that I had a problem with. No, it was that, except for Chet, none of the targets in the books really fit into these categories. Mostly their crimes were about cheating. Now, I hate cheaters. The way I look at it is either commit to someone... or don't. Not happy? Break up with them. Don't marry someone if you aren't going to commit because otherwise what's point? Just casual date/sleep around/play the field if that's what you're looking for. Don't sneak behind your spouse's back.
But...I just didn't find the people in this book that deserving of death. Divorce, yes, public humiliation, sure, poverty, yep that wouldn't hurt. But death? Seemed harsh.
I think the book would have clicked more with me if the characters were either more likeable and sympathetic (they just got caught up in a bad situation!) or were completely despicable and I myself was ready to murder them. As it was, they were unlikeable and mundane, their logic was flawed, their plans were flawed, and most of the book resorted to luck.
I guess there was a sort of soft/backhand twist in the middle but it was so undramatically done that I was like, sure whatever. The bigger surprise to me was that (view spoiler).
Despite a slow start to the book, I read the 2nd half in one day, which I think is how one should read thrillers. Quickly, with few interruptions and a total (if short-lived focus) on the thriller – like a shot of vodka.
Overall, average thriller but a poor rendition of the original Strangers on a Train concept. (Plus side – I'm finally going to get around to reading the original now! So that's a win!)
I loved my first Peter Swanson book, Eight Perfect Murders, and I absolutely hated my second of his, Before She Knew Him. I thought, actually, that I was done with this author.
But I've always been fascinated by the concept of Strangers on a Train. Though I haven't read the book yet (will do one of these days – fun aside, the book Lily was reading when she met Ted in the airport was a Patricia Highsmith novel, but not this one.), I loved the film and enjoy every time the concept is used in other contemporary crime dramas. So when I heard Swanson had tackled the idea, replacing it with an airplane, I was like, "ok, I'll make an exception and try him one more time." Even though I could already see the flaw in this plan... (duh, trains are totally anonymous, or at least they were until they started to instal security cameras. Airplanes keep records!)
This one fell between his two other books. I didn't think it was as fun as his snowy crime bookshop mystery, but it was miles beyond the serial killer dumpster fire that was Before She Knew Him.
It's divided into three sections, and each section has alternating 1st POV viewpoints between two characters, swapping out such characters each section. Because that meant 1st person POVs from a 4 different characters, I found it really confusing. I had to keep checking whose viewpoint I was reading. I found it hard to differentiate, esp. between Lily and Miranda (the men were easier to keep separate).
The concept it pretty simple: two people with a tenuous connection meet on a plane, discuss their unhappy lives and general frustrations with the "bad" people in them, and one of them agrees to help the other kill an unwanted person in their life. You probably guessed who such unwanted person is... drumroll here... yes! A cheating spouse! How original! I'm generally not sure if any of the characters were meant to be "good" or even "vaguely normal/grey" – or were they meant to be unlikeable and bad? (this is how I felt about all of them – though bizarrely, even though I didn't like them and knew they were bad, I was still half rooting for them?)
The general premise of the book is that some people are just "bad eggs" – the kind worth killing. And... judge me if you want, but I kind of agree, at least with the basic premise. Some people are simply terrible and leave the world worse than they found it. Obvious examples are people like Putin and Hitler and Trump. But leaving aside the big bad dictators or even the famous serial killers like Manson or Bundy, there are a lot of really bad people out there that make life terrible for those in their orbits. Men (it's often men, but not always) who think they can take what they want regardless of the consequences. Rapists, for example, every single one of them, are the kind worth killing. Serial abusers, domestic abusers, paedophiles, serial cheaters, corporate assholes who dump toxins into the environment to make an extra buck, oil barrons, sexist pigs...
So, it wasn't the dark concept or twisted philosophy that I had a problem with. No, it was that, except for Chet, none of the targets in the books really fit into these categories. Mostly their crimes were about cheating. Now, I hate cheaters. The way I look at it is either commit to someone... or don't. Not happy? Break up with them. Don't marry someone if you aren't going to commit because otherwise what's point? Just casual date/sleep around/play the field if that's what you're looking for. Don't sneak behind your spouse's back.
But...I just didn't find the people in this book that deserving of death. Divorce, yes, public humiliation, sure, poverty, yep that wouldn't hurt. But death? Seemed harsh.
I think the book would have clicked more with me if the characters were either more likeable and sympathetic (they just got caught up in a bad situation!) or were completely despicable and I myself was ready to murder them. As it was, they were unlikeable and mundane, their logic was flawed, their plans were flawed, and most of the book resorted to luck.
I guess there was a sort of soft/backhand twist in the middle but it was so undramatically done that I was like, sure whatever. The bigger surprise to me was that (view spoiler).
Despite a slow start to the book, I read the 2nd half in one day, which I think is how one should read thrillers. Quickly, with few interruptions and a total (if short-lived focus) on the thriller – like a shot of vodka.
Overall, average thriller but a poor rendition of the original Strangers on a Train concept. (Plus side – I'm finally going to get around to reading the original now! So that's a win!)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Toxic relationship
nailartklaudia's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Car accident
lomesia's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Murder
lilifane's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is everyone's favorite Peter Swanson book. Since it's my third book by the author and the other ones didn't impress me that much, I had high hopes. But I guess Peter Swanson is just not for me.
I was surprised by one twist halfway through the book, didn't see that one coming at all. Two other twists were nicely done. But the rest? Very predictable, and therefore not very exciting.
I think my main issue was that I didn't care for the characters that much, especially Ted. His story line was way too boring, and it was hard for me to root for him. But it's not a bad book, and definitely not the worst one I read by this author. It just wasn't as good as people made me believe.
I was surprised by one twist halfway through the book, didn't see that one coming at all. Two other twists were nicely done. But the rest? Very predictable, and therefore not very exciting.
I think my main issue was that I didn't care for the characters that much, especially Ted. His story line was way too boring, and it was hard for me to root for him. But it's not a bad book, and definitely not the worst one I read by this author. It just wasn't as good as people made me believe.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Car accident
savannalorena5517's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Sooooo fast paced, a great read to get you out of a reading slump! My number one qualm and why it didn’t get 5 stars is the way one of the women is written, but since this book is by a man it’s kinda par for the course.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Gun violence, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Violence