Reviews with content warning for Gore - Every Vow You Break

Male voices of the audiobook weren’t great and the third person narrative was strange since the story was all from Abigail’s point of view. Pretty predictable storyline but relatively fast paced, would recommend reading in one go. Overall felt like an unfinished first draft, lots of potential but nothing was fully connected and fleshed out.

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moonlit_paperbacks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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polkadotgirl's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Before I picked up this book I had read one other Peter Swanson story (Eight Perfect Murders) and it had left me feeling pretty indifferent, to the point where I gave it only 2.5 stars, I believe. So I was admittedly a little apprehensive of reading more from him but... Oh my my. This book... I have no words to describe it.

I've never been one to spook easily when reading thrillers or horrors, even though I am a total baby when it comes to watching it on TV or movies, but this book made me want to jump out of my skin. I was so terrified and I felt anxious and I wanted it to stop and yet I wanted it to keep going on forever.

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that it is an isolation story that takes place on an island that is absolutely cut off from the world, and the author does a great job at making that feel terrifyingly dangerous. The island is described in detail and you feel like you're there with the characters and that makes everything so much more real.

Another thing that made the story so hard-hitting was the underlying motif of what was going on, and I think this will hit especially hard for women readers. The fact that I could actually see it happening, and how some of the things that happen are some of my worst nightmares just made everything so real and raw.

And then there is of course the writing. I think the main character was pretty easy to empathize with and you felt for her through it all. The suspenseful scenes were also really well done, with enough of the action dragging out as to create an uncomfortable feeling reading them but then ending right as it was about to get to be too long or too much.

Although the reveals and plot-twists of this book weren't the most shocking or mind-blowing, I didn't find that that took away from my enjoyment of the plot. I could see where the story was going but that was part of what made the journey good, because you kept waiting to see how it would happen.

The only reason I can't give this book a full 5-star-rating is because I believe that it could have benefited from a bit of commentary on the underlying motif that I mentioned before.

Spoiler

The reveal of this novel is that there is a group of rich, powerful men that have a secret society that punishes the women they date or marry if they fail to be loyal or faithful to them. It felt terrifying to read because every day we hear or read real-life stories of the violence that men inflict on women and I could see this being something true. However, there is very little commentary or discussion on misogyny, violence against women, the patriarchy, toxic masculinity, etc. I understand that 1) this book is a thriller and so it isn't obligated to do that and 2) it was written by a man and so him being the voice of the discussion wouldn't necessarily be the best; but I just kept expecting a little more. I believe that maybe if a book with this motif had been written by a woman author it could have had more insight on the topic.

Overall I really loved this book and now I'm actually excited to read more from Peter Swanson and see if he can be a favorite author of mine. I'm intrigued to see what was the fluke here: my love for this book or my hate for Eight Perfect Murders.

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lisacanteven's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book starts out very innocent and slow. The first 75 pages are back story, although I am not sure all of it was necessary. There were chapters at the beginning that I thought could have totally been omitted, but I'm sure they were there to meet a page quota. I knew from Peter Swanson's past books that he tends to pack a big punch after a pretty slow build-up. However, it felt like a lot of his "build-up" was uncalled for. Not unenjoyable - but just not necessary.

Once the story kicked off, things moved pretty quickly. Most of the twists and turns were totally unexpected. The last 75 pages were the exact opposite of the first 75. I could not put the book down, and my heart was racing the whole time. I haven't had a book do that to me in a long time. Surprisingly this was my first thriller of 2021 (yes, it's the end of March), and I was not disappointed in it. I won't be rushing out to read Swanson's other books, but I would like to read more by him eventually.

Spoiler

There was some talk about rape for a consensual sexual act. I felt like the mislabel of rape could be a triggering for some.

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