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A review by alba_marie
The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson
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