Publication: 3rd March 2022 – Faber & Faber
If you’re on the list you’re marked for death…
The envelope is unremarkable. There is no return address. It contains a single, folded, sheet of white paper.
The envelope drops through the mail slot like any other piece of post. But for the nine complete strangers who receive it – each of them recognising just one name, their own, on the enclosed list – it will be the most life altering letter they ever receive. It could also be the last, as one by one, they start to meet their end.
But why?
Nine Lives is the second book by Peter Swanson I read and, as for the previous novel, I was hooked from the first to the very last page. Fast-paced, twisty, and suspenseful, I was sold the moment I read the intriguing synopsis and I wasn’t disappointed.
Nine people. They don’t know each other, they come from different upbringing, different cities, states, jobs, but they have one thing in common: their name is on a list, a list each of them has received anonymously. The FBI tells them not to worry, they will have an agent protecting them, and yet, one by one, they start dying. Who is the killer? And why they have been chosen?
Oooh, this was very well done. The plot is full of twists and surprises that kept me guessing until the end. As each person is killed, a name is ticked off and the list is updated and I kept wondering what these nine people had done to end up on a killer list. The story is told from the perspective of each character so that we get glimpses into their lives hoping to figure out the mystery before it is revealed.
I really enjoyed reading this novel and not only because it reminded me of one of my favorite Agatha Christie’s novels while still remaining original and refreshing. I loved the pace which is fast and there is never a dull moment. I loved how you never know who is going to be the next victim. And I loved how there is a final twist that made me gasp in surprise.
Nine Lives is a novel I highly recommend. It is gripping, terrific and unpredictable and you won’t regret reading it one bit!
A huge thank you to Faber & Faber and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of the novel.
Peter Swanson‘s novels include The Girl With a Clock for a Heart, nominated for an LA Times book award, The Kind Worth Killing, a Richard and Judy pick and the iBooks store’s thriller of the year in 2015, and, most recently, Before She Knew Him. He lives with his wife and cat in Somerville, Massachusetts.
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