Her Every Fear

A Novel

By: Peter Swanson

Narrated by: Eva Kaminsky

Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's Summary

The author of the wildly popular The Kind Worth Killing returns with an electrifying and downright Hitchcockian psychological thriller - as tantalizing as the cinema classics Rear Window and Wait Until Dark - involving a young woman caught in a vise of voyeurism, betrayal, manipulation, and murder.

The danger isn't all in your head.

Growing up, Kate Priddy was always a bit neurotic, experiencing momentary bouts of anxiety that exploded into full-blown panic attacks after an ex-boyfriend kidnapped her and nearly ended her life. When Corbin Dell, a distant cousin in Boston, suggests the two temporarily swap apartments, Kate, an art student in London, agrees, hoping that time away in a new place will help her overcome the recent wreckage of her life.

But soon after her arrival at Corbin's grand apartment on Beacon Hill, Kate makes a shocking discovery: his next-door neighbor, a young woman named Audrey Marshall, has been murdered. When the police question her about Corbin, a shaken Kate has few answers and many questions of her own - curiosity that intensifies when she meets Alan Cherney, a handsome, quiet tenant who lives across the courtyard, in the apartment facing Audrey's. Alan saw Corbin surreptitiously come and go from Audrey's place, yet he's denied knowing her. Then, Kate runs into a tearful man claiming to be the dead woman's old boyfriend, who insists Corbin did the deed the night that he left for London.

When she reaches out to her cousin, he proclaims his innocence and calms her nerves, until she comes across disturbing objects hidden in the apartment - and accidently learns that Corbin is not where he says he is. Could Corbin be a killer? And what about Alan? Kate finds herself drawn to this appealing man who seems so sincere, yet she isn't sure. Jet-lagged and emotionally unstable, her imagination full of dark images caused by the terror of her past, Kate can barely trust herself. So how could she take the chance on a stranger she's just met?

Yet the danger Kate imagines isn't nearly as twisted and deadly as what's about to happen. When her every fear becomes very real.

And much, much closer than she thinks.

Told from multiple points of view, Her Every Fear is a scintillating, edgy novel rich with Peter Swanson's chilling insight into the darkest corners of the human psyche and virtuosic skill for plotting that has propelled him to the highest ranks of suspense, in the tradition of such greats as Gillian Flynn, Paula Hawkins, Patricia Highsmith, and James M. Cain.

©2017 Peter Swanson (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic Reviews

"Like all good psychological thrillers, this one keeps listeners on edge.... Swanson's story is compelling. [Narrator Eva] Kaminsky brings it all to life - the fear and panic and the tenuous nature of trusting ourselves and others." ( AudioFile)

Sometimes the Narrator Elevates the Story

I have GOT TO STOP buying into this irritating rash of 'clever modern thrillers with a twist' a'la 'Gone Girl'. They are not clever and not thrilling. The heroine of Her Every Fear makes some astonishingly stupid choices while writer Swanson tries unsuccessfully to support the pathology behind those choices.

Narrator Eva Kaminsky's superb style and perfect pacing propelled me through what - in other hands- might easily have been a 'return unread'.

I'm going back to Tey, Hightower, Levin, Vine, Rendell; writers who knew how to twist the knife (and the plot).

My every fear is that the book would never end.

I generally love Peter Swanson's books, this one is an exception. The characters are so weakly drawn you never feel any empathy for them. Kate, the main character is nothing more than a fragile twit. The readers performance of her was definitely inspired by Lady Edith from Downton Abbey.

The villain is probably the most interesting character, but even that's a stretch in a book full of insipid characters.

I kept reading hoping it would get better, it didn't.

Very entertaining

I bought this book based on the author's previous work which I found entertaining.
This book is told from multiple perspectives which I really enjoy. This author does this very well as he doesn't just have multiple characters recount the same events/circumstances over and over again. Each perspective adds another layer of character development, intrigue, and mystery.
This isn't a great book as there are some crater-sized plot holes one has to overlook, but I think it's extremely entertaining and well written. The narration is also very well done.

I do love a good psychological thriller!

But HER EVERY FEAR ain't one! The sole redeeming grace is the truly outstanding narration by Eva Kaminsky. I listened to the entire novel thanks to the narration.

The most mundane “thriller”

First she peed, then brushed her teeth...
She ate a hunk of sourdough bread spread with butter and honey...
It would be a good idea to take a shower at some point today...
Even the psychopathic murderers are boring. The murder scenes are boring.
My God, I thought it would never end. The only saving grace is the narrator. How she didn’t fall asleep reading this book I’ll never know.

So repetitive!!!

This book started off so promising. The idea was great and I love how the author switches between narratives, loved that in The Kind Worth Killing also. But by the end of this book I was so over how the events in the story were retold over and over again, like the author was just killing time, or... page space...
Then a full chapter on the cops point of view?? I wasn't invested in that character one bit, and really wasn't interested in her obsession with the Boston celtics.
The drawn out ending after the climax made me think something interesting was going to happen, but nothing ever did. Describing in detail her ferry ride, her walk back to the apartment and into that perverts arms: completely unnecessary. Super disappointed.

3/4 of book was interesting enough

I wasn't expecting anything as good as 'The Kind Worth Killing' (One of the best books I ever listened to) but I still felt like this book didn't meet the expectations I had. The book had promise for awhile - But I feel like there is an ingredient missing. Like someone left the salt out of the stew. Writing from a vantage point of 3 or 4 characters perspective can be okay - But I think the last part of the book over did it. By the end - I literally forwarded the audio book through the last bit of regurgitation to find out what happened. I thought the ending could have been better - Darker. I have an idea how the book should have ended in my opinion - But But who am I - Right?

For what its worth, J

Even Fiction Needs a modicum of Logic. Zero Logic

I never write a review unless it is positive, but this novel was so poorly conceived and delivered, I could not help but speak up about why I would never recommend it.

The author appears either to have no sense of human behavior or thinks the audience is just plain stupid. The reader speaks in a monotone and monotonous cadence. The behavior of the characters is so incredible that it is impossible to appreciate that Her Every Fear is supposed to be a suspense thriller.

Not my favorite Peter Swanson book

It was good but not great. My biggest issue was that I could hear the narrator taking a breath every few sentences and it was so distracting.

Disappointing for Mr. Swanson

"The Kind Worth Killing" had despicable but very interesting characters and a great plot. "Her Every Fear" has some really idiotic characters and the plot is just too implausible. The twists that lead to the end way too convenient. I will still read the next Swanson novel, in the hope that he rises to the success of his previous novel...but I cannot recommend this one. The narrator tends to turn the male characters into caricatures (even though, in all fairness, some of them are written that way.)