Peter Swanson | Before She Knew Him

The Book:

Before She Knew Him by Peter Swanson, 2019

The Characters:

Hen and Lloyd
Matthew and Mira

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The Plot (from Goodreads):

Hen and her husband Lloyd have settled into a quiet life in a new house outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Hen (short for Henrietta) is an illustrator and works out of a studio nearby, and has found the right meds to control her bipolar disorder. Finally, she’s found some stability and peace.

But when they meet the neighbors next door, that calm begins to erode as she spots a familiar object displayed on the husband’s office shelf. The sports trophy looks exactly like one that went missing from the home of a young man who was killed two years ago. Hen knows because she’s long had a fascination with this unsolved murder—an obsession she doesn’t talk about anymore, but can’t fully shake either.

Click here for book spoilers for Before She Knew Him

Book spoilers ahead–if you haven’t yet read Before She Knew Him, I suggest you turn back now.

The Twist:

Matthew’s brother was actually his split personality (Richard in real life had died in infancy). He had killed Michelle as well as all the men, and tried to kill Hen. Lloyd had snuck into his house and Matthew killed him.

The Ending:

Matthew confessed, and realized that Richard wasn’t his real brother.

Hen had known Dustin Miller before Matthew killed him. They met at a bar and went back to his place, and he almost raped her. Dustin threatened to find her and rape her another time, but Matthew killed him before he got the chance.

The Review:

“They had a secret, the two of them, and there was no better way to start a friendship than with a secret.”

This is my first Peter Swanson novel, but I have many of them on my TBR. I certainly will be trying to get to them sooner now!

I loved the plot and the characters. The plot moved very quickly, and I finished this book way more quickly than expected. I especially enjoyed the back and forth between Hen and Matthew. I think Swanson explored mental illness in a considerate way, acknowledging how hard it can be to get people to believe you about something once you’ve been labeled crazy.

Click here for spoilers

What confused me, though, is whether Mira knew about Matthew’s split personality. She gets home and wonders if Richard has been sleeping on her couch, and it is never explained whether she had met a brother named Richard or if she knew the truth about Matthew. I think she might have known. She says she “hadn’t thought about Richard in years”, so maybe she naively hoped Matthew had been somehow cured. Do you think she knew? I would have liked this to have been explained a little better.

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