Kill Your Darlings (by Peter Swanson)
Peter Swanson’s suspenseful psychological thrillers have consistently captivated me. While I have some catching up to do with his novels, I promptly placed a library hold for his latest book, Kill Your Darlings, as soon as it became available.
Kill Your Darlings is a masterful reverse-chronology thriller that delves into the dark underbelly of a seemingly idyllic marriage. The story begins with the shocking first line—“The first attempt at killing her husband was the night of the dinner party”—and follows poet Wendy Graves as she meticulously plots the murder of her writer husband, Thom, in their coastal New England home. The narrative unfolds backward, starting from 2023 and moving back to the couple’s teenage meet-cute in 1982.
The creative storytelling of presenting the story from ending to beginning is a testament to Swanson’s exceptional writing skills. The domestic suspense explores buried secrets, corrosive guilt, and twisted vengeance in his signature style of psychological tension and ingenious twists. Each twist is powerful, and the unraveling of Wendy and Thom’s marriage is both chilling and captivating. It’s a must-read for fans of dark, inventive suspense that lingers long after the book has concluded.
The book was so captivating that it motivated me to add Swanson’s books to my reading list.
I borrowed the audiobook of Kill Your Darlings from my local library using Libby. Steven Weber’s narration was fantastic, and he has become a favorite narrator for me.
Feel free to take a look at my reviews for other Peter Swanson novels, which I’ve linked below.
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