Author: Peter Swanson
Publisher: Faber Books
Pages: 305
Read On: Kindle
How Long it Took Me To Read: 1 day
Plot Summary: Nine strangers receive a list with their names on it in the mail. Nothing else, just a list of names on a single sheet of paper. None of the nine people know or have ever met the others on the list. They dismiss it as junk mail, a fluke—until very, very bad things begin happening to people on the list.
First, a well-liked old man is drowned on a beach in the small town of Kennewick, Maine. Then, a father is shot in the back while running through his quiet neighborhood in suburban Massachusetts. A frightening pattern is emerging, but what do these nine people have in common? Their professions range from oncology nurse to aspiring actor, and they’re located all over the country. So why are they all on the list, and who sent it?
FBI agent Jessica Winslow, who is on the list herself, is determined to find out. Could there be some dark secret that binds them all together? Or is this the work of a murderous madman? As the mysterious sender stalks these nine strangers, they find themselves constantly looking over their shoulders, wondering who will be crossed off next.
General Thoughts: This book was one of our most anticipated reads of the summer. We have read everything the author has written before and enjoyed his work quite a bit, and this book with its very Christie-esque premise had us all in. We got it on our Kindle the day it released and couldn't wait to read it.
Things I Liked:
1. As I mentioned above, the very inspired-by-Agatha-Christie premise had us at hello. And Then There Were None is a classic and gave birth to a popular trope in crime fiction- that of the Justice Dispenser! Basically, a killer who kills the bad people, so we are supposed to not feel awful that someone innocent was brutally murdered. Please remember this definition as we go further down the review as I will be returning to this very central plot point of books and movies that seek to be similar to And Then There Were None.
2. The narrative is fast-paced and built up well. We get to know the nine people on the list- their lives, their close relationships- and even the cops and some FBI agents, who are investigating the case. The author has done a great job of context setting. We end up even caring for some of these characters (for instance, the introverted professor- Caroline, oncology nurse- Arthur and song writer- Ethan), which is also nicely done.
3. In books of this sub-genre or, basically, in any book featuring a serial killer, you tend to look for some connection/ commonality between the victims. For instance, in And Then There Were None, all the victims were men and women, who'd committed a murder (some cold blooded, some accidental) and had gotten away with it. In this book, the connection between the nine people on the list is not very easy to guess and apart from a very few similarities (race, geographical location, socio-economic class), the author doesn't drop too many hints as to what connects these nine people.
Things I Hated: Oh Boy! You better grab a drink and get comfy because this is a longgggg list!
1. I guessed the killer's identity in the very second chapter in which he/she was featured. The actions of this character made it obvious that he/she was the killer and the author made no attempt to disguise his/her huge decision in any way. Once you guess the killer in crime thriller books, your interest does tend to flag a bit. I wish the author had taken some effort to not make the killer so obvious!
Anyway, this was not such a deal breaker because in books such as this, it is the motive behind the killings that holds your interest. What have these nine people done that is so bad that they deserve to be killed?
2. Speaking of which, the motive behind these killings is beyond ridiculous! I mean, the motive is, essentially, not even a motive of any sort! The killer's reason for killing these nine people can't be justified in any way, shape or form! Like I'd mentioned above, the Justice Dispenser killer's motive is to restore justice by killing bad people- these could be killers, pedophiles, rapists, racists etc. In this book, the killer's motive allows for no justification whatsoever! It is most annoying, silly and ungratifying to reach the end of the book to find out why this person went on a killing spree!
As we get to know each of the nine people, we keep wondering what each could've possibly done to deserve to be on a 'killing list'. For instance, the oncology nurse- Arthur- has lost his husband and pet dog in a car crash that has left him partially crippled. So, it made me wonder if Arthur had had some role in said accident. It didn't make a lot of sense given Arthur himself was in the car and seriously injured, but still, given this was the genre of the book, one was expecting each of these nine people to have some skeletons in their closet!
SPOILER- only one of them was a bit of a psychopath whereas the others were all 100% innocent people; flawed, but innocent people. Did they deserve to be brutally killed? No. They didn't commit any crime. They had nothing to do with the inciting incident, which the killer was avenging. So, basically, you are at the end of a book where you've witnessed nine flawed but innocent people being killed for no good reason. It is annoying, ungratifying and not at all in keeping with the rules of the sub-genre. As a reader, you are supposed to be pro-killer and anti-victim (for the sake of simplicity) in these types of books, but in Nine Lives, you would 100% be anti-killer and pro-victims because they were innocent and did not deserve to die!
I am trying to be understanding of the author's need to keep this story different in some way from Agatha Christie's classic, but that way is not by changing the very core rule of this sub-genre! Your killer can't be someone who has killed nine innocent people for a non-crime that they didn't even commit! GAH!
Rating: 1/5
Avoid! This book is priced at over Rs. 800 in India for a Kindle copy and it is the worst Rs. 800+ that I've spent!
No comments:
Post a Comment