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.
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….
The Review
Oh, Peter…you had me.
I was there. Right there with you. I loved the homage to Agatha Christie. I loved the idea of the NINE LIVES. I loved trying to guess what each of them had in common. I was right there.
And then you did it. You did the one thing that I just cannot excuse. My one pet peeve. Well, maybe I have several. But this one…
The book hums along and gets to the end where everything has to wrap up. Where it has to start to make sense. And Peter Swanson decides to wrap up every loose end in a way that annoys the heck out of me.
That doesn’t work. And it’s lazy.
But oh was it enjoyable!
Could’ve easily been five stars.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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