Nine Lives: A Novel
“[A] smartly entertaining reimagining of Agatha Christie’s classic And Then There Were None… Swanson cunningly plays with readers’ heads as we hope so-and-so gets it next.”— Washington Post
If you’re on the list, someone wants you dead.
From the New York Times bestselling author of Eight Perfect Murders comes a heart-pounding crime thriller about nine strangers who receive a cryptic list with their names on it—and then begin to die in highly unusual circumstances.
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…
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Community Reviews
I rounded up because I didn’t guess the ending. So… that’s something positive I have to say about this book.
I mainly gave this book a three-star rating, because it’s neutral. All of the issues that I have with this book are because I don’t like Peter Swanson’s books. It’s a “me” problem and I don’t feel completely comfortable giving him too low of a score for that.
I'm not going to consider this a spoiler, because I’m not going into specifics, but I hate that all of his books draw inspiration from one or more classic novels. I think that takes away from the creativity of being an author. Yes, he puts a spin on his books, so they aren’t verbatim, but when every single book I’ve read by him, I’ve read at least three that I can remember by him, follows this trend. For me, it’s “three strikes and you’re out.”
I gave him two of the stars from the rating because I didn’t DNF it, I was semi-curious where the story would go, I did enjoy the first ten or so chapters, and due to the credit of having the courage of writing a book in general. Then I tacked on the extra half star because I didn’t guess the ending. To be fair, I don’t read classics, but there’s one book that I had wanted to read that he’s “spoiled” in two out of the three books I’ve read by him. I do acknowledge that there’s a debate on whether classic media can be “spoiled” after a certain amount of years have passed, but I still believe they can be, especially if there isn’t a spoiler warning. Once you’ve read something, there’s no taking it back, of course, unless you have terrible memory or if an illness or accident is the reason for said bad memory.
Anyways, I digress.
My final thoughts are, this book isn’t terrible, I feel neutral towards the book and it had SO much potential, but my annoyance towards the author. At least i learned something about myself, I enjoy talking to people about my frustrations with Peter Swanson. Thanks Nicole for tearing this book apart with me.
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