The Kind Worth Saving: A Novel

“The inventive Mr. Swanson never lets the willing reader down. With The Kind Worth Saving, he surpasses his own high standard.” — Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal

In this spectacularly devious novel of domestic suspense by New York Times bestselling author Peter Swanson, a private eye starts to follow a possibly adulterous husband, but little does he know that the twisted trail will lead back to the woman who hired him.

There was always something slightly dangerous about Joan. So, when she turns up at private inves­tigator Henry Kimball’s office asking him to investigate her husband, he can’t help feeling ill at ease. Just the sight of her stirs up a chilling memory: He knew Joan in his previous life as a high school English teacher, when he was at the center of a tragedy.

Now Joan needs his help proving that her husband is cheating. But what should be a simple case of infidelity becomes a much more complicated murder mystery when Kimball finds two bodies in an uninhabited suburban home with a FOR SALE sign out front. Suddenly it feels like the past is repeating itself, and Henry must go back to one of the worst days of his life to uncover the truth of a devastating cold case.

Is it possible that Joan knows something about that day, something she’s hidden all these years? Could there still be a killer out there, someone who believes they have gotten away with murder? Henry is determined to find out, enlisting help from his old nemesis Lily Kintner—but as he steps closer to the truth, a murderer is getting closer to him, and in this hair-raising game of cat and mouse only one of them will survive.

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Published Feb 6, 2024

320 pages

Average rating: 7.28

75 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

Anne-Marie Eberhardt
Jul 02, 2025
10/10 stars
I’ve read almost all of Peter Swanson’s books. They’re just that good!
ChrisP
May 04, 2025
4/10 stars
Page turner and a bit disturbing.
Ellery
May 01, 2025
10/10 stars
This one was a fun read! I liked it as well as the first one.
Hmore218
Dec 11, 2024
6/10 stars
Better than first book IMO. Also a fast read. However, storyline is odd and certain things just don’t make sense or are irrelevant. Overall, I wanted to rate a 3-3.5 but rounded up to 4 based on unpredictability.
LucyCarrillo
Sep 04, 2024
7/10 stars
Audio book. A sequel that you don’t need to read the prequel. Mystery, told by several different perspectives. Comprised of a limerick-writing disgraced ex cop, and two teenage evil doers who grow up to continue their evil ways. It’s an intriguing story, and the interior thoughts of each character were shared extremely satisfactorily, so that you got to know each character really well. Save for the one who was in the prequel, that story did not entirely make sense to me when it was told in this book. But it also might’ve been because it was on an audio book and it was towards the end of the book.

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