Nine Lives

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I found the reveal behind what was linking these people together a bit of a letdown, and the killer’s motive was lame, but I was surprised by one twist. Once the list reaches the first person, you will find yourself hooked on a whodunit coupled with a gradually unfolding tragedy.

i'm not gonna talk about the plot, i'm just gonna talk about my reaction to the motive, and i'm going to be as courteous as possible, so i don't spill too many beans. But for a few of them I felt like we did get some pretty okay insight into who they were as people outside of this, even while others fell flat or into two dimensional tropes. Swanson creates a rollercoaster for readers, offering clues only to upend everything that was supposedly certain moments earlier. He also includes a list of characters at the beginning, just for quick reference until you know them well enough to ditch the list.One of the recipients is Jessica Winslow, an FBI agent in Albany, New York, who can't let it go, she knows none of the other people, but she tries to locate and find what could possibly link them, a task that is rendered more urgent with the drowning in a tidal pool of the elderly Frank Hopkins in Maine who is on the list, a murder that local detective Hamilton investigates. FBI agent Jessica Winslow receives a list and while she wants to ignore it, something inside of her makes her decide to investigate. I was expecting some fireworks, some clever and amazing twist that would make the struggle of getting through the story worth it.

But to keep ourselves on our toes, we have a rule that author gender is alternated, girl-boy-girl-boy, and the continents always rotated (with occasional glitches). Just to clear the air, I found this to be MUCH better than Swanson’s previous novel, Every Vow You Break. What seems initially to be a fairly straightforward take on Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None turns out to be much, much more . I loved this, Swanson's sharp and insightful characterization brought to life a fascinating premise, beautifully worked out. this is written really well, but story is just a lot of introducing a character only to to kill them off shortly after.It is revealed as the story goes on that each of them has transgressed in various ways, and that they are being punished for their actions.