Hen's digging into Matthew uncovers secrets not only about him, but about her own relationship. Matthew, too, has a dark past that gradually emerges over the course of the book. Hen is an artist and the darkness of her work offers a creepy undertone to much of the novel. Like all good thrillers, in my opinion, this is driven by an exploration of the characters.

Is this a sign her medication isn't working? Could what she saw be a coincidence? Her imagination? So Lloyd is skeptical when she claims that their new neighbour is a murderer. Hen has had manic episodes in the past, intense paranoia brought on by her bipolar disorder, which have led her to believe people have been trying to kill her. An object that stops her in her tracks and makes her feel faint.įrom then on, Hen is convinced that Matthew is a murderer. That is, until a tour of the house reveals an object that Hen recognizes. All is going well the four of them seem to get along and have chemistry. After just moving into a new home, Hen and her husband Lloyd attend a dinner party at Matthew and Mira's house. The book mostly switches between the perspectives of Hen, her new neighbour Matthew, and Matthew's wife, Mira. And I was so deeply sucked into this one that I totally didn't see it coming. Instead, the book is at times a game of cat and mouse, at other times a psychological portrait of justice and abuse. There's no whodunnit because we know almost immediately who did it. Speaking of thrills, Before She Knew Him is a thriller, not a mystery, if that distinction is important to you. Well, that bodes well for me because I found this quite thrilling! Some seasoned Swanson readers are saying Before She Knew Him wasn’t as compelling as his other books. 'They had a secret, the two of them, and there was no better way to start a friendship than with a secret.'

Before She Knew Him by Peter Swanson