Peter Swanson does it again. Every Vow You Break is as good or even better as Rules for Perfect Murder.

The premise is amazing and, even thought it hit a bit closer to home (due to a current crime in the UK), it was addictive and I really couldn’t stop reading until I found what would happen.

The characters are really interesting and complex and I really enjoyed getting to know all the layers that involved Abigail and her story.

The setting was idyllic which made the story even more interesting in my opinion.

The plot has plenty of twists and even though there were parts that felt a bit unrealistic I still really enjoyed the book.

Overall, another fantastic read thanks to the talented Peter Swanson! I look forward to reading more of his precious books as well as any future books he has in store for us!

Peter Swanson is one of those writers whose books I read without even glancing at the synopsis, I’ve read all of his books barring one (my TBR pile is HUGE) and so I was excited to read his latest, Every Vow You Break. It’s about Abigail who was brought up by parents who ran the local theatre in her hometown, dedicating their whole lives to plays and to the actors who starred in them. They invested everything they had in them both emotionally and financially and she spent her formative years in the theatre world. She now works for a small publisher in New York and has had some long term relationships which haven’t worked out, but when she meets Bruce, a Silicone Valley billionaire, they fall head over heels in love with one another and a whirlwind romance ensues. They get engaged, the wedding is around the corner and he pays for her and her friends to visit an exclusive resort in California for her bachelorette weekend. She has some small doubts about the marriage which she is trying to ignore but they are thrown into the spotlight when she meets a man whilst in California. They click, talking late into the night and she ends up sleeping with him. They don’t reveal their real names, he calls her Madeleine and she calls him Scottie and when she returns to New York and to Bruce, she decides to forget that her one night stand ever happened and ploughs on with the wedding plans.

That is until shortly before the wedding when she is walking to work one day and she spots Scottie in a coffee shop near her apartment. She is rattled and takes a different route home to avoid bumping into him. Later, she receives an e-mail from him and is freaked out by not only the contents – he is in love with her and wants her to call off her wedding – but by the fact he has discovered her real name and it is clear that him being in that coffee shop wasn’t just a weird coincidence. And so begins a game of cat and mouse. Bruce has arranged the honeymoon and takes Abigail to an island where they can get off the grid entirely and have their every whim catered to. It is sumptuous and extravagant with world class food and is a beautiful place to be with the man she loves. Except, Scottie is there too. Awkward.

It’s a great premise and a great hook and I was pretty invested for the first half of the novel or so. Swanson writes messy, complicated characters and Abigail is certainly that. He introduces her background, gives us context and allows us to understand her, and then pulls the rug out from under us. He is the master of this, nothing is ever quite as it seems with a Swanson book and this is no different, except, this time, it veered on the silly. There are moments of the usual Swanson brilliance, great plotting and twists you don’t see coming but I found the denouement w unrealistic. I am so disappointed to be writing this as I am such a huge fan and maybe it is just me but I was left pretty underwhelmed and feeling a little cheated.

As I say, the first half, maybe two-thirds of the book are pretty solid but the ending just wasn’t for me. The thing is, I was reading Every Vow You Break whilst women in the UK were grieving the death of a woman who was kidnapped and murdered by a police officer. It felt upsetting to be reading a book about a woman being threatened by a man when my social media and the news was full of this happening in real life. This has probably had a huge effect on how I perceived the book, and perhaps in different times I may have enjoyed it a little more.

If you haven’t read a Peter Swanson book, please do, they are exceptional thrillers and masterfully plotted, it’s just this one fell a little flat for me in the end.

Okay so I definitely can say I really enjoyed this book.

The premise was so interesting and I couldn't wait to get into it.

The first 60% of this book was a really slow burn. I did consider DNFing at some points because a slow burn just isn't my style but the last 40% just went from 0 to 100 and it was amazing.

At that 60% mark the book just gripped me and I couldn't stop reading, I couldn't put it down.

The plot was so intriguing and the twist was so well thought out, I definitely never saw it coming.

The characters were well written, there was some I loved and I actually become really invested in their story.

The writing was really atmospheric and Swanson painted the picture of the cool, misty island so well.

As I said the first half was pretty slow, but if you like a slow burn that's great and if not, I have to say the last 40% of this book is still really worth the read!

I rated this 4 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley, Faber & Faber and Peter Swanson for an eArc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

1am on a Saturday night and I’m reviewing Every Vow You Break and the reference to The Police lyric is now crystal clear! Enjoyed Peter Swanson’s previous book - the rules of murder but this is something else. I was left terrified by the story of Abigail who with a few doubts about her whirlwind romance with millionaire Bruce had a last fling before her marriage. However her one night stand wasn’t going away quietly... A remote and rather strange island honeymoon destination was not exactly what she expected. My heart was pounding through the last few chapters of the book. Not what I expected. At all.

Creepy, eerie and completely crazy! It’s hard to say to much without giving the plot away just that a brides honeymoon becomes her nightmare. As always Peter Swanson delivers a well written, fast paced and intriguing book.

I'll start with, simply: I enjoyed Every Vow You Break. Quite a lot, actually, but I can also see right away why a lot of people won't. I think realistic expectations will help going into this. If you ask me, this book barely belongs in the mystery/thriller genre. I'd say Swanson is moving away from that genre and taking a good few steps into horror or dystopia with this book. There's nothing supernatural in the story, per se, but it does veer off into a highly implausible (though, for me, compelling) plot.

I came up with a comparison I like. Did you enjoy the 2020 film The Invisible Man with Elizabeth Moss? I found that film absolutely riveting, awful, anxiety-inducing... impossible to look away from. Obviously, it's also a kinda wacky concept, and I think Every Vow You Break has a similar vibe. It's also about the messed up gaslighting emotionally-abusive shit that men do to women.

If that sounds acceptable to you, step right up. But it now makes complete sense to me why the average rating for this book is pretty low... because I imagine most people went into this expecting a standard twisty thriller. In fact, I'd say this is far more fear/tension/action-based than it is based on clever twists. The first twist is so transparent that I'm actually not 100% sure it was supposed to be a twist.

The book follows Abigail Baskin who is marrying Bruce, the man of her dreams. He's a wealthy, stable, good guy and they're about to spend their life together. Then Abigail does something stupid. At her bachelorette party, she gets drunk and sleeps with a man she's just met. But it was a one time thing, a terrible mistake, and she intends to forget all about it. Until that same man turns up on the idyllic honeymoon island where she is vacationing with her new husband. Until he keeps following her. Until she sees a fellow guest on the island running through the woods, bleeding.

Trapped on the island with her new husband, the guy she had a one-night-stand with, and who knows what other horrors, Abigail has to find out what is going on and learn the true identity of the man who refuses to let her go.

It's some scary shit, I'm telling you. This whole creepy island setting with cabins in the forest has a real Friday The 13th feel to it (the original 1980 one; I haven't seen the others). And it is ultimately about the lengths men will go to in order to control and punish women.

If you're on the lookout for a clever psychological thriller, I would skip this one. Give Swanson's The Kind Worth Killing or Before She Knew Him a go instead. I almost lowered my rating to factor in what I know other people's disappointed reactions will be to this book, but it would be disingenuous. I rate based on how I feel, and I couldn't put this one down. Would make a great film, I think.

As well as the emotional abuse and gaslighting noted above, an additional warning for mentions of suicide.

Thanks to Netgalley for preview of thgis book. Swansoon has done it again!!! It was a little slow to get going but once it does it is unputdownable! A fantastic read from a brilliant writer.

Abigail Baskin never thought she’d fall in love with a millionaire. Then she met Bruce Lamb. He’s a good guy, stable, level-headed, kind—a refreshing twist from her previous relationships. But right before the wedding, Abigail has a drunken one-night stand on her bachelorette weekend. She puts the incident, and the man who wouldn’t give her his real name, out of her mind. Now she knows she wants to be with Bruce for the rest of her life. Whilst on their honeymoon, at a remote resort on Heart Pond Island, the mysterious stranger appears to be amongst the guests, ready to turn Abigail’s future life and happiness upside down. He insists that their passionate night was the beginning of something special and he’s tracked her down to prove it. Does she tell Bruce and ruin their idyllic honeymoon and possibly their marriage? Or should she handle this psychopathic stalker on her own?

Just whaaa'? What addictive story telling! I love stories that keep me gripped from start to end and I had fun going through all the twists and turns. This book started as one thing and became something else entirely by the end. Nothing ground breaking in the thriller genre but still a great book. I'll still be picking up Peter Swanson novels in the future.

Thank you Faber & Faber for my advanced copy, its available from 18/03/21.

I found this a difficult story to get interested in at first but it suddenly burst to life. A woman meets a rich tech entrepreneur and falls in love but on her bachelorette party sleeps with another man and the doubts set in especially when the stranger reappears and wants her to cancel her wedding and go off with him. But the wedding goes ahead and off they go to an exclusive island for their honeymoon. The stranger appears on the island and it’s then that things get interesting as secrets are revealed and a violent climax ensues. A diverting read but not that special.

The Kind Worth Killing is one of my favourite thrillers ever, so I jumped at the chance of reading this despite some trusted opinions telling me to lower my expectations. Well, they were kind of right...

Mild spoilers ahead!

Every Vow You Break is a good book. Just like Mr Swanson's previous books, it was fast-paced, intriguing and well written. Unlike his previous books, this time I was able to call 90% of the plot right after the cheating happened, which was in the 3rd or 4th chapter, so a lot of the tension was lost for me, but the story was entertaining and the atmosphere of the island was creepy enough that I still enjoyed the book. Abigail was not particularly easy to like and her transformation from lazy book nerd into action heroine had me rolling my eyes a bit, but I still rooted for her and wanted her to kick their asses into the next day. So this was good, but not The Kind Worth Killing good... Still very recommendable to thriller fans!

Another twisty tale by a great author.

I have read all the books by this author and highly recommend them all. This did not disappoint.

The central character, Abigail Baskins meets a tech millionaire Bruce Lamb after a number of diverse and failed romances. An unlikely pair it would seem. A drunk AbIgail meets a handsome stranger at her batchelorette party and sleeps with him. Both give false names, his being Scottie and Abigail thinks 'that's it' until she receives a text from him and he turns up in New York and at other places in this tale.

Her honeymoon is on a remote Island run and occupied by an odd group of people and then odd things start to happen including the arrival of Scotie. It is difficult to say anymore without any spoilers but there are real twists in the story. On a few occasions I thought I had worked it out but then there are a number of twists that I did not see coming that turned this tale on its head.

The ending was a little quick and a little unbelievable but that did not detract from the book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The author is really exceptional although my favourite by this author is still "The kind worth killing"

Thanks to Netgalley UK, the author and the publishers Faber and Faber for an advanced arc copy of the book in exchange for a honest and fair review.

I love this author. The kind worth killing is one of my all-time favourite thrillers. I do feel he hasn’t beaten that one yet.

This is a good book. It is about a woman who falls in love and i’m getting engaged to a billionaire but on her hen night she does something really stupid. She gets married and on her honeymoon all hell breaks loose. They go to a remote island and a series of freaky and crazy events take place. This is a wild ride of a thriller. It felt a little bit rushed to me and no spoilers, but the ending was mad. I don’t think this is Peter Swanson‘s best novel but I still want to read all of his works.

Review sent to Goodreads, Amazon, Waterstones.

Well this was a book full of twists and turns... it had me constantly guessing. After a slow start, first 20%.. it turned into a totally different book that I’ve read in one day. I just didn’t know who to trust Bruce, Eric, Chip? It had me on the edge of my seat! This is an author I’d read again and definately recommend.

I love most of the books Peter Swanson writes. The kind worth killing is one of my favorite books and I also really enjoyed Eight Perfect Murders.

However, Every Vow You Break just did not do it for me. I found Abigail annoying and quite gullible as well. The twist felt cheap and half assed, and we are meant to believe that Abigail is able to escape and hide herself away for days, even though multiple people and search dogs are looking for her?

All in all, I did not enjoy reading this, I was expecting better. Maybe the next one will deliver.

I enjoyed reading this book and finished it in three days. Knowing that it was a thriller, the plot actually took some time to get going and so it's a tribute to the quality of the writing that the slow pace at the start doesn't mean the reader's interest is lost.

It begins with Abigail, a woman seemingly living a pretty mundane life worrying about jobs, earning enough money, her separated parents and her own relationships.

She meets Bruce, an extremely rich man, and begins a relationship with him. She doesn't really seem swept off her feet by him, so the reader is left wondering if it's his money that's the real attraction.

After Abigail has a one-night stand with someone else in the run-up to the wedding, it seems she is being stalked by the man and she panics that Bruce will find out. But it's on her honeymoon on a remote island that things get much more creepy.

The description of her experiences on the island is great, and Swanson does a good job at creating a menacing atmosphere. The full scale of what's really going on there is genuinely shocking.

If I had any criticisms, I would say that it felt slightly strange to spend time talking about Abigail's previous boyfriends early on in the book. And I was wondering if there might be a further twist right towards the end of the book.

But these are pretty minor points. It's a good read and definitely very gripping as the horror on the island unfolds.

Wow, I raced through this pacy thriller just couldn't put it down.
This one is definitely up there with The Kind Worth Killing.
Abigail sleeps with someone on her bachelorette weekend. She still decides to marry Bruce and the they go off on their honeymoon. It's there that Abigail sees Scottie the man she slept with. That isn't the only thing that starts to worry Abigail. The island is full of men. There is only one other couple also on honeymoon. Abigail wants off the island but she is out of luck.
Peter Swanson certainly knows how to ratch up the tension.
Very vivid descriptions, I could imagine being in the woods so dark and feeling closed in.
Thanks to Netgalley and Faber and Faber for the ARC in return for an honest review.

“Every Vow You Break” by Peter Swanson was one of my highly anticipated reads of this year and it did not disappoint. The story focuses on Abigail, a newlywed on her honeymoon. A mistake she made prior to getting married, which she believed to be inconsequential, comes back to bite her and boy, does it bite her.

I’m a big fan of everything Peter Swanson has produced in the past - his books are (I apologise for the cliche) page turners, every single time. There is suspense in abundance and the author always does a marvellous job of changing things up to keep the reader guessing. Often dark, sometimes downright creepy, this book is one that was devoured in one sitting - it was not an option for me to put this book down.

A hugely enjoyable and satisfying read, I’d recommend this to all fans of psychological thrillers and indeed, everyone who just enjoys a book to get lost in. My sincere thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Abigail Baskin is three-weeks away from becoming Abigail Lamb. Her soon-to-be husband is the perfect gentleman and she adores him for it. But when the alcohol flows and her guard is dropped on her bachelorette party, she makes a drunken mistake that alters the course of the futures for all involved. Abigail's error haunts her, but what if it was not one of her own design and another had been guiding her towards it all along?

This was my first Peter Swanson book but it definitely will not be my last. I began reading interested by the synopsis and engaged with the drama that filled the first-quarter. The pages that followed this, however, were a whole other level of insanity! Events quickly spiralled out of control and constantly trod the fine-line between the sensational and the preposterous. It never veered over the line, though, and maintained an edge of realism that coated all events with a chilling believability, even as wildness overtook rationality.

Wow! This book is definitely thought provoking!

Abigail is marrying a successful, exceedingly rich guy in three weeks and goes on her hen weekend with her friends to San Francisco.. After a few drinks to many, she meets up and hooks up with a stranger. They don’t even exchange names. It’s a one-off mistake and she decides to forget it and go ahead with her wedding. Three days before her wedding, she spots her one night stand in a coffee bar in New York, shocking as he comes from California! Then he emails her. She dismisses him by email and she and her now husband Bruce go off on their honeymoon to an island resort - extremely expensive and exclusive. That’s all I’m can say about the plot without giving away spoilers!

This book is a most definite thriller with a some scary, dark, shocking moments! It was not at all what I had been expecting and I couldn’t put it down! Is it far-fetched? I hope so..........but my sensible head tells me that with money and power - anything can happen! Would I recommend it? Definitely! Abigail is a likeable character, she’s a normal girl thrust into an abnormal world of wealthy, powerful men but she’s gutsy and quick thinking and that’s admirable! This is my first book by Peter Swanson - I’d definitely read more! I like his writing a lot.

My thanks to Net Galley, the publishers and of course the author for an advanced reader copy in return for an honest review.

I was really excited when I got approved for this e-arc because I've heard incredible things about the author and I've seen a lot of love for his previous books, but I'm sad to say that I didn't like this one.
There were so many eye rolling moments, Abigail did a lot of dumb stuff and I still don't understand how she trusted her husband so much. Like he was shady from the start.
I liked the place where this books was set, it was creepy at times and there was some suspense, but the book was really predictable.
I had high hopes for this and sadly, I was disappointed. This doesn't mean I'm not going to pick other books by the author, but this one was just not for me.