Nine Lives

Product Information

The controversial original name of Christie’s classic is addressed, as well as the almost-as-offensive alternative title, Ten Little Indians. I won an ARC of this book in a Goodreads Giveaway and would like to thank the author and publisher for the opportunity to read and review the same . While most didn’t recognize any of them, FBI agent Jessica Winslow, whose own name is on the list, has a vague recollection that her father might have known someone with one of the names. Pro-tip: The first two pages gave a brief description of the cast of characters…which indicated to me that I needed to take notes. The author can always be relied on to come up with the kind of crime fiction that will garner a huge audience, and I have no doubt that this will be a big success on publication.

Compared to many of the books I’ve read and/or dnf’d recently, this is a masterpiece that kept me entertained from beginning to end, so 5 stars from me! The first murder occurs at a seaside resort in Maine, where Detective Sam Hamilton wonders about the strange list of names that the victim was holding. Be sure to check out the rest of our reviews-Pat, Susan, MarilynW, Mary Beth and DeAnn-for additional insights! There are, of course, nine differing POVs which normally can be quite a few to try and keep track of but I was never left feeling super confused because the POV shifts were always noted and there’s a list with each character’s name at the beginning of the book so I’d flip back for reference quite a bit to ensure I knew which character was which. Few authors move successfully through this many perspectives-- nine people who all receive a mysterious list with their names on it and then begin dying one by one.DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Faber and Faber Limited via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Nine Lives by Peter Swanson for review. This blog hosts a selection of articles written from 2013 to the present, mostly focusing on my book reviews, which are uploaded frequently. This is an entertaining and engaging read that kept me glued to the pages, packed as it is with suspense and tension, and trying to identify the killer and why they have embarked on this murderous path.

Following on from Eight Perfect Murders we now have Nine Lives, nine names on a list sent to each one. One thing to note: if you haven't read And Then There Were None, this spoils it thoroughly, which would be a crying shame. Could this detail of the story indicate why the people on the mysterious list of Nine Lives are being targeted?

From Nobel Laureates Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter to theatre greats Tom Stoppard and Alan Bennett to rising stars Polly Stenham and Florian Zeller, Faber Drama presents the very best theatre has to offer. Its plot deviates enough from the original so as to keep you guessing about who’s next, and why they are being marked for death in the first place, and the conclusion, though relying a little too much on a lengthy explanation, is quite satisfying, and as grim as Agatha Christie’s climax. The next section is EIGHT- The FBI gets the case when one of their own, Jessica Winslow from the Albany field office finds out she is one of the NINE…what are the others doing when they are told? 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 .

Although I went over it at the beginning of the book I really never had to refer to it again because I was able to keep track of the nine people. It’s only towards the end the penny drops for me, kudos Peter Swanson and maybe the reason is a bit of a stretch but I enjoy it and that’s what counts. I also didn’t really agree with the reason behind all of it, it made sense in the way that it was explained, but it didn’t make sense to me overall why a person would do that.He is convinced that it holds the key to this situation if he can just decipher the WHY, of how they were selected…. I was so intrigued by the puzzle that he gave us, the list of nine seemingly random people on a list who start to get killed one by one.

Flipping pages to the front of a physical book is an easy process, but more arduous in an electronic book because I rarely seem able to find my exact place again. He himself says that this is an homage to And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, and not having read that book (or any other Christies, I know, I know), I can’t comment on this, but what I can say is that this does feel like a love letter to classic crime.A list with nine names is posted to each of the people named on it, who seemingly have no connection to each other. A graduate of Trinity College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Emerson College, he lives on the North Shore of Massachusetts with his wife and cat. Nine Lives by Peter Swanson perfectly fits the bill, and it’s a compelling, chilling read that will make you love and loathe the characters as desired, and wish for an alternate to the ending. I’ll admit, though, by the time the characters were killed off in Nine Lives, I was really only waiting to see what method was used. It is a very simple premise and a good old whodunnit to boot, but don’t let the simplicity deceive you.