Before She Knew Him

A Sunday Times and Observer Thriller of the Month





'Deliciously good . . . Swanson's best thriller yet.' Observer





'Gripping, twisty . . . I could not put it down.' Alafair Burke



When Hen and Lloyd move into their new house, they're relieved to meet another childless couple in their neighbourhood, Matthew and Mira.



But when they're invited over for dinner, Hen thinks she sees something suspicious in Matthew's study.



Could this mild-mannered schoolteacher really be hiding a dark secret, one that only Hen might know about? And even if she's right, who would believe her?



Peter Swanson's debut novel, The Girl With a Clock for a Heart (2014), was described by Dennis Lehane as 'a twisty, sexy, electric thrill ride' and was nominated for the LA Times book award. His second novel The Kind Worth Killing (2015), a Richard and Judy pick, was shortlisted for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger and named the iBooks Store's Thriller of the Year, and was followed by two more critical and commercial hits, Her Every Fear (2017) and All the Beautiful Lies (2018). He lives with his wife and cat in Somerville, Massachusetts.



From Peter Swanson, author of The Kind Worth Killing and All the Beautiful Lies, comes a novelas brilliant, dark, coruscating and surprising as Patricia Highsmith and Ira Levin at their very best