Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson – Book review

Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson

Rating – ***

To skip or read – Read it.

Genre – fiction, thriller

Synopsis – Malcolm Kershaw, a bookstore owner once wrote a list of eight perfect murders – book plots from famous thrillers such as Agatha Christie’s A. B. C. Murders, Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers on a Train, Ira Levin’s Death Trap, A. A. Milne’s Red House Mystery, Anthony Berkeley Cox’s Malice Aforethought, James M. Cain’s Double Indemnity, John D. Macdonald’s The Drowner, and Donna Tartt’s A Secret History.

Years later, someone is using that list to commit their own series of murders. When an FBI agent turns up on his doorstep, things get murkier. To protect himself, Mal has to begin investigating, but the stakes have never been higher.

Review –
I read this book with high expectations, given that it has been consistently rated highly by book/thriller lovers everywhere online. Unfortunately, the book fell a little short of expectations.

Admittedly, the plot is intriguing – Malcolm Kershaw and his list of perfect murders, including the murder-thriller bookshop setup and a killer who leaves no witnesses.

However, the novel itself moves at an incredibly slow pace, with pages going by without an incident. The story lives in the head of Mal, the primary protagonist. He is the typical unreliable narrator, but instead of keeping me hooked and on my toes, the lack of tension led to boredom in-between chapters.

Keeping the slow pace aside, the novel is decent enough – and even fun (in parts). Read this one if you don’t mind a slow buildup.