Wow! First book I've read by this author, but not the last.

Very similar in concept to Ten Little Indians (which I have not read but will be doing so) except with fewer people and instead of being on an island, nine people get a list of names in the mail. The list includes their name as well. One of the names belongs to an FBI investigator and she starts looking into this. Most of the names get police protection but not all of them. Then the murders start happening and local police and the FBI are struggling to find connections between the names. They range from young to old and all walks of life so there is no obvious connection.

Story is neatly wrapped up and the chapters are short and alternate between each of the 9 names on the list and a local police detective. It was a pretty quick read (took me 2 days) and I really enjoyed it. ( )

A quick read. We follow nine people who received a list of names in the mail. Each person?s name was on the list and then each of the people begin to be killed. Why are they being killed. What do they have in common with each other. A riveting story.Goodreads: Nine strangers receive a list with their names on it in the mail. Nothing else, just a list of names on a single sheet of paper. None of the nine people know or have ever met the others on the list. They dismiss it as junk mail, a fluke - until very, very bad things begin happening to people on the list. First, a well-liked old man is drowned on a beach in the small town of Kennewick, Maine. Then, a father is shot in the back while running through his quiet neighborhood in suburban Massachusetts. A frightening pattern is emerging, but what do these nine people have in common? Their professions range from oncology nurse to aspiring actor.FBI agent Jessica Winslow, who is on the list herself, is determined to find out. Could there be some dark secret that binds them all together? Or is this the work of a murderous madman? As the mysterious sender stalks these nine strangers, they find themselves constantly looking over their shoulders, wondering who will be crossed off next....

(2022)Very good mystery thriller. Nine people receive a list of names that theirs is part of. Then, methodically, one by one, a person on that list is murdered. Seemingly, none of the listed know each other or are connected. An FBI agent on the list works hard to find a connection before she, herself is gunned down in a remote cabin in Maine. We go all of the way to the end to discover that one of the named on the list is the actual murderer. He is in his 70s, and was the member of a group of kids at a summer resort over 55 years ago. This group, calling themselves the Pirates, cause the death of this man's sister in a gruesome initiation rite on the beach. He now is taking revenge for that death by killing the sons and daughters of the members of that group. He includes himself and dies in the end as he blames himself as well.GOODREADS: Nine strangers receive a list with their names on it in the mail. Nothing else, just a list of names on a single sheet of paper. None of the nine people know or have ever met the others on the list. They dismiss it as junk mail, a fluke - until very, very bad things begin happening to people on the list. First, a well-liked old man is drowned on a beach in the small town of Kennewick, Maine. Then, a father is shot in the back while running through his quiet neighborhood in suburban Massachusetts. A frightening pattern is emerging, but what do these nine people have in common? Their professions range from oncology nurse to aspiring actor.FBI agent Jessica Winslow, who is on the list herself, is determined to find out. Could there be some dark secret that binds them all together? Or is this the work of a murderous madman? As the mysterious sender stalks these nine strangers, they find themselves constantly looking over their shoulders, wondering who will be crossed off next.ALWAYS WITH A BOOK:Publisher: William MorrowPublished: March 15, 2022Source: Netgalley via Publisher Summary:The story of nine strangers who receive a cryptic list with their names on it ? and then begin to die in highly unusual circumstances.Nine strangers receive a list with their names on it in the mail. Nothing else, just a list of names on a single sheet of paper. None of the nine people know or have ever met the others on the list. They dismiss it as junk mail, a fluke ? until very, very bad things begin happening to people on the list. First, a well-liked old man is drowned on a beach in the small town of Kennewick, Maine. Then, a father is shot in the back while running through his quiet neighborhood in suburban Massachusetts. A frightening pattern is emerging, but what do these nine people have in common? Their professions range from oncology nurse to aspiring actor.FBI agent Jessica Winslow, who is on the list herself, is determined to find out. Could there be some dark secret that binds them all together? Or is this the work of a murderous madman? As the mysterious sender stalks these nine strangers, they find themselves constantly looking over their shoulders, wondering who will be crossed off next�. My thoughts:Peter Swanson has become a must-read author for me when it comes to crime fiction and I love that his books are so thrilling and binge-worthy and this latest one is no exception ? I read this one in a day! This newest one was a most-anticipated read for this month and it totally delivered!Even though I have not read Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, which this book pays homage to, I absolutely loved Peter Swanson's take on it and found myself hooked right from the get-go. 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. In fact, me being the geek that I am, I made my own list to keep track of who was who so I didn't have to keep flipping back to the beginning ? yes there is a character list in the front of the book that I found extremely helpful! ? and as each character was knocked off, I made note of it on my list.This book really kept me on my toes as I felt I was working just as hard as the detectives in trying to figure out just what was going here. I loved that the story is told from multiple points of view, allowing us to get to know everyone on the list, however briefly. It really does keep you hooked and the short chapters move the story along at a rather brisk pace. The twists were just right ? not too many and not too over the top ? but just enough to keep you engaged and on uneven footing, occurring when you least expected them, which is just how I like them. And that endingI definitely did not see that coming!I cannot recommend this book enough. It is entertaining, thrilling and just a great story. And now I cannot wait to pick up And Then There Were None to see how it compares! Peter Swanson continues to amaze me with just how clever and talented a writer he is and I cannot wait to see what he comes up with next!

Nine individuals receive a list of nine names printed on a sheet of paper in the mail. One of the names on the list is their own and the remaining eight are names of random strangers - the present owner of a family-owned inn, an FBI agent, the mistress of a rich man, a struggling actor, a suburban dad, an English professor, a retired businessman, an oncology nurse and a singer-songwriter- two of whom are female and the remaining seven male, each of whom reside in different locations across the country and have no apparent connection, either personally or professionally.

Junk mail? Advertising gimmick? A harmless prank? Apparently not.
When one of the people on the list is murdered quickly followed by another, it becomes clear to FBI Agent Jessica Winslow (whose name also features on the list) that the list is essentially a hit list - every one of those nine people is marked to be murdered. The FBI tries to locate the remaining potential victims and provide protection which proves to be a difficult and time-consuming task with nothing to go on but their names. Even those who are identified and provided protection are not safe with a killer on the loose who will leave no stone unturned in finishing off his intended victims. Though the FBI is heading the investigation, Detective Sam Hamilton of Kennewick, Maine (the location where the first murder took place), who also knew the first victim, has some theories of his own which he diligently pursues.

Is there any connection between the victims? Is this the work of a serial killer? Will they be able to catch the perpetrator before he/she is successful in accomplishing what he/she has set out to do or will it be too late?

The narrative follows the potential victims and gives us a glimpse into their lives and how knowing they are on a killer's target list impacts them. With multiple PoVs (thankfully the chapters are short and concise) and an engaging narrative, though a bit disjointed between chapters, Peter Swanson’s Nine Lives is an interesting read. Chapter numbers in descending order was an effective narrative device. It is admirable when an author pays homage to another author especially one as prolific as the Queen of Crime, Dame Agatha Christie. However, even if you haven’t read the Christie novel mentioned in the narrative, in light of Detective Hamilton drawing parallels between the case and Christie’s works of fiction (more than once in the narrative) and using the plot points to unravel the mystery behind the murders and the identity of the suspect, much of the eventual reveal feels anti-climactic. Was it absolutely necessary to spoil the suspense for readers who are yet to read the Agatha Christie novel in question and considerably diminish the suspense in the present novel in the process?

What also bothered me was that despite the FBI taking over the investigation, there really isn't much mention of the FBI's investigative efforts directed towards catching the culprit beyond a certain point, with the narrative focusing mostly on the lives of the victims and the acts of murder. If you carefully follow the narrative from the very beginning, you'll notice some not-so-subtle hints that are very revealing, even before the first murder takes place. It wasn’t difficult to guess the identity of the culprit and the logic linking the murders was not quite convincing. This was my first Peter Swanson novel and while it has its merits, overall I found it to be an average read and a tad disappointing in the suspense department.

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 . All opinions expressed in this review are my own. ( )

I gave this book 5 stars not because I feel like it's a masterpiece of literary mystery or anything, but because it a fast-paced mystery with a structure that seemed a little bit out of the norm. It scared me a little, but not too much. There are murders (this is not a spoiler), but there isn't too much psychological thriller type stuff, which I don't generally enjoy. It does a few things that are unusual for the mystery genre. For example, one of the potential victims of the murder plot is an FBI agent, so the reader naturally thinks, Oh, that person will evade the murderer. I won't say whether that happens or not, but it doesn't play out as you might expect. As I read through the story, I wondered if, given its structure, it would include a Big Reveal, and while it wasn't exactly Sherlock Holmes, pacing around a parlour with his pipe, narrating every twist and explaining how he figured it out, it was there. And part of that was sort of a dive into the mind of a criminal, which made me think about perception, and how an event, or a series of events, can be so meaningful to one person, to the point where everything they do in their life is because of those events, and they can be so totally forgotten by others that they don't even realize the impact they will have on their lives. I think that's a major premise of this story, but it sort of sneaks in late. Anyway it's been a while since I haven't wanted to put a book down, and I kind of love that, so 5 stars it is! ( )