A review by joyceheinen
Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson

mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

 A book about books, I always love that. I was hooked from the first page. The premise really intrigued me: someone who kills people based on murders in a book, that were on a list compiled by bookseller Mal as having depicted the eight perfect murders.
 
Beware, the books that they talk about in here will all be spoiled, Mal talks about them in detail and gives away the ending of all of them. Because, otherwise we wouldn’t know why these murders are so perfect. Books like “The ABC Murders” by Agatha Christie, “A Secret History” by Donna Tart and “Strangers On the Train” by Patricia Highsmith, among others, are being discussed.
 
I think the fact that it’s about books, was what got my attention in the first place (besides the author of course). I really loved the start of the book. And in the beginning the book had some really cool twists that I didn’t see coming. Later in the book everything became a bit more predictable. The conclusion to who was killing all those people was not really surprising to me. And I found this the obvious choice as well.
 
“Eight Perfect Murders” had me in its grip for the first half. I couldn’t put it down. That kind of faded after I passed the mid-way point. I wasn’t as invested anymore.
 
I still did enjoy “Eight Perfect Murders”, a great concept with some surprising and less surprising twists. And this felt a bit different from other Peter Swanson novels for some reason. If you have loved Swanson’s other work, I don’t think you will automatically love this as well.