I originally went to Barnes & Noble to pick up a book that I ordered online. As I always do, I decided to browse the store before picking up the book I ordered. I found myself at a table with books that were Buy 1 Get One 50% off. I saw a book and on the cover has a stack of books with a blue tint added to it, and one of the books had blood on the pages. I remember being interested in it before, but I couldn't remember why I didn't buy it when I first saw it months ago.
The book was Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson.
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Years ago, bookseller and mystery aficionado Malcolm Kershaw compiled a list of the genre’s most unsolvable murders, those that are almost impossible to crack—which he titled “Eight Perfect Murders”—chosen from among the best of the best including 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.
But no one is more surprised than Mal, now the owner of the Old Devils Bookstore in Boston, when an FBI agent comes knocking on his door one snowy day in February. She’s looking for information about a series of unsolved murders that look eerily similar to the killings on Mal’s old list. And the FBI agent isn’t the only one interested in this bookseller who spends almost every night at home reading. The killer is out there, watching his every move—a diabolical threat who knows way too much about Mal’s personal history, especially the secrets he’s never told anyone, even his recently deceased wife.
To protect himself, Mal begins looking into possible suspects . . . and sees a killer in everyone around him. But Mal doesn’t count on the investigation leaving a trail of death in its wake. Suddenly, a series of shocking twists leaves more victims dead—and the noose around Mal’s neck grows so tight he might never escape.
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I picked up and started to read the first chapter.
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The front door opened, and I heard the stamp of the FBI agent's feet on the doormat. It had just begun to snow, and the air that rushed into the store was heavy and brimming with energy. The door shut behind the agent. She must have been just outside when she'd called because it had only been about five minutes since I'd agreed to meet with her.
Except for me, the store was empty. I don't know exactly why I'd opened it that day. A storm was forecast to drop over two feet of snow, beginning in the morning and continuing through until the following afternoon.
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I knew that this was going to be my next read.
I find writing reviews about mystery books hard, especially about ones that you enjoy. I find that you can't really say a lot without ruining the story, which I don't want to do.
As I have mentioned before, I am a slow reader. It will usually take me a couple of weeks to finish a book, especially since my main job is to keep a human alive. Yes, he does take naps, but usually, there is something in the house that needs to be done that is easier to do when he is napping. With Eight Perfect Murders, I finished it in a few days. I found myself getting lost in the story and wanting to jump back into the world. I find myself not playing any video games so I could have some more time to read. Peter Swanson tells this story with ease. I found myself always wanting to know what was going to happen next.
While reading, I tried to figure out who the killer was. Maybe I'm not good at seeing clues. Perhaps I haven't ready enough mystery to really see all the troupes in that genre. Maybe I just don't want to think that certain characters are evil. All I know is that I didn't see any of the twists coming. I didn't see who the killer was coming. I didn't predict the ending of the book either. I might go back and reread this a few months down the road just to see if I might have missed any clues along the way. Peter Swanson really knows how to write a story with some good twists and turns.
Just a warning about this book, as the synopsis says, Malcolm Kershaw wrote a blog post called "Eight Perfect Murders." The post's purpose was to show eight stories whose murders are practically perfect, and you could probably get away with it in real life. The following stories are listed in the post:
A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie
Strangers On A Train by Patricia Highsmith
Death Trap by Ira Levin
Red House Mystery by A. A. Milne
Malice Aforethought by Anthony Berkeley Cox
Double Indemnity by James M. Cain
The Drowner by John D Macdonald
A Secret History by Donna Tartt
This novel will spoil the basic storyline of each of the stories mentioned, which he has to. The killer in Eight Perfect Murders is copying the murders from them. If you don't want those stories spoiled for you, you may want to skip this book until you read those. I was not familiar with any of the eight books, I think it would still be fun to read them.
As for right now, I am on a Peter Swanson kick. I really enjoy his writing style. He seems to write a story that is easy to read and easy to get lost in. I have currently moved on to another one of his books, and I can't wait to see what kind of journey that one takes me on. I can honestly say that I can see myself reading all of his stuff before moving on to another author. That is how much I like his writing style.
Eight Perfect Murders: 4.5 / 5.0 Stars.
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