Told from multiple POVs, Swanson’s writing makes it easy to keep track of the stories and different characters—something I’m always weary of when picking up a multiple POV read—but the different perspectives contribute to the intrigue.

This one reads more like a mystery than a thriller. I think I still enjoyed THE KIND WORTH KILLING more (I’ve only read two Swansons so far), but this one was still hard to put down. Written as a homage to Agatha Christie’s AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, I want to acknowledge I haven’t read the book, but the history of the book title’s horrible past cannot be forgotten.

A list with nine names on it. How are they connected? What does this list mean? One name on the list is an FBI agent and seeks to find out the why and meaning of the list. So...we get nine POVs plus some others thrown in there. It's a lot to keep track of. Some of the POVs were more interesting than others. Some POVs I just didn't care about until the chapters leading up to their death. Because that's what happened. One by one, the people on the list end of up dead. (and we get one less POV!)

The reveal of the killer and the reasoning behind it was very underwhelming. The motive is also somewhat questionable and there aren't any clues given leading up to the reveal of who it could be. Quick read, short chapters.

Thank you to @bibliolifestyle @williammorrowbooks and @netgalley for my advanced readers copy and finished copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book, and always love when chapters alternate between characters. In this case nine characters. It was fun playing detective to try and figure out how all of these strangers were connected. The only one of the nine who came remotely close was the FBI Agent, but I won't spoil it.

This was on its way to being a 5 star read for me, but the ending bothered me. I didn’t like the reasoning behind some of what was happening, and it felt like the killer didn’t like it either, but was able to justify and move on.

Don’t worry, all your questions that pop up while reading will be answered and then some.

Nine people who have never met each other all receive a list with their names on it in the mail. Then they start dying, one-by-one.

This was a super-bingeable thriller. The little snippets you learn about each of the list members were just enough to make you hope they survived (or didn't). The ultimate explanation behind the list was kind of bonkers, but I didn't predict it, and the book was overall entertaining enough that I didn't really care that the ending was not my favorite. This is a perfect vacation/beach/pool book.

Nine people receive a list in the mail with their names on it. There is no other information. They are all strangers. They are not concerned at first, until people on the list begin to be murdered in different ways. One of the names on the list is Jessica Winslow, an FBI agent. She begins to investigate how the nine are connected, but then she is murdered as well.

The parallels to Agatha Christies' And Then There Were None are unmistakable. The book is fast-paced and can be read in one sitting. In the end, the reason for the murders is a let down for me. I would give it three out of five stars.

I enjoyed this suspenseful story. This is a newer author for me which I enjoiyed from beginning to end.. I enjoyed this author's writing style as well as their attention to details. This is a well writtien story about one cryptic list, nine names and unusal murders. The characters are strong, connectable and are supportive to each other. They kept the story engaging as well as had me coming back for more. The twists and turns they took me on had me sitting on the edge of my seat just waiting to see what would happen next. I really enjoyed what they brought to the story and made it easy and hard to put down. I also enjoyed the growth of the plot throughout the story that made it entertaining. I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it.

Wow. I devoured this book. I loved the alternating perspectives, the mystery of whodunit, and learning more about the diverse characters. I liked some character storylines more than others, but that made me keep reading because I needed to know what happened to my favorites! Overall, this was a highly entertaining read and I’m already looking forward to Swanson’s next book! Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy in return for my honest review.

I found the premise of Nine Lives to be very intriguing and the book was fast-paced with short chapters, which I love. It definitely kept me turning the pages and I finished in less than a day, however I found
the ending, particularly the motivation for the killings, to be pretty underwhelming. Also, there are a lot of characters to keep track of in this book, which made it hard to connect with them. Overall, I’d say this was a three star book for me. I liked it, but I didn’t love it.

I've been a great streak lately with books that just click for me and this was one of them! While there are a lot of perspectives in this book (more than just the nine), with each chapter there's fewer, and the short chapters from each perspective really kept this moving for me. I thought following along with the investigations and how each of these murders happened was fascinating, and finding out the connections and motivations was interesting. The author created a group of unique characters, and I'd grow nervous with each chapter wondering who was next, unintentionally growing attached to some of them despite knowing that wouldn't end well. I think Peter Swanson is really at his best drawing from classic mysteries for his stories, and this one shows that off.

A zippy, fast read about nine people who receive a single sheet of paper with nine names- theirs included-in the mail. But why? How are these fairly ordinary individuals connected? FBI Jessica Winslow is one of them and she's determined to find out what it is, especially when one of the people is found murdered at the shabby resort he owns in Maine. Each chapter focuses on one of the nine as well as on Detective Sam Hamilton, who makes the connection to his much loved Agatha Christie. This one will hook you with the short chapters and the sense of impending doom (who is next?) but the answer, when it comes, is less than rewarding because it doesn't entirely track or make sense. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. Liked this one til the killer was revealed.

Nine Lives by Peter Swanson is a fast paced ride with similar vibes to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. A list with nine names on it is mailed to the nine people who are on the list. There are seemingly no connections between the nine people, but the FBI Agent who has been included on the list is determined to find out what the meaning behind it is, especially since the people on the list suddenly start dying/are murdered. I found myself flipping back through the book to find the original list so I took a photo of it, but then as the story unfolded I found myself not needing to reference it as much as I thought I would. I really enjoyed how Swanson unfolded this mystery somewhat slowly throughout the nine sections of the book and how he kept the drama unfurling. I didn’t absolutely love how the story ended. Admittedly, I have not read And Then There Were None, so I don’t know if this was an homage to that story, but I wasn’t in love with it. I did appreciate how the story wrapped up and thought it could have ended there.

Swanson will forever be an autobuy author for me.

Thank you to Netgalley, William Morrow and Scene of the Crime Reads for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book was good but not a thriller that really stands out to me. Maybe I was thinking too much about And Then There Were None. I was interested the whole way through it , I think what made me down grade it a bit is when we found out the motive and who the killer was. But overall a decent thriller.

Nine Lives is my first Peter Swanson book. It was a quick read and grabbed me right away. When nine seemingly random people all receive a list with their name on it, the FBI must work to find the common link to try to save them all. The action kept me interested until the last third of the book or so when I just wanted it all to come together.

This was a great story! I’m a big fan of multiple POVs, so I liked the little glimpses into the lives of those on the list. It was a little easy to figure out what was going on, but I still enjoyed the journey there. While this was a slow build to learn everything, it really picked up about halfway through. I was hooked from the beginning and wasn’t disappointed!

I received an copy of this from NetGalley! I am so glad I got this one.

This was a great read and one that I could not put down. Even though the chapters were from different folks it ran well and did not jump around like some of them do.

Nine strangers get a letter in the mail with no return address and a list of names that also includes theirs. No one knows what the list means, and why they got it. Then, some of the start getting killed. This gets the attention of some of the members and they start looking for the rest of the members on the list to try and figure out why this is happening and how the names tie together,.

Very well done and a great story!

Review of Nine Lives by Peter Swanson

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What a fun, quick read. I read this one in about a day and it held my attention the entire time. I love his writing style and this book was no exception. Each chapter was from the perspective of a different character and I enjoyed this and didn’t find it at all confusing. This one is another homage to Agatha Christie which I can always appreciate.

Quick synopsis: Nine strangers receive a letter in the mail with no return office that lists their names. There is no other information on the letter; just their names. They are confused but not worried. Until one by one they start dying. The police and the strangers themselves are in a race against time to discuss why they are being targeted but even more importantly who is doing this?

A huge thank you to @netgalley and @williammorrow for my ecopy. I remain a huge fan of Peter Swanson.

This book has a very interesting premise: nine people are sent a list of names, Each of their names is on the list, but they have no idea who the other people are.

This is a quick read, with short chapters. Although this book grabbed my attention at the start, it didn’t hold it. The story line dragged and didn’t have much development until the reveal at the end.

I loved the premise of this murder mystery, but I didn't find it as exciting as I had hoped. At times it was hard to keep up with all the characters and I didn't feel like I got to know them enough to really care that much about them. The reveal of why the nine names came to be on the list was a bit silly to me.

Overall, it was a decent read. The chapters were short, and it was fast-paced. There were a lot of references to And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie which I haven't read but have on my TBR.

Thank you to Netgalley, Scene of the Crime and William Morrow for the e-arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

4⭐️ Thank you William Morrow and Scene of the Crime for the opportunity to read a NetGalley ARC of Peter Swanson’s Nine Lives. As with his previous book “Eight Perfect Murders”, this has a nod to Agatha Christie’s “And Then There We’re None”; so, beware if you have yet to read the classic.

Across the country, nine individuals each receive the same sheet of paper with nine names, there’s included, and to their knowledge, they are perfect strangers. They mostly believe that this is at best a fluke or a joke until, one by one, they start dying. Then it becomes a race against time for the authorities to find and protect these people from an unknown killer who has a very short cooling off period.

This was a relatively fast paced read that kept me turning the pages, trying to work out who the killer was and why he/she was killing these specific nine people. The plot twists and the reveal were superb; I have questions about the last couple of pages! I even somewhat sympathize with the killer because of what the motivation was. I will definitely continue to read more from Peter Swanson.

This is the first book I have read from this author and really thought the way the chapters were descending was quite pertinent to the story and helped move it forward in places. The main struggle I had with this book is the ensemble of characters that makes it hard to keep them all straight. By the time the killer was identified, I barely remembered who this was so it kind of made the book fall a bit flat for me. I did find a couple of the murder scenarios to be extremely original. I just wish there would have been more balance, character development, and that extra something that makes people care about these murders. It felt a bit flat for me. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley,