Another excellent read by Peter Swanson, I love his books and I was so excited to be given a chance to read this one! So very well written and definitely will keep you wanting to turn the pages, the character development was written so well. The storyline keeps you engaged and guessing. Nine lives has such an suspenseful but thrilling premise to it and overall storyline layout which are my all time favourites. Such a superb read that it kept me overall guessing every time. I would recommend to my fellow book reader friends for sure!

An excellent read. Peter Swanson doesn't disappoint and I was very excited to be approved for this book. I all but devoured it in a day, which is something I don't do very oftern. Will look forward to the next one.

Nine Lives is a tense and thrilling murder novel which kept me guessing to the last minute. As with “Rules for Perfect Murders”, I found the build up and climax incredibly well written and something I never could have guessed. The characters were very much flawed, but as a reader I was still able to feel for their situation. Personally, I preferred RFPM, however the concept for this book is still very good and very well executed. 3.5 stars!

In a genre where it feels like a lot of storylines are constantly recycled, I love a unique concept and after reading the blurb for this one I was already really excited to read it.

The books follows the nine people whose names are on 'the list'. It soon becomes clear that the people on the list are all marked for death so whilst it is really interesting getting to know the characters, you never want to get too attached to them as you know there's a strong likelihood that they will be killed off at some point. Unfortunately I couldn't help forming connections with the characters and there were a couple of sad moments.

I think maybe if I had tried to work out who was behind everything and why then I could have done but I didn't as I wanted to be surprised. I thought the ending was actually very good and tied everything together really well.

This only the second book I have read by Peter Swanson and both of them have been brilliant so it certainly won't be the last. I would thoroughly recommend this book as something a bit different but still with a nod to the classic whodunit.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Faber and Faber Ltd, for an advance copy of Nine Lives, a stand-alone thriller set in America.

Nine people all over America receive a letter with nine names on it, including their own, nothing more, nothing less. Then they start dying.

I have been aware of the author for a while but none of the synopses for his previous novels really appealed, but I liked the sound of Nine Lives and the hints of a nod to Agatha Christie sealed the deal. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The author has a very inviting style of writing that just begs the reader to keep turning the pages. His prose is crisp and easy to follow and there is enough mystery about who and why to ramp up the intrigue and tension.

I’m not always a fan of multiple points of view, but it works extremely well here. The author mainly concentrates on the nine people on the list and gives the reader enough detail to get invested in their fate. Every death feels like a failure, despite almost no input from the investigative side of things, because of that investment. I think the author is quite inventive with his characters, they are all individuals and have different life experiences, but they feel real.

The novel has a great premise and an intriguing start, but it slows, if not sags, in the middle and then rouses itself for a final hurrah with explanations and solutions. There is a final twist, but it’s not as brutal or gobsmacking as I expected it to be. I read And then There Were None 45 years ago and I can still remember the ending, so I was expecting something similar, but this is much more mundane.

Nine Lives is a competent thriller, but it’s not edge of the seat exciting, just interesting and a new twist on an old idea. I can recommend it as a good read.

My first time reading Peter Swanson and not my last! I really liked the references to And There Were None. I thought it was such a good book in terms of plot, character building and how it all tied down.

Whilst this was an enjoyable read, for me it was a bit too slow paced at the beginning, too many hints were dropped that made it quite easy to work out both the perpetrator and the motive early on and then the last few chapters of the book seemed a little rushed to get to the conclusion.
A great premise but for me lacking in complexity.

I love books that re-evaluate life a little, that make me think. That is, those in which there is little more value than words, or just the story itself. This book is like that.

The story isn’t fast-paced, sometimes too slow, almost boring. Yet I didn’t want to put down the book, I wanted to know what would happen in the end, who the killer was, and what the motives for the murders were. There were not many surprises, yet the writer maintained the tension until the end. In fact, the end was the best, although I would have finished the book with the letter because I already felt the last few pages were redundant and uninteresting.

In most of the books, the operation of law enforcement is illogical. Although that may be why the story is lifelike.

I’ve been avoiding books in the crime genre lately because they’re starting to get a little one-sided for me. But sometimes I get a book like this, but in that case, the book has to meet two conditions in order for me to read it: the description promises such an exciting story that it should definitely pique my interest, and preferably not be part of a series that the person in charge of the police officer is bound because such books are usually unnecessarily full of irrelevant information about the life of the police officer. This book has gone through the filter, so I read it and it became a favorite.

Agatha Christie is my favorite, and the basics of the story have been compiled from her books, as Peter Swanson describes it. But it didn’t become a bad imitation, but rather an interesting and improved version.

Thanks to Netgalley and Faber and Faber for the opportunity to read this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Peter Swanson for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.

I previously heard about the author and wanted to read some of their thrillers which is what drew me to the book. 
Book is inspired by Agatha Christie's work and follows nine people who have received a list of names with their own being the only one they can recognise. We are then taken on a journey of meeting each of the characters more and with some of them I wished I got to meet them better. 

As the story was influenced by some of the other work, it was a bit easier to connect the dots which meant that the exciting part of being surprised by the ending didn't happen for me which was a shame. 

Overall, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it.

Peter Swanson books are like marmite: I either love them or really dislike them. Rules For Perfect Murders and The Kind Worth Killing are two of my favourite crime thrillers ever, just perfect examples of the genre, and a number of his other books have been reread several times.

Unfortunately, Nine Lives fell more at the 'dislike' end. While not specifically objectionable in any one way, I found the central conceit stretched credulity too far, and the structure didn't allow the reader to grow to know (or care about) any of the characters. Which is not necessarily a bad thing in a book where pretty much everyone (mild spoiler alert) dies in increasingly arcane ways. If I'd cared about them, some of those deaths would have made me sad. But because I didn't, they didn't, and that made it hard to care about the book at all. So overall, not for me this time, but I'm sure that means the next one will be a 'love'.

WOW!!!! I read this book in a day! Swanson is one of my favourite writers and this is one of his best books yet. Nine people, nine letters and nine crazy stories! without giving away too much it is an excellent written book and will demand your attention! Don't miss this book!

I have to say Peter Swanson really delivered with this novel! Powerful, exciting and utterly page turning!

Nine strangers each receive a letter comprising of a list of non recognisable names, initially leaving the strangers to believe that it’s some sort of spam, but when each person on the list begins turning up dead, it’s clear that the authorities need to be informed ASAP and detective Jessica Winslow is determined to uncover the truth.

Absolutely fantastic! I devoured this book in two days flat and enjoyed every moment of it!

Like this author and read them all
I did find this one v intriguing at first but after maybe the half way point it does become a bit average and a standard plot as u realise why and there isn’t really a big reveal .
Like the obvious respect for Agatha and would read him again but is a bit straightforward

This is such a good read. It is well written with great character development and a great storyline. I loved the premise for the story and it delivered with a hard hitting, suspenseful, unpredictable thriller. I loved it.

Peter Swanson brings us a new and exciting thriller telling the story of nine strangers United by the mysterious letters they each receive and the inexplicable danger they face in the immediate aftereffect. A superb read!

Excellent.
Powerful from the get go, this is an exceptionally written thriller and one that entertained me all weekend.
I loved the characters (even the ones we weren't supposed to) and the plot was exciting, just the right length and thoroughly satisfying to the end.
Will certainly look out for more by this author.

Nine names on a list, you recognise yours. Then people start to die. That's the central premise for this the latest twisty psychological thriller from Peter Swanson and it is hugely addictive with a vibrant cast of characters you probably shouldn't get too attached to..

A definite homage to Christie's And Then There Were None (the novel mentioned within the novel) Nine Lives is clever and pacy, a read in one sitting book that is darkly delicious and not easily predictable. Thoroughly enjoyable, recommended.

A very well written novel with a clever plot - I could not put this book down!

It kept me guessing until the end, including the last twist.

4-5 stars

Following on from Eight Perfect Murders we now have Nine Lives, nine names on a list sent to each one. Nine names, nine strangers, it’s cryptic and puzzling so most of them dismiss it and throw the note away. That is an elderly man, Frank Hopkins is the first name on the list to die on a beach in Kennewick, Maine. The second to die is a father of two, shot whilst out of his morning run. Now the authorities and most of those on the list are paying attention. FBI agent Jessica Wilmslow, who is also on the list, is determined to find out who is behind this crime as is Detective Sam Hamilton who is involved in the investigation into Franks death. What is the connection between them, if indeed there is one? The race is on as the countdown to none accelerates.

This is a very enticing mystery with the author taking you by the hand into the intrigue and keeping a firm grip. It’s a clever, complex plot with multiple points of view which works extremely well in this skilled writers hand and it flows seamlessly from one to the other. It goes on the countdown to from Nine to One which I like as you hope against hope that the trend will be bucked. The chapters are short, sharp and very focused. There is nothing unnecessary, the premise remains clear throughout and despite the almost sparsity of the narrative the characters are extremely well portrayed and you know who you like or don’t. The pace is consistent throughout, there are no moments when it drops away. I absolutely love the frequent book references especially to Agatha Christies ‘ And then there were none’ and here the role of Sam Hamilton plays a key role via his grandmother in North Yorkshire (👍!!) who gives him a love for the mystery writer. It’s only towards the end the penny drops for me, kudos Peter Swanson and maybe the reason is a bit of a stretch but I enjoy it and that’s what counts. I love the use of Peter Pan in the ending and I really like how the book ends.

Overall, it’s another winner for me from an author who style of writing is one I especially enjoy and I always look forward to reading what he comes up with next.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially the Faber and Faber Ltd for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

The suspense slowly builds, nine names printed on a sheet of paper, all seemingly unconnected, but maybe a target list of some kind? An addictive read which had me gripped to the end.
I liked the references to Agatha Christie books. Very cleverly plotted and enjoyable.