I love Peter Swanson, and this book did not disappoint. I loved the way he told the story in reverse order. Though it wasn’t a jaw dropping ending, it was a good one.

Thanks to Net Galley, Harper Collins, and my favorite author Peter Swanson for an ARC of this book

Peter Swanson consistently writes dark, creative thrillers, and this is one of his best yet. Loved the premise where the murder happens early on in the story and time goes backwards to when the main characters first meet as teens.

Peter Swanson is an author I will always pick up the latest book from. I followed Lily Kitner and now I am invested in the marriage of Thom and Wendy Graves. The story is told through alternating viewpoints of Thom and Wendy, which was interesting. It is made very clear early on that Wendy wants to murder Thom. The story is about the motive and what happened in their relationship for her to think this is necessary.
I enjoyed every flashback (especially Wendy's) and some of the cold calculations she made throughout her life. She and Thom seem like a perfect fit, until they aren't anymore.
You can never know what actually goes on inside a marriage, but a first-person narrative fiction book can make it seem otherwise. Big fan, Peter Swanson. You write about bad people so well.

Kill Your Darlings is written chronologically....backwards! An interesting choice for sure. The strange thing about this format is you feel like you already know what happened in some ways and the most climactic part of the book came toward the beginning. I didn't particularly connect with or like our main characters. They were both a bit dull and predictable---not Peter Swanson's best.

Plot: Thom & Wendy have a clandestine connection---they share the same birthday and were middle school sweethearts once upon a time. They found their way back to each other as adults and now share a dark secret that characterizes much of their relationship. Thom is an English professor and Wendy's a has-been poet---these two creative minds have practically planned their life out as if it were a novel. Their past secret haunts them both in different ways...what might it drive them to do?

I was intrigued to find out how this one would end. Indeed, the ending was one of the most satisfying parts! But there was a lot of fluff in the middle that was starting to bore me a bit. I could not get out of my head connecting our MC, Wendy, with Wendy from Ozark. Funny enough, I actually feel there were some similarities. She seemed to wear the pants in her relationship and was ruthlessly cutthroat but with a middle-aged mom smile. Thom, on the other hand, was like an aimless, lost puppy. He seemed to be more decisive as a middle schooler than as an adult. Their relationship was very strange and the more you learned about them, the less it made sense. This book wasn't all I hoped for, but still a mildly entertaining mystery!

Thank you so much to William Morrow, Peter Swanson, and NetGalley for the ARC of Kill Your Darlings!

Kill Your Darlings is the fourth book I’ve read by this author, and while it wasn’t a new favorite, it was a quick read and what I would call a popcorn thriller. It’s a story told in reverse, opening with a chapter that grips readers and keeps those pages turning. We follow Wendy and Thom, a married couple with a dark secret. As the story progresses towards the early years of their relationship, readers come to understand more about who they are and what they did.

Like I said earlier, this was a quick read with a unique story-telling style. I didn’t find either of the main characters to be that interesting or memorable, and the ending was underwhelming. I was hoping for a bigger shock factor and maybe another chapter that tied in the present day. Overall a fun read, but not one that I would recommend widely.

Kill Your Darlings is an intriguing, twisted love story with layered, unreliable characters. Swanson has a talent for slow reveals and weaving the story together with intricate details. This book would be great for a book club.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow the advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.
#NetGalley #KillYourDarlings

If Peter Swanson were trying to write a book to prove how clever he is and that I'm perfectly justified in having a little crushy crush on him he couldn't have done a better job.

Why, when Wendy and Thom seem to have built a great life together, one with academic accolades, good friends, wealth, and a lovely home in New England, does Wendy want to bump Thom off?

Working backwards from 2023 to 1982, we learn why and it is fabulous.

Pay close attention to the ending or pfffft with no apologies....I LOVE THAT.

Thank you to the publisher for gifting me a copy...really, thank you so much!! It was an absolute pleasure to read this and write an honest review.

I really did not like this book. The story is written from the present to the past, which really makes for a disjointed storyline. It was very hard to get into and I found myself skimming the last 25%. I have liked other books by this author, so hopefully this is just one that didn't sit with me.

Thank you to Net Galley and William Morrow for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was propulsive, but overall I think the premise is just flawed. It starts in the 'present', following a couple who clearly shares some sort of murder in the past, but you find out the details quite quickly as you move backward in time, so there was never really any intrigue.

I felt like it was more of a character study - and in that case, it was well done, I just didn't get a crazy twisty thriller like I wanted!

I will preface this review by saying that I am a person who goes in blind on 99% of things I read. That being said, I read the first chapter of Kill Your Darlings and was lost like a little kid in IKEA.

This is not your typical book. It’s told backward – present to past & not in a dual timeline. The book also deviates from what readers have come to expect from Peter Swanson (which bummed me out quite a bit since he’s one of my favorite crime authors of all time). It’s definitely a slow burn and was far slower than I would have liked for a domestic suspense novel. While I did end up finding it interesting and wound up enjoying the ride Swanson took us on, I know this one won’t be for everyone.

Wendy and Thom Graves have been together for almost 30 years. They have what everyone wants: their health, a beautiful home and son, and a comfortable amount of savings in the bank. They are the picturesque boring couple. So why does Wendy want to kill Thom? Starting at the end and working our way backwards, we learn what secrets the Graves are hiding and what drove a seemingly mundane marriage to murder.

The cover, the title of this book and the first chapter hooked me in and I was so excited to read this. The concept of starting at the end and working back to the beginning was also a refreshing change of pace, and has worked well before (think of the excellent movie Memento.)

Unfortunately, the remainder of the book struggles to deliver on the promising set up of that first chapter.

Let’s start with the characters of Thom and Wendy, two self-absorbed narcissists. Thom is obsessed with being the main character in his story, which is evident by his search for the perfect romance, the desire to write the “great American novel” and even in the way he raises his son. He wants his son to develop an illness so that he is reliant on Thom so that Thom can feel valued. Wendy makes it very clear she doesn’t care about anything except money and her own happiness and she’ll do whatever it takes to protect those two things. They are both unlikable and borderline psychotic in their own ways. And that honestly could have been interesting, but the author managed to take two very flawed people and make them as boring as possible. Page after page of Thom whining about whether or not he is a good person, and page after page of Wendy whining about Thom. It left me exhausted and depressed. Supposedly the two were so in love at one point, but we don’t get nearly enough chapters of their romance to solidify their actions and make their “strong, unwavering” marriage believable. Frankly, I am surprised it took Wendy so long to want to kill Thom.

Now let’s talk about the actual plot and structure of this novel. The first chapter pulls you in because you want to know what happened 30 years earlier that led to Wendy’s hatred for Thom. Problem is, between 2023 and 1992, this book is just mostly unnecessary filler. And if the characters were more interesting, that would have been fine. We could have spent that time establishing their love story and the eventual dismantling of their relationship. Instead, we got the obnoxious inner monologues as stated above. This book was supposedly only 288 pages, but I really felt like I had to live through all 30 long, monotonous years with Wendy and Thom and came so close to DNFing at around 60%. I didn’t because I wanted to make it to the inciting incident that led to the events of the first chapter.

Let’s talk about that incident, and why telling the story in reverse hindered the overall pacing and suspense of the book. We learn the who and the why pretty early on, so from then on we’re just waiting for the what to happen. I thought for sure there would be something more to it. A secret motive, a major twist. Nope. You pretty much learn everything you need in the first 25% of the book and then it’s rehashed at the end. And because we’re working backwards, you read about an event unfolding, and in the next chapter you have to listen to Thom and Wendy discuss the upcoming event. It was repetitive and dull and left me feeling frustrated. Because of the backwards structure, we also get no resolution or the aftermath to the wild events that take place in the first chapter, which I also found disappointing.

Side note, the author throws in a few out of nowhere side plots in the second to last chapter that also get no resolution. They were so random, and I was so tired and just trying to power through the rest of this book, I thought I hallucinated them. Maybe I did, but I do not have the energy or desire to go back and reread any of this book.

I would rate Kill Your Darlings a 3/5 stars. The writing was really well done, especially that first chapter, and there are a few themes present throughout the book of “does one bad action make someone a bad person” and “how to move on from something without ever truly forgetting it” that I found interesting, but ultimately I found this reading experience to be rather painful and unsatisfying. If this had been a novella I think the concept could have worked better, or if he had nixed the story in reverse gimmick I think it could have helped. It just wasn’t for me. Go watch “Memento” instead.

Short-changed by its gimmick, told in reverse, Kill Your Darlings counts down by year events of a secret-filled marriage from its end to beginning. While the atypical structure immediately stands out among other titles in the genre, in execution, I don't think presenting a mystery thriller in such a restrictive manner actually enhance the experience, and wish it has gone for an already proven method (such as a dual-timeline or flashback) — because its plot and characters are very solid.

Due to its narrative choice, we are constantly learning the 'effect' before the 'cause'; not only is it unnecessarily taxing mentally (my brain has difficulty reverse-engineer what I read to make it right way around), it also inadvertently lessens many of the potential shocks and stakes (we are made aware of character deaths and their ripple effect — is the 'how' all that intriguing to learn at this point?). I think Peter Swanson also realized the obstacle of this storytelling choice, so he introduced small, self-contained twists and turns within each 'year' section (chapters within these sections are still in chronological order), but this only further demonstrates the absence of meaningful impact these filler moments have towards the story at large.

I actually thoroughly enjoyed the theme explored (how lasting guilt transforms an individual) in Kill Your Darlings, and there are some punchy character moments throughout that are signature Peter Swanson, but the unusual storytelling choice is an unavoidable obstacle, all in the name of hiding the punchline in its last chapter (I've seen some readers finding the reveal shocking, I thought it was pretty ho-hum). Probably a fun writing experiment for the author, but as a reading experience I expect more.

This was my first Peter Swanson! I’ve heard great things and this didn’t disappoint!

This follows a married couple backward, to where they committed a crime together and live life holding the other accountable. It was a fun twisty ride back to see what started all of This *gestures broadly*

Peter Swanson delivers another clever thriller with Kill Your Darlings, a novel filled with well-developed characters, a unique structure, and a slow-burning tension that builds over time. The story moves backward from 2023 to 1982, unraveling the secrets of Wendy and Thom Graves’ marriage—one that has seen love, betrayal, and a deadly desire. While the structure didn’t fully work for me, and some sections felt choppy, the ending was a standout moment that made me rethink everything. While not my favorite Swanson novel, it’s still a compelling read, especially for those new to his work.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Kill Your Darlings.

At first, I wasn't sure if I wanted to read this. The author's last few books have been mostly miss with me but I loved The Kind Worth Killing so I'm still willing to give him a shot.

I didn't like or dislike Kill Your Darlings.

What I did like: the reverse timeline narrative.

Instead of the linear progression of most novels, the author gives us a rewind of Thom and Wendy Graves relationship, from their long marriage to when they met as teenagers.

What I didn't like: Thom is a scoundrel and an adulterous rat. I wasn't a fan of Wendy either. Neither of them were interesting or compelling characters.

I wasn't sure why they were a couple; there was no chemistry between them and it was clear their only bond was the deadly secret they shared.

The twist in the story isn't a twist; it's obvious what secret the couple share. Even the ending (or the beginning) is no shock.

My first thought was, "It's not easy to kill people in public. There are cameras everywhere."

There's not much suspense and urgency since the reader knows what's going to happen and what the couple plans to do.

I liked the flow of the narrative and the writing style but by the time we get to the middle of the story, the plot began to drag when Thom and Wendy plot murder and how to go about it.

Swanson is, along with Joseph Finder, Tana French, & a very few others, one of the genre authors whose prose goes down easy. Despite the trendy gimmick of reverse chronology, this is a twisty treat. But Swanson should brush up on his poetry (as was evident from previous books). The title of Eliot’s poem is “The Waste Land.” And no self-respecting poet’s favorite poem is by the mediocre jingler Poe.

Probably my favorite Swanson book to date - as soon as I finished it, I reread Chp One just to let the twist really sink in. Great read!

Of course the king of mystery thrillers is back and with a bang. I feel like ever since I got married i love a good marriage thriller. This delivered all the drama and the red herrings I found myself questioning everything in the way that only Peter can do. Bravo per usual.

Honestly, while I was super excited to read this book due to the novel format, I'm not entirely sure that it worked for me. There are a few small surprises throughout the story, but the big “secret” of Wendy and Thom's marriage isn't really a secret at all. You know what's going to happen from very early on, and I kept waiting for a big shocking twist that never came.

The premise of this book was great; however, it fell flat for me. I found it hard to get interested and definitely wasn't drawn in until the last 20-30% of the book. Loved the plot, but pacing felt a bit slow for a thriller.