I really liked the the idea and premise of this one, but it just fell a little short for me. Thom and Wendy have been married for many years and they seem to have everything they want, but the secrets of their past are threatening to come to light. This was a psychological thriller that was literally written in reverse. We have to take the context of the previous chapters and apply it to the past that is unraveling, which was really interesting.

I think this was clever structure, it was definitely attention grabbing and I have to say that it helped with the character development going backwards. Each chapter helped us to figure out more and more about what makes the characters who they are. The ending, really put it all together. Overall, I think it was a good read, there were really slow parts, but it was a solid read.

Thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow and Peter Swanson for the eARC of Kill Your Darlings in exchange for an honest review. Publication date for Kill Your Darlings by Peter Swanson is set for 10 Jun 2025.

As a big fan of Peter Swanson, Kill Your Darlings was an automatic yes for me, and it did not disappoint! This was a fast, engaging read that kept me hooked from start to finish. What I loved most about the book was its unique structure—starting at the end and working backward, with each chapter taking us further into the past. It was like unraveling a reverse timeline, and it added a fascinating layer to the storytelling.

At first, I wondered how the final chapter would tie everything together given this approach, but I should have known better than to doubt Swanson’s ability to deliver. The ending was satisfying and made the entire journey through the pages even more rewarding. If you enjoy clever, unconventional thrillers with a strong narrative voice, this one is a must-read!

3.5 stars - Kill Your Darlings follows Wendy and Thom throughout their lives and what leads Wendy to want to murder him. This book was very unique since the story is told backwards, starting with Wendy wanting to murder Thom and each chapter goes back in time to show the events that lead up to it. My brain had a hard time remembering that the story was being told in reverse.

This didn’t really feel much like a thriller to me, but more of a romance with thriller elements. The story was mainly focused on Wendy and Thom’s relationship. Not a bad read and I love Peter’s writing, but wasn’t the best I have read. Points for creativity though!

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for providing me with an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Kill Your Darlings by Peter Swanson is an ambitious and bold attempt at cleverly structuring a psychological thriller in reverse. As we journey backward in this reverse storytelling format, we are challenged to piece together a marriage fraught with turmoil and bound by a chilling secret.

Thom and Wendy Graves have been married for over twenty-five years. They live in a beautiful Victorian on the north shore of Massachusetts. Wendy is a published poet and Thom teaches English literature at a nearby university. Their son, Jason, is all grown up. All is well…except that Wendy wants to murder her husband.

What happens next has everything to do with what happened before. The story of Wendy and Thom’s marriage is told in reverse, moving backward through time to witness key moments from the couple’s lives—their fiftieth birthday party, buying their home, Jason’s birth, the mysterious death of a work colleague—all painting a portrait of a marriage defined by a single terrible act they plotted together many years ago.

Eventually we learn the details of what Thom and Wendy did in their early twenties, a secret that has kept them bound together through the length of their marriage. But its power over them is fraying, and each of them begins to wonder if they would be better off making sure their spouse carries their secrets to the grave.

Peter Swanson is a true master of storytelling and many times has a bold way of telling said stories. The unique structure of Kill Your Darlings—a narrative told in reverse chronological order–is what will draw many readers in, but seems like a fun way of reading a story turns out to be a slow burn that I found difficult to sink into. The reverse storytelling technique is both intriguing and challenging; it demanded too much patience to fully appreciate how past events culminate into present tensions.

The storytelling structure is a clever way to hook the reader, that is for sure. And while telling the story in reverse is compelling, the ending doesn't quite fit with the journey we are on. Once we get to the conclusion, it felt less of a shocking moment and more of a substantiation of what we expect to happen. Additionally, at the heart of Kill Your Darlings is a character study of a marriage, which is as depressing as it sounds.

Kill Your Darlings by Peter Swanson has a compelling premise with a fun and unique story structure. Despite these things, the dark and atmospheric tale was a little hard to follow and didn't live up to my expectation (which could be my own fault). Swanson is one of my all-time favorite authors and this won't change–even if Kill Your Darlings just wasn't for me.

I'm just not being drug into the story.

I jumped at the chance to ARC read this book, I've not read Peter Swanson but I've heard great things about so many of his books. So I decided what better way to try him out than his new novel.

The story is confusing at first, but overall it just isn't pulling me in. I'm not finding myself wanting to flip the pages and continue reading. The chapters are very long which is a problem for my attention span.

I do plan to read some of his other work, this one just isn't it for me.

I don't know, this was a DNF pretty early on. I always rate books 3 stars when I don't finish them on NetGalley because who knows if I would have loved the ending. But holy crap the opening chapters were just so confusing for me. Jumbled, lots of inner dialogue, not engaging whatsoever. I oddly didn't like either character right off the bat, which is rare for me. I usually end up loving to hate or hating to love someone in thrillers, but both characters were annoying.

This didn't even feel like Peter's writing. I'll probably try again when it's out and maybe on audiobook. Huge bummer. This is his first book I DNF. I've loved all previous ones!

I found myself somewhat disappointed with this book, particularly with its conclusion. The narrative follows Thom and Wendy, tracing their lives in reverse from the age of 50 back to their initial meeting at the age of 14. While the story contains some intriguing twists and compelling moments, it also features sections that felt slow-paced. In comparison to Peter Swanson's other works, this one falls short, suggesting that although he is a skilled writer, this particular novel does not represent his best effort.

This book hooked my attention in the beginning but then started to lose me at the ending. I didn’t like how it started to go back in time. I feel like questions were left unanswered

“Thom and Wendy Graves have been married for over twenty-five years. They live in a beautiful Victorian on the north shore of Massachusetts.
Wendy is a published poet and Thom teaches English literature at a nearby university. Their son, Jason, is all grown up. All is well...except that Wendy wants to murder her husband. What happens next has everything to do with what happened before.”

Kill Your Darlings follows Wendy and Thoms life in reverse and slowly reveals their secrets. This is a slow burn thriller that was intriguing enough to want me keep on reading but the ending was nothing wild.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 ⭐️

When we read a love story, it often begins with a “meet cute” and continues from there.

But, this is a tale about the DEMISE of a love story, so fittingly, Peter Swanson has decided to tell it, beginning with the end. The story opens in the year 2023, and is told in reverse until the year 1982, when Thom and Wendy, who share a birthday, met at the age of fourteen.

We learn about the moments that defined their lives-and the SECRET that binds them together forever.

And, when Wendy decides that “till death do us part” seems too far off in the future, she may have to give it a nudge.

This is a SLOW BURN 🔥 character study of a marriage, which I found quite depressing, and I wasn’t particularly engaged by it until around the 40% mark. (hence the three stars) But, at that point, I started to become more intrigued by Wendy-as Peter Swanson always writes strong, cunning, capable women, and she is no exception.

The story IS clever, and as we are given more puzzle pieces to explain what happened in Chapter one, it becomes more interesting BUT nothing revealed after that had the same WOW factor as a good twist that comes later on in a story which is told chronologically.

Pay careful attention to the last chapter to understand the VERY FITTING ending. It isn’t as ambiguous as it first seems!! BUT, I had to read the last chapter twice before I got it! 😉

Peter Swanson remains a favorite author for me, but this wasn’t my favorite of his books.

AVAILABLE June 10, 2025.

Thank You to William Morrow for the gifted copy provided by NetGalley. As always these are my candid thoughts.

read if you like:
⬅️ stories told backwards
👮‍♂️ criminal spouses
😶 description-heavy stories (aka less dialogue)

summary:
I love Peter Swanson and jumped on the opportunity to read this, even though it was pretty different from his other stories. It follows Wendy and Thom, a poet and a university professor, living in Massachusetts. We know that Wendy wants to murder her husband, but we don’t know why. The story progresses moving back in time, from their 50th birthday, their first house, their son’s birth, the death of Thom’s colleague and Wendy’s first husband. Throughout the whole story, we ask ourselves — what happened so many years ago that led to where they are today?

I’ve read about book that reads backwards, and I won’t lie — it’s really difficult if you’re someone who starts and stops reading a lot throughout a book. It’s hard to remember what happens — the nuanced movements, the scene descriptions, when you don’t know what is important and what isn’t. The book is also NOT dialogue heavy, so the contextual details are even more important, which I struggle with. This all aside though, the story is fascinating. Each chapter is relatively short and easy to get through, skipping from one event to another, and while it feels hard to get to know either character, I found it easy to put myself in their world. The reason I didn’t rate it higher is that I really did not get the ending. I’m not sure what I missed, but the ending felt like a complete letdown. Maybe it was too abstract for me? I don’t know. But I felt like nothing was really a surprise, and the ending fell short. Maybe I’ll read it again and see if I have a different opinion.

Thanks to William Morrow and Net Galley for the advanced copy. This book will be released on June 9.

A delightfully devilish trip across a marriage made in hell. Told in reverse chronological order, we follow a couple as they work through the stages of marriage, child rearing, career building , and of course murder. Peter Swanson has a way with words and tells a fast paced, fun, and very dark little tale.

Peter Swanson has done it again with another addictive read. This time, however, he outdid himself, cleverly starting at the end and going backwards to the beginning. I loved this and thought he did an amazing writing job to keep the reader from getting confused.

Wendy and Thom are married, have good jobs in the academic field, live in a dream home by the sea and are rich, and should be blissfully happy but something is seriously lacking in their lives. What once started as a marriage of love has turned into a marriage that is bound by a secret. Neither one seems to be happy and they are both keeping secrets from eachother. Thom is a self centered cheater and drunk while Wendy fantasizes about killing Thom. Starting from 2023 going back to 1982 we see all the layers that brought them together and kept them together.

Though neither main character was likeable, I loved getting to know why they turned out the way they were. Swanson managed to seamlessly pull the story together from end to beginning and explained all the necessary details to form a complete picture of Wendy and Thom's lives.

Thanks to Netgalley and William Morrow for the advanced copy

Peter Swanson is a gifted writer, no doubt. And I usually devour his books in under 48 hrs. I wasn’t as crazy about this one. The concept was different & interesting, had no trouble keeping track of the narrators or timeline but I think the reveal coming in the first portion of the book kinda left the rest a bit underwhelming for me. There is a surprise/ twist the last 20-25% of the book, though, which was awesome & shocking. Of course the writing was great, I just didn’t feel that invested. I’ll definitely still look forward to reading Swanson’s next read. This was probably only a one-off, for me.

I gave this boojk the whole 5 stars! I could not wait to devour this one. Almost as soon as I gor approved I had to read. I was hooked from page one. I was not bored at any part of the story. I found Thom and Wendy both interesting and suspicious. I tried to guess where this was headed but I was way off. You will not regret giving Peter Swanson or this book a try!

Thank you, #Partner @williammorrowbooks @harpercollins and @netgalley, for my #gifted (free) copy. Pub date 6/10/25.

Slow burn psychological thrillers are my favorite type of thriller because I feel like they are not over the top. #peterswanson did a unique concept with KILL YOUR DARLINGS as he told the story in reverse. I can see how some people may not like it, but I loved it and thought he did an amazing job. I want to reread this again and find things that I missed. I usually write my own short synopsis, but I'm not going to since this book is so different it's best to just go in blind. I will tell you that you have to use your brain for this one since we are so used to reading in chronological order. The ending was brilliant, although it went over my head at first, and I had to reread it. I can already tell this will be a very talked about book for the summer, so pre-order and add this one to your TBR list! 4.5 stars!

I’m a forever fan of Peter Swanson’s work and his fearlessness in trying new things.

This novel felt slightly different from many of his previous books in that it was more of a slow-burn familial drama than a true thriller.

By the end, it all came together brilliantly, and telling the story in reverse felt fresh, but it was DARK.

The two MCs are terrible human beings, and I prefer a story with at least one person to connect to or root for. I didn’t find that in this book. And yet, it was intriguing enough to finish within two days.

If you’re a longtime Swanson fan, pick this one up, but if you’re new to his work, I’d start with one of his more classic thrillers like Nine Lives or the Kind Worth Killing (series).

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Wendy and Thom are a couple married for 25 years. Both have secrets and elude to a what happened to Wendy’s rich ex- husband. The story starts with a bang and then moves back in time to see how their story laid out thought out the years ending when they first met on a school trip to DC. I enjoyed the picking apart of the story thought out the years. And how the marriage came to what happened in the beginning which was current day. I was expecting some big reveal at the end which didn’t come but I did enjoy the slow burn and seeing how piece by piece the story came together.

Kill your Darlings is the story of Thom and Wendy, a couple who have been married for over 25 years and known each other for over 40. They're not a typical couple, as they have numerous skeletons in their closets, including actual bodies. Told in reverse, their story unfolds of how they got to where they are today and the secrets they've shared for decades.
The premise of the story was very interesting, the reader knowing certain villainous things about the characters early on, and eventually having the details of what happened and what led up to those incidents filled in in reverse. However, the longer the story went backwards, the less intriguing I found it, and the more a lot of the every day details felt like nothing more than filler. I think had this been a novella of maybe have its length it would have been way more effective. Swanson's writing was solid as ever, but the plot lost its gusto going backwards.

Kill Your Darlings, by Peter Swanson, has an interesting plot mechanism: it tells the story of Wendy and Thom in reverse. The couple does not get along and both have murder on their minds, but how did they get there? Beginning in 2023, and finishing in 1982, the reader will eventually uncover the mysterious deed that brought them to their misery.

I learned (thanks Google) that the phrase kill your darlings is essentially about ruthless editing—to remove characters or extraneous elements that don’t further your story. Clocking in at a slim 288 pages, it would seem that Swanson definitely attempted to kill his darlings here. Was he successful? For the most part, yes. Told by switching the two protagonist’s narration back and forth, Swanson handily lays down this slow-burn thriller. I found the characters well developed and believable and the ending satisfying. 3.75 stars.

I received this advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review and feedback.