Shortlist For Murder

It all began with a list. Turns out, a murder list. In bestselling author Peter Swanson’s newest thriller, NINE LIVES, the names of nine seemingly random people appear on a list that is delivered to each. No explanation, no indication of what is to come.

The murderer who created the “list-of-nine” is the only one who knows what the targets have in common. “Their deaths were an attempt to add order back to a chaotic world, and the list itself was just part of that order. And being on that list only told them something that they should already have known. That death is coming for us all.”

One of the names on the list is FBI Agent Jessica Winslow. She knows none of the other eight who are scattered all over the country and live very different lives. What the hell does it mean if your name is on this list? She doesn’t know—but she’s going to find out.

When someone murders Kennewick, Maine, resort owner Frank Hopkins on a nearby beach, he has the paper with nine names clutched in his hand. Of course, Frank’s name is on it.

The similarity of the list and Agatha Christie’s novel And Then There Were None is not lost on Kennewick police detective Sam Hamilton. Although he doesn’t know who’s behind the targeted murders, he suspects the link between the nine is something close to home.

Swanson introduces readers to the nine people on the roster. We get a glimpse of each around the time they receive the list. None of the nine knows the others, and they seemingly have nothing in common, not even their locations or occupations. Although most initially dismiss the correspondence as junk mail, the people on the “list of nine” begin to die. Can law enforcement determine who is behind the agenda and what the victims have in common before there are none?

Read the rest of my review and interview in The Big Thrill.