Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends discussion

Spoilers Welcome topic for one of our Group Read books for June 2025 - US Release June 10, 2025: Kill Your Darlings by Peter Swanson.
Did you read this book - what did you think? Spoiler Welcome on this topic - please note how far along in the book you are in your posts.

i had an ARC and read this one at the end of January. of all of Peter's books ,this was probably my least favorite. as carol said in the other thread, I don't remember much about it lol, but I thought the writing felt stilted to me. the only redeeming feature (to me, anyway) was

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the twist at the end reminding us there was a camera on the staircase was just perfect. i remembered that earlier in the book, it was mentioned that there was a camera, but it was a minor comment that might not have resonated with anyone.

Here's my review:Not one of my favorites. I found the switching back-and-forth between timelines not as smooth as I would’ve liked it to have been. I felt the writing was a little stilted, and to be honest, I skimmed through parts of it. I loved the ending, though which sort of made up for the parts of the book, I did not like. Just read this was optioned for a movie with julia roberts as the star-and think i'd like it better as a movie.

I almost forgot to post here after finishing the book.

I agree with Sherry. This was a 3 star read for me.

I liked the book at the beginning/end. Then, the story started to be told in reverse. I did not expect that. I did find some parts of the story long and a bit boring. Not sure why we had to go through all the couples history that we did.

This was definitely an homage to Double Indemnity and Body Heat as Swanson mentioned. I did find it funny that Wendy and Thom watched the movies to learn what NOT to do. So they could get away with the murder.

Yes. The very last twist was a doozie. I laughed when I realized Wendy wouldn’t get away with her husband’s murder. But even though this was a good final twist, it wasn’t enough to up my rating. Still, I do enjoy reading Swanson’s books.

Spoilers to the end, some hidden...

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>Sherry and Geri (hey, that rhymes!) I liked this a little more than you did I think. I did have Sherry's comments in my head at the beginning--that it started off slow and it wasn't till near the end that she liked it. I too found it a little slow, although the events, starting with (view spoiler)[Wendy pushing Thom down the Exorcist stairs (hide spoiler)] kept me engaged, I also liked the reverse chronology device, with us learning about an event as it was happening (or even it having been hinted at earlier) and then going back and seeing what led up to it. I thought that was clever, and liked it a lot more than the popular device these days of going back and forth between present day and the past. Very tired of that.

I liked learning how Thom and Wendy began and how taken they were with each other for so long. Although it was sad how they wound up, after all that early passion.

I liked learning the worst at the beginning, it was less depressing than the reverse telling, where folks start out blissfully happy but you've been alerted that things won't go well so you are just waiting for things to fall apart.

The ending about the camera being there didn't hit me as a twist the way it hit others, I didn't even get the implication on the initial event until I read it here. Wouldn't Wendy have remembered she was told there were cameras there? I have to go back and re-read the first and last chapters.

Regarding the spoiler above, (view spoiler)[why do we think Wendy got to the point where she wanted Thom dead (hide spoiler)]? I didn't quite get it.

I just finished the book so may have more thoughts after it has set with me a bit.

Peter is doing a reading at a local bookstore on July 8th and this is the first time I will have read the book before hearing him talk about it. I can't wait to hear what he has to say about coming up with the idea for the book.

carol-
you know i don't rmember a lot about a book when I finish it but......

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I didn't quite understand why she wanted thom dead either, but just "went with it" .lol
I had remembered about the camera and couldn't believe that wendy forgot about it. i thought that was a nice twist since I'm thinking a lot of people forgot about it being there.
i do like stories that go back and forth in time so once I settled into the going back in time in a different way, it didn't bother me
I just felt that his writing was stilted and didn't flow easily for me.

Carol/Bonadie wrote: "Spoilers to the end, some hidden......"

will be waiting for a detailed report after hearing peter speak.
i think if i'd heard him talk before I read the book I might have liked it better lol
tell him I said hi!

Carol. Wendy killed Thom because he started writing a book detailing everything they had done, murdering her previous husband for his money. I think Thom’s guilt over what they had done started to get to him. His drinking and having affairs were likely other ways his turmoil over what they had done also manifested itself. They had promised never to tell and Wendy likely felt Thom was too much of a liability when he started writing the book.

Telling the story in reverse was a different way to tell the story. I was curious why the woman also died on the night they killed Wendy’s husband. I don’t remember the woman’s name. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. And Thom had to kill her to tie up loose ends. The story being told in reverse did make that revelation interesting. But still the story did feel slow to me.

Wendy definitely did NOT know the camera was there. The teacher told Thom when they were at the stairs, and Wendy was not there. But Thom chose to keep that a secret. If Wendy had known, she likely wouldn’t have pushed Thom there. She was truly more of a sociopath, not really feeling anything about murdering her previous husband. Thom was the one struggling. So I suppose it was karma that she wouldn’t be getting away with her second husband’s murder!

Geri this is very helpful. Now I remember the motivation of his revealing all, you are absolutely right. And I bet my re-reading of the beginning and the end will also confirm your point about Wendy not being present when the teacher mentioned the cameras. I wish i'd paid attention to that, I feel a little robbed at the lack of a jolt when that was revealed. Oh well.

Geri wrote: "Carol. Wendy killed Thom because he started writing a book detailing everything they had done, murdering her previous husband for his money. I think Thom’s guilt over what they had done started to ..."

thanks for that, geri. i had forgotten the reason why - mostly because once I finish a book, I forget everything about it lol
I had an e-galley of this one and read it in january

Carol/Bonadie wrote: "Geri this is very helpful. Now I remember the motivation of his revealing all, you are absolutely right. And I bet my re-reading of the beginning and the end will also confirm your point about Wend..."

oh yes- WE knew about the camera, but she didn't.

So, I'm now clear on why Wendy wanted Thom dead, but I also wondered why Thom was so eager to acquiesce. Right before one of the two shoves, maybe the last one, he said something like "It's time." Was it the pain he was trying to mask with his drinking that made him ready to go?

I just finished and my initial reaction was torn between 4 and 5 stars. The backwards timeline is challenging and intriguing. The premise is inventive and compelling. The ideas that appear in the multi-year timelines seem to need follow-ups, and further rumination and yet I felt they were flying away in the rearview mirror as the story speeds backwards leaving threads dangling. It grabbed my attention and was very hard to put down so I’m sticking with four stars.

I agree with your rating, Ann. I think if the camera deal had occurred to me at the point it was revealed I might have given it a 5th star for a clever shocking twist. Hard to make that Peter's fault that I missed that, but......

Carol: my thoughts throughout the book, in the first few chapters anyway, were “where are the cameras?”

Carol/Bonadie wrote: "So, I'm now clear on why Wendy wanted Thom dead, but I also wondered why Thom was so eager to acquiesce. Right before one of the two shoves, maybe the last one, he said something like "It's time." ..."

Oh yes. Thom was struggling with the things he had done. His drinking, affairs and finally writing a book about it was definitely his way of trying to cope. Good point, he probably was ready to die, so his struggles would end.

Ann wrote: "Carol: my thoughts throughout the book, in the first few chapters anyway, were “where are the cameras?”"

Ann, you clearly are a more savvy reader/criminal than I am, lol. Never crossed my mind.

Carol: LOL I must be, I think the same on multiple TV shows as well. Cameras are everywhere. :) :)
Carol/Bonadie wrote: "Ann, you clearly are a more savvy reader/criminal than I am, lol. Never crossed my mind."

Ann wrote: "Carol: my thoughts throughout the book, in the first few chapters anyway, were “where are the cameras?”"

I can’t find comments about the other reveal near the end about the secret daughter Wendy had and possibly named Annabel. Rereading the first chapter I found hints that Emily/ Annabel (Thom’s colleague) may be their daughter, for exemple Wendy’s strong insistance that Thom cannot not have an adventure with her! And the interest of Emily towards Wendy’s poetry and the poem that speaks about her teenage romance with Thom, possibly because she deduced that they are her parents? But is it linked to the murder? I’m really not sure I understood right!

GeneTee: wow, that detail regarding Emily/Annabel went completely over my head. Definitely another twist to Wendy’s back story.

GeneTee, I missed that as well. When I have a minute I will drag out my copy and see if I can find. But i don't think that's connected with the murder, I think as others have said it was to stop Thom from revealing their crime in the book he was writing, and maybe also because Wendy was growing tired of Thom.