Since I have not managed to get my hands on a copy of Rules for Perfect Murders, I decided to try another one of Peter Swanson’s books: Before She Knew Him. Gotta say, if Rules for Perfect Murders is as interesting as this, I’m definitely going to like it.

Before She Knew Him is a cat and mouse book. Hen, an artist with bipolar disorder, meets her new neighbours Matthew and Mira for a dinner party. While touring their house, she recognises a fencing trophy that belongs to a murdered student. Is her neighbour a serial killer?

The answer is yes. The book is definitely not a murder mystery because we also get Matthew’s point of view, and he quite clearly reveals that he is the killer and that he will kill again.

The question is: can Hen stop him? Will she even want to?

There is a pretty big twist in the book which I think, ordinarily, would be a huge shock to me, but for some reason I wasn’t so surprised. Maybe it’s the post-Wife Stalker high where nothing is surprising anymore. Still, I finished this book really quickly, which shows that it can definitely hook you in.

What I found really interesting was the way Hen’s bipolar disorder affects her actions. It’s not just about what she does when she’s in a manic stage, it’s also about how it affects her reliability as a witness. As the reader, I desperately wanted her to be taken more seriously, but I also saw how her history was working against her. It would have been interesting to see what the police were doing at the same time, but I guess it would have been too much going on at the same time.

There was only one thing that I didn’t really like – the twist about Lloyd’s character. Lloyd is Hen’s husband and while I had an inkling that things weren’t super perfect in their marriage, the disintegration of their relationship was too fast and a bit too unconvincing. Still, most of the book is on Hen and Matthew’s obsession with each other, and that was pretty intense so I can’t really complain.

Overall, I enjoyed this thriller! I finished this wanting to see the artwork that Hen created – the drawings are supposed to be dark and perfect for fantasy books, which is right up my alley. Before She Met Him has definitely whet my reading appetite for Rules for Perfect Murders.