Every Vow You Break~ Book Review
by Peter Swanson
2021, hardback — Psychological thriller, mystery, romance
Tagline: A novel ~ The lies started with “I do”
Ooh, I can’t hold back!! I loved this book so much!!! Couldn’t put it down. I forced myself to make it last 2 whole days…
First of all, so much dialogue. This is such a great way to show character. And makes it an easy, fast read! Why don’t more authors write like this?
This is not rhe typical psychological thriller, so maybe that’s why I’m a big fan: there’s no untrustworthy narrator. See, I’m not totally sold on this genre yet, with lying, drunk, or forgetful heroines.
Not that Abigail Baskin is perfect. In fact, she slept with a total stranger on her pre-wedding bachelorette weekend…that her fiance paid for! 🙂 That’s not very nice. So for the rest of the book, we get to worry, with her, about this stranger…who can’t forget about their great sex, and seems to be stalking her. Will her fiance find out?
The first hundred pages is so fun and romantic, as we see how Abigail fell in love with, and got engaged to, one of the “good” guys for a change: Bruce Lamb, an Elon Musk type! This was written before the whole Musk/Twitter drama. I knew who Elon Musk was — barely– but since I’m a twitter fiend, I’ve learned a lot about him since then, of course. He doesn’t hold back.
Like Musk and other tech moguls, Bruce is a self-described nerd, with a bent for coding, ideas, and entrepreneurship. Which equals very rich. And not half-bad looking.
Abigail’s year-long courtship with Bruce was fun, and almost had a Sex and the City vibe, without the heavy sex: exploring the east coast (Mutter Museum!), great restaurants, and even a promise that he can help pay for her parents ailing business.
After Abigail has her indiscretion on her bachelorette weekend – blamed on a lot of alcohol, but sometimes sexual attraction is the guilty party – it’s time to plan her wedding. She and Bruce agreed that she could manage the wedding details, and Bruce would plan the honeymoon.
Here’s where it gets pretty intense. They go to a remote island off the coast of Maine. No electronics allowed. That’s fun…sort of…isn’t it? Best food & pampering you could ask for. But sometimes the country isn’t as safe as the city…
Did you ever see Alec Baldwin and Meg Ryan (before her plastic surgery) in Prelude to a Kiss? This is a quiet, magical movie that asks how well you really know your newlywed husband or wife.
Actually, Every Vow You Break isn’t that much like the movie. 🙂 But weird changes happen when you get married, amIright?
Ending and Spoilers – REALLY!!
~~~ wait
~~~ wait
~~~go
I was right there with Abigail up until the climax. But I just find it hard to believe that a woman could kill her brand new hustand – or anyone, really – that easily. Even though at one point her own life was at risk. This wasn’t a clean shot, with a gun… it was intimate and messy.
And then suddenly she’s an athlete that can kayak for hours, in the dark, in the ocean? Odd ending.
Particulate Matters
- If an author is smart enough to give me some inside info on a lifestyle…I am so grateful! In this case, it was Abigail’s parents, and their (barely afloat) business of summer stock theater in the Catskills. I grew up hanging out in the heady tents of the Valley Forge Summer Playhouse, and since I majored in Drama, I’ve been behind the scenes in many plays. Fun!
- And a teeeny tiny objection: Although Abigail’s job is editor of a poetry magazine…I’ve had 2 boyfriend poets and my best friend from college got her Masters in poetry. I think any of them would have easily come up with some great, engaging lines of verse to throw in the story! :0
Media mentions of Every Vow You Break
NY Times. ~~
She kind of shoveled Every Vow You Break in with 2 other books. The writer describes it as “deeply entertaining.”
Swanson’s easy writing style and skill at pacing propel a plot that is as absorbing as it is unlikely. What starts as a sober morality tale we can all relate to (hypothetically!) turns into something else entirely, with tiny hints of both “Lord of the Flies” and “Rosemary’s Baby.” If there is a lesson here, it is that no one should marry in haste.
This suspenseful thriller from Swanson (Eight Perfect Murders) explores a familiar genre theme—the consequences of entering a marriage with a guilty secret.
I don’t think this is so familiar. In what, romance novels? I don’t read them.
Credible, fully realized characters and tense situations compensate for plot twists that aren’t as memorable as in Swanson’s best work. Many readers will devour this page-turner in one sitting.
Hmm. So the reviewer is saying it’s not that “memorable”, but you’ll read it in a day!
Amazon readers: 3.9 stars
Not the Peter Swanson of the past…
Fans of his writing will be disappointed by this “far fetched” story and the ill-formed characters. This book left me hoping that his next book/effort returns to the talent we have come to enjoy and expect…”Every Vow You Break” almost feels like it was written by someone else.
…like James Patterson? 🙂 No way!
Waste of time and money…
This could have been a good book with a sort of Fatal.Attraction plot. Instead it turned into the most unbelievable storyline, which.was just stupid and off-putting. It is just a crazy rage against the patriarch, rich men are bad people book. So bad.
and
Every Vow…
I LOVE Peter Swanson’s novels. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them! …This is a fantastic slow burn suspense novel which I found very readable. Swanson takes time and care to paint a picture of Abigail and Bruce’s lives together. When the bomb is dropped, OMG, it’s a big un! I was gripped and loving every second of my reading experience.
No reading happens in a vacuum
I devoured this during the worst heatwave of the year (so far) here in Los Angeles. I’m renting a room in a condo, and my delightful landlady/roommate didn’t tell me she was sick when she got home from a short August vacay, until 2 days later she announced that she tested positive for Covid.
There she is, honking and coughing and snorting all over, her door OPEN, with the AC going full blast. Since she also has 3 cats and a dog (one cat recently died) AND she has Covid, I asked her a couple of times to please change the AC filter.
I just looked at it today, and it’s so gross – worthy of a horror film.
So, yeah, this book was a welcome respite!
this book would taste good with…
I recommend chocolate milk as an accompaniment. Elon Musk did tweet that he loves chocolate milk, so maybe Bruce does, too. I know I enjoy a frosty glass of chocolate milk. Trader Joe’s is rated very highly!
I can’t find chocolate mik at Amazon, but here are some excellent cocoa powders (for baking.)
Also, consider wearing a Chanel perfume I discovered recently, for hanging out with your millionaire guy before he gets sticky: Gabrielle. (You might want to suggest this to your rich fiance. I don’t have either one, yet.)
Final Book Review
I gave it B+Â – over 4 stars!
I loved the pacing, the modern romance, the island, and the characters.
What did you think of it? Is it a typical psychological thriller?
Would this book make a good movie?
Maybe a moderate budget one. You need some nice locales, including someplace by the ocean. Dialogue is excellent. Ending needs some rewriting for screen, and there’s really no redemption here, so it won’t be a blockbuster. 🙂
Where to find
Your friendly local library. Free!
Powell’s – Largest Indie bookstore
ebay – fun to get a variety!
Amazon – fast
ISBN: 9780062980038
Set painter in studio Art Depts. Member Scriptwriters Network, script analyst.
Author, 2 hardcopy books, Barnes & Noble Calendar.
- Emma in the Night ~ Wendy Walker ~ Thriller - May 11, 2023
- Still Alice (2014) ~ Psychology Movie Review ~ Julianne Moore - January 25, 2023
- The Other Emily ~ Dean Koontz - January 23, 2023
