The Kind Worth Saving by Peter Swanson on February 28, 2023
Pages: 320
Format: Audiobook
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In this spectacularly devious novel by New York Times bestselling author Peter Swanson—featuring the smart and complex Lily Kintner from his acclaimed novel, The Kind Worth Killing—a private eye starts to follow a possibly adulterous husband, but little does he know that the twisted trail will lead back to the woman who hired him.
This is book #2 in his Henry Kimball/ Lily Kintner series. This is just at masterfully done as his first novel, The Kind Worth Killing. You don’t have to have read the first book to enjoy this one but I recommend reading it so that you understand the back story on Lily more clearly. I think Swanson sums up the first book in one of the first few chapters, so you have a basic idea on Lily.
Lily is a character that returns in an unusual way. In book one, she was a suspect. In this book she is a friend and someone he confides in. The character development was very interesting on these characters.
Then there is Joan. She’s one I was always suspicious of because of how the story is laid out. We are told fragments of her teen life and then back to her adult life. Along with a classmate, Richard. At first I wondered if the psychopath teenager and the adult Joan they were referring to were two different people. But, she goes to her former High School teacher, tuned cop, turned PI, for help with her cheating husband. She knows who he is cheating with, she just needs proof. Only, when Kimball walks in on the couple he thinks is cheating, he thinks he will find them in a compromising position, but finds them both dead.
Henry Kimball feels like this death and other deaths are connected and has to revisit the reason he stopped teaching in the first place. A High School shooting in his class happened and he never forgot how tragic and off it felt. He begins investigating the links from the past events to the current one and wonders if there is actually a killer out there? Little does he know, the killer is getting closer to him each day.
This one had me racing to the end. I love a thriller that makes you think. I thought I had it all figured out and I was close, but it all came together in the end. I loved the twists and turns that Swanson crafts. The character development is great and full of fun surprises. I can see these books making a great movie or series!