Every Vow You Break by Peter Swanson

Abigail Baskin never thought she’d fall in love with a millionaire. Then she met Bruce Lamb. But right before the wedding, Abigail has a drunken one-night stand on her bachelorette weekend. She puts the incident—and the sexy guy who wouldn’t give her his real name—out of her mind, and now believes she wants to be with Bruce for the rest of her life.

 

Then the mysterious stranger suddenly appears—and Abigail’s future life and happiness are turned upside down. He insists that their passionate night was the beginning of something special and he’s tracked her down to prove it.

 

Does she tell Bruce and ruin their idyllic honeymoon—and possibly their marriage? Or should she handle this psychopathic stalker on her own? To make the situation worse, strange things begin to happen. She sees a terrified woman in the night shadows, and no one at the resort seems to believe anything is amiss… including her perfect new husband.

Publisher: William Morrow | Genre: Contemporary Mystery/Thriller | Source: Publisher  | Rating: 2.5 

I’ve had this one sitting on my shelf since 2021 and finally decided to pick it up and give it a go. I’ve heard that you’ll love this one or hate it and, to be honest, I’m more in the middle with a meh.

This one had the potential to be great. A woman has a one-night stand during her bachelorette party with a mysterious stranger who follows her to her honeymoon on a remote island where she encounters a terrified woman who has disappeared. Sadly, instead of being a page-turner, the book was repetitive and predictable. I also found Abigail to be an unlikable character.

Unlikable characters don’t bother me if the plot is sound. Lucy Foley writes unlikable characters but I enjoy her books immensely. In this one, I struggled with the plot, the pacing, the characters, and the believability. There’s so much time spent mentioning Abigail’s love for horror movies, but she never once questioned the things going on around her. She also has a lot of doubts about her husband, who is basically a stranger but, hey, he’s rich and going to pay off her student loans so why not marry him. Then there’s the stranger that comes along and, again, why is she not suspicious of the fact he know so much about her then followed her to an island that’s just for tech billionaires.

Overall, I struggled from the start of this one. The first third of the book is exceedingly slow and repetitive. While it did pick up the pace, it didn’t hold steady. As a mystery/thriller lover, I needed more to satisfy me as a reader. If you’re new to mysteries and thrillers, this one could work for you and I do see why that some readers loved it and others hated it. I’ve also heard that this is not Peter Swanson’s best, so if you’ve read, and enjoyed, his other books just be aware when you start this one.