This novel is told backwards, as the first chapter is the end of the story. We meet Wendy and Thom, once childhood sweethearts, now middle-aged academics. Not all is as it seems; their story harbours secrets. Wendy is growing concerned that in an inebriated state and with his eyes on younger women, Thom might begin to reveal the secrets. So she decides to take action. Bye-bye, Thom.

The construct of Kill Your Darlings is clever, but I did struggle a bit when, after a fabulous opening chapter, we went back to earlier days in their lives. While I feel this works, it’s not a fast-paced gripping thriller but more of an intelligent slow burn. This was my first Peter Swanson book, and I am looking forward to reading more of his work.

Thank you to Faber and Faber Ltd and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wendy has money, a husband and a son, a house she loves and a life she's content with. It should be perfect - except her increasingly drunk husband keeps almost spilling a dark secret and she can't have that. So we move backwards in time to discover why Thom drinks and how these two got to where they ended up.

I love the idea of a story told in reverse, it sounds really cool but I'm not sure it really paid off for me personally. By knowing how the story ends, it took away all of the tension, all of the mystery. There was a brief part around halfway through concerning Thom's boss where it got good briefly, but we skipped backwards in time so fast that it lost it again.

I didn't really care for either main character. Thom was a drunk and a cheat, although he loved his wife and Wendy didn't seem to care for him at all. Far too much of the early parts of the book (so the later years) were spent wallowing in the guilt of their dark secret, which wasn't a secret at all.

As for the twist in the final pages, I had to stop myself rolling my eyes. Not at the twist itself, but that the characters hadn't considered such a thing being the case. No spoilers, so I won't go into it, but it seemed like an obvious thing - but maybe I'm just too paranoid.

This is not a bad thriller at all. But to me, it committed the ultimate sin - it bored me. Other people will enjoy but it just wasn't for me.

Peter Swanson does it again. This book follows married couple Wendy and Thom. The book starts in 2023 and we meet Wendy and Thom a married couple who have been together a very long time. The book starts at the end of their story and takes you back to the beginning of it. It was like reading in rewind. Sometimes it got a wee bit confusing, when I was so engrossed and would forget it was going backwards. Wendy and Thom have a secret that has followed them through their marriage. It was interesting reading why they were the way they were. It was good finding out what really happened and why Thom was the way he was. I really liked the character of Thom, I liked Wendy just not as much as Thom. I really enjoyed the ending and it had Peter Swanson's usual unexpected twist. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Faber and Faber for the opportunity to read this great book.

The story follows Wendy and Thom, who have been married a long time and share a dark secret. Wendy is worried Thom's drinking is going to cause problems and she sets out to make sure it doesn't. We also travel back in time to when they first met. The story moves between the past and present day, backgrounds and relationships are explained and secrets are gradually revealed.

I really enjoyed this book.
It was quite a slow burner but, for me, that made it all the more enjoyable.
I loved learning about Tom and Wendy’s history and enjoyed the timeline moving in a different direction. I felt like I really knew them both individually and as a couple.
A really enjoyable slow-burn psychological/domestic thriller.

Kill Your Darlings follows a longtime married couple, Wendy and Thom, living in Massachusetts. Wendy is a published poet, and Thom is an English professor. They’ve got a gorgeous house, they’ve got a wonderful son, and they’ve got money. Everything sounds perfect, right? And it is… apart from the small fact that Wendy wants to murder her husband.

This thriller is a slow but sharp examination of a marriage held together by a dark shared secret. The story begins in 2023 and is told in reverse until the year 1982 when the couple first meet. As the years tick backwards, the secrets of their past are revealed, and we learn how the Wendy and Thom of today came to be. It took me a little while to get used to the narrative, but in the end it became my favourite thing about the book because of the way in which it built tension. The ending was very clever and well worth the wait.

All in all, Peter Swanson once again delivers with this one. If you’re looking for a slow-burn psychological/domestic thriller, this could be for you.

Perfect for fans of: Rock Paper Scissors, The Silent Patient, The Girl on the Train, My Lovely Wife, and Before I Go To Sleep.

Kind thanks to @faberbooks for the opportunity to read this advanced copy in exchange for my thoughts.

I generally like Peter Swanson’s books so was excited to receive a review copy of this, his latest.
This is the story of a dark romance between Thom Graves, an English professor and his wife, Wendy. It opens with her killing him to stop a big secret being revealed.
The story then moves backwards to the beginning of their relationship and in my opinion, ends very abruptly.
The construction of the plot is unusual as the story unfolds, moving through their lives to when they first met at school aged 14.
However there was a lack of tension due to this way of telling the story. Also I was not keen on the characters. As in Peter Swanson’s other books they are amoral, having no qualms about cold blooded murder. There were very few surprises and the ending left me feeling strangely unsatisfied.
As usual with this author, the actual writing and story telling was extremely good. I look forward to his next book but for me “Kill Your Darlings” was not my favourite.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my advance copy.

As a fan of Peter Swanson, I was excited to dive into Kill Your Darlings, but sadly it didn’t quite deliver for me. The story begins with Wendy killing her husband Thom—after years of resentment and a looming secret—and then unfolds in reverse, peeling back the layers of their troubled marriage.

While the backwards structure is clever, I struggled to stay engaged. The tension fizzled out early, and I never quite connected with the characters. That said, Swanson’s writing is strong, and the ending was the highlight—dark, sharp, and satisfying.

A well-crafted novel, but not a page-turner for me.

I was so intrigued by the start at the end, end at the beginning premise and at first I was a little bit concerned that we weren't going to get the consequences of that first chapter, but I shouldn't have worried. such a perfectly mundane ending for it to feasibly be the beginning, but such a beautiful tie-in so we can fill the gaps in ourselves. so clever!!

Thank you Net Gallery for the book. It was very enjoyable, very entertaining, lots of twists and turns. I loved the characters. The only bad thing I have to say about this book is that it kept me reading way past midnight, I couldn't put it down! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Eagerly devoured this new Peter Swanson thriller. It’s a love story told in reverse. Wendy and Thom are bound together by dark secrets that threaten to strangle their relationship. Folie a deux is never an equal partnership.

Thom and Wendy are in their fifties and have been together since they were schoolkids. Thom drinks and is a womaniser and Wendy wants out.

The story starts in the present and takes us back in time throughout their lives with their big milestones highlighted such as them meeting, their marriage and the birth of their child. But they both harbour a deep secret that is long buried. Or is it?

A very clever book which I thoroughly enjoyed. I have not read anything else by this author but this is a real page turner and definitely worth 5 stars from me. I devoured it and it has one of the best endings ever! Highly recommended.

Thanks to all involved for the copy!

Being a lover of this authors work I was really excited about reading this one. However, I was left slightly disappointed. The story is told in reverse so starts with descriptions of the marriage of Wendy and Thom. We early on get to the point where Wendy kills Thom and the story really didn’t do much for me from here on in.

The story then delves into the rest of their lives previous to the murder and although it was very cleverly written I am obviously not a fan of back to front writing. The end of the story was good and the only part that left me wanting more.

I couldn't really get involved in this storyline, not enough going on for me and it wasn't a page turner unfortunately even though it was very well written.

Thank you to Netgalley and Faber & Faber for this ARC I just wish it was more to my taste but I would recommend it.

Kill Your Darlings by Peter Swanson follows Thom and Wendy Graves, a married couple of over twenty-five years living in a beautiful Victorian house in Massachusetts. Wendy is a published poet and Thom teaches English literature at a local university. Their son, Jason, is grown up and life seems settled — except Wendy wants to murder her husband.

The story moves backwards through time, revealing key moments in their marriage, including their fiftieth birthday party, buying their home, Jason’s birth, and the mysterious death of a colleague. Each event paints a picture of a marriage held together by a terrible secret they shared many years ago.

As the narrative rewinds, the details of this secret unfold. It has bound them through the years, but now its hold is weakening. Both wonder if it would be better to ensure their spouse takes this secret to the grave.

This is not a typical thriller focused on shocking twists or fast-paced suspense. Instead, it is a slow, psychological exploration of a marriage fractured by hidden truths. Swanson’s choice to tell the story in reverse adds intrigue and creates a puzzle-like experience that keeps the reader engaged, even at a measured pace.

If you enjoy slow-burning psychological stories with depth, this will appeal. But if you prefer twists that leave you stunned, this might not be the book for you.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

An ending before the beginning 🤯

This is a cleverly written thriller, with the story moving backwards. I can see this being a ‘marmite’ love it or hate it read, as early on you find out answers and why. Then as the story progresses, it starts to reveal more of the details of married couple Wendy and Thom and their son Jason, their past lives, how they met, when they met and the big why.

I must confess to being a little confused at first, but once I worked out what was happening it was interesting to see how the story came to pass. This was also thought provoking to think how events in life can influence you and why.

The story itself didn’t grip me, but the writing was good and some events more engaging than others which kept you, as the reader, interested. I didn’t really relate to either character, which did not help my connection to the story, Wendy I found quite unlikeable and Thom, appeared quite bland, not doing much other than drinking and having affairs.

There was not a big reveal at the end, but a slight twist which wasn’t really a shock. As a reverse thriller though, this was always going to be the case. It lost a star for me due to the ending but, overall, a change from usual thrillers. In addition, there was 1 plot hole with Annabel which I did not feel was fully explained/explored and I am left wondering about?

Overall, I would still recommend this, a slower read whereby the reader needs to concentrate a little more. A refreshing change.

Thank you to Netgalley, Faber and Faber Ltd and Peter Swanson for access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Due to be published on 03 July 2025.

I love Peter Swanson books but felt this was a little slower than his usual. I enjoyed the complex relationship between Wendy and thom but the time lines were a bit hard to follow and felt a bit out of order and I felt it needed a description like before Jason or 1 week before wedding etc

Wendy is planning to murder her husband. What got her to this point? As this time reversed story unfolds we'll soon know how it all started.

I loved this story. I particularly liked the reversal in time element where we start with a murder and then time works backwards to see how books are everything started to go wrong for Wendy and her husband. Peter Swanson novels are always thrilling and gripping and Kill Your Darlings was no exception. I read the entire book in one sitting.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

I was blown away by this novel, and while I hated the characters I was gripped by the story told in reverse.

Thom and Wendy are quarter of a century in to marriage and now Wendy finds herself very tired of who Thom has become. I spent a great deal of my time reading this working out who I disliked more. Who was the one in the wrong?
None of that matters at the end.

This will be a must have for any Swanson fan but I would encourage anyone who likes a different type of story telling to get stuck in.

Married couple Thom and Wendy have a dark past. Promising each other never to speak of the events of August 22 1992, thirty years later Wendy is becoming increasing worried about Thom’s loose lips. Unable to resist more than the occasional drink, Thom often can’t remember what has happened the night before, and his fondness of whispering sweet nothings into the ears of any pretty young woman in his locale makes Wendy nervous. Unable to stop her husband’s drinking, she needs to curb his indiscretions.

A clever, but not gripping read, told in reverse, which is quite a feat in itself. A little slow and boring at times, but the overall plot was well planned and delivered, though the characters were all pretty dire. Good ending though!

Thank you NetGalley and Faber and Faber Ltd.