Author Peter Swanson is known for paying homage to great mystery writers in his novels, which are sometimes reimaginings of the originals. In Nine Lives, he draws from Agatha Christie's classic, And Then There Were None, to craft an intriguing and absorbing story of nine perfect strangers, all of whom find their names on a cryptic list delivered to them via mail. None of them recognize the other names and they are all baffled as to the list's origin and meaning, and why their names have been linked with the others on the list. Swanson's diverse cast of characters are Matthew Beaumont, a suburban father in Massachusetts; Jay Coates, an aspiring actor in Los Angeles; Ethan Dart, a singer-songwriter in Texas; Caroline Geddes, an English professor in Michigan; Frank Hopkins, the owner of the Windward Resort in Kennewick, Maine; Alison Horne, a married man's paid mistress in New York City; Arthur Kruse, an oncology nurse in Massachusetts; Jack Radebaugh, a retired businessman who recently returned to his childhood home in Connecticut; and Jessica Winslow, an FBI agent in New York.

The story opens with the death of Hopkins at his Windward Resort in Maine. When his body is discovered, he is holding a torn envelope addressed to him and containing the list of names. Detective Sam Hamilton, Kennewick's only police officer, knew Frank for many years and immediately begins investigating his suspicious death. A few hours later, Jessica learns about Frank's death and his possession of the same list she received the prior day. Swanson devotes short, successive chapters of the book to introducing his characters and describing their respective receipt of the list. Some of them simply toss the list into the trash without giving it another thought, convinced it is just junk mail, while others immediately begin searching for any available clues about its significance. Swanson details Jessica's contact with or efforts to make contact with them in an attempt to piece together any possible connections. Some characters are immediately more sympathetic than others. Caroline Geddes, the lonely, unattached professor who lives alone with her cats in a two-bedroom cottage in Ann Arbor, immediately thinks, "It's a list of death. Someone has marked us for death," just as she thinks every telephone call will bring news of a tragedy. She allows for "personal interpretations of literary works" in her own life. But then there's Jay Coates, a would-be actor going to auditions and callbacks in Hollywood, but having little success in the entertainment industry. He is jealous and spiteful about his friend's success, and stalks random women, fantasizing about abusing or killing them.

Arthur Kruse's name rings a bell with Jessica. She seems to remember that her father, Gary, had a friend named Art Kruse whose lake house he visited. Arthur is still mourning his husband, Richard, and has had no relationship with his father since Art rejected him when Arthur came out. Even so, she asks Arthur to question his father about that tenuous connection. Jessica has a very personal stake in the outcome of the case, obviously, and works to learn more about Frank Hopkins and identify each person listed. The Windward Resort also sounds vaguely familiar to her, perhaps because her family vacationed on the southern coast of Maine when she was thirteen years old.

The recipients of the list also search for any connection they might have to the others. Ethan and Caroline can only discern that their grandparents came from the Boston area, but they strike up a friendship born of the presence of their names on the list, as well as their mutual love of the works of a particular poet. For Caroline, it is exciting and breaks up the monotony of her solitary existence and Ethan finds himself drawn to Caroline, as well. They soon make ill-fated plans to meet.

When the second murder occurs, it is no longer possible to write the list off as a coincidence. Rather, Jessica likens it to the morning of September 11. "I remember watching the news after the first plane hit, and the world just thought it was a terrible accident. Then the second plane hit, and everything changed." She and her supervisor agree that the second murder is the equivalent of that second plane, and it is time for the FBI to provide protection to everyone on the list. But one by one, the nine continue dying, their deaths coming about in distinct and sometimes horrific ways, despite the security measures employed. Sam and Jessica proceed with their investigations, and Sam also becomes convinced that there is nothing accidental or coincidental about the order in which the deaths are occurring. Frank received the list first and was the first to die, and Sam suspects that finding out about his past is crucial to solving the crimes. Sam turns to his grandmother's collection of Agatha Christie books, and recalls reading And Then there Were None with its original, racist title as a child. He still has that valuable edition of the book that he re-reads yet again, convinced that Frank Hopkins and the other "unlucky souls" on the list somehow resemble the characters and plot of that novel.

At one point, Swanson injects an anonymous hit man into the mix, further complicating matters with a pulse-pounding game of cat and mouse. But who hired him? And why?

Swanson's telling of the story is meticulous and methodical. As it proceeds, the substance of his imaginative plot gradually comes into focus, and he reveals more details about his characters' backgrounds and histories at expertly-timed junctures while he accelerates the story's pace. He endears some characters to readers, making their inevitable demise nothing less than crushingly disappointing. Swanson returns to And Then There Were None as Sam closes in on the truth and the killer's identity is revealed, along with the motive, via an old-fashioned, full explanation, delivered by the killer. It's a description of a decades-long obsession with retribution and revenge in response to grievous behavior that resulted in unspeakable loss and a lifetime of guilt. The conclusion is satisfying, especially given that readers will most likely be unable to pull together all the threads of Swanson's complex and intricate plot on their own.

Nine Lives is an entertaining and masterfully constructed homage to Christie's original work that will keep readers guessing up to the very last chapter, and rewards them with a shocking but delightful ending.

In the vein of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, Nine Lives kicks off with nine people each receiving a letter in a blank envelope with nine names. None of the names are familiar to each person, but when people from the list start dying, the FBI is in a hurry to figure out the connections.

I read the book in one sitting, and stayed fairly engaged, but I felt like overall the book was just okay. There was nothing largely unique or different about the story that will make it stand out to me in the future, so for that reason I rated the book 3 stars.

The reveals really didn't come until the end of the book, so it felt like things wrapped up pretty neatly there, with the exception of the last chapter, which felt a little out of place. I liked the concept of what happened in the final chapter, but felt like there could have been a few loose ends tied up more nicely to make it more meaningful.

Additionally, I felt like the why behind the murders could have been stronger. If the goal is to send a message to specific people, I wish the killer would have made it more clear to the people the message was meant for - essentially telling them who was responsible and why. Without that component, it felt like the intention/message behind the murders wasn't really coming across very well

Overall, while this wasn't my favorite book of his, I still really enjoy Peter Swanson's work and can't wait to see what he writes next!

I received an eARC of this one, but finding out that there were NINE POVs made me wait until I could have a physical copy to read! It took a bit to get my head straight about all the characters, but once I did, I really enjoyed it!

Nine Lives tells the story of nine strangers who all receive a letter with the same list of nine names, including their own. No one can make sense of the list or the connection between then, however they all begin to be killed one by one.

Even though I enjoyed it, the thing I found the most bizarre, is how often Swanson referenced the fact that this is basically the plot of an Agatha Christie novel. This isn’t the first book that he’s done it in either. Maybe I wouldn’t have enjoyed this book at all if I had read And Then There Were None, but I hadn’t so it really didn’t bother me (however it did spoil the Christie novel so I won’t be reading that!)

I’ve seen a lot of mixed reviews but I thought this was an entertaining, quick read. The “why” was a bit of a stretch for me, but overall I really liked it

I enjoyed Nine Lives, and didn’t guess the ending until near the end. The timelines were well done and kept me interested until the end of the book.

I am grateful to the publishers for allowing me to read and review this book. I really enjoyed this one! I loved all the references back to Agatha Christie novels and Peter Pan. What a cool idea! It definitely kept me guessing and I really liked the way it ended. Good, quick summer murder mystery read!

Ohhhhhh Peter Swanson!! Why is it that I either absolutely LOVE your books or I loathe them?!?! I think Peter is such a great storyteller, however, once again, his newest book just did not do it for me!!! This was a no for me! Yikes he used the N word not once but twice and then tried to justify it. Do better sir!! Although I didn’t enjoy this one, Peter Swanson is still an author I’m willing to try out another book of his because of his unique storytelling.

I read And Then There Were None in junior high and it kicked off my love of locked room/puzzle mysteries. I greatly enjoyed Swanson's Eight Perfect Murders and went into this book with high expectations. I was not disappointed---a perfect ode to the mistress of murder, Ms. Christie.

A list - one that you don’t want to be on! Nine names, nine random people who each receive a sheet of paper with nine names on it. Nothing else, no clues, just names. One by one, the list dwindles down.

The story is told from so many points of view. This partly bothered me but also helped us learn about each of the Nine Lives. It had a “And Then There Were None” vibe to it but told in a very different way. Definitely kept me guessing and I was surprised by the ending!

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

I wasn't sure about the concept of this book. A list of random unrelated names and then the people start dying. The writing was great and kept me very involved, so I was excited to find out what exactly was going on. And it paid off! Great twist! I really enjoyed this whole experience!

I received a free arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so-so. There were so many characters to keep track of that I felt like I needed a chart:. The story moved very slowly at times and the style was different.

One thing bothered me and almost made me give up. I’m so tired of authors throwing political slants in when they have nothing to do with the story. I’m also tired that when they want to portray someone as racist or judgmental they claim they’re a republican or watch FOX news. I’m just so over it.

3.5 STARS

Swanson is one of those authors that my reviews tend to be all over the place for. Some blow me away (The Kind Worth Killing, All the Beautiful Lies), some do not work for me at all (Every Vow You Break), and now, Nine Lives falls squarely in the middle for me! I enjoyed this unique story and was eager to find out "whodunnit" but was ultimately a bit underwhelmed.

Thank you to William Morrow for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

"Nine Lives," by Peter Swanson is a classic "who done it?" in the style of Agatha Christie and I absolutely loved reading it! The story revolves around the announcement of murders not yet committed which challenges law enforcement to solve not only the "who" and "why" but how are the nine targeted individuals related. Well written with convincing characters, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and hope to read more by this talented author. A big thank you goes out to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a galley of "Nine Lives."

Thank you to netgalley for providing an e-galley for review. Nine Lives by Peter Swanson was so incredibly good. Nine people receive a letter with just there name and 8 other peoples names on it, seemingly unrelated. Most of them think nothing of it, until the murders start happening. While there were a lot of references to Agatha Christie, this also reminded me of We Were Liars and would be an excellent book for readers who enjoyed that book to graduate into. Peter Swanson always keeps me guessing as to who did it, I can never figure it out.

I’ve read previous books by Peter Swanson and loved them but Nine Lives was just an okay read for me. It was quite slow and felt like there wasn’t much progression to the plot. As for the characters, most are introduced and then killed shortly after so there wasn’t much chance to connect or even care about them.
I do enjoy Swansons writing but sadly this didn’t wow me.

I didn't enjoy Nine Lives quite as much as Eight Perfect Murders, but it is a solid Swanson and very enjoyable read and I'm greatly anticipating his next book.

Peter Swanson is one of my must read authors. This one starts interesting but gets a little slow and ends with a bang. A list of nine names that seem to have nothing in common except that they start dying. The story flips between the nine people and is a little disorienting. It is a fast read but left me wanting more about the nine people.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

This book will undoubtedly draw comparisons to Agatha Christie's masterpiece "And Then There Were None," but the modern day reimagining is inventive and a respectful homage. The premise is that nine strangers across the country receive a list of names with no further explanation in the mail. One of the individuals is an FBI agent who starts digging into this mysterious mailing when the people on the list start being killed off one by one; however, since she may be a potential victim, she is not allowed to investigate in an official capacity. That doesn't stop her from trying to figure out the sender's motive and why the nine names ended up on this deadly list. But, it's clear that she is going to be in a race against time as the list of names grows shorter by the day.

The book is divided in such a way that you know that the reader knows that someone from the list won't make it to the next section. This is a slow-burn book and the clues about how and why the nine names ended up on the list are parceled out in a trickle to the reader. If you prefer fast-paced thrillers, the deliberate pacing might not be a perfect fit. If you enjoy modern takes on classic mystery tropes and don't mind a good slow-burn, this would be an excellent addition to your TBR list. The pacing and structure worked for me, so I found it to be an enjoyable read.

Many thanks to HarperCollins/William Morrow and the Scene of the Crime Early Read program for the NetGalley digital copy!

First time reading Peter Swanson, and really enjoyed this book. Interesting flow to the narrative. Enjoyable plot and characters and mystery. Will definitely need to track down more from Peter Swanson. #NineLives #NetGalley

I received an advance reading copy of Nine Lives by Peter Swanson from the publisher, but ended up borrowing the audiobook to listen to this story instead.

Nine Lives is a retelling of Agatha Christie's and then there were none. Nine people receive a list of nine names with their name on them, and we see the people from this list picked off one by one.

I had some trouble with this book. There are alot of characters, and it took me a long time to figure out who was who, and start to come up with theories of which way the story was going. In between each section the list of names of repeated, I believe that in a print copy this list would have names crossed off to help readers keep track of who is still around, but in the audio book the names are all read the same.

I think I would have enjoyed this one a lot more had I read a physical copy.

There have been a lot of retellings of Then There We None recently, and unfortunately I think this one falls near the bottom of the list.

This is the first book I've read by this author, and I know some people rave about their books, so I will probably try another one out sometime, but I'm not in a big rush.

I thought Peter Swanson's "Nine Lives" was a great read! I believe fans of Agatha Christie will enjoy the connections between her excellent novel, "And Then There Were None," and the plot of this story. Although there are multiple characters to keep track of, I felt that the length of the chapters was ideal in keeping the story flowing while shifting between perspectives. For me, the best part of a good mystery novel is being actively involved in solving the puzzle as a reader, and I enjoyed how the story in "Nine Lives" unraveled in a way that kept me engaged and curious until the very end.