The Swimmer

The Swimmer by Loreth Anne White is a razor-sharp, tautly plotted psychological suspense thriller that raises the bar of excellence in the suspense thriller genre. White’s decision to deliver the story by interspersing true crime podcast transcripts in the present among chapters from the past, allowing readers to see what transpires in real time, is nothing short of brilliant.

Get your affairs in order before starting this one because you will not be able to stop reading until you turn the final shocking page.

Chloe Cooper is a socially awkward, eccentric forty-year-old bartender whose constricted world consists of work, caring for her terminally ill mother in their fifth-floor apartment, dog walking, and people watching, most often with binoculars. Over the years, Chloe’s mother’s repeated warnings to trust no one, not even the police, have sentenced Chloe to a lonely, isolated life with little real interaction with others. Her only emotional outlet is her eccentric artwork and the stories she invents about the lives she observes. When new neighbors, renowned surgeon Adam Spengler and his beautiful, social media influencer wife Jemma, move in across the street, Chloe can see directly into their house and private lives through the floor-to-ceiling curtainless windows. Her obsession with Jemma, who’s everything Chloe isn’t, grows daily, as do her suspicions that something is deadly wrong in that household and marriage. Convinced it’s up to her to stop a potential tragedy, Chloe begins recording her observations in her journal, including Jemma’s habitual early morning swims in the bay. She’s there on the beach the foggy morning a woman is intentionally run down by a jet ski while swimming in the bay. Ignoring her mother’s repeated warnings, Chloe calls in an anonymous tip to the police, unknowingly opening Pandora’s Box and setting a chain of events into motion that quickly spirals out of her control.

The Swimmer is rendered through multiple points of view and dual timelines, including a true crime podcast hosted by Trinity Scott from Beneath Devil’s Bridge fame. The author utilizes short chapters with mini cliffhangers to drive a maddening, breathtaking pace forward through a cleverly twisted, multilayered plot line laden with ominous vibes and relentless drama. Layer by layer, the author manipulates characters and readers with shocking, never-see-that-coming revelations that had this reader neglecting daily duties to finish the book. The dismal, constricted setting lends itself to the overall feeling of confinement as well as the paranoia suffered by the main character. White’s brilliant signature characterizations afford readers authentic, in-depth characters to either love, hate, or feel sorry for, and her command of the overall story is reminiscent of an expert conductor directing an orchestra.

Magnificently written and delivered, The Swimmer is Loreth Anne White’s finest piece of work to date, and that’s saying a mouthful. I highly recommend the audiobook narrated by Reba Buhr, who knocks it out of the park, giving voice to numerous characters with different dialects. The Swimmer, a story of obsession, loneliness, secrets, lies, betrayal, and revenge, is on this reader’s brief list of the best of 2024. Highly recommended to fans of suspense thrillers that leave you reeling!