Every Vow You Break: A Novel

Peter Swanson’s novel operates squarely within the tradition of the Hitchcockian psychological thriller, a genre defined by suspense, paranoia, and the systematic distortion of a protagonist’s reality. Alfred Hitchcock’s films often feature ordinary individuals caught in extraordinary circumstances, where trust is precarious and psychological manipulation, or gaslighting, is a central threat. In Every Vow You Break, Abigail Baskin embodies this archetype. Her idyllic honeymoon transforms into a nightmare as the resort staff and her own husband conspire to make her question her sanity, particularly after she witnesses a disturbing event. The narrative’s deep engagement with this tradition is made explicit through its use of intertextuality, specifically with Hitchcock’s 1958 film Vertigo.

In the film, a man named Scottie becomes obsessed with a mysterious woman, Madeleine, and later tries to remake another woman in her image. The story is a complex exploration of male obsession, identity, and deceit. Swanson uses this film as a thematic blueprint when Abigail’s one-night stand suggests they adopt the aliases: he calls her “Madeline,” so she calls him “Scottie” (36). This seemingly playful reference foreshadows the novel’s central conflict. Just as Scottie manipulates a woman to satisfy his obsessive fantasy, Bruce orchestrates an elaborate “fidelity test” to ensure Abigail conforms to his ideal. The allusion is not merely an homage; it is a critical narrative key that alerts the reader to the themes of toxic control and deceptive performance that drive the plot, firmly rooting the novel in Hitchcock’s psychological landscape.