Skip to main content

Book Review: The Kind Worth Killing

THE KIND WORTH KILLING by Peter Swanson
4 Stars
Verdict: Light and thrilling, with darkness and killing.


Two strangers meet in a airport bar and plot to kill a cheating wife. It starts fast and builds steadily, with a clever plot and devious characters. There are a couple of truly unpredictable moments making it a very entertaining read.

In a book full of unethical characters, I’m surprised I found a character to root for. But I did. I felt sorry for Lilly, and I felt like she had logical reasoning behind her actions. Not that would hold up in court, mind you, but enough so that I wanted her to succeed, and I didn’t want her to get caught.

Ted surprised me a lot. He seemed innocent and normal at first, but every character in this book has darkness in their past (and present). The book opens with a promise of murder, but it's getting to know the characters and their reasons for why they ended up where they are now which really drew me in.

I found the book fascinating: the characters, the plot, the motives… The prose on the other hand is a little bland, yet I still found it almost impossible to put down.

Overall, it’s a really good book. I’m not gushing over it, but I would recommend it to anyone in the mood for a thriller.

Source: Bought this one for the shelf!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Book Review: Children of Blood and Bone

CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE by Tomi Adeyemi 5 Stars Verdict: So good it hurts. The night magic died, Zélie watched her mother's murder as the Maji were slaughtered. Now Zélie has a chance to bring back magic. With the help of her brother and a rogue princess, she must outrun the crown prince and battle her self-doubts to restore magic to the world. This West-African inspired fantasy is powerful and all round awesome from start to finish. The writing is emotive and imaginative, the pacing is as perfect as it gets, and the characters are real with flaws and charm. I hardly know what to say. A brilliant book like this tells the editor in me to shut up and enjoy the ride, so I'd need to read it again to offer more of a critique. If every book was as good as this one, I would never be able to stop reading. The struggles, anger, and pain are carved into this book so deeply that the desires bleed through the pages and the triumphs feel earned. The emotion in this book is ...

Book Review: The Astonishing Colour of After

THE ASTONISHING COLOUR OF AFTER by Emily X.R. Pan 4 Stars Verdict : A synesthesiastic tale of dealing with loss. When Leigh's mother commits suicide, she visits Leigh as a bright red bird. Leigh follows her mother's memories to Taiwan to meet her grandparents for the first time and to try to understand her mother's passing. For a book so sad, it's very colourful. Leigh often shares her emotions as colours and it works very well, especially as the book travels through a whole river of emotions. It shows a battle lost, families broken, and the dark struggles of depression through the lives of Leigh and her family. To anyone affected by depression and suicide, this book contains those triggers. I felt it handled these themes with tender care and respect, without glamorising suicide or mental illness. The author also went to great lengths to portray a single instance of depression, and even clarifies at the end note that the story isn't mean to explain away d...

Book Review: Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

FOREST OF A THOUSAND LANTERNS by Julie Dao 5 Stars Verdict: Rich, gradual, and gory. Xiefeng is destined to be Empress of Feng Lu, but only if she lets the darkness guide her... I’ll admit, I can only read one high fantasy story a year and it has to really stand out. In this case, the East-Asia mythology aspect of this one drew me in within an instant. The darkness of the story, the unconventional twists in the relationships, and the gorgeous writing had me slithering through this book slower to enjoy it for longer. I always know a book has me where it wants me as soon as I stop counting pages. Xiefeng is an antihero I could get behind. She’s jealous, selfish, righteous – but her desires, suffering, and efforts and so strong, I rooted for her all the same. For a writer to make me like someone who is morally grey is a kind of magic I want to understand more. There’s no crescendo for this book. No huge twist or gut-wrenching moment which turns the book back on itself. That’...