ARC Book Review | Dear Killer by Katherine Ewell

 

Format: e-ARC

Source: Publisher via Edelweiss

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Publication Date: April 1, 2014

Goodreads

 

 

 

 

Rule One—Nothing is right, nothing is wrong.
Rule Two—Be careful.
Rule Three—Fight using your legs whenever possible, because they’re the strongest part of your body. Your arms are the weakest.
Rule Four—Hit to kill. The first blow should be the last, if at all possible.
Rule Five—The letters are the law.

Kit takes her role as London’s notorious “Perfect Killer” seriously. The letters and cash that come to her via a secret mailbox are not a game; choosing who to kill is not an impulse decision. Every letter she receives begins with “Dear Killer,” and every time Kit murders, she leaves a letter with the dead body. Her moral nihilism and thus her murders are a way of life—the only way of life she has ever known.

But when a letter appears in the mailbox that will have the power to topple Kit’s convictions as perfectly as she commits her murders, she must make a decision: follow the only rules she has ever known, or challenge Rule One, and go from there.

Katherine Ewell’s Dear Killer is a sinister psychological thriller that explores the thin line between good and evil, and the messiness of that inevitable moment when life contradicts everything you believe.

 

My Thoughts

To say that Kit is a normal seventeen year old girl with an ordinary upbringing is the understatement of the year. Kit is a student by day and Diana, the Perfect Killer by night. Her mother was also a serial killer back in the day and she taught Kit everything she knew about killing when she 'retired'. Kit has made herself famous in London by her perfect killings and her signature letter found near the victims’ bodies.

But Kit isn't an ordinary serial killer, she's an assassin. She has a 'mailbox' that she uses for requests. Anyone who knows where it's located can drop a letter in it saying who they want dead, add some cash with their request and hope the Perfect Killer will take the job.

Kit was a really interesting character to say the least. If I didn't know that she was a killer from the title and summary of the book, I would have guessed something was off about her anyway from her behavior. I think she may have some type of mental disability going on, split personality maybe? I don't know, but something was definitely off about that girl. I kind of liked Alex, even though he was extremely clueless. I don't know how many times that I shook my head because he just didn't GET IT.

Overall, Dear Killer is a really unique and interesting read. I do feel like it could have been so much more though. I know it's hard to feel any type of sympathy or connection with a serial killer but it can be done. Just look at Celeana from Throne of Glass, or Gin from the Elemental Assassin series. I was really hoping that she would change and not do the thing that she had been planning for a while, but unfortunately it still happen. It's like Kit was completely empty inside and I feel like that's where this book fell short.