Thursday 24 April 2014

Dear Killer by Katherine Ewell

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Pages: 359
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Released: 1st of April 2014

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.

What I Have To Say

This is the book I'm currently in love with. It started when I saw the beautiful cover. The design, the colours, just everything about it is so perfect. 

And the story. I love stories from the point of view of people who would usually be seen as the villain. Serial killers and the thoughts they have, what makes them kill, all that stuff interests me so much. The exploration of moral nihilism and the way that Kit and her mother use it to justify their killing just adds to my interest.

Kit also has a really cool voice. I liked how the fact that she was a killer was woven so deeply into everything she did and said, because that's all she knows! It really made me feel sorry for her that she's never able to have a normal life.

There's only one criticism I have for the book. And that's the Americanisms. I know that it must be hard for American authors to write about English characters and settings, but it really jolted me out of the story when she talked about school desks that opened. Or how something is "as boring as oatmeal". I mean oatmeal is porridge right? How is porridge boring!? You can add all sorts to it!

I just can't get over how much I love this book. Some read it so I have someone to talk to about it. 

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