Title: Bad Men
Author: Julie Mae Cohen
Genre: Crime/ Thriller
Publisher: Zaffre
Pages: 368
Release Date: 20 July 2023
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Hello fellow booklovers! I'm back with a review for Bad Men by Julie Mae Cohen. A wickedly dark and utterly addictive thriller which follows charismatic, serial killing socialite, Saffy Huntley-Oliver, who likes to punish bad men.
Synopsis
It's a tough job, but someone's got to kill them...
Saffy has a secret. A secret that she is deeply ashamed of. It's not the fact that she's a serial killer in her free time. In fact, she's quite proud of that. After all she's only killing the bad men. She is making the world a better place.
No, her secret is far worse than that. Saffy has a messy, inexplicable, uncontrollable crush. So while she's busy plotting her next murder, she also has the much harder task of figuring out how to get a boyfriend.
But if there's one thing Saffy knows, it's how to get her man . . .
Review
I haven’t binge read a book this quickly in AGES—I absolutely loved it! Part Rom-com and part feminist revenge thriller, Julie Mae Cohen expertly delves into issues and themes (such as Pedophilia, Rape, sexual assault and domestic abuse) that are soo rage inducingly relevant it wasn’t difficult understand Saffy’s (admittedly twisted) reasons for killing.
The opening chapters, which paint a heartbreakingly bleak backstory for Saffy, only endeared her to me more, and (despite her unrepentant, serial killing tendencies) actually had me rooting for her, which was definitely a surprise. And her dark sense of humour and Dexter-like quest for justice only made me like her more.
Her love interest, Jon was also a really compelling character whose own moral values and desire for justice stands in direct contrast to Saffy’s. His interactions with Saffy were interesting (if a little nerve wrecking at times) though I did enjoy them. I was actually quite surprised by how much time we get with him as a character but, the mystery he’s found himself tangled up in was super intriguing and gave us a glimpse into his own personal obsessions. Also, I can’t forget his dog, Girl who was an absolute sweetheart and who’s blatant side eyeing (mostly of Saffy) was simply perfect!
This is a dual POV story so we do alternate between Saffy and Jon’s POV (which I really enjoyed) but we also explore the struggles that being a public figure can entail, like the unhealthy and sometimes obsessive nature parasocial relationships can have, or the dangers that can arise from it — especially when said fandom revolves around unsolved murder cases and the glamorising of serial killers.
I would’ve liked to have seen a bit more of Saffy’s serial killing side, which we don’t get to explore nearly enough of, but we get plenty of (cleverly hidden) clues and foreshadowing throughout that does sort of make up for it. I also really enjoyed the ending which was soo plot twisty.
If you loved How To Kill Men and Get Away With It or Death of A Bookseller then you definitely don’t want to miss this—it’s phenomenal!
Also a huge thank you to CaseyAnn and Zaffre for the physical proof
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5