How To Kill Men and Get Away With It by Katy Brent Review

Title: How To Kill Men and Get Away With It

Author: Katy Brent

Genre: Satirical Thriller/Rom-Com

Publisher: HQ

Pages: 352

Release Date: 12 October 2022 (e-book), 16 February 2023 (Paperback)

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Hello fellow book lovers, today I'm sharing my review for Katy Brent's deliciously dark and utterly addictive satirical thriller, How To Kill Men and Get Away With It. Which sees a social media influencer turn serial killer after being sexually harassed one too many times after a night out with friends.

 

Synopsis

 

Meet Kitty Collins.

FRIEND. LOVER. KILLER.

Have you ever walked home at night, keys in hand, ready to throw a punch in self-defence? That’s how it all started. The killing spree, I mean.

I sort of tripped into this role… Literally. The first one was following me. That guy from the nightclub who wouldn’t leave me alone. I pushed him, he stumbled, and fell onto his own broken wine bottle. Oops. It was such a waste of a good house white.

But now I can’t seem to stop and nor do I want to… I’ve got a taste for revenge and quite frankly, I’m killing it.

Review

The Made In Chelsea meets Dexter premise was such a refreshing change from all the usual thrillers—and the protagonist, our Vegan social influencer Kitty Collins was such a loveable character (despite her serial killing inclinations) and her dark sense of humour paired with her self deprecating manner and observational skills really had me rooting for her the entire time—which definitely surprised me.

If you ever watched an episode of Made In Chelsea then you’ll certainly recognise the personalities and kind of lives Kitty and her influencer clique lead, with a social calendar filled with soirées, charity events, and glamorous spur of the moment holidays. It’s a lifestyle that Kitty utilises to perfection and I enjoyed how much it contrasted with the grim (and often pretty graphic) murders that Kitty orchestrates. If you loved girl boss assassin, Villanelle from Killing Eve (and her fairly laissez faire attitude to murder) then you’re going to really enjoy this!

Though it's satisfyingly funny (in a darkly humourous kind of way), Brent’s startlingly relevant social commentary also really sheds a light on the ongoing violence towards women, and the toxicity of a society that would rather judge victims than try to protect them.

The pacing was fairly quick (I managed to finish it in a single evening) and there’s plenty of twists to keep you engaged. I was genuinely surprised by the identity of Kitty’s stalker, which is always great (I dislike when I can easily guess the identity of mystery characters) but I was a tiny bit disappointed as I had my heart set on it being someone else. Other than that it was a well written and expertly plotted book that I genuinely enjoyed.

As it does take some similarities from Dexter you can expected ALOT of gory details and hard hitting themes to be explored, with TW for: graphic violence, murder,death, body mutilation, rape, drug and alcohol use and domestic abuse-so do bear that in mind if you decide to pick this up.

A smart and utterly addictive satirical thriller that I literally didn’t want to put down! Definitely a must read for fans of My Sister The Serial Killer, How To Kill Your Family, Killing Eve or Dexter.

Also, a massive thank you to Readers First and HQ stories for the incredible ARC.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

About The Author 

Katy Brent is a freelance journalist and has been in the industry for over fifteen years. She started work in women's magazines back in 2005. In 2006, Katy won a PTA award for New Journalist of the Year. More recently she has focused on television journalism. Writing a book has always been her dream and lockdown finally gave the time she kept using as an excuse for not doing it. How To Kill Men and Get Away With It is her first novel.

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