sprinklesofspooky's review
4.0
This twisty, multi-POV thriller had a fast pace and red herrings galore. While I guessed (correctly) the final twist, many more were unseen.
•Plot: “After years of struggling to write following the deaths of his wife and son, English professor Connor Nye publishes his first novel, a thriller about the murder of a young woman.
There’s just one problem: Connor didn’t write the book. His missing student did. And then she appears on his doorstep, alive and well, threatening to expose him.
Connor’s problems escalate when the police insist details in the novel implicate him in an unsolved murder from two years ago. Soon Connor discovers the crime is part of a disturbing scandal on campus and faces an impossible dilemma—admit he didn’t write the book and lose his job or keep up the lie and risk everything. When another murder occurs, Connor must clear his name by unraveling the horrifying secrets buried in his student’s manuscript.
This is a suspenseful, provocative novel about the sexual harassment that still runs rampant in academia—and the lengths those in power will go to cover it up.”
•Thoughts: I did enjoy reading this twisty thriller, but I did guess the final twist and I expect other genre stans will do the same. I also LOVE an unreliable narrator, and the reader definitely has one in Connor.
Definitely worth a read, but I’m not raving about this one.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3.75 rounded to 4) I just feel so ambivalent about this even though I did enjoy reading it.
**Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Berkley, for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest review. My opinions are my own.**
•Plot: “After years of struggling to write following the deaths of his wife and son, English professor Connor Nye publishes his first novel, a thriller about the murder of a young woman.
There’s just one problem: Connor didn’t write the book. His missing student did. And then she appears on his doorstep, alive and well, threatening to expose him.
Connor’s problems escalate when the police insist details in the novel implicate him in an unsolved murder from two years ago. Soon Connor discovers the crime is part of a disturbing scandal on campus and faces an impossible dilemma—admit he didn’t write the book and lose his job or keep up the lie and risk everything. When another murder occurs, Connor must clear his name by unraveling the horrifying secrets buried in his student’s manuscript.
This is a suspenseful, provocative novel about the sexual harassment that still runs rampant in academia—and the lengths those in power will go to cover it up.”
•Thoughts: I did enjoy reading this twisty thriller, but I did guess the final twist and I expect other genre stans will do the same. I also LOVE an unreliable narrator, and the reader definitely has one in Connor.
Definitely worth a read, but I’m not raving about this one.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3.75 rounded to 4) I just feel so ambivalent about this even though I did enjoy reading it.
**Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Berkley, for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest review. My opinions are my own.**
katekate_reads_'s review
3.0
Kill All Your Darlings has a great premise but the execution fell flat for me. Connor is a college professor who had been given a hand written manuscript by one of his students right before she disappeared. When everyone assumed she was dead, Connor passed off the work as his own. It was published and became an instant hit! But then the police showed up because a murder in the story has details that line up a little too closely with an actual unsolved case.
At this point I was all in and very interested to see where things would go. However it got pretty windy and long in the middle. So many characters believed in ways that made no sense to me it was really hard for me to buy into the final resolution.
Thank you to Berkley and Netgalley for the advance reading copy.
At this point I was all in and very interested to see where things would go. However it got pretty windy and long in the middle. So many characters believed in ways that made no sense to me it was really hard for me to buy into the final resolution.
Thank you to Berkley and Netgalley for the advance reading copy.
the_jamae_way's review
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
lizbetweenthelines's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
bloomandgloom's review
3.0
Unfortunately, this wasn't a great read for me. So much of the plot was unnecessary. So many facts about characters that had nothing to do with the plot. The twist at the end wasn't great. It was telegraphed by the previous twist. I like David Bell's other books so I feel bad giving it a 2 star so I rounded up to a 3 star rating. The amount of times a character brings up injustices against women took me out of the book. If this was a professor of criminal justice or female/gender/equity studies, it would make sense but they weren't. Every character would bring it up for no other reason. It came off like a sleazy guy trying to act like he cares about women so he can sleep with them. No one made any actual points about it, just statistics. Which leads me to my next issue, the only male characters in the book that weren't assholes or creeps are the MC's son and his dog. Everyone else was creepy, sleazy, or downright awful which made me roll my eyes as well. Instead of spouting statistics about women being victims, write a plot that shows a woman being empowered. Treating them like survivors and not victims gives them dignity and agency not whatever the hell this was.