The Killer in Me
Author: Margot Harrison
Genre: YA Mystery/Thriller
Release Date: July 12, 2016
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Author: Margot Harrison
Genre: YA Mystery/Thriller
Release Date: July 12, 2016
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Rating: 5 Stars!
Synopsis:
Hasn't he lived long enough? Why not? I could take him like a thief in the night.
This is how the Thief thinks. He serves death, the vacuum, the unknown. He’s always waiting. Always there.
Seventeen-year-old Nina Barrows knows all about the Thief. She’s intimately familiar with his hunting methods: how he stalks and kills at random, how he disposes of his victims’ bodies in an abandoned mine in the deepest, most desolate part of a desert.
Now, for the first time, Nina has the chance to do something about the serial killer that no one else knows exists. With the help of her former best friend, Warren, she tracks the Thief two thousand miles, to his home turf—the deserts of New Mexico.
But the man she meets there seems nothing like the brutal sociopath with whom she’s had a disturbing connection her whole life. To anyone else, Dylan Shadwell is exactly what he appears to be: a young veteran committed to his girlfriend and her young daughter. As Nina spends more time with him, she begins to doubt the truth she once held as certain: Dylan Shadwell is the Thief. She even starts to wonder . . . what if there is no Thief?
The Killer in Me is a deliciously creepy thrill ride that will keep readers guessing until the very end. I love thrillers and mysteries that keep me on my toes - and if you add any kind of strange or scary aspects to that - you have my ideal novel. As soon as I read the description for this book, I wanted to read it desperately. It sounded exactly like my kind of book and I couldn't wait to see how things would go in the story. I'm so glad to say that this novel lived up to all of my hopes and then some.
I truly enjoyed every aspect of this book. The characters were well rounded with their own personalities and traits - especially Nina, the main character. I really liked Nina and clicked with her almost immediately. She's a smart, down to earth, honor student in high school - she doesn't have many friends and but is fiercely loyal to the ones she does have, as well as her mom. Her character was like reading about myself in high school (minus the crazy serial killer issues), which is why I bonded with her so early on. Another reason that I loved both Nina's character and the novel, is the author's choice of writing style. The story is told from the first person point of view - from Nina's perspective. I'm a huge fan of the first person POV because of the deep connection it allows the reader to have with the narrator. We get to experience the book from Nina's vantage point and it felt as if I was right beside her throughout the entire story.
The rest of the book was incredible - from the fantastic use of detail and vivid imagery to the twisted plot that kept me guessing - and everything in between. I love trying to figure out thrillers and mysteries before the characters do, and when I can't do that - then I know I've found true talent. That's exactly what happened with this novel - the twists and turns kept coming and every theory I came up with got knocked down. It was awesome. I don't do spoilers or anything close to them in my reviews, so I can't go into any real details about the plot. I definitely wouldn't want to blow the entire story for anyone! Trust me when I say that it's unexpected and definitely catches you off guard. Another thing that really got me was when I found out that this was the author's debut novel. There's absolutely nothing in the book that would give that away - it was fantastic and you definitely see the author's talent shine through. I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye out for news of her next novel! Overall, it was an amazing book, in my opinion, and I can't recommend it highly enough to fans of the genre as well as readers looking for something a bit darker than the normal mystery novel.
Follow the The Killer In Me by Margot Harrison Blog Tour and don't miss anything! Click on the banner to see the tour schedule.
I was raised in the wilds of New York by lovely, nonviolent parents who somehow never managed to prevent me from staying up late to read scary books. I now work at an alt-weekly newspaper in Vermont, where my favorite part of the job is, of course, reviewing scary books and movies. The Killer in Me is my first novel.
