Dear Killer

Dear Killer by Katherine Ewell

Rating: 4/5 Worlds

Symbiosis: 

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. Katherine Ewell’s Dear Killer is a sinister psychological thriller that explores the thin line between good and evil, and the messiness of that inevitable moment when life contradicts everything you believe.

Review:

"Except," the third girl chimed in, "I heard this awful rumor. There's this one girl, I hear, who keeps on smiling about it." This wasn't Kit, nope, it was about Maggie, but it shows how twisted some people could be. First point. THIS BOOK MADE ME CRY. Well almost. I was close to crying, but I was in public so I refrained.

Basically, it's about this girl, Kit. She's a serial killer. She takes letters from people requesting that they kill someone. Maggie is a pretty big character as well. Maggie is Kit's friend, but only because Kit got a letter to kill her, and ended up becoming friends. Kit's mother is a big character, along with Alex. Overall - this book is good but.... there are some big plot holes.

There's one main thing I'd like to talk about: Kit and her mother's psychotic need for killing. I feel it definitely was a big part of the novel, but at some times this way that Kit acted was a little weird. She literally was thinking in her mind, let's be all sweet so they don't suspect me. That was odd.  During one point her mother yells at her, and she starts crying. It's weird because earlier on she was all confident around her mother, and it seemed like a more change of her personality that didn't fit. I did like her overall though. She was definitely an intriguing character, but the author really needed a clear viewpoint on what she was like.

The main problem is that Kit apparently has been killing for a while and eventually is curious and gets closer to the police and actually aids them a bit in finding her. The story had some slow points, and she really didn't seem to do much. I did like how she did some of the scenes in the story, but it also had some parts where I was left hanging. 

My favorite character was Maggie, even though she was a little weird. Maggie is a friend of Kit, who had actually gotten a letter to kill Maggie. Maggie was a little weird, and was an outsider. Some things had happened to her, and it was a little odd listening to her, because you don't get to the exact story until far into the story. The only problem I had with her was the one part where she was happy when someone died. (Trying not to spoil!) It was a little unnerving that even though it was horrible that the person was dead, she was laughing. Before all that though, she was my favorite character, even if she was a bit naive and weird.

Now, are any of the characters like me? I love relating characters to me, but I really don't want to with this story. She kills people and I just don't want to relate myself to a person that is a murderer. Even if it is just a character. I will say I am a bit like Maggie, as we're both a little odd, but overall most of these characters were very different than me.

My favorite part of the book was the ending, which was really action packed, and just really interesting. It went fast, but not too fast. I'm trying really hard not to spoil, but I have to say that at the ending I was literally walking around my house ranting.

My least favorite part is a huge spoiler... so I'll put it in a spoiler tag. Highlight to view! When Maggie died I was really upset. She was my favorite character, and I thought it was a little odd that Kit killed her. Kit didn't really HAVE to kill Maggie, and I just find it like obsessive that she killed Maggie, after they were friends and everything. It was interesting to see how Maggie had reacted to Kit's 'Diana' and overall put an almost horror vibe on the story for me. 

Now, there is another part of the book I have problems with. Alex is with the police, and it bothers me that the police were so stupid. The didn't collect evidence, and didn't look for the obvious things. This is a HUGE problem for me, and I wanted to scream at the author for not working on this part in the story. It was also hard because Alex and the police played a vital part in the story, and with them being so stupid, it really was just... Not realistic. This is definitely a letdown for me, and was probably one of the biggest reasons this book is Four Worlds and not Five.

I would change a few things in this book, but overall it was pretty good. I really liked the idea, and the author wrote it very well. I would recommend this book, but you'd have to be okay with some missing plot chunks. There is great action, and quite a lot of killing. You see a sort of psychotic world, and it over all has a horror vibe. The plot holes and problems do stand out, but if you overcome this, the book is awesome! Leave a comment below telling me your thoughts on this book, or what you think about a young adult murderer!

In a murderer filled world, Natasha