The Killing Kind by Jane Casey

I would like to thank Anne from Random Things Tours and HarperCollins for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – HarperCollins

Published – Out Now

Price - £8.99 paperback £0.99 Kindle eBook

Ingrid will never forget what John did.
The people he hurt. The way he lied about it soeasily. The way she defended him.

Now he’s back.
He says a murderer is after her. He says only he can protect her.

Would you trust him?
The clock is ticking for Ingrid to decide. Because the killer is ready to strike…

One of the attractions of a thriller is when you watch someone suddenly realise that they’re way out of their depth. When the rules will no longer protect someone; and their emotional state after that realisation means that they may not always be making the best choices. The joy then for the reader is watching how the characters respond and try to get things back under control. In Jane Casey’s thrilling The Killing Kind we get ourselves wrapped in a mystery of secrets, lies and multiple suspects all finally coming out in the open with devastating consequences.

Ingrid Lewis is a barrister whose last few years have been life-changing in the worst possible way; she is now constantly looking over her shoulder, mindful of mystery phone calls, constantly worried about being watched and carrying painful memories of her old life. She has been stalked by John Webster who was a former client she herself helped get cleared of a stalking charge. She soon realised that Webster once he latches onto someone sees it as a mission, game, and a delight to slowly control his prey’s life taking it apart piece by piece. More recently Ingrid has got her career and life back on track when one day at court a colleague borrows Ingrid’s very colourful umbrella and then is found dead in a strange road traffic accident. Ingrid suspects that her stalker is escalating but he claims he is aware that someone else is involved. Whoever is responsible they clearly want Ingrid to suffer; and their games are about to get even deadlier.

This is an incredibly strong and addictive read as we follow Ingrid telling us her story. What makes it work is firstly Ingrid herself – she is scarred from the past few years, fearful and yet we also see someone funny, astute and when things need to pushed will see it through to the bitter end. One thing I really liked about her is that she is also a lot more self-aware than most thriller heroes. She knows that her younger self may have been a little too focused on her career so that justice may not always have been best served. Casey though makes a great use of showing us the way the events that then occurred changed Ingrid a lot and this acknowledgement that how she has changed (for good and bad) makes her a character we quickly sympathise with as well as we want to know what happened in the last few years helped by a few flashback and choice sentences help dangle a gruesome mystery to solve. I also liked how Casey uses Ingrid’s role in court cases to explore wider issues such as how the law treats stalking and sexual assault or rape accusations which reveal the implicit biases in the court system and wider police force with Ingrid herself questioning exactly when things be deemed to have finally gone too far for those trying to get justice.

The other really effective piece of this story is how we sense something is really not adding up but do not feel at any time either cheated or given too easy a mystery to solve. The plotting here is really well delivered with many sprinklings of curveballs, scenes of tension and also tenderness that constantly keep the reader trying to work out what is going on and who is to be believed. Into which enters the enigmatic John Webster who we immediately know is both someone we can’t trust but also that they are very very dangerous each time they appear on the page you find yourself waiting for the inevitable betrayal but also have a sneaking suspicion they know a lot more about what is going on than anyone else. His reappearance plus the other strange events that happen around Ingrid make for a very intoxicating mix of mystery and suspense.

This is a very satisfying thriller that uses its main characters and story to full effect to create a puzzle that does take time to put together and yet is well paced and never dull. My first exposure to Casey’s work but I cannot wait to read more by them in the future.