Review: Dear Killer by Katherine Ewell

Dear Killer
Author: Katherine Ewell
Release Date: April 1, 2014
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Source: Edelweiss
Review by: Jenn

Synopsis: 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.

2 stars out of 5 stars

*I received an eARC of this book from the publisher but it did not influence this review in any way*

This book had so much potential but unfortunately, for me it did not measure up. When I read the synopsis, the main character, Kit, reminded me a bit of Throne of Glass's Celaena Sardothien. They're both killers/assassin and Celaena's back story is so intense that I was excited about hopefully finding another character like her. However, Kit left me severely disappointed.

Kit is an awkward 17-year-old but to make things interesting, she's a 17 year-old serial killer. On top of that, she's a very famous serial killer but strangely enough, she's very cocky and reckless. She inserts herself in the "Perfect Killer" investigation helping out the detective that is in charge of her case and she befriends her potential victims. For someone who was taught to be be careful, she committed a lot of rookie mistakes. 

On top of the fact that I couldn't click with Kit, there were some plot holes that had me questioning the story lines. Normally, I'm not one to really pick up on plot holes because I'm so immersed in what is happening that I just overlook them, but in this book, I found several. Like, how did the police not know where Kit gets her "mail" from considering every one know how get in contact with her? She's been getting her mail from there for years and not one police officer has figured it out? And how is a 25 year-old detective in charged of such a high profile case? It feels like such a convenient tool to create a love interest in a book that had nothing to do with romance. 

I have to admit that I wrote the majority of this review while still reading Dear Killer, in fact, I was only 26% into the book. I was contemplating whether or not to Did Not Finish but I wanted to know how it would end. I guess I was just hoping to be proved wrong, that the book was going to get better. However, it just left a lot to be desired and I was even warned that the ending would be disappointing. Unfortunately, I was unable to click with Kit and had trouble just believing how convenient everything worked out.