*This book was read and reviewed voluntarily. Possible spoilers ahead.

I’m not a big reader of mysteries and thrillers, but the title of this one got me here. How to Kill Men and Get Away With It by Katy Brent is a gripping page-turner you just can’t tear your eyes from.

About How to Kill Men and Get Away With It

Meet Kitty Collins:

• Instagram influencer
• Best friend
• Lover
• Fashionista
• Coffee lover
• Vegan
• Killer

Kitty is also the daughter of a pig slaughterhouse owner, spending her life watching pigs grotesquely meet their end. Even though her father disappeared when she was young, and her mother fled to the south of France shortly after.

Kitty’s life is actually pretty normal, filled with parties she hates going to, brunch with three of her best friends (who are also Instagram influencers and anorexics), and a lavish life courtesy of her mother’s generous allowance each month despite their strained relationship.

Oh, and then there is her lack of a good man in her life. So maybe everything isn’t as perfect as everyone thinks…

Kitty, who was betrayed in a past relationship, holds bitterness around men, especially men who do harsh things to women. So when she leaves a bar after a night out with her friends, she’s pursued by a man who just couldn’t take no for an answer. He offers up a bottle of wine for them to share, which ultimately ends up shattered on the street.

While defending herself from his unwanted advances, he falls onto broken glass and bleeds out. When she leaves the scene, feeling no remorse or guilt, the cops rule it an accident. But on that night, she recognizes her new calling.

As she starts killing her way through the harsh men of London, she meets a man she falls in love with. Will his presence ruin her plans, or will she slip up along the way?

My Honest Review

Photo Credit: HQ Digital & Katy Brent

A dark rom-com thriller that alarmingly draws you in from the beginning.

Kitty is a vegan Dexter-esque fashionista haunted by a dark past that seems to bleed into her present. Her particular strength in man-hating has fueled her passion for a man-hunt through London, but obviously, she has her own set of rules. Lucky for Kitty, finding these men comes easy as there is an abundance of them, many of which she discovered on the news or Tinder.

The story starts hard and fast, with Kitty performing her very first kill, detailing what it’s like to see the light leave a man’s eyes as she strangles him to death. From then on, Kitty is poised to kill the cruel men doing unspeakable things to women, intending to make the world a safer place by purging it of the very worst of men.

Obviously, she knows it’s not all men when she meets a young Charlie Chambers, and he turns her world upside down. But even Charlie’s presence isn’t enough to erase the evil still stalking women on the streets of London. Kitty knows she has work to do still. Oh, and then there’s the cyberstalker who seems to know her every move.

Brent notes after her epilogue that How to Kill Men and Get Away With It sprouted during the first waves of the #MeToo movement, but she didn’t write the novel straight away. One of her major notes to herself during conceptualization was, “What if women snapped back?”

This novel will leave you rooting for the main character, even when you feel like you shouldn’t. Kitty is the definition of a Byronic Hero, doing what’s wrong for the sake of all things good.

I recommend this book to readers who love comedy, mystery, romance, and a lot of thrill.

Quotes from How to Kill Men and Get Away With It

“Humour, but also enough to suggest my extreme vulnerability. Because nothing attracts hideous fuckboys like a woman with low self-esteem.”

“He doesn’t look like a monster though. But they don’t, do they? Otherwise, they’d never get the opportunity to be monsters.”

“A man-hating, vegan serial killer is actually lecturing me about needing to get help.”

When Does How to Kill Men and Get Away With It Come Out?

How to Kill Men and Get Away With It is scheduled to be released on May 9, 2023, in paperback. But is available on Kindle on October 12, 2022.