Book Review – The Kind Worth Killing

The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson
Narrator: Johnny Heller, Karen White, Kathleen Early, Keith Szarabajka
Published by HarperCollins on February 3rd 2015
Length: 10 hours 18 minutes
Genres: Literary, Suspense, Thrillers
Pages: 320
Format: Audiobook
Goodreads

“Shares a lot of Gone Girl’s hallmarks but cranks up the volume . . . ”—Entertainment Weekly

On a flight from London to Boston, Ted Severson meets the stunning Lily Kintner. Over martinis, the strangers play a game in which they reveal intimate details about themselves. But what begins as playful banter between Ted and Lily takes a turn when Ted claims, half-seriously, that he would like to kill his wife. Then Lily surprises him by saying that she’d like to help. Back in Boston, Ted and Lily forge an unusual bond and talk about the ways Ted can get out of his marriage. But Lily has her own dark history she’s not sharing with Ted. As Ted begins to fall in love with Lily, he grows anxious about any holes in their scheme that could give them away. And suddenly the two are pulled into a very lethal game of cat and mouse, one in which both are not likely to survive when all is said and done.“[It] would have made a great Hitchcock movie.”—Fort Worth Star-Telegram“Extraordinarily well-written.”—Nelson DeMille

 

Lynn’s Review:

Honestly, I don’t even know where to begin with this review. The plot is way too complicated to summarize without spoiling any details. The story is told from the point of view of four different narrators. I am not even sure which one is the main characters. All I’m sure of is that I kind of liked The Kind Worth Killing.  I’m going to call this review mildly spoiler-y. Fair warning.

I’ll start with the easy stuff. Four narrators to tackle the four different points of view. I appreciated this. The audio made it easier to keep track of the narrator. The book was well-written. I imagine it took some careful organization to keep the plot lines straight. As for the characters, I had no empathy for them. Not a one. I made the executive decision that the main character is Lily, as it is her story that we get the most of. This starts with the current story of meeting Ted at an airport bar in London. The story proceeds to Lily’s younger self with flash-backs. And we really don’t see the other characters outside of the current storyline. 

Now, the difficult stuff. And the spoiler-y stuff. The main plot premise is whether or not it’s ok to kill the people who have wronged you. Honestly, after reading The Kind Worth Killing, I don’t know the answer to that question. And this isn’t really the place for the moral discussion. I think this point is the most interesting point of the book. The suspense. The will they get caught. Will they get away with it.

In the end, I didn’t love the book. But I didn’t hate it. Moral ambiguity isn’t really my cup of tea. I don’t know if I would have read this book on my own. But as a book club selection, this is an excellent choice. Lots of topics for discussion. 

 

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