Devi Nair
đ±đ Read on Kindle đ 384 pages â± 5 hours đ·ïž Publisher: Atria Books ARC provided by NetGalley
If you loved the unsettling charm of My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite or the biting edge of Too Old for This by Samantha Downing, this book will feel familiar in the best way. This one fits squarely in that âcomedic crime with a body countâ niche thatâs been rising lately, and M. K. Oliver really understands the assignment. The writing pops, the pacing is tight, and the humor seeps through even the grimmest scenes. Lallaâs internal monologue had me simultaneously cringing and admiring her efficiency. First-person narration. Morally questionable decisions. A protagonist who is self-aware enough to be funny and detached enough to be terrifying. âSeven consecutive stabbingsâ shouldnât be funny, but somehow, it is.
My issue wasnât the craft. It was me. Iâve realized something important about myself as a reader: dark humor doesnât land for me. Iâm a visual reader. Everything plays out like a movie in my head. And when the mental imagery is violent but the tone insists I laugh, my brain short-circuits. The absurdity that makes others laugh pulled me out of the story instead. I couldnât emotionally sync with it. I admired it. I respected it. But I didnât connect with it.
But that disconnect doesnât take away from how well this is written. Oliver balances violence and satire with an almost surgical precision. You can see the care in every line, and for readers who enjoy morally murky characters with sharp tongues and sharper knives, this will absolutely be their next obsession. This is one of those cases where the book did exactly what it intended to do. I just wasnât the right audience.
Would I recommend it? If you enjoy morally gray antiheroines, domestic noir, and razor-sharp dark humor, absolutely pick this up. The voice is confident, the satire bites, and Lalla is unforgettable. I appreciated Oliverâs voice, but dark humor isnât my comfort read. If you love My Sister, the Serial Killer or A NovelCrime, youâll eat this up. Iâm just not the intended audience for this flavor of crime fiction. Add this one to your TBR if you enjoy wickedly witty antiheroines with questionable ethics.
đ±đ Read on Kindle đ 384 pages â± 5 hours đ·ïž Publisher: Atria Books ARC provided by NetGalley
If you loved the unsettling charm of My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite or the biting edge of Too Old for This by Samantha Downing, this book will feel familiar in the best way. This one fits squarely in that âcomedic crime with a body countâ niche thatâs been rising lately, and M. K. Oliver really understands the assignment. The writing pops, the pacing is tight, and the humor seeps through even the grimmest scenes. Lallaâs internal monologue had me simultaneously cringing and admiring her efficiency. First-person narration. Morally questionable decisions. A protagonist who is self-aware enough to be funny and detached enough to be terrifying. âSeven consecutive stabbingsâ shouldnât be funny, but somehow, it is.
My issue wasnât the craft. It was me. Iâve realized something important about myself as a reader: dark humor doesnât land for me. Iâm a visual reader. Everything plays out like a movie in my head. And when the mental imagery is violent but the tone insists I laugh, my brain short-circuits. The absurdity that makes others laugh pulled me out of the story instead. I couldnât emotionally sync with it. I admired it. I respected it. But I didnât connect with it.
But that disconnect doesnât take away from how well this is written. Oliver balances violence and satire with an almost surgical precision. You can see the care in every line, and for readers who enjoy morally murky characters with sharp tongues and sharper knives, this will absolutely be their next obsession. This is one of those cases where the book did exactly what it intended to do. I just wasnât the right audience.
Would I recommend it? If you enjoy morally gray antiheroines, domestic noir, and razor-sharp dark humor, absolutely pick this up. The voice is confident, the satire bites, and Lalla is unforgettable. I appreciated Oliverâs voice, but dark humor isnât my comfort read. If you love My Sister, the Serial Killer or A NovelCrime, youâll eat this up. Iâm just not the intended audience for this flavor of crime fiction. Add this one to your TBR if you enjoy wickedly witty antiheroines with questionable ethics.