The Kill Club
Wendy Heard
On Sale Date: December 17, 2019
9780778309031, 0778309037
Trade Paperback
$15.99 USD, $19.99 CAD
Fiction / Thrillers / Psychological
368 pages
Summary:
A haunting thriller about a woman who attempts to save her brother's life by making a dangerous pact with a network of vigilantes who've been hunting down the predators of Los Angeles.
Jazz can’t let her younger brother die.
Their foster mother Carol has always been fanatical, but with Jazz grown up and out of the house, Carol takes a dangerous turn that threatens thirteen-year-old Joaquin’s life. Over and over, child services fails to intervene, and Joaquin is running out of time.
Then Jazz gets a blocked call from someone offering a solution. There are others like her, people the law has failed. They’ve formed an underground network of “helpers,” each agreeing to murder the abuser of another. They're taking back their power and leaving a trail of bodies throughout Los Angeles—dubbed the Blackbird Killings. If Jazz joins them, they’ll take care of Carol for good.
All she has to do is kill a stranger.
Jazz soon learns there's more to fear than getting caught carrying out her assignment. The leader of the club has a zero tolerance policy for mistakes.
And the punishment for disobeying orders is death.
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The Kill Club is dark and twisted and grabbed hold from the very beginning. This one is definitely a thriller with its many sit up and take notice scenes as we follow Jazz from one crazy situation to the next. Whether we should or not, it's easy to empathize with the vigilantes in this one, including Jazz and her determination to save Joaquin. The story does move at a fast pace with a steadily rising tension with the exception of a few lags here and there, and we also get a couple of solid twists. I'm usually pretty good at guessing the big bad in these types of stories, but I admit that I didn't see the big reveal coming, although looking back, I should have. We do have some hints if we're looking for them, but they aren't obvious by any means, and you have to think outside the box a bit to get there. I do think the story went on a bit longer than necessary after that reveal, and the extra twist at the end really wasn't needed. The book was already good, and the added twist at the end was just overkill in my opinion. Nevertheless, the story did hold my interest, and Jazz is a truly great character, one who is easy to like and root for. She's got a great sense of wit and sarcasm, and it shows up with perfect timing. In the end, this one did have a couple of issues with the lags and that extended ending, but I still enjoyed the thrill and would have to say that The Kill Club is my favorite book from Wendy Heard so far.
Author Bio:
Wendy Heard, author of Hunting Annabelle, was born in San Francisco and has lived most of her life in Los Angeles. When not writing, she can be found hiking the Griffith Park trails, taking the Metro and then questioning this decision, and haunting local bookstores.
Social Links:
Twitter: @wendydheard
Instagram: @wendydheard
Facebook: @wendydheard
Great review. I think the extra twist at the end would lend itself very conveniently to a next book with Jazz and the gang :)
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