The Kind Worth Killing

It’s become quite the fashion to label each new suspense novel “the next Gone Girl.”  In this case, I think fans of that novel will really enjoy The Kind Worth Killing.  It is a dark, psychological thriller which also features plot twists and rather unlikeable characters. 

An homage to Patricia Highsmith’s classic Strangers on a Train, Swanson’s book opens in an airport bar where Ted Severson meets the beautiful Lily Kitner while waiting on their delayed plane. Telling him that they are just playing a game, Lily encourages Ted to tell her a secret. Ted, more than a little drunk and stinging from the recent discovery that his attractive young wife Miranda is having an affair, confides that he would really like to kill his wife.  Said out of frustration and pain rather than a declaration of intent, Ted’s a bit taken aback when Lily encourages him to go ahead and do it. Telling Ted that she believes that some people are simply toxic and that eliminating them does the world a service, she offers to help right the wrong done to him by joining him in figuring out a way to get away with killing Miranda. Moving forward and backward in time, the novel twists and turns, hides then reveals. 

Are some people really worth killing?  Don’t start it before bed or you’ll be up all night trying to find out.

Review by Amy