Dear Killer

by Katherine Ewell

Overview

Full of "can't look away" moments, Dear Killer is a psychological thriller perfect for fans of gritty realistic fiction such as Dan Wells's I Am Not a Serial Killer and Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why, as well as television's Dexter.

Rule One—Nothing is right, nothing is wrong. Kit looks like your average seventeen-year-old high school student, but she has a secret—she's London's notorious "Perfect Killer." She chooses who to murder based on letters left in a secret mailbox, and she's good—no, perfect—at what she does.

Her moral nihilism—the fact that she doesn't believe in right and wrong—makes being a serial killer a whole lot easier . . . until she breaks her own rules by befriending someone she's supposed to murder, as well as the detective in charge of the Perfect Killer case.

As New York Times bestselling author of the Gone series Michael Grant says, Dear Killer is "shocking, mesmerizing, and very smart."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062257826
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	04/01/2014
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	231,345
File size:	474 KB
Age Range:	13 Years

About the Author

Katherine Ewell wrote Dear Killer when she was seventeen years old. She was one of fifty finalists out of 5,000 entries in the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest and has attended the invitational Iowa Young Writers' Studio. In addition, she has the distinction of being named a California Arts Scholar and has been awarded the California Governor's Medallion for artistically talented youth. Dear Killer is her first novel.

Editorial Reviews

04/14/2014
Seventeen-year-old Kit is secretly London's dreaded "Perfect Killer," a nihilistic serial killer trained by her mother to carry out murder as part of a higher calling, choosing her victims from anonymous letters sent to her. As her body count grows, the police remain stymied—until Kit starts losing her focus. From making one murder personal to befriending a victim and outright flirting with the policeman unofficially assigned to the Perfect Killer case, it seems as though Kit's carefully constructed façade is finally crumbling. But she's still committed to carrying out one last assignment, heedless of the consequences. This tense page-turner was a finalist in the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest and represents Ewell's debut. She expertly captures Kit's dispassionate yet conflicted state of being, chronicling the chaotic swirl of emotions as the routine breaks down. However, Kit's point of view leads many other characters to feel less developed. The almost hypnotic nature of the storyline doesn't quite make up for moments of implausibility (including Kit's success and general modus operandi) and other plot holes in an otherwise solid thriller. Ages 13–up. Agent: Alice Martell, the Martell Agency. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Underneath the dark sensationalism thus lurks a complex framing of moral questions that thoughtful teens will want to grapple with.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Shocking, mesmerizing, and very smart.

Michael Grant

With thoughtful discussions on philosophy and human nature, as well as satisfyingly detailed and gory descriptions of murders, readers will find plenty to savor and discuss.

ALA Booklist

For Kit, murder is not just a job, it is the family business. Balancing her role as one of London’s most prominent serial-killers-for-hire with her classes at Ivy High School has its challenges. When she selects a classmate as her next target, Kit engages in a game of cat-and-mouse that ends up challenging her most basic rule: nothing is ever right and nothing is ever wrong. The decision to cast aside her original target and focus her deadly attention on the jealous ex-boyfriend who put the hit out in the first place sends Kit on a downward spiral of doubt. But instead of facing up to her crimes, she continues her murder spree, picking off random hits one after the other. All the while, conflict wells within her and she finds herself making sloppy mistakes that lead London’s youngest police detective straight to her door. A teenager herself, Ewell crafts a psychological thriller that will have lovers of the macabre sitting at the edge of their seat wondering what is going to happen next. Although the voice, which is supposed to belong to an English teen, is peppered with a decidedly American flair, Dear Killer provides a unique twist on the serial killer profile that allows readers to see past the occasional gaffs in the words as they uncover the insanity behind Kit’s compulsion to carry out heinous crimes. Dear Killer is a must-have for public libraries looking to freshen up their horror and crime selection. Reviewer: Sarah Schmitt; Ages 15 to 18.

VOYA, February 2014 (Vol. 36, No. 6) - Sarah Schmitt

2014-01-15
This unusual and absorbing debut looks at a serial killer through the eyes of the killer herself. Seventeen-year-old Kit has been trained by her mother from an early age to kill by hand and leave no clues; she takes great pride in the name she's earned from the police: the Perfect Killer. She enjoys her high school philosophy class, where they discuss "moral nihilism," a code she feels she understands. She calls herself a serial killer, but she operates as an assassin, taking requests for murders from letters addressed to "Dear Killer" stashed in a shabby London restroom. It's all good, until classmate Michael asks the Perfect Killer to take out another, Maggie. Kit wrestles over which she ought to kill: Michael, who clearly deserves it but whose death has not been requested, or Maggie, who has become her only friend. Further complicating matters is her growing friendship with the detective assigned to her case. Although readers may disagree with Kit's take on morality, nevertheless they can watch her with fascination and even some sympathy as she commits her flawless crimes. Even as tension rises, Kit's moral struggle holds center stage and builds to her final choice. Unfortunately, though the book is nominally set in London, poor worldbuilding keeps readers from rooting themselves there; Kit's school, in particular, might as well be in Dubuque. Chilling and fascinating at the same time, despite flaws. (Suspense. 13-16)

Kirkus Reviews