Thank you to Netgalley and Bonnier Books UK for the chance to review this book.

Oh. My. Word. I absolutely love this book.

Feminism. Kill the patriarchy. Literally. If ever I find myself in bother, I want Saffy on my side. Unfortunately, this is the kind of book whereby if I say anything about the plot, I'm likely to give away huge spoilers! From the very first chapter, you know how despicable Saffy can be, but always, always in defense of other women. I love her so much! Ok, so there was a dubious moment with Girl, a totally adorable little rescue dog, but their relationship seemed to be on the mend by the finale.

The characters in this book were amazing. The author has done a simply stunning job. Part of me wants there to be another Saffy and Jon tale, but I am not sure at all how that would work. I also want to see more of Edie; I loved her! Oh, and Girl; everyone needs Girl.

I have to admit, I did guess who the 'bad man' was, but I did not see the actual ending coming! I hadn't heard of Julie Mae Cohen before this book (and was gutted to realise I missed her at the book festival I was at in Harrogate this weekend) but I am ready to read whatever comes next.

Trust me. I will be telling everyone about this book!

Loved loved loved! This is the second Julie Cohen book I've read and it was brilliant. Think 'Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone' mixed with 'How to Kill Your Family' and you're there. It's funny, entertaining and thought provoking in equal measure. Highly recommended. Thanks to Zaffre, Julie Mae Cohen and Netgalley for the ARC.

This book moves so fast it is sometimes difficult to keep up, but keep up you must because it is a real page turner that will have you in it's grip from the first page to the last.
Seraphina Huntley-Oliver (Saffy) was born into wealth that most people can only dream about but wealth didn't bring happiness to Saffy's early life so she did the only thing that she could to take the sadness away......oh, and to protect her younger sister Susie, a job for life.
Saffy grew up to be a socialite, she worked for numerous charities, a good upstanding citizen, a pillar of the community but Saffy had a goal, to rid the world of bad men and not get caught, it was her civic duty to kill them, she was doing society a favour.
Saffy had a huge crush on Jonathan Desrosiers, a former journalist who now specialized in successfully tracking down killers, podcasting and writing books about them, she was besotted with him, although he was good looking in a geeky sort of way, he wasn't in her social class, perhaps it was their shared interest in murder (obviously looking at it from different viewpoints) that attracted her.
Saffy brilliantly engineers a "chance" meeting with Jon in his highland retreat miles away from anywhere, a place that he had gone to to lick his wounds after his wife had left him.
This is a brilliant, witty story with wonderful characters, Elegant, confident, scheming but funny Saffy, workaholic, bumbling, geeky middle class Jon, fun loving gullible sister Susie and her roguish boyfriend Finn, D I Atherton who is determined to stop Jon in his tracks.
This story moves fast, it is very witty in a dark macabre way but I loved it.

Bad Men is an exciting book and the characters are fascinating.
It follows Saffy Huntley-Oliver, a woman with a cause. Bad men get taken out around her yet her model looks charm the wrong men. Saffy falls in love and continues to journal her conquests.
Her sister has an ex that treated her badly and it seems Saffy keeps adding to her list. A wonderful book that is fast paced.

The premise of this book was excellent, I enjoyed the writing and the main character.

I expected more murders to be featured.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for gifting me this arc in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Seraphina, Saffy, was twelve when she drowned her paedophile step-father and sixteen when she murdered her paedophile soft-ball coach. The first murder (coincidentally since this was not her motive) made her and her little sister, Susie, incredibly rich, as their now deceased parents both came from the top tier of US society and their late step-father was at least as wealthy. The second made her realise that there are a lot of Bad Men out there and that she was rather good at killing them. Jonathan Desrosiers, Jon, was a young journalist in London when he identified a serial killer, became famous wrote his first book about the case and started a podcast on True Crimes. Saffy, now twenty-nine and living in London, is intrigued, at a professional level, by his work (as are many thousands of other, sometimes fanatical, listeners), but also loves his voice, appearance and demeanour. She does not have any amatory intentions. Then their podcast world is shattered when Jon gets involved with the “Bin-Bag Killer” case, identifies the perpetrator, nearly gets killed, suffers from PTSD and disappears. Saffy, is determined to find him and bring him back into his former glory, and concocts a plan, with potentially catastrophic consequences.
This is a hard book to define, basically a murder mystery but with a psychological streak in the form of Saffy, a rich, beautiful, highly intelligent, charismatic, witty, murderous sociopath. Jon, by contrast is initially a quiet, obsessive journalist who’s personal life is now in pieces (in addition to the PTSD element, his wife has left him). Saffy becomes his route back, as they spend increasing amounts of time together trying to solve the latest murder, which is clearly linked to Jon’s previous life. The writing is very entertaining, clever use of language, lots of gentle humour. The plot is well constructed, but not too difficult to solve. But the main joy is the character of Saffy, a brilliant creation. I’m giving this a rounded up 5 largely because I’m giving a star just for her. I’m sure there are lots more opportunities for these characters.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

On A Mission…
Women on a mission in this darkly funny serial killer thriller come romcom. Saffy may well be a serial killer but she is so justifiably proud of that fact - after all, she’s only killing the bad men. Right? When she teams up with a true crime podcaster and author we can only assume that secrets may out. A genre crossing pleasure, Bad Men will have the reader laughing out loud and cringing simultaneously with its deftly drawn and delicious cast of characters and unique and wholly entertaining plot.

If you liked Killing Eve and Fleabag then you will probably really like this book.

The main characters are Saffy the serial killer and Jon who makes true crime podcasts and is a writer. Saffy only kills bad men and not women as she figures there are enough people in the world doing that already. Her heart really is in the right place, as she delivers what she sees as a kind of public service.

I loved the character of Saffy from the first page and was hooked right in. Whilst there is humour in this book and it's not too gory, it does contain some bad stuff, as that's what bad men do. So be prepared for that side of things amongst the light hearted moments.

I really couldn't put this book down. The flipping between the characters telling the story worked so well. Whilst Saffy is a hardened murderer, love eludes her. She wants a boyfriend but obviously not one that asks too many questions. There's also a dog called "girl" who stole a lot of the show, she was a great character.

This would make a fantastic film or how about we get a Bad Men 2?

Saffy is a serial killer! And what a character she is - smart, entertaining, affluent, and charming with a small dash of sociopathy thrown in for good measure, what’s not to like?!

The story moves at a constant pace, and I was absorbed from the first page - not only is this a well written and very clever thriller there is also more than a smidgeon of wicked humour. All in all, this is a deliciously dark and bloodthirsty story full of twists and turns that kept me gripped. I simply can’t recommend it highly enough.

I really enjoyed this book. Definite 5 stars from me. It was entertaining, funny and different. I loved how easy it was to read, I thought the characters were very likeable (most of them) and there was even a love story woven through and tangled up in murders which you don't see often.

We begin by meeting Saffy who lives in London who kills bad men and I really liked her! She decides to help out true crime podcast presenter catch a serial killer.by planting clues and orchestrating them meeting.

I read this really quickly as I was enjoying so much.I will be recommending this book to others and looking forward to reading more from Julie

Great fun, quirky, unputdownable serial murderess romcom

Beautiful wily rich serial murderess sets her cap at dishy specialist cold case solving author - hilarious characters, cute dog, quirky plot and lots of extra dry humour deliver the perfect mix for this irresistible jewel of a book.

Bad Men is a fun, highly entertaining page turner about a feminist serial killer and her love interest, an author/podcaster and serial killer-catcher. I would describe this as a feel good crime novel - it manages to be suspenseful and funny and throw in a love story for good measure. A great summer read, very enjoyable.

Hmmm......I did enjoy this book, BUT......it wasn't the book I thought I was getting. Hear me out...

This book was marketed as 'female serial killer' so straight away I'm expecting 'Killing Eve' vibes. I wanted Saffy to be kick-ass, cut throat and throat cutting. It wasn't that Saffy wasn't a killer, she was, but it was a bit more 'popcorn' in delivery and plot than I had been expecting from the prologue and the marketing.

Saffy has a crush! She has the hots for a true crime author, and she has to have him. This is where I felt the book switched, it almost felt like it became two plots that had been combined into one book, and I actually felt like the main plotline surrounded Jonathan making Saffy more of a side character.

The main plot became Jon's experiences of a brush with a serial killer, a near-death experience, then death threats. He had a total distrust for the police, so doesn't get them involved and decides to investigate himself.

This was well paced, easy to read and light-hearted, if you go in with those, or even better, no expectations, I think you'll enjoy it more than expecting ' twisty thriller' vibes.

For a book about a serial killer this has lots of humour!
Saffy is a great character- from a tumultuous childhood through abuse and loss to a very posh sociopath and proud of it her prime aims in life are to keep her little sister safe and to rid the world of bad men.

Lots of twists and turns and overall a great read!

As much as I enjoyed Bad Men by Julie Mae Cohen, I’m not convinced it delivers on its promise of being a feminist serial killer in the vein of Sweetpea or Villanelle. After a gripping prologue, the bodycount plummets and the bulk of the story has more of a rom com flavour. Which was fun! I enjoyed reading it! Maybe if you are a reader of commercial fiction looking to dip your toe into the world of dark comedy thrillers, this would be a gentle starting point. But it’s a little too tame for aficionados of the genre - it’s just not dark enough, and not thrilling enough. That said, I liked the characters, it was well written and a fun read overall.

This is an unusual book where the protagonist to the murders is a woman. Saffy kills Bad Men as the title says. She only kills men who have done something really bad, her first being a child molester.

She also has a crush on a writer/podcaster called Jon who just happens to have a big interest in murder too! She instigates an ‘accidental’ meeting with him just at the time when he has decided to turn his back on his crime solving/investigating……..after his wife leaves him. But then he gets sucked back in when a black bag full of body parts appears on his doorstep.

I liked this book, I enjoyed the main protagonist Saffy, okay she’s a little predictable for a main character, stunningly beautiful, slim, rich, intelligent but she’s also a murderer and that’s not predictable at all, and she is likeable!

The story moved along nicely and I read the whole book quite quickly. I didn’t see the twist at the end coming at all! My only complaint was that it felt as if it ended extremely suddenly. I don’t know if there’s a follow up book planned or not, but the sudden ending makes me think there just might be.

My thanks as always go to the author, the publishers and to Netgalley for an advanced e.reader copy of this book, however, the review is entirely voluntary and my own opinions.

If you like your reads sharp, acidic, funny and with their tongue firmly in their cheek, then you’re going to love Bad Men by Julie Mae Cohen. It’s the story of Saffy Huntley-Oliver, a woman with her own moral guidelines, ones with a Robin Hood inspired approach: get rid of the bad men to save the good people. Get rid, in the very literal sense…

So yes, if you’re going to enjoy Bad Men, suspend your disbelief and go with the flow. Saffy has been treated badly by men in her life, so she’s out for revenge. She is highly protective of her little sister, Susie, and has little interest in other people, but is on the lookout for a potential good – yet, crucially, not boring – boyfriend.

Alongside the murder, Saffy’s main focus is romance. Her path crosses (because she engineers it that way) with that of podcast host Jonathan Desrosiers. She has somewhat of a crush on him and his life takes an unexpected turn – his wife leaves him and he ends up with body on his doorstep…

Jonathan’s podcast is all about serial killers and things come a little close to home for him (literally) when a body in a bin bag is dumped on his doorstep. He has some questions. Namely, who is the body and, he is horrified to note, is this payback for his podcast sleuthing as ‘the bin bag killer’ is one he uncovered and now, it looks like someone is angry about that.

Not to worry, Saffy is there to comfort and help him…

Bad Men is a darkly funny, feminist thriller / modern romance that keeps a fast pace and has tension thrumming throughout (will Saffy’s murderous ways catch up with her??). I had fun reading it and that’s always a good take-away, right?

Wow! Just Wow!
What a brilliant, dark, fast paced, lighthearted thriller with some laugh out loud moments. I just devoured it.
I loved the main characters Saffy and Jonathan and enjoyed reading their dual POV’s and loved the journey the characters went on and watching Saffy’s plans unfold.
The plot was brilliant and the writing style was funny and gripping with great character development and some great twists too.
A thoroughly enjoyable read I couldn’t put down.
I definitely recommend this one and would love a sequel with more Saffy and Jonathan @JulieMaeCohen.
Thanks to #NetGallery @BonnierBooksUK @Zaffre for an eARC of #BadMen in exchange for a honest review.
Book publishes 20 July 2023

The synopsis pulled me in and the prologue was written well but I have to say I was a tad disappointed.

Don't get me wrong this was a good enough read but this was mostly about Saffy trying to get into a relationship with Jon, I though there would be more of Saffy being a badass killer. I would have loved Saffy's story to have been the main focus rather than Jon, I didn't get much character development from him and I would have loved to have had more insight into Saffy's hobby.

Yes there was some suspense as the story progressed but the final twist was easy to figure out. I thought the ending was too fast paced given the slower pace of most of the story, it felt like we were cramming a lot of information and events at the last second and it felt rushed.

If you go in without any expectations then I believe you will enjoy it more. Personally from the blurb I got How to Kill Men and Get Away With It vibes so that could be why I was dissapointed.

Well, this really is a book of two halves. The synopsis mentions a feminist serial killer, so my brain thought thriller. However, the first half reads like a slightly quirky rom-com, but then the second half steered me back towards my more traditional style of reading.

Bad Men’s protagonist is Saffy, Seraphine Huntley-Oliver. A young, wealthy woman, with a voice, in my head, that sounds exactly like Georgia Toffolo. She certainly isn’t your everyday twenty-something, she committed her first murder at just twelve. Bizarrely, she has set her sights on Jon, who has come to her attention by catching a serial killer. On paper, not exactly a match made in heaven.

I must admit, while I was enjoying reading the first half, I was wondering when the book would take on the feel of a serial killer read. It happened during the second half, I felt Saffy was channeling a Sweetpea vibe.

It was an easy read, it passed the time quickly on a rainy day. If you are looking for a serious, high gore, dark thriller, having been drawn in by the serial killer tag, then you might be disappointed. If you are looking for a rom-com, with a quirky, darker edge, then this could be the book for you. I did guess quite a lot of the twists, but maybe I just read far too much in the thriller genre.
I’m still not quite sure what genre I would classify the book as, but I think it will be read and enjoyed widely on many holidays this summer. 4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️