Where to begin...

Okay, so this was a good idea. However, the execution was atrocious. This review may be a bit spoilery, but I can't actually review the book without mentioning some details.

What I liked:

I didn't peg the killer. The author included a very good Red Herring and I fell for it.



What I disliked:

Too much telling and very little showing. For instance, we're told the MC is intelligent but we're never shown she's capable of basic reasoning. Honestly, I can't remember a single intelligent thing she did throughout the entire book.

The MC abuses sedatives. The explanation is that, due to her obsession, she sees reminders of horror everywhere. But that doesn't make sense. She's drawn by the horror, familiar with even the most mundane details of famous murders. Her kink is torture for goodness sake. But I'm supposed to believe she can't sleep because of a window?

I would like to know if the narrator is unreliable before I start a book. In this case, we aren't given any advanced notice. So mundane facts are taken for granted until the author decides to reveal the truth.

Not enough details!! The serial killer she "caught," (whos name I can't remember) he was interesting, he made sense. But we aren't told anything about why he killed, how he chose his victims, etc. That was a massive missed opportunity. Oh, and how did Greyson know he was going to commit his next murder at a lumber yard of all things? The story we're given heavily suggests there's a method to his madness, a pathology, but we aren't told any of it.

The ending was nothing short of stupid. Really stupid. She's supposedly so smart when it comes to psychopaths and narcissists. But she's never once suspects? Like really? I saw that coming from a mile away and it was asinine she fell for it.

This was an okay thriller if you don't mind plots that are a little on the predictable side. The writing was good but I just didn't connect with the main character and didn't really find anything fresh or intriguing with the plot.

I really struggled with this book. I think that I didn’t care about the characters enough and some seemed too similar to each other. I ended up skimming to find out what happened. There were a few twists, but this book was still not for me.

This is a very modern take on murder thriller. The FMC is a huge fan of true crime and true crime podcasts when a crime happens in her area! Is she innocent? Or is it an act? The main character is loveable and you feel a bond with her and hope she finds the killer. I really enjoyed this

This was fun! I enjoyed the main character Kelli, with her background in journalism and podcasts stumbling into her own murder mystery to solve. The book was quick to start, and I feel like the overall story moved at a great pace that I never felt like I was reading filler, and had some good side characters. Even had a few twists that I didn’t see coming, which I feel like is a must in a mystery.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for this ARC.

Kelli Amari, the slightly unreliable narrator of this story, is a crime reporter who is obsessed with serial killers and true crime documentaries, ever since her Dad killed a paedophile when she was little and then died in prison.

She has managed to put away one serial killer, dubbed the White Widower (shouldn't that have been the Widowmaker?), although I don't understand how he just let her call the police. She still visits him in prison because she is writing a book about him, and also because she is fascinated by his mindset and psychopathic traits. She used to work with fellow reporter Rob Grayson but they fell out when she got all the credit.

Her boyfriend Ben is nice and reassuringly normal but I got the feeling she isn't really into him all that much, especially as he can't understand her traumatic past. She has two best friends, Anna who is married to boring Henry, and Polly who is in an abusive relationship with taxi driver Todd.

Suddenly there is a new serial killer on the prowl, striking in Kelli's neighbourhood, dubbed the Nailer due to using a nailgun on the victims. With resentful Rob on her back, her Dad's death anniversary looming, her mum's health on the decline, Ben suddenly being under suspicion and Polly acting weirdly, Kelli cannot be sure she isn't the Nailer herself, while under the influence of strong painkillers that you can only get from dodgy online pharmacies and who make her sleepwalk.

"I guess rule number one of committing the perfect murder would be convincing everyone you weren’t contemplating murder at all."

There were some fairly unlikeable characters in this book, and many unpredictable twists and turns, born out of strong feelings of revenge for more than one character. Unfortunately the book only gets going around the halfway mark, and the first half gives no indication on how twisty and chaotic the second half will be.

For a debut novel this is quite self-assured, and it's a fast read with an end twist I did not see coming! Recommended if you love your true crime references and unhinged psychopaths or sociopaths at every corner.

"The genius of the psychopath is in absorbing the ordinary behaviours of others to convince the world that they themselves are also ordinary."

3.5 stars

This book had a great plot with intriguing characters. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author.

Received this book as an Arc reader in exchange for an honest review. The start of this book had me very interested and captured me, I wasn’t sure where the story was going to go or what plot twists were going to happen. I felt once we hit the halfway point, things seemed to just get quite messy and there was lots of different stories being told and I found it hard to keep track of what the actual plot was meant to be. There was a lot of things from the past being brought up but felt like they didn’t add much to the story. I loved the true crime references though. I felt like the first half of the book is very very good but after that it started to go downhill for me so the rating was 3 stars for me

This is the perfect book for anyone who loves true crime and crime thrillers in general. The opening is one heck of a hook! Kelli was a very interesting and entertaining character who I had a lot of fun following during this book.

I really enjoyed the way this was written and how it worked in this story, it had that crime thriller element and had that overall feel of this storyline. The characters worked well overall and was glad everything had that feel to them. Tam Barnett wrote this perfectly and was invested in what was going on.

This is truly for thriller and true crime readers. This is twisted, dark, gripping & unputdownable. Author has shared such a sharp insights and observations. The Killer’s weapon was so mind blowing. Loved the investigation and all the little details. A true crime obsessed journalist tries to get to the bottom of gruesome murders. There is a serial killer on loose and the investigation brings not only the journalist’s life at stake but their loved ones too. The mystery gets tangled and suspects get passed on until the real killer is being revealed. Some people were just victims while the serial killer was hiding behind a good facade and bodies count was increasing. Suspense stays till the end, twists are unpredictable and the ending was jaw dropping. The is a mind blowing and thought provoking book.


Thanks to the Publisher and Author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for providing this book, with my honest review below.

How to Get Away with Murder follows Kelli, who is a true crime obsessed journalist who recently caught a serial killer (that she still visits and feels a deep connection to) as she tries to find a new serial killer in her backyard. Kelli was a fascinating character, very human in how she was written (to say she has flaws, good characteristics, and can be a cluster) and she was a good guide through the mystery. I was curious to see where her rivalry would go with Rob, another journalist who had helped suss out the serial killer who had already been caught (and resented Kelli for getting the majority of the attention for it), and I wasn’t let down. The mystery of the still at large serial killer kept getting murkier and murkier, the twists that were thrown in (specific to that mystery and why Kelli is the way she is) absolutely made sense but also floored me.

The end is of course the absolute best part, and bravo for that very last down to the last page twist.

How To Get Away With Murder - Tam Barnett
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“The genius of the psychopath is in absorbing the ordinary behaviours of others to convince the world that they themselves are also ordinary.”

How To Get Away With Murder follows Kelli, a true crime obsessed journalist, best known for catching a prolific serial killer. However when another killer is discovered in her own village, Kelli finds herself captivated again. Does she have an unhealthy fascination, or is she a deadly psychopath?

HTGAWM is told from Kelli’s perspective only across one timeline. I enjoyed the simplicity of this, as it allowed me to get completely absorbed in the complexity of the characters and the plot. Kelli is a deliciously twisted, witty, unreliable female main character who I wholeheartedly rooted for until some of her more unsavoury talents came to light!

I loved the dark gallows humour and true crime references throughout as this built up the psychological suspense exceptionally well and cleverly cast suspicion across a few characters, which definitely kept me on my toes and turning the pages.

I did not expect the killer to be who they were, and the twists were delivered powerfully and deliberately to emphasise the horror and tension in them. Then the ending packs a final blow both to Kelli and the reader, and left me shocked but satisfied. I am looking forward to reading more by Tam Barnett as this was a brilliant debut and a credit to the genre.

Thank you so much to Tam Barnett for reaching out to me, and to Boldwood Books for sending this advanced copy of How To Get Away With Murder via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

4/5⭐️
First - thank you to NetGalley & Boldwood Books for allowing me to read an ARC of this book ahead of its January 27th 2025 release!
Wow! Witty, dark, mysterious, and clever - this book does it all!
It honestly took me a minute to get into this one but once it got going, it flew by!
How to Get Away with Murder is the tale of crime journalist Kelli Amari. Riding a career high & basking in the glory of her 15 minutes of fame from catching a famed serial killer in the act, Kelli is stunned & intrigued when a serial killer begins a rampage right in her backyard. But what happens when she begins to suspect everyone around her.. even herself?
Like I said, the story took about 40-50pgs to really get started in my opinion, but once it did, I was hooked! Coming up with my own theories, questioning EVERYONE - everything you’d want from a good mystery/thriller!
Witty opening & an attention grabbing prologue - both ingredients for a great mystery.
The FMC is relatable in her true crime obsession but slowly becomes detestable as you begin to see her more ~unsavory~ personality traits.
This book kept me intrigued & while I started to suspect the initial twist about 50% in, the twists & secrets kept spilling right until the end! Ending on a note you won’t see coming! It also felt like the perfect length for a good thriller/mystery.
My only complaint comes to personal preference, and that’s the choice to use single quotation marks (‘) for dialogue versus the traditional (to me anyway) double quotation marks (“). It made it a little difficult to follow the dialogue vs the MC’s internal monologue but I eventually was able to follow.
All in all, I really enjoyed this book & definitely recommend all grabbing a copy when it releases January 27th 2025!

A twisty crime thriller with some funny moments but not in the same league as Katy Brent.
Over all an ok quick read.
My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my copy.

3.0

Setting: UK
Rep: n/a

A pretty bogstandard addition to the genre of dark comedy crime, this will appeal to fans of Katy Brent and Bella Mackie. It's quite basic but it's a very quick read that I finished in a couple of sittings.

Twisty and addictive, murder and obsession, secrets and longing, and ultimately putting your trust in the wrong place. And some secrets should really stay secret ...

Pacy, Dark, Rather Delicious..
True crime obsessed protagonist gets rather too close to gruesome crimes for comfort in this pacy, dark and rather delicious tale of comeuppance, revenge and psychopathic tendencies. But, is she a victim or a perpetrator or, maybe, even both? With a well drawn cast of eccentric and eclectic characters and a plot bubbling over with often disturbing twists this is a one sit, compulsive read with never a dull moment in sight.

This was a banger of a debut novel! I loved the writing and it kept me turning pages. It truly does have that 'true crime podcast' feel to it. I will definitely be looking forward to more from this author!