Very twisty and well-written, but just not for me. It was a little too intense and dark for me. But tons of surprises as you read!

I really enjoyed this, kept me reading til the end! I looked up the author and realised it was a debut,vivwgall looks ok out for future books!

Book Review: How to Get Away with Murder by Tam Barnett

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the author for the ARC!

Tam Barnett’s How to Get Away with Murder is a fast-paced thriller with plenty of twists, though it has its ups and downs. The plot grabs your attention early on, with a very intriguing concept, but at times it feels uneven, with the main character’s motivations unclear and a lack of depth that made it hard to connect with her.

The second half picks up the pace, with better twists and engaging true crime references. However, the unreliable narrator and mostly unlikable characters made the story feel disconnecting at times. While the shocking final twist was memorable, some moments of forced foreshadowing and a lack of detail in the writing made it less impactful than it could have been.

The biggest drawback was the writing style and the lack of character growth; the protagonist and others didn’t change much by the end, which made the story feel a bit flat. I wish the writing style wasn't so ''obvious'' at times, because it made it easy to predict certain plot twists later on. Still, fans of fast-paced, twisty thrillers might enjoy it, even if it didn’t fully work for me.

Final rating: 3/5 stars

The title and cover are 5/5 for me. I was so excited to get my hands on an ARC of this book and went in with high expectations. Things I loved: the setting, the background, the murder-obsessed main character, the psychological twists and turns. Things I didn't love: the connection between the main character and her friends was a little hazy to me, and same with her partner. I feel like more information about how they all became involved with each other.

First, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed the pacing of this book. It read it quite fast. The plot was interesting and kept me intrigued the whole time. The plot twist was great as I didn’t expect it!

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the characters. There wasn’t anyone who I was routing for or felt a connection to. Also, the writing style just wasn’t for me.

I’d recommend reading this if you love true crime and mysteries.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for advanced copy in exchange for a review. I could not put this book down, I read it over two days. Loved the storyline , characters and plot. Very funny and tongue in cheek at times. Takes a serious subject and makes it fun. We meet Kelli who is obsessed with serial killers so much so that she actually managed to hunt one down before the police and now visits him in prison. Kelli is a crime reporter and decides to get back into writing when bodies start appearing in woods right by her house. When her boyfriend Ben is arrested for the murders it’s down to her to prove his innocence. Can she find out who is it to get him freed? I will be recommending this to others and looking out for more by this author

Firstly, I really loved this was set on the Wirral - I live there so it made it very easy for me to imagine places.

Secondly, the rivalry between the two reporters, just loved that.

The plot was engaging and although I felt a bit like I was reading a Bella Mackie book it still held my attention as I was waiting for a big twist.

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book, this is my honest opinion

🔎 murder mystery
🔎 thriller
🔎 morally grey characters

This book wasn’t for me.

First up, the good!
The plot
The plot of this book was so interesting, I spent the whole book feeling sure that I knew who the killer was and then the plot twist just left me sitting there in shock. How the author came up with this is incredible, how do people think of such amazing ideas?
The characters
The characters in this book felt really life-like, their mistakes, worries and fears seeming to seep of the pages. I really understood each character and their motivations.
The research
There were moments in this book that just left me wondering how on earth the author researched this? The amount of detailed planning for each murder and the different details that are included throughout the book literally feels like I know so much more about murder, a bit too much.

And second, what I didn’t enjoy as much
The writing
I’m not sure why but this writing just didn’t work for me. It was fast paced which is something I normally like, but I don’t think there was enough detail? Something just didn’t stick, making the story much harder for me to keep reading.
Another thing that took me out of the story at some points were those moments where the author adds something, a sentence or a random bit of dialogue, that felt clearly there just for the mystery and for ‘foreshadowing’. It felt a bit forced, while the plot twist still felt shocking to me, I felt like it could have had much more potential if the foreshadowing was better engrained into the writing.
The characters
While the characters felt 3D throughout the story, I felt a bit underwhelmed by their personal development, they changed very little throughout the book, seeming as though they would be the same if none of the events had occurred.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tam Barnett for the e-ARC of this book! All opinions are my own.

An excellent and intriguing premise. Our POV is quite unique and adds a twist to the story. There were some explosive revelations dropped that had me gasping out loud. And then the ending jyst blew me away.

I struggled with this book, the story had a great premise but I found the first several chapters too helpful towards murder and serial killers. I love murder mysteries but this felt a tad crass, perhaps that was the point of Kelli but I found her too unlikeable to continue reading it all.

Kelli is a true crime journalist and enthusiast; best known for catching the serial killer, 'the white widower'. She is truly obsessed with serial killers, and there's a new killer in her town and she takes it upon herself to try and catch this one too. I struggled to care as I couldn’t connect with her as the main character.

However, I was intrigued enough to forward to the last three chapters as I still wanted to know the “why”. I’d sussed the who, it was too obvious but I was curious as to why.

Give it a try, see what Kelli discovers and if you like the why

Goodreads Review

I really struggled with my rating for How to Get Away with Murder by Tam Barnett. The beginning gave me major Good Girl’s Guide to Murder vibes, which had me hooked, but somewhere in the middle, I felt like I lost the thread. If that hadn't happened, I would’ve rated this higher because, wow — the last 30% had me shocked and gasping for air. The twists were absolutely wild, and I never could’ve predicted where it was going.

While the pacing felt a bit too slow for me in parts, the ending more than made up for it. If you love unexpected turns and don’t mind a slower buildup, this one might just blow you away!

Instagram Post

Just finished How to Get Away with Murder by Tam Barnett, and I’m still trying to catch my breath. 😱💀

The beginning gave me all the Good Girl’s Guide to Murder feels, and I was so ready to dive in… but somewhere in the middle, it lost me a bit. The pacing felt slow for my taste, BUT the last 30%? Absolute chaos. Twists I never saw coming. Shocking moments that had me gasping out loud.

I ended up enjoying it overall, and the ending totally redeemed it for me. If you’re into slow-burn mysteries with jaw-dropping finales, this might be your next read!

What’s the last book that completely shocked you? 📚✨
#HowToGetAwayWithMurder #TamBarnett #MysteryBooks #PlotTwists #GoodGirlsGuideToMurder #BookReview #BibliophileLife #ThrillerReads #DecemberTBR #BooksOfInstagram #BookObsessed #ReadersOfIG

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC!

I am a huge thriller and crime buff, so this was definitely up my alley.

How to get away with murder is the perfect book for anyone who loves true crime and crime thrillers in general. The opening will hook you and kept you on the edge of your seat for the entire ride of the book. Personally, it gave a Good Girl's Guide to Murder vibes, which I loved.

This book definitely got better in the second half and I really enjoyed the ending. I do enjoy an unreliable narrator if it’s well placed however I don’t feel like it added much in this instance other than causing confusion. There certain aspects of the plot that could have been really interesting but they just weren’t explored.

I did appreciate all of the true crime references, they were well placed and added to the story. Overall a solid 3 stars, an enjoyable read and kept me intrigued enough to want to finish in a couple of days.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced e-copy in exchange for an honest review :)

I really enjoyed the concept of this thriller—Kelli, a true crime journalist obsessed with solving murders, takes on a new case that ends up being more personal than she anticipated. The twists and humor kept me hooked, but I’ll admit, I found the characters a bit shallow, and the ending felt rushed and unsatisfying. Overall, though, it was a fun read with some great surprises, and I’m definitely curious to see what comes next!

Here we follow Kelli, a true crim journalist and enthusiast; best known for catching the serial killer, 'the white widower'. She never quite came to terms with whether she was truly a psychopath, or just unhealthily obsessed. But now there's a new killer in her town and she takes it upon herself to try and gain her fame and catch this one too. However, she quickly realises she's a lot closer to the case than she thought.

HTGAWM follows a single straight forward timeline documenting her findings. I prefer this for a book like this as it allows it to remain simple and easy to remember the important facts; Barnett made it easy to follow allow and try and figure out who the killer was. I still managed to be surprised by the reveal! Barnett wrote the clues in such a sneaky way that it made the reveal so much more satisfying. I was expecting this kind of story when starting this book and I'm so glad it's what i got. I truly loved all the true crim references as a true crime lover myself.

Personally however, the ending felt rushed and lacking. It was anticlimactic and didn't really embody what I was hoping to get from this book. This would honestly be the only thing I disliked about this book but the fact it left me annoyed and unsatisfied, left me wanting more but not in aa good way.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tam Barnett for the early access arc

I adored how easy this was to read, which makes it a perfect read for a new thriller reader.

The story was so captivating throughout and it was very amusing to read especially with the UK references included in the story. The plot twists were great although i would say the story did slightly get muddled in the middle of the book with lots of new information but the overall outcome was great and I thought it was an interesting read.

This is an amazing book with great humour! There were many twists I didn't expect and I loved every one of them. I'd definitely read more of this.

This book was a fantastic debut! Well written, with a great amount of research, the facts about murderers around the world were a great addition! Perfect chapter length, I love Kelli as a character and all the side characters slotted in beside her well. This is a great whodunnit and when I thought I had it all figured out, along came the twist, and it was a good one! Cannot wait for more from Tam!

I really liked the idea of this novel. A journalist who is obsessed with true crime, with her own past traumas then going on to solve (or maybe commit?!) such heinous crimes herself! The story certainly had me drawing up a list of possible suspects, and was filled with plenty of twists and turns. However, I was never really convinced by the motive of The Nailer, or that they were actually capable of murder. The characters lacked depth and believability. The plot could have been explored in much more detail, instead the story felt quite 'surface level'.
The ending was a complete surprise, and on reflection makes sense for the main character and story.
I love the cover if the book, really eye catching. Although not sure why there is a knife on the cover as it's not relevant to the story!

Honest review in return for an eARC
3/5

First of all, I’d like to thank the publisher, author, and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I ate this book UP! The writing flowed well and it had a good pace and made it easy to consume. I thought the storyline was well done, and by the end my jaw was dropped!

I would recommend this to anyone whose into true crime documentaries and has wondered how to get away with murder 👀