Forty-nine-year-old Julie is madly in love with one of her colleague, Sean. She just knows Sean feels the same way, unfortunately, another woman stands in the way of their true love. Not to worry though, Julie has dealt with stumbling blocks like this before.

Julie Tudor Is Not A Psychopath by Jennifer Holdich is so much fun, I loved every second of it and could easily have gone straight back to the beginning once I reached the end. With the story being told from Julie's perspective this works brilliantly as an audiobook, probably better than the print version. Clare Corbett's excellent narration adds to the enjoyment.

The hilarious opening immediately grabs you and gives you an idea of Julie's personality. Self-assured, decisive, intelligent and standoffish. Julie looks down on the people she works with, apart from Sean. Sean is much younger than Julie but she's convinced they have a connection and that he feels exactly the same. Julie knows that Sean is meant to be with her, unfortunately, he's already got a girlfriend and is far too kind to simply break up with her. Julie hatches a cunning plan so that Sean can finally be free to be with her.

As Julie puts her plan into action we are also given glimpses of Julie's past, learning that she has been in a similar situation before. Everything is very tongue-in-cheek, from Julie's hobbies through to her interactions with her neighbours.

Julie is so delusional that she's convinced no one at her place of work knows she and Sean are in love, yet to everyone else, it's clear that she is an obsessed stalker. When Sean and his friends are huddled together and looking at her from across the office she mistakes the glances as an unspoken sign of his true feelings. Even Gareth, Julie's closest colleague, can't avoid whistling 'Every Breath You Take'.

The big question is can anything stand in the way of Julie being with Sean, her one true love? Luckily, Julie is resourceful and manipulative enough to deal with every mishap. I was in stitches as each incident cropped up and was swept aside in Julie's increasingly unbalanced desire.

3.75 stars! Julie Tudor is an unreliable narrator, completely unhinged, a serial killer, and absolutely 100% a psychopath LOL!! This was a lot of fun, particularly as an audiobook. I loved listening to Julie’s dark, f-ed up and hilarious inner dialogue. A very fun and twisted read! Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton Audio for the ARC 🎧

From the moment I picked up “Julie Tudor Is Not a Psychopath,” the promise of dark humour and psychological intrigue drew me in. As someone with a penchant for twisted narratives, I thought I had stumbled upon a gem. The premise alone—a middle-aged woman obsessively pursuing a much younger man, convinced of her own sanity while entertaining some seriously questionable thoughts—had me intrigued. The combination of satire and thriller sounded too good to resist.
Narrator Clare Corbett deserves a mention right from the start. Her voice brought Julie to life in a way that was engaging, almost magnetic, despite the character's increasingly erratic behaviour. Corbett deftly navigates Julie’s inner monologue, capturing her delusions and obsessions, which, at times, felt relatable—even if Julie herself was unhinged. It was a clever choice, and Corbett's narration certainly helped me visualise the chaotic world Julie inhabited.
However, as I delved deeper into the narrative, the novelty began to wear thin. Julie Tudor—who is in her 49th year, with a seemingly perfect job and life—quickly devolved into a portrayal that was more pitiful than wickedly humorous. There’s a fine line between embracing the absurdity of a character like Julie and feeling uncomfortable with the mocking tone that permeated the narrative. Much of the time, it felt like the story was laughing at her rather than with her, leaving me straddling the line between amusement and empathy.
The repetitive nature of her obsessions began to feel monotonous. Each timeline introduced a new man for Julie to fixate on, leading to predictable outcomes that failed to surprise or engage me as a reader. While I understand that the structure was meant to emphasise the cycles of her delusions, it ultimately left me wanting more depth and variety in her character development. Instead of feeling like an exploration of the complexities of love and obsession, the story felt like an endless loop of misguided pursuits.
Moreover, I found myself grappling with the portrayal of a middle-aged woman as the central figure in this saga. Stereotypes about aging women in media—often depicted as irrational, neurotic, or desperate—ran rampant throughout the book. It was disheartening to see these tropes applied to Julie. While her character does align with certain psychological complexities, the narrative often leaned toward making her a caricature rather than a nuanced study of a troubled mind.
By the time I reached the conclusion, I was left feeling hollow rather than satisfied. The lack of realistic characters to root for, combined with the predictability of the plot, diminished my overall enjoyment. As I reflected on the book’s intentions, I couldn’t help but feel that it missed the mark on delivering the sharp, witty exploration of obsession that I had hoped for—opting instead for an uncomfortable blend of pity and bizarre humour.
In the end, while “Julie Tudor Is Not a Psychopath” is undeniably a wild ride, it fell short of the intriguing promise it initially presented. It’s not a bad read per se, but I wished for a more profound dive into Julie’s psyche and an exploration that went beyond mere caricature. If you’re looking for something utterly unconventional, this may be worth your time, but be prepared for a narrative that may leave you with mixed feelings long after the last page is turned.

I genuinely enjoyed this book. I am a huge fan of the serial killer genre and in recent years, especially since Jeff Lindsay’s Dexter, the main characters whilst being serial killers, always have an honourable motive for their actions. This book however is different as it tells the tale of a disturbed lady with a very warped imagination on the way men view her. Her narrative is completely one sided and comes across as moral and justified. But what makes her more terrifying is that she has no concept that her actions are immoral. You don’t route for this character, like with CJ Skuse Rhiannon in Sweetpea. She is deeply unpleasant and yet so compelling you can look away. There is a sense of empathy for her as she is clearly has mental health issues, but this is overshadowed by her motives.

The comparison to CJ Skuse is what drew me in; I've been a fan of the Sweetpea series since not long after the first book came out - and was disappointed with the TV adaptation, but that's beside the point. Jennifer Holdich is undoubtedly a good writer; but I couldn't get a handle on *why* the book exists.

I'm ultimately frustrated: there was very little exploration into why Julie behaved the way she did. I don't know if the reader is meant to connect the dots (if that's the case, we could have used more of them) between her being overshadowed by her older, beautiful blonde sister who dies in a car accident when Julie is 14 or 15 (after Julie accidentally causes them to switch seats in the back of the family car) to the victims of Julie's violence who (iirc) are all beautiful blonde women, who happen to be the romantic partners of the men she fixates on. Julie is fixated on the idea that romantic love is all that matters, and also she's not like other girls.

In the aftermath of her sister's death she is sexually assaulted and then raped by her sister's boyfriend, who is manipulating Julie into retrieving some hidden weed, which is never acknowledged as the sexual violence it is, even if it is depressingly common (even now, 50+ years after the fictional events described). This is probably the only time I felt any real empathy for the character.

The comparison to Skuse looms large for me; Rhiannon Lewis is clearly described as having a traumatic incident as a child and clear motivations when she kills. Julie Tudor just reads like a cipher of a character.

In the end, I don't know who I'd recommend the book to, or why. Maybe people who only consume true crime media, and literally nothing else? Yes, the novel is fictional, but it demonstrates an understanding of psychopathy about as well as the most popular true crime podcasts do. She's not even a textbook serial killer - not enough victims as the final (blink and you'll miss it) death is arguably completed by someone else, by accident.

If Jennifer Holdich writes other books in due course, I will give them a go - her writing in itself is engaging and effective, so I don't want to suggest she shouldn't have been published at all. I finished the book because I wanted to know how it ended; and it wasn't like I was hate-reading it (and I have definitely slogged through some books for that reason!)

Maybe if there had been a clearer way in to Julie, I would have enjoyed it more, and perhaps the lack of interiority to the character was a deliberate choice? Maybe I'll read it again with that mindset and have a completely different opinion about the book in future? At the moment though, I'm left disappointed and dissatisfied.

Judy Tudor is most definitely a psychopath!!

Well that was a really fun but dark book to listen to. The entire book is told from Judy's point of view which gave a disturbing insight into her warped and unhinged mind and completely at odds with the majority of the population.

Judy is a great character made all the better by the fantastic narration by Clare Corbett; she was perfect and really brought her to life and, to be honest, I don't think I would have enjoyed it quite as much if I had read the physical book.

What a fantastic debut this is and definitely recommended to those of you who enjoy dark stories that make you laugh out loud, cringe and gasp. This audiobook isn't released until 05-June-2025; I would definitely recommend you pre-order it.

Thanks to the author, Hodder & Stoughton Audio and NetGalley for enable me to listen to and share my thoughts of this excellent book.

If you've ever worked with "psychopaths" you'll recognise the lonely, borederline intellectually disabled, adult who grew up in a home that denied their needs leading to an internal need to believe they are smart/admired. There the accuracy ends sadly but it's a fun easy read.

I have never read a story that is written from the perspective of a psychopath. And I absolutely LOVED it!

This book had me in stitches! I laughed out loud and listening to the audiobook made it better! It's like Julie is chatting away to you about her life and the goings on and you're along for the ride. Such an easy listen and parts will leave you spitting out your tea through pure shock!

Julie is a character who clearly lives in her own world and looks at situations very differently from others. Deluded comes to mind!

The prologue will leave your jaw on the floor and you will race through the story to find out what has happened!

The ending will have you horrified!

I loved reading the book from the villains perspective, but in this case, the villain had no idea that they were just that. Laugh out loud funny and slightly stomach churning too, but so worth the read.

This book is a right twisted one, I tell ya! Julie Tudor, 49, has a fantastic job (spreadsheets are her life!), a beautiful house (no questions asked, mind you), and the man of her dreams, Sean, who’s only 25, the young fella.
She's convinced Sean is her true love, even though he's head over heels for someone else. And Julie? Well, she's definitely, definitely not a stalker. Or a serial killer. At least, that's what she keeps telling herself.
There are some mad happenings, absolutely mad, and you're left wondering just how far she'll go for love. It's a dark comedy, a bit of a psychological thriller, and a whole lot of bonkers.
It's a wild ride, and while I enjoyed the sheer strangeness of it, there were moments where it felt a bit repetitive. Julie's inner monologue can get a bit circular, but I suppose that's part of the point.
If you're looking for something out of the ordinary, this is it.

Julie Tudor is most definitely a psychopath lol!
Really enjoyed this book, narrator was perfect for the part and really helped me great a picture of Julie in my mind. The inner monologue throughout the book has aspects that I’m sure many can relate to, although Julie Tudor is definitely more unhinged than the average person!
It’s definitely not on the Sweetpea level but it’s a great read! Definitely recommended. 3.5 stars rounded up.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Julie Tudor Is Not a Psychopath follows Julie—a mentally ill woman who, across multiple timelines in her life, develops delusional obsessions with men. As her fixation deepens, so does her willingness to eliminate the women she sees as competition.

The blurb immediately intrigued me. I’m drawn to dark humor and find fictional portrayals of psychopathy and sociopathy fascinating—especially when done with wit and intelligence. Unfortunately, this novel didn’t live up to the sharp, hilarious promise of its premise.

Julie lacks the qualities often associated with fictional psychopaths—there’s no charm, charisma, cunning, or even compelling manipulation. Instead, the narrative leans heavily on her delusions, which read more as pitiable than darkly humorous. The tone often feels like the joke is on her rather than coming from her, which made staying in her first-person perspective feel uncomfortable—not because she’s a psychopath, but because she’s consistently mocked by the narrative.

The book’s structure spans different timelines in Julie’s life, yet the storylines feel repetitive and blur together without adding depth or development. Julie is a middle-aged woman and a clear psychopath, so her delusions make sense within the context of her character. However, the way those delusions are handled feels lazy and often mean-spirited. The fact that she’s a middle-aged woman is part of the issue. Unfortunately, media and pop culture have long relied on harmful stereotypes that depict older women as senile, obsessive, or unstable.

In fact, studies show that middle-aged women in film are more likely to be portrayed as feeble or homebound compared to their male counterparts. These representations influence how society perceives women of that age. As noted in the article Rewriting the Narrative: How Ageism Persists in Today’s Media by Carter Jones: “A study by the Centre for Ageing Better found that ageist stereotypes in media often depict older adults as frail, technologically inept, or resistant to change. Such portrayals not only misrepresent the reality of ageing but also shape societal attitudes, embedding age bias in both cultural consciousness and individual behaviours.”

None of the characters were particularly likable or engaging—Julie included. There was no one to root for, and the plot was predictable, leaving little to hold my interest or surprise me.

I wanted to like this, but ultimately, it didn’t deliver.

Julie Tudor Is Not A Psychopath takes readers right inside the mind of a very mentally unwell woman. Julie is a middle aged woman who works in an office but she is far from average, because Julie is also a stalker and an immensely dangerous one at that. Yes, the plot and the characters were unique and mostly fun but there were times where I felt sorry for Julie. It was both fascinating and sad the way her mind worked and how she interpreted other people's behaviour, and how that then impacted on her decision making and rationalising of some extreme and dangerous acts.
I was absolutely hooked on this book and just couldn't put it down. I love an unhinged and unintentionally funny main character with a dry sense of humour.
I listened to the audiobook and really liked the narrator. I felt that her voice matched how I saw Julie in my mind, along with the other characters.
Highly recommend this book but TW for stalking/mental illness/animal cruelty

I was granted access to the audiobook for review.

Julie Tudor Is Not A Psychopath is written from Julie's point of view, and follows her middle aged life. Julie is very clearly a psychopath, but she does not see anything wrong with how she lives her life. The story follows Julie and her unrequited loves.

Unfortunately, this book was definitely not for me. Julie was extremely unlikeable, and I found her highly disturbing - particularly the animal sections. As the book is written from Julie's point of view, the reader doesn't get to know the other characters well enough to care about them either. It wasn't what I was hoping for from the blurb, and I found it very repetitive. However, I will say that the audiobook narrator was fabulous, she made it very listenable, and although the story itself was not for me, the writing did flow well.

Oh my, I loved #JulieTudorisnotaPsychopath so much!

Laugh out loud funny with one of the best characters ever, this book is up there as one of my favourite reads.

It was expertly plotted, revealing Julie’s story perfectly. She is such a fantastic character who does the most horrendous things, but I still found myself rooting for her!

I’d also like to do a shout out to the narrator of the audiobook Clare Corbett, who really brought Julie Tudor to life.

This really is a must read and I think it is going to be hugely popular. I’ve already recommended it to everyone I know!

If you love Eleanor Oliphant & Sweetpea then you will love Julie Tudor.

Publication date is the 5th of June! Thank you for my ARC 😊

4.75 stars

This was dark, hilarious, and completely unhinged, I couldn’t stop listening. Julie Tudor is 49, socially awkward, obsessively organised, and convinced she’s not a psychopath. But when Sean,her 25-year-old coworker and the so called love of her life falls for someone else, Julie’s delusions spiral. After all, she’s been here before… and she knows exactly how to remove the competition.

What I loved most was how consistent Julie’s delusions were throughout, they weren’t new or reactionary. This is just who she is. The story flips between past and present, showing how Julie’s warped view of love, relationships, and social cues has shaped her entire life. Her inability to see reality for what it is made this both hilarious and terrifying.

There were so many moments I laughed out loud or rolled my eyes at how ridiculous, but fully believable her thought process was. Julie genuinely thinks murder is a reasonable solution to her problems, and the scariest part is how logical it all sounds in her head. You can’t look away, no matter how wild it gets.

The audiobook was brilliant! It perfectly captured Julie’s deadpan, matter-of-fact delivery. It made her delusions hit even harder because she truly believes she’s the victim here.

Overall, this is such a clever debut! It’s sharp, addictive, and so entertaining in that dark, twisted way I love. If you enjoy thrillers with unreliable narrators, social misfits, and women so deluded it’s almost funny… definitely pick this one up.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for the audiobook!

This book made me smile much more than it really should. I adored the whole thing and even knowing everything Julie Tudor has done, you still like her, because this story brilliantly helps you to relate to the unbalanced workings of her mind and her motivations.,

Julie has such deep mental health issues and a social disorder that would fear you! It was funny and entertaining and shocking to see what the deluded mind of a phsycopath has!
Thank you NetGalley for letting me listen and review. It’s well written and a good listen.

An incredible debut that is as hilarious as it is dark!

A couple of years ago I read for a novel prize and the first few chapters of this book landed on my lap. It intrigued and entertained me back then and I am so happy to see that it has found a home at Hodder Books and is being published this June. This really is an incredibly accomplished debut and I LOVED it! Holdich has created a truly brilliant antagonist in Julie Tudor. She’s delusional, hilarious, and slightly tragic in the very best ways. She repulses and garners sympathy in equal measure. I was lucky enough to be given early access to the audiobook as well, which really brought this story to life in such an entertaining way. Clare Corbett’s narration perfectly captures Julie’s completely irrational thoughts, serving the comedy and tragedy of this narrative so well. This book is definitely in the vain of other popular comedy thrillers that have been very successful over the past few years, but it’s honestly better than some of those. Told from Julie’s perspective only, it’s an incredibly deep dive into her troubled mind. I loved seeing the world from her warped viewpoint and how incorrectly she could read situations, actions and emotions. I was totally hooked on her story and didn’t want it to end!

Whilst this is definitely a very humorous story that will have readers in stitches in places, it’s also a very human story. Julie has a dark and complex backstory, which was really fascinating to uncover. She’s certainly got mental health issues, but she is also a victim of male cruelty. Holdich has constructed Julie in such a clever way, as I genuinely felt compassion for her whilst also being horrified by her wholehearted delusions. As events in her life spiral out of control I found myself hoping she would escape repercussions and find happiness with Frank, a neighbour who seemed to have genuine feelings for her. This really is a fantastic debut that just hits all the right spots. Definitely one to pre-order if you like your crime with a healthy slice of black humour!

Great premise, but for me, the execution didn’t live up to what I was hoping for.

So, what I liked about Julie T…
I quite liked the writing style.
The narration was spot on.

What I didn’t like:
The storylines were too similar which lead to too much repetition.
I kept looking for some understanding of why Julie was the way she was but that wasn’t really touched on.
Because I didn’t ‘get’ Julie and none of the other characters were fleshed out (the book is written purely from Julie’s perspective) there was no one I could get behind and root for.

I know I’m in the minority but this just wasn’t my ‘cup of tea’.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing an advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

One word to describe Julie Tudor?

Delusional.

That's her character. That's this book. And I really enjoyed listening to it.

The narrator Clare Corbett does an amazing job with all the different characters and accents. Even when we see Julie in her earlier years, Clare Corbett offers a younger voice. The attention to detail was great, and she made the listening experience really enjoyable. Props to her!

Normally I love these type of humour/crime novels. I think it's the relatability and setting of them, and Julie Tudor is no different. Julie's not relatable by any means, but I found her character to be really funny. I struggled with her at the beginning. She was living this humdrum life, and her pitiful patheticness in the first few chapters made me wonder when the humour was going to come in. But then we see Julie in her younger years, and her character starts to unravel. We see these instances of where she convinces herself what she wants to believe, and she was definitely someone to laugh at, not with.

I do see a lot of comparisons to Sweetpea, but what made Julie different is that she was definitely no vigilante. She has no softness for animals or kids, and she was delulu when it came to men. Do not wear lippy around her guy. Julie will not take it lightly.

Some parts seemed a little unrealistic, but it didn't even bother me. This book absolutely delivered in what I expected and wanted from it!