By: Tasha Coryell
Narrator: Andi Arndt
Penguin Audio
ISBN: 9780593640272
Publisher: Berkley
Penguin Audio
Publication Date: 06/25/2024
Format: Other
My Rating: 4 Stars (ARC)
BLOG TOUR HOST June 26
An aimless young woman starts writing to an accused serial killer while he awaits trial and then, once he’s acquitted, decides to move in with him and take the investigation into her own hands in this dark and irresistibly compelling debut thriller.
Recently ghosted and sick of watching her friends fade into the suburbs, thirty-something Hannah finds community in a true-crime forum that’s on a mission to solve the murders of four women in Atlanta. After William, a handsome lawyer, is arrested for the killings, Hannah begins writing him letters. It’s the perfect outlet for her pent-up frustration and rage. The exercise empowers her, and even feels healthy at first.
Until William writes back.
Hannah’s interest in the case goes from curiosity to obsession, leaving space for nothing else as her life implodes around her. After she loses her job, she heads to Georgia to attend the trial and befriends other true-crime junkies like herself. When a fifth woman is discovered murdered, the jury has no choice but to find William not guilty, and Hannah is the first person he calls upon his release. The two of them quickly fall into a routine of domestic bliss.
Well, as blissful as one can feel while secretly investigating their partner for serial murder…
My Review
Tasha Coryell's dazzling debut novel, LOVE LETTERS TO A SERIAL KILLER, is an entertaining, twisted, darkly funny, disturbing, and thrilling adventure of a woman who gets caught up in a relationship with a serial killer on trial for murder.
By the end, you will be shaking your head about who needs more counseling: the prey or the predator. Who is more disturbed?
About...
Before falling in love with a serial killer, thirty-something Hannah worked in communications in Minneapolis for a nonprofit. She spent more time on social media than doing her job. Unmotivated, she drank too much, dated men, got dumped, and ghosted by men and friends.
Then she joined an online crime forum about William Thompson, the good-looking, handsome, and wealthy attorney who is accused of murdering Anna, Kimberly, Jill, and Emma. There was nothing about him that screamed, "serial killer."
#FindAnnaLeigh was trending last spotted at the law firm in Georgia, where she served as an intern. Her body was later found in a ravine. This was just the beginning.
Hannah said she was not obsessed with killers but with justice. However, as we soon discover, that may NOT be the case. Hannah finds herself engrossed in a true-crime forum with a mission to solve the murders of four women in Atlanta.
After William is arrested for the killings, Hannah decides to write him a letter as she thinks this will be a good exercise for her anger and will give her a sense of empowerment.
However, William writes back. It is not what she expected.
She soon is obsessed, loses her job, and decides to go to Atlanta and join the other true-crime junkies to follow the trial.
However, when a fifth woman is discovered murdered while William is in prison, the jury has no choice but to let him go.
Soon, Hannah moves in with William and is in a relationship, but she still does not trust him. She enjoys the family's money and prestige, but secretly, she is still sleuthing and keeping a notebook to see what she can find. He proposes, and they are engaged. Is this what she wants?
Why is she drawn to William?
However, the secret sleuthing, digging, and investigating may prove more harmful than she imagined. The mysterious matchbox will lead her to danger. What does Hannah really want? What if William is not a murderer and it is someone else? Will she lose the thrill and attraction? What if there is something more sinister going on?
My Thoughts...
LOVE LETTERS TO A SERIAL KILLER is wild and disturbing. You will be hooked by the smashing front cover and the opening page! It is a cat-and-mouse psychological suspense thriller—but who is the cat, and who is the mouse?
The author cleverly creates a compelling, disturbing, unhinged young woman with a brilliant character study. You will fly through the pages to see how this mystery will play out.
The author takes us inside the life of William's family with their dad, mom, brother, and relatives. What happens behind closed doors? She has no clue about this dark family.
The author's writing is witty, edgy, topical, and psychologically rich — a cautionary tale for the relatable millennials—an inside realistic look at the modern dating culture, social media, and crime-obsessed followers. Unputdownable, darkly comic, thought-provoking, and a shocking whodunit mystery —a wild ride for your summer reading. True crime-obsessed buffs will devour. What an ending!
A gripping debut, I would like a sequel to continue the story of William, the family, Hannah, and more! There is much more to explore, and I am in.
I enjoyed the author's writing style and look forward to seeing what she comes up with next!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for providing a digital review copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.
Blog Tour stop on June 26th.
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
Pub Date: June 25, 2024
My Rating: 4 Stars
Praise
“Compulsive, twisted and darkly funny—you’ll gobble this one up.”
—Sally Hepworth, New York Times bestselling author of The Soulmate
“I read this book in a single weekend and have been recommending it to people ever since. Fast-paced and thrilling, Love Letters to a Serial Killer is also a compelling character study of a woman who loves the man who might kill her. Coryell’s fiercely witty, intoxicating prose hooked me on page one and never let go.”
—Ana Reyes, New York Times bestselling author of The House in the Pines
“I‘m a particular fan of women narrators who have a voice that‘s sardonic, biting, or just straight up self-absorbed. Hannah, the protagonist of Tasha Coryell’s often-hilarious debut is all three, and her black humor communicates truths about the current millennial ennui through her often outlandish remarks.”
—Glamour
“…[A]n unhinged, humorous nail-biter that meets satirical social commentary for a wild, engrossing thrill ride.”
—Seattle Times
“Tasha Coryell’s debut novel, Love Letters To A Serial Killer, may be this summer’s most relatable and entertaining read for millennials….Darkly comic, fast-paced, and thrilling, this is one book you’ll be hard-pressed not to read in one sitting.”
—Bustle
“What a ride. Arch, dark, original and so witty, Love Letters to a Serial Killer is a remarkable and gripping debut.”
—Sarah Pinborough, New York Times bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes
“Coryell expertly renders her protagonist’s uneasy perch between love and suspicion, keeping readers as in the dark as Hannah is about William’s true nature until the very end. This is un-put-downable.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Coryell’s engrossing bent comedy isn’t afraid to delve into scathing and frank analyses of modern dating culture, American classism, and serial killer fixation, while still being a thrilling read with twists throughout….Witty, shocking, and wild, this is a must-have mystery.”
—Library Journal (starred review)
“Oh my god. Utterly brilliant. Hannah is so painfully relatable I didn’t know whether to shake her or hug her, but what I could not do was take my eyes off her. I was glued to the very end and I am begging for a sequel!”
—Jesse Q. Sutanto, author of You Will Never Be Me
“A delightfully dark and deranged romp through the mind of one of ‘those women’—you won’t be able to look away from this high-stakes trainwreck of a relationship between Hannah and William, a match made in heaven for the true-crime obsessed.”
—Rachel Koller Croft, author of Stone Cold Fox
“Deeply disturbing pals up with darkly comic to create one heck of a morbid ride…But as in all good crime books, nothing is as it seems, and the truth sends Hannah—and the reader—spinning in a completely surprising direction.”
—firstCLUE
“This new book offers a fresh twist on the common true crime phenomenon of serial killers receiving love letters and even getting married to their correspondents while still in prison, even while sometimes facing life sentences for their crimes. It remains to be seen if either character lives to see the end of the book, but what is in store is sure to be a compelling thrill ride.”
—Screen Rant
“A well-written, interesting yarn that is part comedy, part drama and 100% cautionary tale…Highly recommended beach read.”
—Game Vortex
About the Author
Tasha Coryell’s debut novel, Love Letters to a Serial Killer, is forthcoming from Berkley (US) and Orion (UK) in 2024.
Her book of short stories, Hungry People, was published by Split Lip Press in 2018. Purchase Hungry People here.
Tasha holds an MFA in
creative writing and a PhD in composition and rhetoric from the University of Alabama. She currently lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with her husband, son, and greyhound.
In her spare time, Tasha likes to run, cross stitch, and watch copious amounts of television.
