Bad Men Don't Stand a Chance Against Her... "This Girl's a Killer" Book Review

One of my college jobs was salesgirl at a shoe store. 

 My manager—smart, sweet, attractive, and never-behind-bars (that’ll be relevant in a second)—was great to work with.  

 

But, I seriously questioned her choice in movies.

 

Her favorite genre was a mashup of female empowerment and vigilante fantasies—women in jail, enduring horrible things, only to finally exact graphic, brutal revenge on the men that had hurt them. 

 

Back then, I didn’t understand the appeal... but after finishing Emma C. Wells’ debut novel, This Girl’s a Killer, I think—at long last—I’m starting to.

 

 

Cordelia Black has—from the outside—one of those enviable lives.

 

She’s attractive. Put-together. Healthy. Independent. Self-sufficient, with a well-paying job—Big Pharma rep—that easily funds her love of very nice things (Manolo Blahnik and Louboutin stilettos, and a collection of Louis Vuitton handbags). 

 

She’s beloved by her BFF since freshman year in college, Diane, and is the proud godmother/doting auntie of Diane’s child.

 

But looking at someone’s life from the outside rarely tells the whole story.

 

Because in Cordelia’s spare time? She’s also a killer.

 

And not a “whoops, didn’t mean to hit that pedestrian I couldn’t see in the pouring rain” or “but I had no idea he had a deadly nut allergy when I made those brownies with extra walnuts” accidental killer... but a full-on “I’m goin’ all-out MURDER on his a$$” kinda killer.

 

While it isn’t something she brags about—she isn’t stupid, she knows people would get squicky about the whole concept of killing people—she’s firmly convinced she’s in the right. 

 

After all, she only kills Really. Bad. Men. (And the world is surely better off without them around, right?!?)

 

But, when something unexpectedly goes wrong, and a person she wasn’t trying to kill winds up dead... by her hand, in her home... Cordelia’s normally calm, cool, and collected plan for exterminating terrible dudes goes out the window.

 

And now? The beautiful life she’s built, putting her energy, love, and passion into, since college, is in danger, as well.

 

 

This Girl’s a Killer is one of the most unusual takes on the serial killer trope I’ve read in... well, maybe ever, and I heartily applaud Emma C. Wells in this debut, because she’s created a superb suspense... and delivered us a ballsy, FEMALE anti-hero.

 

I mean, Cordelia isn’t just a killer... she’s a serial killer. 

 

But she’s a serial killer we actually like, and can relate to.

 

Sure, she’s got her own little eccentricities and weirdness going on... but honestly, don’t we all?

 

Plus, she’s fulfilling many a woman’s dream—much like my shoe-store manager (and whether we’ve ever acknowledged it or not)—to put an end to some truly-horrible man’s mistreatment of women, once and for all.

 

This Girl’s a Killer won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. But, if you’ve ever been exposed to (first-, second-, or thirdhand) too much male aggression... cruelty... or abuse, you’ll probably find a kindred spirit in Cordelia Black. 

 

You’ll be rooting for her.

 

And you’ll be glad that at least someone—if only fictionally—is righting some of the wrongs that would otherwise continue to go unpunished.

 

In my book, This Girl’s a Killer is a winner.

~GlamKitty

 

[Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are, as always, entirely my own.]

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