Published By: Wildfire
Pages: 400
Released On: 14/01/2025
Hazel and Fox are an ordinary married couple with a baby. Except for one small thing: they’re ex-serial killers.
They had it all. An enviable London lifestyle, five-star travels, and plenty of bad men to kill. Not many power couples know how to get away with murder.
Then Hazel fell pregnant and they gave it all up for life in the suburbs; dinner parties instead of body disposal.
But recently Hazel has started to feel that itch again. When she kills someone behind Fox’s back and brings the police to their door, she must do anything she can to protect her family.
This could save their marriage – unless it kills them first.
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Wildfire for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I have come to the conclusion that I perhaps read too many books where a female characters murders many male characters – the Sweetpea series by CJ Skuse, and the Kitty Collins series by Katy Brent – and I’m not angry about it…a future career perhaps? I’m joking….
Anyway, it’s amazing how I can read so many books with near enough the same character motives, and they’re still all different enough to be interesting. Where this one differs is that it shows a couple’s perspective on it, not just the woman’s.
I have been so excited about this book that I couldn’t wait to get into it – but sadly it didn’t live up to my expectations.
There is definitely a Mr and Mrs Smith vibe to it, whether intentional or not, it’s quite obvious. But that’s not a negative, just an observation.
It flits between the present day, and then various points in their past – the first time they met, their early married days, their first kill etc.
It is very slow. Especially the first half. I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s boring, but nothing happens. I know it’s all about ex-serial killers and their sobriety but I thought there would be more…just, more. I remember the Kindle saying I was 40% of the way through and I was shocked. It was all a bit mundane and I started getting distracted by other things. I have so many other books to read that whilst I powered through with this, I kept thinking about what else I could be reading.
I didn’t like the main characters. They weren’t morally good or morally bad; yes they killed people which should make them bad, but their motives were good, so does that make them morally good? I found them a bit grey, a bit vanilla. I didn’t care if they continued killing people or didn’t, if they succeeded or failed. They kept moaning about a rocky marriage but neither seemed to actually want to talk to the other, they just seemed constantly moaning and childish, and I just didn’t take to them at all. And none of the supporting characters interested me either, they were all quite annoying.
This was one of my most anticipated books of 2025 and sadly I am disappointed. It didn’t grip me or hold my attention, nothing really happened – until the end when everything happened and it didn’t feel like the right ending at all – and one the whole, I just didn’t care about it, sadly.
Books By Your Bedside 