Published By: Avon
Pages: 384
Released On: 12/03/2026
As someone who has suffered abuse at the hands of men, Maddie protects women by murdering those who attack them – men she calls ‘fleas’. Fleas are men who follow women home. Abusive husbands who refuse to walk away. And then there’s the Manchester Maniac: a serial killer stalking the streets, determined to murder people like her.
But Maddie can’t get away with it forever. Years later, in the interview room of her prison, she comes face-to-face with a very important visitor. Someone she’s going to tell all to, about how she caught one of the UK’s most prolific serial killers, and how she got caught as one herself…
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Avon for the advance copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I love this influx of thrillers about female serial killers who go round killing “deserving” men – the likes of CJ Skuse and Bella Mackie. And I do love them all, but I wonder at times if it was a field getting too busy and could there really be anything new in it. But the premise of this promised something a little bit different so I had high hopes.
It is nothing new, the basic premise of this book, but Antonia has added enough quirks of her own to make it feel fresh. Where this differs to others I’ve read is that it doesn’t focus that much on the actual killings. It’s more of a psychological thriller. It’s slow and calculating, and it’s more about her frame of mind and why she did it and that mental and emotional element between victim and criminal.
It goes back and forth between two time periods (with the occasional additional one) which I know can be confusing, but I really liked books like that. Yes you have to have your wits about you, but it means we get to see the same characters across a number of years and I find that growth fascinating.
I love the use of a retrospective narrative here. Part of the book is set in a prison (no spoilers, it says so in the synopsis), whilst Maddie recounts her crimes, and I thought it was such a good way to tell the story.
I don’t want to say too much about Maddie because I think the enjoyment comes out of meeting her and finding out about her yourself. But I really liked her. Sure, she’s doing illegal things. You’re not meant to think positively about her, but she was doing it for good (so she thought) reasons, and she was strong and passionate and powerful and just really likeable.
I don’t condone killing, obviously. But when the characters are this bad, when they’re doing what they’re doing, is there a part of me that thinks these victims got what they deserve? Yes, quite frankly. And I will take that thought through every book of the genre.
Did I guess the outcome? Partially. I am notoriously awful at working out whodunnits, but I got one of them right, which I was quite pleased with.
It’s creepy and tense and scary and sad and funny and just a really fun read. I read it in a day; it’s so quick to read and so addictive.
It is a very promising debut. In fact, it’s quite hard to believe it is a debut because the writing is so accomplished that it reads like someone who has honed their skills across many books. I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next, and whether she will stay in the thriller genre or not. Either way, she’s a name I’ll be looking out for.
Books By Your Bedside 