Published By: Zaffre
Pages: 384
Released On: 20/08/2026
Gwen keeps a list of enemies. Not that she’d ever hurt any of them – she just likes knowing if karma catches up.
So when her childhood bully drowns in sewage, Gwen’s quietly satisfied. But then another foe dies. And another. Soon, everyone who’s ever crossed Gwen – from sworn enemies to obnoxious strangers – is meeting a bizarre end.
The police think Gwen’s involved, but she’s terrified. Someone’s turning her private grudges into a murder spree, and if Gwen doesn’t stop them, her newly rebellious daughter could be next . . .
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Zaffre for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I have read three of Julie’s books, Bad Men, Eat Slay Love, and Body Count, and I own another – Louis and Louise – so I’ve really come to love her books.
The female-killer-who-only-kills-people-who-deserve-it is such a saturated genre, but I do love them. But there is something different about Julie’s books that make them a bit special, and unhelpfully, I cannot specify what that is.
This isn’t a spoiler as it’s right there in the synopsis. What I loved about this book, and where it differs, is that the accused isn’t even the one who is guilty. Instead of killing people and trying to act innocent, she is actually innocent but all evidence points to her. That puts a different spin on it.
This had me hooked straight away and kept me company when I couldn’t sleep because of the heat. It’s really funny (I struggle to find books funny), it’s quick to read, it’s explosive, the characters are brilliant, it has an exciting plot, twists and turns, important messages – just everything about it is wonderful.
It’s full on but not overwhelming. It’s not a short book at nearly 400 pages but it just zips by. It’s fast paced but not too quick, slow enough that you have time to focus on the individual characters. The characters are all fantastic – even if not all goodies – and I loved reading about them all. The messages spoken are very important but never too in your face. The twists are brilliant. The storytelling great. I just loved everything about it.
I am notoriously terrible at working out whodunnits but I usually have the odd suspicion. With this, everything is so well hidden that whilst I had the odd though, none of them were strong enough to pick a suspect. And the reveal! How to talk about this without spoilers? Near the end, when the pieces start to come together, just moments before the big reveal, I got it. It had been set up so well, and I would never have got it before that moment.
This might be the best of her books so far; I cannot say anything negative about it.
Books By Your Bedside 