Petra Kovach is a young journalist, struggling to get her career off the ground in an industry that is shrinking and fiercely competitive. She has been laid off a few times already and now that she has a great job in Boston she desperately wants it to work out. It looks like Petra is about to become the victim of yet another lay-off until she pitches the idea of a true crime podcast to her ruthless boss in an attempt to save her job. The podcast is about her childhood friend Olivia, who after some tragic losses, became involved with the alt-right movement and launched her own far right YouTube channel. Olivia was violently murdered in her dorm room at Harvard, and although a professor was charged and acquitted of the crime, many people believe that he got away with it. In her podcast, Petra wants to explore whether the police had the right guy, or whether someone else is guilty of the murder.

Killer Story really draws the reader into Petra’s relentless search for the guilty party. I won’t lie – it isn’t an easy read and I alternated between feeling sorry for Petra and wanting to shake her until her teeth rattled. But even though it is sometimes a frustrating story, it is a testament to Witten’s abilities as a writer that the story feels so realistic and makes you feel all the emotions. There are some timely themes in this novel – violence towards women, political divisiveness, the critical importance of ethical reporting, the changing landscape of journalism, social media and online anger, and the lasting stigma of being accused of criminal behaviour. These are heavy topics and they are handled skillfully. The ending was not what I was expecting!

A great read and many thanks to Oceanview Publishing for allowing me to read a digital copy.