Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for this ARC.

Kelli Amari, the slightly unreliable narrator of this story, is a crime reporter who is obsessed with serial killers and true crime documentaries, ever since her Dad killed a paedophile when she was little and then died in prison.

She has managed to put away one serial killer, dubbed the White Widower (shouldn't that have been the Widowmaker?), although I don't understand how he just let her call the police. She still visits him in prison because she is writing a book about him, and also because she is fascinated by his mindset and psychopathic traits. She used to work with fellow reporter Rob Grayson but they fell out when she got all the credit.

Her boyfriend Ben is nice and reassuringly normal but I got the feeling she isn't really into him all that much, especially as he can't understand her traumatic past. She has two best friends, Anna who is married to boring Henry, and Polly who is in an abusive relationship with taxi driver Todd.

Suddenly there is a new serial killer on the prowl, striking in Kelli's neighbourhood, dubbed the Nailer due to using a nailgun on the victims. With resentful Rob on her back, her Dad's death anniversary looming, her mum's health on the decline, Ben suddenly being under suspicion and Polly acting weirdly, Kelli cannot be sure she isn't the Nailer herself, while under the influence of strong painkillers that you can only get from dodgy online pharmacies and who make her sleepwalk.

"I guess rule number one of committing the perfect murder would be convincing everyone you weren’t contemplating murder at all."

There were some fairly unlikeable characters in this book, and many unpredictable twists and turns, born out of strong feelings of revenge for more than one character. Unfortunately the book only gets going around the halfway mark, and the first half gives no indication on how twisty and chaotic the second half will be.

For a debut novel this is quite self-assured, and it's a fast read with an end twist I did not see coming! Recommended if you love your true crime references and unhinged psychopaths or sociopaths at every corner.

"The genius of the psychopath is in absorbing the ordinary behaviours of others to convince the world that they themselves are also ordinary."