*eARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley for review

🔪Homicidal Triplets
🔪Intense Thriller
🔪Page Turner
🔪Debut Novel

How I’ll Kill You by Ren DeStefano was a wild ride of a book and a well done debut. The story follows female triplets, Sissy, Moody, and Iris, who travel around the country choosing men to date and kill. That sounds normal, right? 😳 The premise is crazy, but it works. The story held my interest throughout and it was a real page turner. I thought the writing was great and I couldn’t believe this was a debut book. The author knows how to write a thriller that keeps you wanting to read more. I did think the ending was a little too convenient though. I wish it ended differently.

Overall, I had a fun time reading this one and I’d recommend this book to thriller lovers. I look forward to reading more from DeStefano.

4/5 stars

⭐⭐⭐⭐

𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙮-𝙪𝙥-𝙖𝙡𝙡-𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙧, 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙣𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙗𝙤𝙮𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙮𝙚𝙩: 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙠.

📍 Read if you like:
• Books About Serial Killers
• Sibling Relationships
• Morally Gray Characters
• Bingeable Thrillers

This book was absolutely WILD!! When I read what the premise was about I was immediately intrigued. I love when we follow a serial killer as a main character… in this case, make it triplets.

I would highly recommend reading this book without not knowing much. It’s definitely a binge-worthy thriller. In this one, we follow three identical triplets who kill their boyfriends - how freaking insane. They all work together and help each other get rid of the body, evidence, and of course, commit the crime.

I have heard a few people mention this book is similar to 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘒𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, which I have not read yet. This book takes place in Arizona, which was so fun. One of the triplets ends up falling in love with her next victim… which ends up messing up the plans the triplets had. I don’t want to say too much about that aspect, but oh man, this book was so entertaining.

I did, however, find the book a bit slow at times. It took me a while to actually push through, but it may have been bad timing on my side. I could definitely see why this would be a “stay-up-all-night” kind of thriller. It was fun, unique, and a wild ride of a thriller. I would highly recommend checking it out.

Thank you Berkley and NetGalley for the free gifted book and PRH Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest review, all thoughts are my own!

“Rainwood was peaceful only a few weeks ago, and some dark cloud has shadowed the blue desert sky. He’s scared that it will take me, and he has no idea that I’m the one who’s brought it.”

Oh what a wicked tale it is when broken people find other broken people. What a deliciously dark and devious story!

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 because of @karissavacker narration. Spot on and a delight to listen to, as always.

This book had me at identical triplets and serial killers. I could not wait to see what the author did with this premise. And it did not disappoint! These girls are awful, obviously. But when you learn more about their rough start in the world you almost start to feel for them a bit.

The story flowed quickly and I just couldn’t wait to see what they would do next. This is a fun, quick read and a wild ride! And if you like audiobooks I highly recommend listening to this one.

Thank you so much to Netgalley, Berkley Publishing, and the author for the #gifted copy. The audible copy is my own.

Thank you to NetGalley, Berkeley Publishing, and Ren DeStefano for a copy of How I’ll Kill You in exchange for an honest review. Okay- this one freaking gripped me from the first chapter and didn’t let me go until the end. I don’t want to give away much but let’s just say, triplets who could be serial killers, love, murder, drama- yes please!! I truly had so many ideas on how things were going to play out and I was completely wrong. I truly was satisfied with the ending but also sad. I found myself loving morally grey characters when I normally don’t. This needs to be on every thriller readers radar and I cannot wait to read more from this author. You can pick this one up now!

When Jayne asked us if anyone wanted a review copy of this book, I was probably the most natural choice, but I demurred. Sure, I enjoy a good twisty thriller, but I’m philosophically opposed to serial-killer protagonists.

Still, I had to admit, the blurb was compelling:

Make him want you.

Make him love you.

Make him dead.

Sissy has an…interesting family. Always the careful one, always the cautious one, she has handled the cleanup while her serial killer sisters have carved a path of carnage across the US. Now, as they arrive in the Arizona heat, Sissy must step up and embrace the family pastime of making a man fall in love and then murdering him. Her first target? A young widower named Edison—and their mutual attraction is instant. While their relationship progresses, and most couples would be thinking about picking out china patterns and moving in together, Sissy’s family is reminding her to think about picking out burial sites and moving on.

Then something happens that Sissy never anticipated: She begins to feel protective of Edison, and before she can help it, she’s fallen in love. But the clock is ticking, and her sisters are growing restless. It becomes clear that the gravesite she chooses will hide a body no matter what happens; but if she betrays her family, will it be hers?

So, I reconsidered, put aside my doubts, and plunged in. At first, I was glad I did, but now, having finished the book a bit ago, my feelings about it are complicated.

Sissy, Moody and Iris are identical triplets. Those aren’t their real names; at least they aren’t the names that the three were given after being discovered as infants, abandoned in a single stroller, in California. But they are the names they’ve chosen to use amongst themselves. Sissy has another name now, an alias she’s taken on since the three moved to a small town in Arizona: she is Jade.

The triplets are 24; they’ve been traveling around the country since they were 18. It was then that Sissy received a frantic call that Iris’s lover, her married high school guidance counselor, was dead, and her sisters needed her help. They’ve killed five more men in that time (for a total of six, including the guidance counselor). Iris and Moody apparently have three kills apiece, but Sissy aborted her one attempt at luring and murdering a man, saying that he wasn’t the “right one.” She seems to have a rather romantic, dreamy vision of murder, though her participation in the previous deaths has been confined to cleanup and logistics (not very romantic tasks). Sissy grew up an avid fan of true crime shows, and so she knows the best ways to make someone disappear without leaving any evidence behind.

The minute Sissy spots Edison, she gets the feeling that he is the one. She stalks him and manages to catch his attention by singing at the church he attends. Their relationship progresses quickly from there. Sissy helps Edison when he breaks his sobriety; he’s an alcoholic who has been sober for years.

Meanwhile, Iris and Moody are mostly confined to the apartment the three have rented, stuck inside with the blinds shut. No one in this small town is supposed to know there are three of them; for one thing, one will be somewhere public providing an alibi when the deed is being done. That’s part of how the plan works.

Things start off rather rocky though; in one of their first days in town, Moody and Sissy stop out in the desert by an unbuilt subdivision (Sissy wants to show her sister where she plans to bury the body), and an older man in a truck stops to see if they need help. Moody hides, and Sissy thinks she can handle the situation, but Moody abruptly hits the stranger over the head with a tire iron. Just like that, they are having to get rid of a body, and it’s not even someone that’s part of their “plan.”

Rereading this, I’m kind of horrified by the murder. Sissy does spend some time wondering if the man had a wife, and if so, would she wonder what had happened to him, etc. But she never seems to feel real remorse or a sense of horror, even while knocking out the corpse’s teeth with a hammer to make him harder to identify.

Sissy continues to get closer to Edison while also starting a friendship with her next door neighbor, Dara. Her sisters quickly come to suspect that Sissy isn’t eager to kill Edison, though Sissy herself takes a long time to admit that to herself. She meets Edison’s stepdaughter, the child of his late wife. Their relationship is tense at first, but Sissy manages to ingratiate herself and finds herself coming to care about yet another person out of her tight, three-person circle.

I was really caught up in How I’ll Kill You when I was reading it. The thriller aspect is decent; it was hard to imagine an HEA so I was left wondering if Sissy would end up killing Edison, which created a good deal of tension. But what really drew me to the story was the dysfunctional relationship of the triplets.

Sissy, Moody and Iris were mostly separated as children after the age of five; for a good chunk of that time Sissy lived with a foster mother who was decent to her, while the other two cycled through various foster and group homes. It was a tough upbringing for all three girls, who saw each other infrequently. When the did manage to get together, Sissy was often compelled to prove her loyalty to her sisters and disdain for her foster mother, which of course caused problems that ended with her going to a group home as well.

Ultimately, with a little distance, I’ve decided that I still find the “serial killer protagonist” trope distasteful. What compelled me was the very human and relatable story of how Sissy, Moody and Iris chose to reinforce their bonds and smother their individuality. It’s never really clear why they target romantic partners for their murders; I had at first assumed some sort of empowered-feminist angle, but that’s not really evident in the story. If anything, at least from Sissy’s perspective (which is somewhat skewed by the fact that she’s never actually killed a lover before), it’s about keeping the man with you forever, or at least ending any life they have after you. Which is, of course, quite sick.

But the killings have an even more sinister (at least to me) purpose that becomes clear: much like Sissy being forced to, say, put a dead mouse in her foster mother’s bed to “prove” that she hated her and was loyal to her sisters, the murders bind the sisters together ever more tightly. There’s the months of enforced hiding in a tiny apartment together, the occasional swapping of identities, and the huge fact that they are complicit in crimes that would end in life imprisonment for each of them. Every kill, every cleanup, every step of the plans they make and execute reinforces the notion that the three are a single organism, and no one of them can break off without killing all of them (literally or figuratively).

On a basic level I could relate to the bonds of family and the sometimes painful process of individuation. Of course, the triplets take everything a level that absolutely can’t relate to, but I was fascinated and compelled to see how it would all end. I cared about Sissy; at times her naivete about murder felt unrealistic, but at the same time she had experienced a lot of trauma in her life and had defense mechanisms built up, so perhaps she was really compartmentalizing and genuinely wasn’t in touch with the idea that she didn’t actually want to kill anyone.

For me there’s an odd disconnect between the “co-dependent sisters” and the “merry murderesses” plotlines. I think for the latter to have worked on any level for me it would have had to have been highly stylized, with victims that I as a reader wouldn’t care about (we don’t have many details on their victims at all, but that didn’t keep me from feeling bad that they’d been brutally killed). Instead, the story starts to get grim as it becomes clear that rather than one smooth organism comprised of equal parts, Sissy has been to some degree manipulated by both Moody and Iris for most of her life.

The ending didn’t really work for me, for reasons that would be too spoilery to go into. But it boiled down again to a clash between realism and fantasy. There are some things you just don’t come back from. My grade for How I’ll Kill You is a B-.

Best,

Jennie

Like I said in my immediate review on Goodreads…. This was the most WTFuckery I’ve read in a long time. Everyone in here was just too ok with all this killing they were doing. I just don’t know how they all just went along with this! But it made for a great story and now I’m definitely going to be on pins and needles until DeStefano writes another book because WTF lol

First things first, the plot. Although I wish we had some more indepth info about their backgrounds, I do understand why we weren’t given it. Like I need to know what dude did for her to start THIS. I hate to say this because they say this about women all the time, but this seemed dramatic af lol At the most they just deserved an ass whoopin, not all this that started. It just seemed super weird. And then there’s the fact that they have just been going on with this person. Like what?! How did no one say anything???? And the way they picked their victims? Making a man fall in love with you and then murdering them? It was so cray cray.

The characters were creepy. They put all their trust in only each other, and it backfired. I only half liked the MC because of the way she acted like she had her own brain. I say this because no one else in this book seemed to have one. Not even the boyfriend. All of them seemed to have someone else thinking for them, but the person thinking for them wasn’t all good up there to begin with. It was a lot.

I think the coolest part of this is the fact that Sissy is basically still a villain. I thought it was fascinating that even knowing that I still sympathsized with her because she was the one that changed her mind. She was the one with semi-good sense. I just didn’t know how to feel because I was actually rooting for her. And I wanted to. I think? Idk this book felt morally wrong and Idk how to change it lol

I don’t want to say too much because of spoilers, but I promise what you think is happening is not lol Just know that this is crazy and I don’t think I’m going to stop recommending this anytime soon. If you’re looking for more WTF did I just read, check out The Chain by Adrian McKinty. I flew through that book just like this one. Both were so so good!

Real rating 4.5

This book gave psycho killer vibes from the very first page. It’s not a slow burn at all and we dive straight into the WTF moments. The tone was similar to My Lovely Wife in that you’re not guessing who the killer is, you know from the beginning and are watching it unfold the whole time. I really liked this suspenseful page turner and I would recommend it to anyone looking for their next stay-up-all-night read.

Twisted! 3 sisters that'll go to the end of the earth to protect themselves until they don't. I listened to the audio of this (thank you PRH) and I loved the narration of it all. I loved how each sister had a "job" in each of the murders. They were professional murderess' (if that's a thing). It kept me engaged the entire time and I was curious to see how it was going to end. It didn't disappoint. I did find the ending a bit rushed. But overall, a great thriller!

Thrillers and murder mysteries are not my typical genre of choice, but when I saw the description of identical triplet serial killers, I had to check it out! I started reading the ARC of the book, but was having trouble getting into it, so switched over to audiobook and that did the trick! This book is full of twists and surprises, leaving me guessing until the very end!

4/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for the eARC!

The synopsis wasn't kidding about this being "your next stay-up-all-night thriller" because I was up till 3am reading it! And this is a thriller, you say... So why did I cry?!?!?!

This was a breezy read that hooked right from the start and left me desperate to know how it would all play out. I adored the fresh premise, the writing and all the characters, who I grew so attached to. I also loved the sisterly relationships and dynamics; the way Sissy spoke about Moody and Iris in one chapter left me in tears. Sissy's dilemma of family and duty versus love and happiness was so incredibly vivid and well-written that it left me feeling THINGS.

I love girlboss stories about female rage and How I'll Kill You is top-tier, particularly with its fantastic cast, rich emotional depth, and twist after twist. What a clever, engrossing and fun debut!

This was ok. The story follows the West Triplets - Moody, Iris and Sissy. After Iris’ boyfriend is killed the girls make a pact to kill their lovers before they can be hurt. Sissy has always cleaned up her sister’s messes, but now they are in Arizona and it is Sissy’s turn to kill. But as the girls start breaking their own rules, things start falling apart.
I was initially intrigued by the idea of identical triplet serial killers. Like what an idea. I’m just not really sure how I feel about it. The pacing is a little slow, and some of the plot was predictable. But overall it was a decent read.

This read more like a romance than a thriller. The premise of female triplet serial killers was intriguing but it just wasn’t for me.

Twins and triplets are supposed to be close, share each other's thoughts and feelings, swap clothes, trick teachers........all that good stuff. But become serial killers together? All I can say is don't date any of them! We're talking praying mantis level of dating here.

What happens when one of them decides she actually LIKES her boyfriend? Is this the end of a great sibling bonding experience?

Favorite Quotes:

The sound he makes is pitched and small, like a mewling little boy. When people know they’re going to die, they become children again. They shrink back down to when they were still aware of how helpless they truly are. Back when there were monsters in closets and skeletal hands reaching out at them from under their beds.

It’s been seven years since my sisters or I have been called by the names that were given to us by the state. Those cold syllables are meaningless and dead, like costumes hanging in a closet with no one to wear them.

I can see that he’s lonely too. Children don’t say as much, but they can smell emotions like bloodhounds. They can see misery, see loss at such a level that it frightens the words right out of them.

There’s a sameness to us, even in times like this when I hate it, when I hate my sisters so much that I wish I could drain all the blood I have in common with them and become someone new.


My Review:

Ms. DeStefano’s writing style was keenly honed, vivid, and had a depth that quickly snagged my gray matter and held my attention rapt throughout perusal. Even when I was forced to put my Kindle down and was quite busy elsewhere, I found myself ruminating on the genius of the character development, her grasp of the intricacies and nuances of the various twisted personalities, and the brilliance of the pacing and storytelling. The writing was disturbingly perceptive and kept me on edge and anxious for each new development. The gal has mad skills. I found her word voodoo to be devious and bewitching and have added her name to the top of my list of new favorites to watch.

Identical triplets (sisters) serial killers + dark romance + family drama = genre blending wild ride.

What I really liked:
✨Unique serial killer spin - Triplets?! Creative, brilliant, and a nightmare to solve! Sissy’s expertise in crime scene cleanup definitely is nothing but thorough! No doubt she would make a great female Dexter.
✨Character Depth: DeStefano seamlessly weaves the backstory of these morally grey sisters, creating sympathy and even understanding of how abuse and abandonment can mold a young adult.
✨Narration: Karissa Vacker outstandingly performs Sissy, Moody, and Iris! She gives distinct voices/personalities to the triplets.

Read this if you love:
✨Character-driven thrillers
✨Mixed genres
✨Morally gray MCs

The premise of this book is exciting. Identical triplet sister killers?? Sign me up!
Unfortunately, it did not live up to expectations. The writing fell flat, character development was non-existent, and pacing was slow. Sissy, Moody, and Iris go around the country taking turns killing their lovers. Now it's Sissy's turn and she falls for Edison in Arizona. She ends up falling in love with him and contemplates betraying her sisters by not killing him.
Told from Sissy's point of view, there's nothing relatable about her. Readers don't really get a sense of who these sisters are and, really, why they are going on a killing spree. They spent time separated in foster care, but that's a very weak reason.
I really had a hard time getting through this one.

How I'll Kill You
Ren DeStefano
OUT NOW

THIS is the book that IG threatened to cancel my account over. Because of a word in the title. Y'all, the last TWO books were amazing! March is a really good month for me!! Anyway, on to the review

review

This book...I don't know what I expected. But, this was not it in the best way! Triplets Iris, Moody and Sissy (this is not their legal names. We don't learn that until the end). They were dropped off after birth with no documentation. No one knew who their parents were, and they never came forward. Their names were given to them by DCF, and they were ripped apart and subsequently spent the years until they were 18 in the foster care system, all placed in different homes, group homes, etc. This helps set the scene for their behavior, so to say. The book is told from Sissy's POV.

They have a pact to make men fall in love with them and then kill them. But, through it all, they always had each other, and the love they shared for their siblings was the only thing that mattered at the end of the day. They would be together, and nothing could tear them apart.

There was one point, maybe 2/3 or 3/4 of the way through, I had an idea of what was going to happen at the end. I was pretty close, but I had some of the final details wrong. Which is totally okay with me.

There are a few TW in this book : murder, suicide, and slight mention of dismemberment. Some of the descriptions were a bit gorey, but I loved it. I was heard gasping and saying oh my God a lot during this book!!

Read this book if
🩸You like books about twins or triplets
🩸You want a psychologically dark book
🩸You want a book about siblings that would do anything for one another


Thank you to @laurendestefanoauthor, @berkleypub, and @netgalley for an eARC of this book. It is out NOW!

Well, this was unpleasant. Not the book, the writing or the plot- all diabolically good. But these sisters, identical triplets,who murder their boyfriends. On purpose. Unpleasant business to be sure.
⠀
I went in blind to How I’ll Kill You, by Ren DeStefano, so I was surprised right away that there wasn’t one murderer, not two murderers, but three of them! They are clever and cunning, just do not get in a relationship with any of them.
⠀
Then the youngest, or who they assume to be the youngest, actually falls too deep for her target, suddenly her sisters are changing all their rules. This time is definitely not like all the others.
⠀
The author did a great job of filling in these sister’s back story and making these murderers sympathetic characters. You might not agree with what they are doing, but you will cheer them on anyway, still expecting the best of them. They are fiercely loyal, smart women. They just happen to calmly discuss the best ways to kill people as if they were discussing the best shoes to wear in the rain.
⠀
There is no “whodunnit” here. You know right up front who, you know where, when, and why. You have several guesses as to how. You just can’t stop reading to see it play out.
⠀

Definitely twisty! This was a really unique read. I enjoyed the triplets, even though writing this makes me feel a little crazy!


I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

Triplets abandoned at birth — never placed with the same foster families. They kept in touch as much as they could over the years but now, they’re finally back together…as a trio of killers.

Y’all, I couldn’t put this one down! It isn’t JUST a suspenseful thrill ride. Identical triplets generally have so much more in common than regular siblings. Their mannerisms, quirks, and thought processes are more in sync. This book shows that, despite these genetic similarities, a person’s environment also has a tremendous effect on their overall view of the world. These three sisters are similar but each with their own distinct personality.

The romance element is a major player in the plot and I loved the chemistry between Sissy and Edison. Sissy loves fiercely. But when faced with the hardest decision of her life, which path will she choose?

Read this if you love:
Romantic suspense
Sisterly bonds
Serial killers
Found family

I received an advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.