Wow this kept you on your toes. Very dark and thrilling from start to finish. Loved it

Just a little bit too graphic in detail for me. I think it is more horror than mystery or thriller. It is a good debut novel though with good characterisation, fast paced and the chapters are short. Many thanks to Net Galley for my copy. I reviewed on Goodreads and Amazon.

I absolutely love the concept of this book and when I heard about it I could not wait to get my hands on it!! As you may know I love a good thriller with murderers and serial killers so the idea of Be My Killer involving a killer who had killed a number of individuals who had tweeted the #BeMyKiller hashtag sounded right up my street!! So this was a highly anticipated read for me and I’m so glad I read it!
I struggled slightly with this book as there was a huge number of characters and I couldn’t manage to visualise them all or build a relationship with them! However I completely understand that this book wouldn’t really work without the many characters which are in it! The book is also based in an amusement park and I also struggled to build an image of this in my head as the book played out. These minor issues could have completely been my frame of mind whilst reading as my thoughts did keep wondering off elsewhere.
The second half of this book in particular was extremely intense, the best way to describe it is similar to a horror movie! It’s very dark, graphic and gruesome and made me wince a number of times, so if you like that sort of thing this book is 100% for you! Let’s just say it’s not for the faint hearted!
The ending of this book completely made it for me, it was brilliant! Towards the end I was getting slightly confused with some aspects however everything is concluded and explained so well! It actually made the whole book make so much more sense to me and was just a perfect ending which included a twist I didn’t see at all, completely the opposite to what I believed was going to happen so that’s always a bonus!
I really look forward to reading more by Richard Parker as his imagination and originality when creating storylines is superb which is always refreshing for me as I read so many thrillers!!

OMG This book made every creak in my house come to life and turn into someone waiting and ready to pounce on me, as I transformed with each page turned, from a reasonably calm and controlled woman to a nervous wreck! I wanted to hide behind the sofa but I wanted to take my book with me too because I couldn’t stop reading. This was going to be one hell of a read. I had only finished chapter 1.

I really took to this author straight away, although this isn’t his first book he was new to me. His writing had a crisp freshness about it, very much belonging to a modern society,  with that bravado of some of the characters that thought they were untouchable. The people that mouthed off then stood back and mocked a society that could do nothing about it. Now believe me no matter how obnoxious these people are you will feel compassion for them.

What starts as a prank on Twitter with a simple #BeMyKiller preceded by a statement such as bite me or blow me, soon becomes a game of cat and mouse. This cat really likes to play with its victims. Boy are there some new methods of killing here. I was gob smacked! It is all very gruesomely  described in some pretty gory fascinating and utterly inventive ways. A real mix of brutal crimes and unforgettable horror, your hair on end kinda writing.

Most of the story is set inside an old abandoned Fun House, which is creepy in itself, but it was also one of the murder scenes and it is surrounded woods. All makes for compelling reading. Throw in a little girl that gets nosey and a couple of pretty tough ladies and wow have you got a story. I think I may have to watch cartoons before bed. Yikes!

Excellent book. Great storyline and characters. A real page turner. I would recommend this book.

2☆  Too gruesome for me

I'm afraid I just couldn't finish this book.
I found the scenes to be too graphic I like thriller books but this was border line horror. Really not a horror fan.

I just feel it went over the top on the whole serial killer stalker.
I didn't feel the scenes needed to be so intense.
I can see why as they was intended to shock, draw the reader in to the sick twisted mind of the serial killer. But wow!

If you like graphic gruesome murder descriptive scenes then honestly this is Definetly the book for you!

Not to my taste by I can Definetly see this will be absolutely perfect for some readers.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I couldn't put it down. It was everything I was looking for.

Oh my GOD! How on EARTH am I meant to review this one?! Before I started reading 'Be My Killer', I had already been made aware (as I don't read blurbs) that the plot was incredibly gruesome. Me being me thought to myself, 'yeah, right then. several murders, gruesome enough'. -laughs manically- yeahhhhhhhh, even a bog standard murder (if there is such a thing) would be seen as tame compared to this book.

I had always shied away from gruesome novels in the past - due to the fact that I was a wuss. The slight sniff of a murder in a book, and I'd be sitting in the corner wondering if I was going to be the next one murdered. Dramatic much? Within the last year or so I have pulled up my big girl pants, picked up a book with a cover that made me go 'ooooo', and got stuck into the storyline regardless of whether there was one murder, a psycho, or a psychotic serial killer involved. So, when I had the opportunity to read Richard Parker's new novel, Be My Killer, I grabbed it with both hands and got stuck in when it reached the top of my TBR pile.

Basically, Hazel Salter is either going to go hard, or go home as her documentaries have hit a brick wall, and money is starting to become an even bigger issue than before. Just when she thought the decision had been made for her, a news headline caught her eye; someone she knew from her childhood had been murdered. Who killed her? Why did they kill her? Who will be next?

It felt as though from the minute I started reading the novel, other murders came to light alongside questionable characters. There was no warning, no tannoy announcement, not even a killer inspired Baywatch theme tune to announce the intensity, and the shock factor of the situation. I got told it was gruesome....there's gruesome and then there's unbelievably bonkers gruesome. 'Be My Killer' is the latter. Whenever a murder happened or something freaky came to light, the situation was always described in extreme detail, adding a little bit more detail incase you didn't quite conjure up an image in your head the first time. Yet, every time I came across those moments in the book, I read them with my teeth sinking further into my lip, nausea waiting in the sidelines just in case, my brow furrowed as in 'what the....', then all of a sudden thinking to myself 'oh that is just eurgh....I MUST READ MORE. I MUST'.

Yes the plot was unbelievably gruesome, BUT, it was unbelievably amazing! The attention to detail throughout the entire novel was outstanding! Each shocking situation was written in such a way that, instead of having a rough idea of how people were murdered, the author took the time to describe every single thing about the way that they were killed, little details about the character at the time of the murder; the image that I was able to recreate in my mind wasn't a typical 2D one. No. It felt like a three-dimensional, extremely vivid image that gave me the opportunity to see everything. To feel the chilling atmosphere. To feel (and see) the fear behind the characters eyes. Whilst I am in awe of Parker's ability to write such mind-blowing situations in great detail, I am also a smidge scared as to how he knows how to do those things!! Sheeeesh!

I was hooked on this book right from the very beginning. Everything about this book screamed 'utterly bonkers', as well as 'oh my fudging god I need more'. For me there was no in-between moment, the entire storyline was highly charged, severely intense and full of copious amounts of shocking and spine tingling moments.

I F-LOVED this book. An outstanding, toe curling, nausea inducing, gripping storyline which kept me guessing the whole way through. I have found a new favourite author in Richard Parker. He has definitely set the bar high for his next novel, that's for sure!!!!

Thanks Bookouture!

This was the second Richard Parker I've been privileged to read and it was another killer read!!!
This book made me think twice about using social media and the consequences of it really could be.
Recommended!!

I hate horror movies, always have and always will, so I find it rather bizarre that I love to read books that would make brilliant scary movies! And Be My Killer reads exactly like one of those films I end up watching from behind a cushion, behind the sofa and that sofa is usually in another room. But having read Scare Me last year, I knew that Be My Killer was one I had to read-I just have a compulsion to be scared "witless" sometimes!! And this book gave me goosebumps right from the off with that horrible cover! I mean come on....MOTHS??!! Have you been stalking my nightmares Mr Parker?! Everyone knows I have a huge fear of those horrible fluttery, winged nasties!! I couldn't click off that cover fast enough!

Although to be fair once I got into Be My Killer there were a few nasties INSIDE the cover that made me forget all about those moths. This one is not for the faint hearted and please don't make the rookie mistake of reading it whilst eating a Chinese takeaway like I did but, unfortunately for me, I couldn't put this book down even to eat which just goes to show you what an unputdownable rollercoaster ride of a read it is! So not my fault really but don't say you haven't been warned!

When people start turning up dead after using #BeMyKiller on a newly set up Twitter account, it makes for a gruesome news story. Documentary maker Hazel was childhood friends with one of the victims so heads back home to investigate further. But like any horror film, she heads back to the scene of the crime-an abandoned theme park. WHY DO THEY DO THAT?! And as the interviewees start turning up dead and Hazels crew are disappearing one by one, it's up to Hazel to find a killer.

The first few chapters needed a lot of my attention as I had to get my head around the vast number of characters who were being thrown at me but once established this became a fast paced, gore fest that kept me guessing right up until the end. The character who initially annoyed me the most, Rena, ended up being the one I connected with the most and I was praying that she wouldn't come to any harm. I was yelling at her to NOT TRUST ANYONE and to NOT GO ANYWHERE ON HER OWN! But obviously it wouldn't be a tension filled thriller if no one put themselves in the line of fire for our twisted serial killer and poor Rena followed the path of many a young woman from those teen fright nights, heading off innocently into dangerous territory.

I have to say I am now far too scared to used the hashtag #BeMyKiller on Twitter to promote my review. That's how much this book has made me reconsider what I put on social media! And if it ever gets made into a film then I'm sure it will do very well with horror fans......just don't expect me to watch it!!!

The premise for this one instantly hooked me, even before I read the chilling opening chapter. Speaking of the first chapter, last week Richard and the lovely Kim Nash hosted a really interesting Facebook Live where he read the first chapter, so if you missed it and want to get a feel for the book, it’s a great place to start! Social media as the hunting grounds for a serial killer was a really clever basis for this book, @BeMyKiller is a Twitter account that went viral when people that used the hashtag or tweeted the account were murdered based on the taunts they used. Tweet saying the killer is gutless and you may find yourself literally gutted. Many people were scared to use the hashtag for this tour, but I’m being brave! 😜

This has the vibe of an old slasher movie, think 80’s movies like The Nightmare on Elm Street and Child’s Play mixed with the campy feel of 90s horror movies like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. There was the same large cast of characters in a perfect atmospheric setting, this used an old, abandoned amusement park. In fact, this book is begging to be turned into a movie, it would be great!

This is not for the faint of heart, it’s gory, graphic and has some highly original murder scenes. Some of them are seriously twisted, if you’ve read this you’ll know why I’ll never be able to look at a mobility scooter the same way again, yikes! I was constantly on the edge of my seat as I wondered who the next victim would be, the tension was fantastic and there were some parts that were real nail biters.

This was very fast paced and creepy with plenty of twists and turns along the way. I had heard before I read it that it was one of Bookouture’s darkest books to date and I would have to agree, it’s pretty depraved! It was also a whole lot of fun, highly entertaining and left me guessing up until the end.

Don't turn off the lights. Finished the book in 2 days. Chilling and full of thrills. Grabs you from the first page until the last when everything is revealed. Awesome story.

Richard Parker is disturbingly creative. The deaths in this book are gruesome, and almost push the book toward the horror genre. If you can make me, a big horror fan, shudder... you're doing something right. Might not be the best book for someone who is overly squeamish. This book is a decent length, but the short snappy chapters make it a pretty quick read. I love short chapters! When real life butts in and makes you put your book down, it's nice to know you can pause at an appropriate point. I can imagine this book making a very exciting and gory horror movie.

An online prank goes viral and results in several deaths. When rich kid Henrik puts up a Twitter account that's supposed to be a way of making a list of potential victims for serial killers, he seems to intend it as a joke. So do the many people who tweet the account and bait him, daring him to come after them. But someone isn't joking. Several of the men and women that put their names on the "list" have been brutally murdered in ways that reference their taunt. The account was soon shut down, but the murderer or murderers remain at large.

Hazel is a documentary maker desperate for a new project. She had some major success with her last film, but things have dried up. When she catches the name of a childhood friend on the news, an idea begins to form. Her old friend has been murdered after tweeting the "Be My Killer" account. It's at times unclear whether she wants to avenge her old mate or is just using the opportunity to create an interesting film she thinks will succeed.

Along with the crew from her last film that she's come to think of as friends, she heads back to her old hometown. She keeps her relationship with the victim a secret, but is scary determined to figure out exactly what happened. She even arranges the man who set up the account to meet with the families of the victims. Hazel believes that the murders were all committed by one opportunist. Whether they are dealing with one psychopath or several, this documentary is going to be explosive... if it ever gets made. Crew members begin to disappear, and strange things begin to happen at the amusement park they're shooting at. Now the question isn't whether they'll identify the killer and create a successful film... it's will any of them make it out alive?

I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley and Bookouture, thank you! My review is honest and unbiased.

This is a fun and twisty beach read that will have you wondering at every turn. Who's doing this? And why?

Parker gives us a cat and mouse game that seems eerily plausible. The fact is that in this age of viral social media, someone could do something just like this.

The solution to our mystery was surprising. I really didn't see that coming.

A fun and fast read that kept me guessing. I'll happily read the author in the future!

Initially, I really hated the title of this book, it sounds super cheesy and weird, but after finding out it relates to the Twitter Killer plot, I actually thought it was quite cool. The plotline here is that there was Twitter thread called '#BeMyKiller' where you could advertise yourself up to be killed (in a pranky way) but then a few people who responded to this thread were murdered. I thought this was a really unique motivation for the crimes in this and so my hatred for the title dissipated.

This is a fast paced book, with never a dull moment! If you're one of those people who pushes themselves through "just one more chapter", this book is going to stop you from sleeping... There are 130 chapters in this book, with some of them being just a page long!

I liked the plot for this, that they were making a film about the murders, that then turned into more murders. The setting was in the dark and dreary murder place of Meredith, "Fun Central" and because it was an old kids play area, with ball bits and go-kart tracks, it had an eerie feel to it that worked well alongside the gruesome murders. And yes, they were gruesome murders.

Writing was well done. It's not a challenging book to read, there's no amazing descriptive passages or hard-hitting themes, it's just an easy thriller read. One problem I did have with the writing is something so stupid and very specific that it almost seems pointless in saying it, but it got on my nerves enough times that I have to mention it. "So why did you use the #BeMyKiller hashtag?" - how do you read that sentence? I read it as "hashtag Be My Killer hashtag"... yes that's all that's annoyed me, the double use of the hashtag... don't use a # if you're then going to write out hashtag!!!

Our main character in this novel is Hazel, and while she's creating this film to get justice for Meredith's killer, I didn't particularly like her. The blurb makes it sound like Hazel is doing her documentary to get justice for Meredith, but to me, it felt like she was making the film to save her company from going under. She was too deceptive with all the characters about her reasoning behind creating this new film, that her passion to catch the killer felt fake. As for Meredith being a "childhood friend", I'd say that wasn't very realistic, the book makes it feel like they were more acquaintances than anything, and that Hazel just sort of pitied Meredith. It's never good when you don't like the main character, but I was reasonably happy still going along with this novel. Hazel was dislikable but she was tolerable.

I had my suspicions of who the killer might be, which turned out to be wrong, but I think I would have prefered my scenario to play out because the real reveal was pretty dramatic and out there. Although the last 40% of the book was super tense and horror-movie-like it got a little OTT in my opinion.

Overall this is a great thriller if you're looking for a book with non-stop action, but it's not particularly clever and it's very dark, so if you're not into that kinda thing, you won't enjoy this one. It's clear that Parker has a talent for writing and I will definitely look out for more books of his, but this, for me, was a very mediocre thriller novel.

Creepy, disturbing and exceptionally gory!

This is a gritty thriller full of sex, manipulation, emotional entanglements, carnage, and violence in an extremely fast-paced, suspenseful plot that is chocked full of murder and mayhem.

The writing is well done. The main heroine, Hazel is relentless, determined, strong and desperate; and the supporting characters are varied, troubled and vulnerable.

This story is definitely not for the squeamish, in fact it reminds me of those classic slasher films from the 80s that we all watched from the edge of our seat yelling “don’t go off on your own” and even though there may not be lots of depth to the characters you are still thoroughly entertained, horrified and engrossed by the maniacal killer, the naive victims, and of course the unexpected ending.

Thank you to NetGalley, especially Bookouture, for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I received this ARC from Netgalley and Bookouture for an honest review.

So this book has a great hook. There's a new # trending.....#bemykiller, an invite to any social media lurking serial killer. But there's a particularly​ inventive serial killer monitoring the web who takes people's insults such as "bite me" or "blow me" as quite literal instructions. Film maker Hazel has been watching with morbid horrified interest until her childhood friend Meredith becomes a victim. Now Hazel is determined to get justice and she has a theory. So she gathers a cast of characters around her for a documentary, friends and family of the victims and the man who inadvertently started the sick game. But as she strives to prove her theory her grew begins to vanish one by one.

Sometimes you read a book and think "this is a great book, it'd be a great film!" Well this would be a great horror thriller movie but as a book it's not so great. I found it really hard to connect to the characters and struggled to get into this. But then I was expecting a mystery thriller and felt I got a horror instead which just isn't my thing. The mystery element was good enough to keep me reading though and it rattles along at a fair pace, the writing is punchy and precise. Not a bad book by any means, if you like horror you will love this - it just wasn't for me.

This is a good thriller and it kept me guessing till the end. I was very interested to read this book after I saw the description and this story was as good as I hoped it would be.

3.5 stars, rounded up.
Hazel is a film maker, she specialises in documentaries. With one major award under her belt, she thought she had made it. Sadly, things aren't quite going as well as she had hoped. When she hears that her childhood friend is the latest victim of a serial killer, she knows she has to do something. Having exhausted her attempts to contact the police to share her thoughts, she does the only thing left in her power. She starts to film a documentary. About the killer. Set in the location of one of his kills. But with the killer still at large, what could possibly go wrong...?
This is pretty much akin to your typical B-movie horror flick. You know the one, you all sit there watching, placing bets on who is next to die. The rather nasty, but interesting, methods of dispatch follow this theme too, very slasher film. The way this does differ is that it does have a pretty good storyline. Someone, for a joke, started the hashtag #BeMyKiller from a twitter account of the same name. The idea is for people to tweet how they want to die. Unfortunately, several of the people tweeting to that account have died, in the manner in which they wished to. The originator has been cleared, but the police are struggling to find the culprit. Enter our intrepid documentary maker who calls in all her favours and gathers together a film crew to work at the scene of one of the crimes; an abandoned amusement park. Again, what could possible go wrong...?
Well, lots really. And again, like the films that match this genre, suspicion is passed like a baton between the characters the switches happening most often as they are killed in gratuitous ways. I am not sure I really liked any of the characters and I also struggled to connect to them, not sure why exactly, but that did mar my overall enjoyment of the book slightly.
Pacing was on the whole good. The suspense crept up nicely before each kill, so much so that at times I could swear I could hear that creepy music you got in old Hammer films playing in my head.
One thing I did love though was some of the grisly ways that the cast were dispatched. Big fan of that kind of stuff and I guess, not liking many of the characters meant that I was quite content to see them fall at the hands of someone so sadistic as our killer. A killer who I unmasked very early on in the book, but with sadly no idea why!
All in all, not a bad debut. I would be very interested in reading his follow up - especially if it continues in the same tone.

My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.