Beautifully written, very unique story. Reminded me a lot of Clara and the sun in terms of the tone. I really loved this one, definitely recommend it.

Thank you to Net Galley and the Publisher for this Advanced Readers Copy of My Murder by Katie Williams!

My Murder by Katie Williams is set in the near(?) future where a replication commission can clone a worthy human after death. The commission, having to do damage control after choosing a poor candidate, chose to garner good publicity by cloning five women - Angela, Jasmine, Lacey, Fern and Lou (Louise) - killed by a serial killer. But it was Lou who prompted this chance at good publicity. She was a married mother of a baby.

To help the newly cloned women, the commission started a serial killer survivors' group for the women. During these sessions, the women each express a desire to know what happened to them, as their short-term memories disappeared after cloning. They don't remember their murders. Lou, however, realizes that all wasn't well with her life before her murder. She has questions and doubts.

The book moved quickly, but I was well into it before I really figured out what was going on. And there are more twists to this book than I've ever encountered in a murder mystery! That's the kind of book that I like - you think you've got it figured out and WHAM! the story takes a turn hard enough to give you whiplash!

My Murder was superbly written and was a great ride.

My Murder by Katie Williams. #MyMurder #NetGalley

It took me a long time to get through this book. While very interesting, I found the book to be a bit boring. I think the author did a lot more "telling" than showing" which probably did me in the most.

Lou died under the knife of a serial killer. Rather, the original Lou did but she was brought back to life as a clone by the government, luckily without any memories of the days before her murder. She struggles to return to her old life with her happy marriage and infant daughter, turning to her serial killer survivors’ group for answers. This disturbing mystery is an intelligent search for answers. For fans of “The Echo Wife” by Sarah Gailey.

The plot took far too long to get going and once it finally did - boom! the twist and an abrupt ending. Clever-ish idea but the execution was a letdown.

Loved this book - speculative thriller/mystery where you know who the killer is from the beginning. Very unique and can't wait to recommend it!

I enjoyed this book. There were moments that I was confused and felt like I had to reread the synopsis to figure out what book I was reading. But the twists and turns were worth it. I liked the way the author took me on a journey in this similar but extremely different world of the future. A good mystery novel.

This book was totally unexpected. I don't think I've read anything like it. Katie Williams is an incredible story teller. It takes place in a not-so-distant future. Lou is getting ready for a party where she'll be seeing her husband's colleagues for the first time since she was murdered and cloned. She is one of five victims of a serial killer and as a young mother, her death was the final tipping point in cloning the group. She looks for answers about her death with fellow victims, but she seems to face more and more questions. The story is wholly original and riveting from cover to cover. It's a fast-paced, thought-provoking book. Highly recommended.

This book was a surprise on several levels.

I kind of thought I was getting a slightly dystopian serial killer book. And I was. But this book was a lot more.

This book not only had an engaging mystery and characters you really cared about And a few really satisfying twists, but it ask deeper questions about self, and about the choices that we make in about second chances.

It was a very fast read coming in at under 300 pages, but it still felt very substantial. I feel like I’m going to be thinking about it a lot. More than anything what I found myself thinking as I finish, this book was that this book was so much more what I wanted “notes on an execution“ to be. This book truly did give the perspective of the victims and the killers family. This book truly centered those people and their experiences in a way that that other book just didn’t for me.

This book was very powerful and I don’t just mean in its impact I mean it was powerful in the way that it took its position in the library of serial killer books. Like it stood there, and said “I can be more. And you can expect more from these books.“

Lou is our main character. She is a young mother to infant Nova and is married to Silas, and, oh, she is a clone. The real Lou was the final victim of a notorious serial killer. The public outcry was so strong that the five murder victims were cloned and are trying to recapture their lives. The only problem is that a clone does not have any memory of the few days leading up to the murder or the murder itself. Lou is convinced something is wrong. "My Murder" features some heavy topics -- violence against women, tech ethics, loneliness and post-partum depression. While good, I did think the book dragged, especially the first half. The reason I am giving it three stars is there is a pretty good twist at the end.

I enjoyed this genre bending book. It’s a bit sci-fu a bit thriller. Concept was new and fresh. The pacing felt a wee bit off. I didn’t find it to be a page turner. The concept is really unique but the execution for me could have been better.

Lou has been given a second chance at life -- literally. After her body was found, the fifth woman found murdered in her city, she is cloned and brought back to the life she was ripped apart from with all but the memories of her murder intact. Her husband seems grateful to have her back, but her baby daughter, Nova, seems to sense something is off... And Lou can sense it, too. She woke up in the hospital in her own body, but not quite as herself. The unanswered questions surrounding her murder refuse to let her enjoy her new lease on life, but when she starts asking questions and investigating, what she uncovers is more than she ever bargained for. How can she live her life not only knowing that she's not the original version of herself, but also without knowing what happened to the original Lou? Simple -- she can't.

Thoughts: Hold on to your hats with this one! Woman is murdered, woman is cloned and is reintroduced back into her life, woman must figure out what exactly happened to her and what those she's closest to aren't sharing with her. This was surprisingly a quick read given the complexities of the plot, and almost feels like three books in one. Readers are treated to a heavy dose of existentialism, a lesson on the ethics of human cloning, a dystopian society that could very easily become reality (some might argue it already is, to an extent), a smidge of a murder mystery, the inner monologue of postpartum depression, our reliance on technology for self-care, and what I think is a scary solution to the struggle with individualism and a society that is constantly telling us to be more and do all the things while also telling us we should disengage from all the things in the name of saving ourselves. For such a quick read, this story packs quite the punch and got me thinking a lot about our society and each person's place in it. My only issues with the book were that I was expecting more murder mystery plot based on the synopsis, and that the author doesn't go into enough detail (IMO) about the slightly dystopian setting which, honestly, in hindsight could be because she was making the point that this story could take place today. But there were enough changes to common items and additional technologies that I could have used a bit more setting exposition. This was definitely worth the read and any book that leaves me thinking about the world around me is a thumbs-up in my book (pun intended).

**Thank you, NetGalley and publishers, for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.**

My Murder is a genre-bending mystery with some interesting comments on society and technology. Our narrator is Lou, a woman who was recently murdered and then cloned and returned into her life. She is navigating life with her husband and new baby and attending the serial killer survivors group (even though none of the women technically survived-- they are all clones!). When Lou and another woman from the group want to confront their murderer, Lou gets some disturbing information that has her questioning everything.

My Murder is great for those who are bored with the unreliable narrator trope. Lou doesn't know much because clones don't keep the short-term memories of their original selves. I liked how the plot moves quickly, and the concept is original. While on this ride, we also have real thought-provoking points on the way-- like post-partum depression, who should decide who gets cloned, and the way women are portrayed in games/ news about violence against them.

Overall, really solid and fun book!

This book probably isn't going where you think it's going. Don't try too hard to figure it out; just enjoy the ride.

This one was okay, it was pretty slow and I'm not quite sure the payoff was worth it. Interesting themes of motherhood but I can't say much else without some major spoilers. I liked it, but didn't love.

Somehow this interesting premise didn’t become a really interesting read. Part sci-fi and part mystery, I was left wanting one or the other to assert itself to give the story some zing. There certainly anything horribly wrong with this novel, it’s just an okay read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Riverhead Books/Penguin Random House for the ARC to read and review.

The concept was really interesting and I loved the dystopian setting that didn’t feel too far fetched from current society.

The twist at the end has me wanting to reread this book to view it from a new perspective. My Murder follows Lou, a young mother who is murdered by a serial killer. A clone of Lou is created and this is who narrates the story. The reader follows along in Lou’s confusion over her death and her relationships with her husband, daughter and the fellow victims of the serial killer.

My Murder by Katie Williams is a suspense thriller that had me hooked from the very beginning. The novel is set in the not so distant future and includes technology that we’re familiar and comfortable with- VR headsets and screens and uses them in fresh ways. Other scientific breakthroughs, like cloning, are used in speculative ways. Lou and other women are forever linked as a serial killer’s victims and recent projects of the Replication Commission. The Replication Commission replicates, or clones, murder victims and others. The replicated people slot into the role of their predecessor’s lives. You can imagine how this doesn’t always work out perfectly, like with Lou’s infant daughter who is hesitant to warm up to the “new Lou.” The replications’ lives get further complicated when a VR video game detailing the murders is released and gamers can be either the victims or the serial murderer. Lou begins to question everything she knew about the murders, especially hers.
This book hooked me from the beginning! I couldn’t put it down and had to finish it to see what would happen. This brand of sci-fi, speculative fiction, was really engaging. I grew up on sci-fi so aliens and time traveling seems overdone at this point. I enjoyed the close ties to reality that speculative fiction has while still being inventive. I highly recommend this book for true crime fans and those that like suspense novels. Public libraries serving adults should purchase the book for their collections!

Thank you to NetGalley and Headline, Wildfire for the complimentary digital copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions shared are my own. This book is available on June 6, 2023.

The premise of solving one's own murder compelled me enough to request this. It's pretty decent as a speculative crime drama, though it's not the thriller the marketing claims it to be. It's more of a meditation on identity and postpartum depression--who are these women now that they've come back? Who is Lou as a mother? What do the people in their lives think about them? I'm sure the length hinders the book from really exploring these issues, but also, the "twist" is mildly interesting but less compelling than I thought it would be.