I found this book to be very intriguing. Multiple times I found myself questioning why I was rooting for a serial killer. I really enjoyed this one!

Julie Mae Cohen's "Bad Men" certainly does a wonderful job of portraying a variety of bad men. It's not often readers are offered a narrative of (1) a female serial killer or (2) a female serial killer whose motive heavily depends on the "goodness" and morality of men. The novel starts off with a bang as Saffy explains what made her interested in pursuing murder: bad men. From there, Saffy meets Jon and she cleverly initiates a relationship/dynamic between the two of them. Cohen does a wonderful job of portraying Jon as a man: driven by masculinity/the patriarchy, selfish, and aloof.

One of Cohen's strong suits throughout the novel was her characterization -- the characters felt like real people, except for some, and it felt like the characters' motives could be clearly understood because of how Cohen built her characters. I wasn't overly fond of the pacing of the book; the beginning and end were the strongest in their pacing, as I couldn't tear myself away from the novel. The middle parts of the novel, however, were slower and I found myself struggling to get through some of it.

Overall, however, Cohen's novel was enjoyable to read and I will absolutely be adding this to reader's advisory, specifically under the "Good for Her" RA.

Thank you, Abrams Books and NetGalley, for the advanced copy of Bad Men.

Bad Men was such a fun read! This humorous thriller had me laughing out loud while cheering on our serial killer protagonist, Saffy. The book jumps around from first person when Saffy is narrating to third person when the reader is getting the inside look at Saffy's love interest, Jon. That being said, the transitions are super easy to follow and provide more insight to the reader.

Saffy is a gorgeous and intelligent socialite who also just happens to be a serial killer. Don't worry: she has a code of ethics. Think Dexter. We get the background information on previous murders that Saffy has committed. This gives the reader the reasoning behind why Saffy is who she is. Once she develops a plan to win her crush over, she vows to put murder on the back burner, but when her true crime podcaster crush, Jon, finds himself not only the prime suspect of a brutal murder but also the target of a stalker, Saffy has to take things into her own hands to save and win her man over.

All attempts at quirk were actually very cringe. And someone tell the author that they don’t need to explain every joke.

While the synopsis sounded interesting- morally gray characters, murder, presumed female protagonist, sadly this book fell flat for me. Wasn't a huge fan of the writing or the character development of Saffy, she felt more of a side characters compared to Jon.

With that being said, I know this book will be enjoyed by many.

4.5⭐️
“This jealousy means that I’m out of control. It means that there’s a problem in my life that I cannot solve with charm or money or murder”

Bad Men is a novel about what happens when a female serial killer (who only kills bad men) meets a charming true crime podcaster with his own baggage.

This novel had me hooked from the prologue and was incredibly interesting and addicting. It was part rom-com and part feminist revenge thriller. I truly enjoyed this read and hope you all will too! Thank you for the opportunity to dive into this ARC! ❤️ 👁️ 🍸 🔪

This story was unique didn’t see a few twists as they unfolded , intense gripping
Some dark humor enjoyed this wild ride this mfc was absolute a delight
As we see from her story and her stepdad that was a bit dark but her it made her, her and we learn and see her story unfold !

This was a page turner! If you like suspense, you will like this book. The book opens with an introduction to the main character. Seraphina is doing all she can to protect her little sister from their pervert stepfather. She will go to any lengths possible to keep the bad men away. Even murder. Jonathan is a true crime podcaster who is a workaholic and doesn’t realize his fan base is a bunch of murder seeking sickos. His wife has had enough and leaves him. Then he gets wrapped up in a crime he has to solve because he has become the prime suspect. While this book is tagged a romance book, it has a lot of blood, guts, and suspense. All in all a good read, but be prepared for the dark parts of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this novel. The opening of the novel has a prologue that is slightly different voice wise than the first chapter, which took me a second to get into. The story is fast pace and more of a fun thriller than scary thriller.

Saffy is a socialite, who also happens to be a serial killer, who also happens to have a big crush on a true crime podcaster.

it’s witty, fun, dark humor and there are a lot of twists and turns, overall a really fun read and a great standalone.

I wish we had more insight into Saffy, it’s supposed to be about her but I feel like most of the POVs were from Jon and then everything is worked out in 4 chapters or less after spending the entire middle of the book focusing on their budding romance. Would have loved to see more of a focus on figuring it all out!

I wanted to love this one but it was just okay for me. I liked the writing style and the characters. Saffy has charm and is very funny. My theory is that the characters are great but the plot isn't that interesting. There are too many lulls and I didn't feel any chemistry between Saffy and Jon.

The cover is probably one of my favorite covers I've seen in a while though.

The story began with a powerful female protagonist taking down villains, which was incredibly engaging. However, it gradually shifted focus to a man, with Saffy relegated to the role of the supportive female behind him. This departure from the initial premise was disappointing. While I enjoyed the story overall, I found the pacing inconsistent, with moments of brisk action followed by slower sections. Despite this, I struggled with the narrative's emphasis on Jon over Saffy—I craved more development for her character. With some revisions, this story has the potential to be excellent.

The epitome of "I support women's rights, but I also support women's wrongs."
Bad Men is a fun romp, featuring a villain you can't help but root for! Something about a sociopathic woman, dark comedy, and murder that just works so deliciously. I think this is a strong addition to this particular genre, and I love reading this type of story every time.
However, I could predict a lot of the twists thrown our way, and the pacing felt off throughout, which is why my rating sits at a 3.5.

Hm.. this was entertaining enough. I was captured right away by the prologue but the rest was very predictable. I always kind of knew where the story was going from the beginning. I kept waiting for a good twist to throw me off course but it never came.

Thank you NetGalley and ABRAMS, The Overlook Press for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 stars rounded up. I unexpectedly enjoyed reading this!!! The prologue hooked me right from the start! Its was a fun ride, although the pacing wasn't consistent. It was fast-paced in the beginning, then it slowed down and kind of lost the excitement, but it picked back up again as I raced to the end. This is a fun, "popcorn", bad-girl thriller where you can't help but like the sociopath, serial killer MC who orchestrates a "meet cute" to get her crush to notice her. Thank you NetGalley and Zaffre for this ARC! Loved it!

This was a delightfully easy read, and kept me turning pages to find out how much more messed up the characters situations could become. I enjoyed the dark comedy and the clever monologue of Saffy.

i wanted to like this so bad, saffy’s story was legitimately interesting, she felt like a gone girl type protagonist who does awful things and you as a reader have to read into their reasons and mentality, however, this focused far to much on jon’s story which i found boring and flat, (also the person framing him was a bit too obvious for me) and their love story felt forced, especially considering how saffy created it all and jon is none the wiser, make him find out! make it uncomfortable!

thank you netgalley for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest feedback

This book had me on the edge of my seat wondering if Jon was going to find out Saffy's secret. Throughout the story some things are a given but while she is trying to get her man to be her man I was anticipating him finding out....

This story was great but it was like in the middle of trying to stay a romance and a thriller. I will say though that it was def my type of book since I love both genres. Saffy is an interesting person and while she does kill people it's because they are not good people. I hope theres a second book in the series where we can see how Saffy is in a relationship but also maybe see if Jon can decipher who Saffy really is...???

This book is perfect for those who love:
- a romance book and a mystery/thriller book combined into one
- Psycho character
- Podcast making main character
- 'Doing whatever it takes to get him to be your man' kind of love
- main character who kills bad men

Overall rating: 3.5/5
Would I recommend it? yes

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for giving me this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I will read any book that's about a fictional female serial killer and so I was hyped for Bad Men,! And it lived up to the hype in my head! I adored our main character and her silly lovesick mind ---even if she puts a dog in danger on purpose.

Hilarious satire at it's best imo

If you rooted for Villanelle in Killing Eve, this book is FOR YOU! Our lead uses her cunning and guile to do the world a favor by taking out the trash of various Bad Men, while also carefully engineering a relationship with the one good man she's ever known.