Solid and intriguing and mysterious Thriller. My only gripe about this is the ambiguous ending. I know some people don't mind that, but I like at least some answers at the end of a book. Overall still some great writing and very bingeable plot here.

Thank you so much for the E-ARC!

The cover looks fantastic but this book came with a slower start than I was expecting. Abby and Gia have been best friends since childhood. But their worlds are vastly different. Gia is an heiress and Abby is the daughter of the family chef. (Gia’s father does pay for Abby’s schooling and accepts their friendship.) Years later Gia’s brother Benny and Abby are going to meet Gia for her birthday but she doesn’t show up. Wanting to know what has happened to her they go to the family’s Greek summer estate looking for answers. Part of the story is told from Abby’s POV in the present and the other is Gia’s POV from a manuscript containing details of the past. There is atmosphere and moodiness in the writing and secrets and twists. But Also I like things more wrapped up by the end. I don’t want to give away spoilers, but I didn’t feel I got enough payoff for me to rate the book higher. Three stars is still a positive review and a readable book, but may not be something I will rave and strongly suggest for others.

Ladykiller primarily follows two women, one in the present time and the other through her manuscript. Abby and Gia are childhood friends who have drifted apart in recent years. Gia, wealthy and free spirited, invites Abby on a luxury vacation in an attempt to reform that bond. Abby accepts and plans to meet Gia and her brother Benny for a weekend under the northern lights but when she arrives, only Benny is there to meet her. We then follow along as Abby and Benny try to figure out why Gia isn't there and what may have happened to her.

Let's start with some positives. First of all, the setting is amazing. The majority of the story takes place on a beautiful Greek island and the author does well to really make you feel like you've been transported. I really enjoyed the dual timeline and thought the idea of a manuscript worked well. The characters were also a highlight; fleshed out and well written.

Now for the negatives. About 30% of the book did not need to be there. I was very bored until about 40-45% in and it felt very repetitive. My biggest critique is for the ending. I am all for an open ended conclusion but I don't feel like this was a book that benefited from that. I got excited when I realized there was an epilogue, and while I still enjoyed it I was definitely hoping for more clear answers.

I would recommend this for anything going on a beach vacation. It is a perfect summer read. The atmosphere creates an ambiance of luxury and ease. I loved reading this in the sunshine with a glass of crisp white wine.

A twisted tale of friendship, betrayal, love, lust, and mystery artfully told by Katherine Wood. When Abby decides to accept her childhood friend Gia’s invitation to celebrate her 30th birthday in Sweden, all expenses paid, it is with trepidation balanced with excitement. Will she see Gia’s brother again after all these years? Gia also has a new husband, that Abby didn't approve of. The whirlwind marriage after only knowing him for such a short time even kept Abby from attending the wedding. She agrees to go and make up with Gia. However, nothing goes as planned and you will be in for a spellbound mystery. I think it was well written and enjoyed this book. Thank you NetGalley and Publishers Random House, for allowing me to read and review this book.

Ladykiller is a summer drama with all sorts of WTF moments. Following estranged best friends Gia, Abby, and Gia (an author)'s book manuscript, gives you multiple points of view that pull you in different directions - you're never sure who to trust.

Throw in Northern European and Greek isle scenery, celebrity drama, strange family history, and a cast of characters - this kept me guessing and I enjoyed the ride.

Thank you to Random House Publishing / Bantam and Netgalley for an ARC.

Katherine Wood sure knows how to write a bitchy woman, and she does it well… One just might say it’s her specialty 🤔💙😜 Did you love THE LION’S DEN? THE SIREN? Or THE VICIOUS CIRCLE…? Well if you did, you’re in luck because Katherine St. John and Katherine Wood are one in the same; she has re-branded herself for the release of LADYKILLER on July 9th; and I hope all of her hardcore fans like me follow her to the new name.

It’s such a fun, wild ride: just like fans have come to expect in KSJ novels; they’re full of beautiful scenery, escapism plot-lines, and a little bit of sex and murder thrown in… LADYKILLER tells the story, in a dual timeline, of best friends Abby and Gia, who have a special bond from a traumatic incident in there past; in the present day timeline, Abby is invited to Greece to celebrate Gia’s birthday with her and her brother Benny; but when the two of them arrive, Gia does not… and the author truly takes the first 1/3rd of the novel as a slow burn to set that plotline up and lead a lot of clues and background material— but when it roars, it ROARS.

I was compulsively racing to the end once I reached that first big twist {that the jacket summary kind of spoils for you…} I felt like I wanted more from the ending, as a deep passionate thriller reader; I like my thrillers wrapped up more with a tidy bow than the several questions and theories you close LADYKILLER with… but it is truly one heck of a beach read; and for those that are comfortable with an open ended thriller this will be the supreme summer pick for you! 👏🏻 👏🏻

I can’t wait to see where Katherine Wood goes next; I will follow her anywhere! Thank you to Bantam for providing an ARC in exchange for a review.

Ladykiller alternates between Gia’s manuscript and Abby in the present. Gia has grown up with everything money can buy and Abby has been her sidekick, given access to Gia’s privileged world thanks to the generosity of Gia’s father. When Gia doesn’t show up to her own trip, Abby must find out if their past is connected to her disappearance.

There were parts I loved and parts that frustrated me. The atmosphere and scenery were very well written and brought the island to life. Both timelines and characters were interesting and had me wanting to find out what secrets they were keeping. I enjoyed Gia’s POV best and found her to be the character I was most intrigued by. Her wild and spontaneous nature made her more exciting to read.

This book started off slow, with just a sprinkle of mystery to keep me invested. About halfway through the pieces came together and it was predictable from there on out. The ending was what really left me wanting more but I also understand some people will enjoy it.

Overall, this is a great debut and perfect summer read if you’re looking for a thriller that isn’t too intense. Thank you NetGalley and Bantam/Random House for an advanced reader copy.

Using Gia's manuscript and Abby in the present, this tells the story of what happened to Gia, a wealthy young woman newly married to Garrett who has gone missing. Abby and Gia have been BFFs since forever and Abby wasn't happy about Garrett. But she's even more concerned when Gia doesn't come to her own party and so takes off to Greece with Gia's brother Benny to get answers. This isn't as much of a mystery as I'd thought it might be but rather a slow reveal of, well, the state of Gia's life. Both women are well written, the atmospherics are good, and it makes for a page turner. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

I dnfd at 33% - I did not like the characters and the storyline just wasn't for me. It had sone good moments of mystery but the sexual aspects of Gia's storyline went in circles and the plot didn't progress fast enough.

This is a fantastic debut! I was completely enthralled the entire time!!!

This is the story of an heiress (Gia) who likes to live on the wild side, but who has finally settled into the married life. But of course, nothing is as it seems! It gets violent, dramatic, and crazy.

It’s also the story of a not so affluent woman (Abby) who grew up with Gia and her brother. She is invited to vacation with the siblings in Sweden to see the aurora borealis, and reluctantly goes.

When Gia doesn’t show up, things start to unfold!

This is one salacious, devious, and insane story! I loved how it slowly unfurled.

I loved the descriptions of the Greek food and the island. It made me feel like I was there with them!

The story was a little long for me. I thought it didn’t really need the epilogue, but I really did enjoy this read!!

There are pieces of this book I didn’t enjoy but plenty of pieces I did. The book is told in two related storylines – one being chapters of Gia’s memoir taking place a few months prior and the other being Abby’s present storyline. Eventually the two timelines meet. I much preferred Abby’s chapters but looking back now, I think it might have been planned that the reader wouldn’t enjoy Gia’s memoir as much. Afterall, she was the less likable and relatable character. And her personality definitely came through in her writings.

Overall, considering this is the author’s debut novel, I think she did very well and I can see promise in her future books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bantam/Random House for the complimentary copy of this book. As always, the opinions expressed within this review are completely my own.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I was kind of all over the place with this book, one minute it was kind of slow, then the next I couldn’t read it fast enough. The ending really picked up, I couldn’t put it down.

At first it was hard to guess where the timeline was at in each POV, but after a while when I got it, I loved how it had Gia in the past and Abby in the present, working up to what happened.

I liked Gia’s POV the best in the beginning with her manuscript. Gia was way more interesting, but as the book went on you could see where she is more unlikeable. Even still, her portion of the book was much easier to get through. Every time it popped up to Abby’s POV I got so sad because I knew it was going to be boring for a while. But by the end, I was enjoying reading Abby’s POV! Maybe because we were getting back to figuring out what was going on. I was so desperate to know.

I love unreliable narrators and Gia and Abby both were!

I was having a lot of fun following and trying to figure out the mystery and where the lies were showing. I was suspect of everyone at some point. I loved how everything came together at the end. There were so many little references and things that were mentioned multiple times in the story and you didn’t know how it connected until the end. If you go back and reread the book, you can pick up on all the foreshadowing that you missed, which I love in books. That’s always a good sign someone wrote a good twist.

I could have done without the romance between Abby and Benny because it wasn’t very important to me, I couldn’t connect to their relationship at all so I didn’t care. I felt like it had no importance to the story, it was just there just to have a romance, but not all books need that. I would have been just as happy to find out what happened to Gia. Abby could have done that on her own, or if they wanted Benny in the story, there didn’t need to be a romance.

I didn’t mind the open ending because it pretty heavily implied what happened even if it wasn’t said point blank. In my opinion at least. It gave enough information that you can determine what you believe and I don’t mind that at all. As much as I said I wanted answers, I thought I got enough that I was satisfied.

I do recommend reading this! The setting was gorgeous. There were lots of twists and turns, and it kept me interested enough that I couldn’t wait to find out where the story was taking us.

BFF’s Gia and Abby plan on reuniting to celebrate heiress Gia’s 30th birthday since growing apart after a tragic trip to Greece as teenagers. Told from multiple perspectives this thriller will keep you guessing to the true intentions of the characters and guests. Thanks to NetGalley and Bantam for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an unbiased review.

This book was a good paced thriller. A lot of the plot keeps you drawn in. I am not sure how I feel about the ending, it leaves you wanting more.

Thank you to Novel Suspects Insider Club and Netgalley for me to read this ARC.

Childhood friends Gia and Abby have had a rocky relationship following the traumatic event that happened when they were in their late teens. However, almost a decade later, Gia has invited Abby to Sweden to spend a birthday with her, her new husband, and her brother Benny. But before Abby and Benny can arrive in Sweden, they find they cannot contact Gia and messages to her are unreturned. Upon arriving in Gia’s home in Greece to look for her, they find her home abandoned, with Gia no where to be found.

Gia is described as being a writer, but really she is more of rich socialite surviving off the remnants of her father’s empire. When we meet her in this book, she has written a memoir and is working on a second. The book alternates between Gia’s POV as told from her work-in-progress memoir and Abby’s present day POV. Gia’s POV builds up to her disappearance and because it’s in her “writers voice” it makes you doubt how much of what she is telling, really happened, or happened as she describes, especially when compared to Abby's view of Gia.

Overall, the book is a fun, summer mystery, especially with the backdrop of Greece in summertime. The characters are perfectly untrustworthy which helps makes the story salacious and twisty. The ending was annoyingly open ended, but also kind of worked for this story.

I was impressed with this debut. Set primarily in Greece, it’s a slow burn mystery/thriller. It kept me guessing until the end and had hints of The Talented Mr. Ripley and Gone Girl. I will definitely read any books that follow this.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the early copy in exchange for my honest review. 3.75⭐️

On the surface this was really intriguing and interesting, and I did not have a bad time with this. It just felt very dense for the type of book this is. Maybe I’m just being picky but the sentences were very long and overly descriptive of inconsequential things.

I do think the plot and characterization were clever and I was interested throughout, but I felt like the story was bogged down by unnecessarily long sentences and paragraphs.

I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review posted to StoryGraph and Goodreads on 6/28/24. Review will be posted to Amazon on release date.

When Abby and her best friend Gia’s younger brother, Benny, go to celebrate Gia’s birthday they’re shocked to discover that she’s not there. As time passes they begin to get increasingly worried that something has happened to Gia at the hands of her new husband in their home on a Greek island. Told partly through a manuscript written by Gia about the ongoing a at the house and from Abby’s perspective reflecting on their friendship during their travels the reader is left questioning who to believe.

This was a wild ride. Rich people behaving poorly. Scammers scamming people. Dark secrets and truths that if the come to life could damage everything. There’s not a lot more you could ask for in a thriller.

This is a story full of twists & turns about an heiress who goes missing in Greece, and the journey her best friend takes to uncover clues and reveal secrets into the truth. The story will leave you questioning the true motives of the character, as well as how much wealth is fueling people's actions. The ending does leave the reader with a more vague ending than I would prefer.

What an exciting, twisty read! I flew through this book because I was gripped from the beginning and didn’t want to put it down. If you love books with an unreliable narrator; this one is definitely for you. Throughout the whole book it’s hard to figure out who is telling the truth and who is deceiving you.

I absolutely loved that the main setting was in Greece. Katherine’s descriptions of the settings painted a perfect picture in my head. The beauty of the island fit so well with the drama, murder, and a little bit of spice of the story.

It’s a slow burn but worth it in the end. And the ending will leave you reeling and shocked (but in a good way). I can’t say too much without ruining the twists so…. Get this book on your radar!!