Lifelong best friends Gia and Abby have been adrift lately after Gia married Garrett a month into their relationship shortly after Gia's wealthy father passed away. Abby was gifted education and opportunity by Gia's family as the daughter of their beloved cook, but now a lawyer she couldn't just jet off to Denmark for the impromptu wedding and wouldn't have even if she could. Set mostly on a gorgeous island in Greece where Gia and Garrett are preparing to sell the estate she inherited, their honeymoon phase takes dark and twisty turn when a young wealthy couple arrives in the local cafe, stranded due to yacht issues, and Gia invites them to crash at the estate. Later, when a getaway to Sweden for a Northern Lights viewing trip for Gia's birthday with her brother Benny and Abby goes awry, the past comes racing back. When I hit about the halfway point I was thinking it was wrapping up until I checked the page count, but wow the second half really takes you on a wild ride and makes you question everything. The conclusion was ambiguous enough that while it wasn't necessarily a cliff hanger, it could definitely be setting up a sequel. Which I would read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher,
Random House Publishing Group-Ballentine for this book.

Enjoyed the plot, characters and beautiful setting. I felt they were all suburply done. The story moved along sluggishly in the beginning, but I soon found myself immersed in the story. I was continuously looking for clus and eager to find out what was going to be revealed next.

The finale will forever having me questioning???

Highly recommend.

I loved this book! It was the perfect escape for the cold January I read it in. The descriptions of the Greek isles were so on point. Throw in twists and turns that you don’t necessarily see coming and it’s the perfect beach read. Or fireplace read in my case.

Both Gia and Abby were characters I cared about. Gia married Garrett very quickly, much to Abby’s consternation. The fact that Gia is an heiress plays into her worry as well. Add in a suspicious death years ago when both girls were teenagers, and a couple who just appear out of no where and stay w Gia and Garrett at their home. Are they who they say they are?

Recommended for all public libraries.

Read this book with my bookclub and we all really enjoyed it! I personally loved the first half of this book, rich people behaving badly, however towards the end it just got repetitive and I just didn't love the ending. I do love this author and will continue reading everything she writes.

Not the best, but not the worst book I have read. This is definitely a slow-burn thriller/mystery. The beginning was good, but as the story went on I cared less and less. I'm also not a big fan or open endings so that also is skewing y rating I think.

I have always loved books that have your mind set, thinking one way and one way only, and then before you know it, you are thrown so far off course. This story was delivered with perfection. The setting was in beautiful, exotic locations thoroughly detailed, allowing the reader to fully see everything in their head as they're going. Each character, whether they were likable or so highly despised, were so well written and developed, making the reader care that much more about the outcome of the story. Then, there is the story within a story in the form of a manuscript to top off this meticulously written novel. This was a great, well-paced, brilliantly executed story that I absolutely recommend to my fellow readers. Four and a half stars.

Thank you, Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group, for this ARC.

From the beginning I was hooked! It's hard to put down a book when you truly don't trust anyone. I loved all the placed they visited and their long friendship. It was a combination of a thriller and a mystery.

Thank you @netgalley for an advanced reader copy of this book. What a twisty thriller it turned out to be!

Ladykiller follows the story of two childhood best friends - Gia, a wealthy heiress whose father has just passed away and her best friend, Abby, who was the family’s chef’s daughter. The hierarchy of friendship never seemed to matter to either of them, until Gia is supposed to meet up with Abby and her brother for a vacation, and she never shows up. Did Gia’s new, relatively unknown husband have something to do with her disappearance?

Told from two POV’s - Abby’s fairly straightforward narrative and Gia’s manuscript of her memoir, this book really takes a stab at creating reader distrust of the narrator. Who is telling the truth? Who is making things up to protect themselves? I enjoyed how the perspective switches and the ending is makes for a great discussion, especially for a book club!

This is a really good book!!! Lots of intrigue and suspense, and characters you don't know if you want to love or hate!! Great personality development, and I was hooked from the beginning. Ending does leave you a bit frustrated though, but fits in with the rest of the drama.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 Stars

Gia and Abby were unlikely best friends... Gia a wealthy heiress and Abby the daughter of the family's chef. Years later when Gia does not show up for a family reunion, Abby and Gia's brother, Benny race to her home in Greece but are shocked when all they find is Gia's manuscript and no sign of the heiress. In her unfinished writing Gia details a chilling mystery when her and her husband meet a strange couple. The story reveals the events leading up to her disappearance but what happened to Gia and where is she?

I was excited to read this novel based on the great cover, the description and the beautiful setting in Greece but the reality didn't hold up. The story is an incredibly slow burn, being told from Abby's POV and Gia's manuscript. I found Wood's writing style to be choppy and at times overly descriptive which disrupted the flow. It was also highly sexualized which seemed unnecessary for the story. While the plot was interesting and had moments of intrigue ultimately it left too many loose ends and no you will not find out who the lady killer is. Very unsatisfactory and I recommend grabbing a different poolside thriller.

I liked the locations in the book--largely Greece but there was some jetsetting in there. Heiress, best friends, mystery--what isn't there to love? My big issue was how slow the book was to get going and then when we finally got to an exciting part it sort of fizzled quickly. I don't think this is the kind of book that should have an ambiguous ending. It wasn't bad but it wasn't the fun beach/vacation book I was hoping it would be.

This book had me frantically reading to find the answers to the questions the author had placed in my mind. An excellent story line, the mysterious disappearance of Gia, is told from two different viewpoints. The manuscript of a book that Gia has left behind is all that holds the clues to help her best friend find Gia. As Abby and Gia's brother, Ben, begin their search for Gia they are astonished by events revealed in Gia's book. With so many twists and turns, will they ever find Gia? And did they ever really know the real Gia?

I was very impressed with the characters, story line, and the flow of the book. It held my interest until the very end of the book. The ending was not one that I expected, and I was disappointed that I did not feel closure at the end. But with that being said, it was still a very good read, and I would recommend it to others.

Thank you so much Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read and advance copy of this book.

Thank you Random House and Netgalley for this eARC, these opinions are my own. I love a good mystery! Abby and Gia are best friends, and Abby is so close with Gia’s family that Gia’s dad even paid for her schooling. Gia invites her brother Benny and Abby to a getaway in Sweden, but when they arrive Gia is no where to be found. They head to Greece where she was but all they find is an unfinished manuscript that explains the events leading up to Gia’s disappearance. Can they find where Gia’s gone? Can they even trust what Gia wrote? Also Abby’s getting emails from someone who might know what she did. A lot of twists and turns in this one to keep me intrigued! And the places they travel are so well depicted and I just want to be there! Katherine Wood makes me not trust anyone and I consumed the book trying to figure out what was going on. Highly recommend!

Didn’t love but also didn’t hate it. I enjoyed it! I loved how descriptive it was in the setting. I feel like I was left with more questions than answers at the end though. I don’t think we really knew what exactly happened? But I was engaged with the story the entire time.

Thank you netgally for my copy!

Ladykiller by Katherine Wood was a good book to read if you like thrillers! When one girl disappears and her friend receives a manuscript, her friend must dig deep to discover what happened.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book early. P

Thank you NetGalley for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review!

Anything that starts with: "an heiress goes missing" is right up my alley. I love nothing more than rich people gone bad, and in completely unordinary circumstances!
This story revolves around Gia and Abby, who have been best friends since they were young. Gia, the heiress and Abby is the daughter of Gia's family chef. The story meets the family twelve years after a tragedy for Gia's birthday bash, with all the usual rich suspects. Unfortunately, Gia never shows up. The race to find her after the crew, including Abby and Benny (Gia's brother) find a mysterious unfinished manuscript. Where is Gia? And will the manuscript bring truths to light?

There are two different POVs - Abby and Gia's manuscript. About midway through, I became slightly bored of the whole premise. I wanted more depth, more mysterious suspects, more glitz and glam, and yes, I predicted the ending, though I was bored with it.

This is the story of the relationship between best friends, Gia and Abby, which began in childhood when Abby’s mother worked as a chef for Gia’s famous and fabulously wealthy father. Said father upon seeing the friendship, sponsored Abby financially with scholarships to private schools and college. The young women were forever bonded over a tragedy when Gia’s former boyfriend attacked Abby, which Gia worked into a successful non-fiction book. Upon Papa’s death, however, he decides to leave properties to his children, but not actual cash. Gia, by no means poor, needs to sell her property, a glorious Greek mansion, to maintain the lifestyle she enjoys. It also drives her to begin writing again, telling the story of her new and slowly disintegrating marriage. This twisty thriller is told alternately in the voice of Gia, in the form of a manuscript, and Abby, in the current time. While there are plot holes, this novel is fun escapism with gorgeous exotic backdrop, rich narcissistic characters, and shady situations. I was given an advance copy of this book for an honest review.

This book had me hooked start to finish! Is this a book about the reconnecting of friends as they holiday in Eurpoe together or SO much more? I couldn't get enough of this mystery cleverly written by Katherine Wood. Won't be the last book I read by her! Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam for a copy of this book for an honest review.

Take yourself away to the wilds of Sweden and the beaches of Greece in “Ladykiller.”

Abby gets a last minute invite from her bf Gia to Sweden, but when she arrives Gia never does. And so begins the search for Gia. With a can it be true backstory, the life of ultra rich Gia may be more or less than she appears.

I found it very compelling, with a cast of characters that you love to hate.

Themes: 🇸🇪➡️🇬🇷🏛️🏺🔎👀🕵🏻‍♂️👯‍♀️

My thoughts: 📖🪱🙂🙃🤓🥸🫡🫢🤔🤫

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I have two words: Deliciously SALACIOUS.

Kat is the QUEEN of a scandalous, risqué plot with rich people behaving badly. One of my FAVORITE tropes, btw. And I LOVE her books for THAT reason. Bold and intoxicating, the secrets and scandalous behaviors are dripping. Her writing is so vivid I could practically smell the salty Cerulean Sea and taste the olive oil and tzatziki sauce.

Y’all…it’s S E X A A Y 🔥 BUT without being smutty or cringey (which I HIGHLY appreciate. 🫡) These characters made you want to slap them in more ways than one. 🤣 They’re so-called “friends” that may as well be enemies. And their antics made this story SO. DAMN. ENTERTAINING!! 👏🏽

If your GUILTY PLEASURE is an atmospheric, glamorous Mediterranean setting, the lifestyles of the privileged, filthy rich AND a little sex, drugs + murder, LADYKILLER is the book for you!