Killer Potential is a fabulous book. There are not enough superlatives to describe this wild ride of two fugitives. And fugitives doesn’t begin to describe the relationship between Evie, literally an innocent bystander to horrific crimes, and Jae, the mastermind who Evie thinks she has rescued.

The language is vibrant, colorful, lyrical, and mesmerizing. The way the relationship between Evie and Jae develops, rises, falls, and ultimately ends (or does it) is equally mesmerizing. The denouement is remarkable. I could not put this book down.

I look forward to more by this writer. She is extremely talented.

I received this book as an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley.

This book had a strong start. I liked the idea of Evie walking into a murder scene. Then it becomes a little drawn out and moves slower as the 2 are on the run. The book does pick up again but it takes until the very end. Overall just meh.

Wow, what a concept. An SAT tutor walking into the mansion of the family she works for to find them slaughtered. She goes on the run while trying to prove her innocence.

I loved everything about that concept but not totally sure about the execution. Evie makes one insane decision after another to the point it’s just flat out irritating. The twist barely made any sense.

I did have fun reading it though and it’s a great debut. Buckle up for a fun, ridiculous ride and suspend a lot of disbelief and you’ll enjoy yourself.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

Killer Potential by Hannah Deitch is a sharp, gripping thriller that blurs the line between ambition and obsession. With dark academia vibes, unexpected twists, and a chilling mystery, this one will keep you hooked until the very last page!

Brilliant!

What do you get when you cross a whip smart SAT tutor with with a seemingly mute chick tied up in a closet at a murder scene? The setting for a pretty great book...and it really was. Throw in criss-crossing the country, a sapphic love interest, and an homage to Thelma and Louise and KABOOM, five stars.

Thank you to the publisher for gifting me a copy. It was truly a pleasure to read and review this book.

Killer Potential just really missed the mark for me, unfortunately. It was an interesting premise, but I just couldn’t get interested in the characters. I thought the addition of the second point of view felt odd, and there was a lot going on at the end of the book that seemed so unrealistic, veering on impossible. I just felt like it didn’t make sense. Not for me.

This book gave 100% Bonnie & Clyde energy and I loved it!! Such an interesting take on a who done it. I really loved the mind of the FMC and felt she was equal parts elitist/too smart for her own good and not a whole lot of streets smarts. I will say I didn't love the ending, it fell a little flat for me. I also felt that the love interest came out of left field, but once it got going I was more ok with it.

I feel like this book was made for me, I AM the target demographic. Sapphic, cat and mouse, twisty, fast-paced, fun to read, felt like I was watching a movie play out... it felt like such a fever dream. The writing was sharp and unique, and while it felt like it got a little repetitive toward the end, once the reveals started to unravel, I could not put this down.

If you are an avid thriller fan or are like me and will read anything that's both twisty and gay, add this one to your TBR or preorder it immediately.

this was a good book! I liked it and it kept me engaged from page 1. I think it was entertaining, it had some good plot twists, and other twists and turns. I did like the way it had some dark humor and funny moments

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

Evie Gordon is a SAT tutor and is currently tutoring pretty wealthy families so these students can get admitted into prestigious schools. This is a pretty great life until Evie stumbles upon a murder. Not just one murder, but two. Evie finds the mother and father of Serena, the student she's tutoring, with pretty significant injuries. The mother, Dinah, has been brutally beaten, and the father, Peter, is floating in the koi pond. Evie is attempting to get out unseen until she hears a plea for help. Now she's found a prisoner in the walls of the house. After getting this prisioner out, nothing else could go wrong, right?! WRONG. Serena has now made an appearance and has tried to hurt Evie by launching a lamp at her, which in turn Evie picks up a vase to hit Serena out of self-defense. She thinks she's dead, but now Serenas boyfriend has shown. What else can she do but run?

This book quickly becomes a thelma and Louise moment, on the run from the FBI, dodging, ducking and staying in abandoned places to stay away from jail. This book started off very quickly, I was hooked initially and then things slowed way down in the middle. I kept reading because I needed to know who really killed Dinah and Peter. After the reveal the ending seemed to drag on and I got a little bored. Overall, a decent read, but I wouldn't necessarily rave about this one. Not bad for a debut novel though!

I LOVED this book! I thought it was so intelligent and mindful. It was existential to it's core and I found myself highlighting numerous quotes that resonated with me. I thought Evie was such a well-written character, her tendency for self-preservation and then surprising herself when she put Jae first. I think the reveal of Jae being the murderer was pretty obvious, but I really enjoyed the addition of her living in the walls. It added an extra layer that really intrigued me. I would absolutely recommend this to others.

Thank you to William Marrow and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review!

The premise for Killer Potential had a lot of potential, no pun intended. Alas it just didn't work for me. I honestly would have DNF'd it, but I wanted to know who the killer was. Once I found out it was hard to finish it, but I managed. Evie and her companion just felt extremely immature to me and it came across in the writing. It isn't one that I'd be recommending to others.

Thank you to William Morrow and Netgalley for a copy in exchange for review consideration.

This book was amazing, thank you! As a lesbian, I find it difficult that there aren't too many talked about thrillers/mystery novels that are sapphic. I have to read so many hetero relationships centered in books, so this was such a great breath of fresh air to get a nice sapphic story!!! My heart ached finishing the book that Evie and Jae didn't get their moment. This will definitely be a recommendation I pass along to others!

Reasons for 4 and not 5 stars: would have preferred a little more spice between the two women, and I feel like some of the big moments felt rushed and I would have liked a bit more suspense. But overall solid book!

Killer Potential - Hannah Deitch

⭐️⭐️.5

“But people are not funhouse mirrors: we can't stand in front of them and search only for ourselves or our absence.”

Evie accidentally walks into a murder scene showing up to her SAT tutoring job. After rescuing a woman from a closet in the home, the two take off on the run from the police. In a goose chase all over North America, Evie is forced to live off the land with a complete stranger.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC of this book. This was a classic “Thelma and Louise” type story that was pretty predicable the whole way through. The whole book was based off a ridiculous choice to run from a crime instead of reporting it. Overall, I can’t tell if this book sucked or if it just wasn’t for me. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop for Evie and it was still a let down even when it did happen.

I want to thank the publisher, William Morrow, and the author for the opportunity to read and ARC of this novel. All opinions are my own.

Evie Gordon wishes she was special, but she knows she is just another human being on this planet.
She's a scholarship kid. She went to ivy league college. Now she owes a lot of money in student loans. Which is how she finds herself in an unbearable amount of debt, and working as an SAT Tutor for the LA rich.

She arrives at the home of the Victor's for their daughter's weekly SAT tutoring session, only to discover the front door open, and both of the Victors very dead, in the backyard. The decisions she makes from that point forward make her look like a murderer. She, and the woman she rescued from under the stairs in the Victor home, run.

THIS BOOK IS a wild ride. It is non-stop, so put on your seatbelt and keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times. This is exactly my kind of book! It is action. It is real life and the burden of insurmountable student loan debt, combined with a tough job market. We travel all over the US as we try to decide the best thing to do, and run into obstacles along the way. Because, well, you know, she and her passenger are wanted for murder. And people are, of course, looking for them.

My only hang up with this book was the spice/romance element. I expected a thriller and I realize there is romance is lots of thrillers, but I didn't realize this from the blurb on this book and it detracted from the book for me.

Evie Gordon has always been a straight-A student, which earned her a degree from a good university despite her modest background. After graduation, however, she wasn't able to put her liberal arts degree to good use and translate it into economic prosperity. Instead, she led the precarious life of an SAT tutor, visiting several expensive homes each week and coaching the rich kids to do well on the test. Until one day, when she arrived for her session, she found the parents of her student dead in a pool of blood. And as if that were not enough, a bound, unwashed woman in the closet. Obviously, whoever the real killer was, the police wouldn't bother looking too hard, since they had two convenient suspects. So Evie and the woman are now on the run for their lives and freedom.

This was quite a page-turner of a read. I liked how the formulaic elements of the "hunted (wo)man" adventure/detective genre were combined with the commentary on class and privilege. I'm not a big fan of this type of crime fiction narratives, and I realize that some of the elements I didn't like about this book (like the love-hate drama between the protagonists) are more a necessity of the genre formula than a feature of this particular book.

4 stars.

Publication date March 18, 2025.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with an eARC through NetGalley. The review above is my own opinion.

I enjoyed this one even though it was fairly predictable. I love a Thelma and Louise type adventure and I think it was a great debut. It’s a quick read and if you just enjoy the ride you won’t be mad you finished!

Killer Potential is a thrilling novel about Evie Gordon stumbling upon a crime scene and fleeing with a woman held hostage when her student thinks she killed her parents. This was a wild ride from start to finish. It was slow in some parts, a little repetitive but overall I was enthralled and couldn't wait to read more. I know the original title for this book was "Be Gay Do Crimes" and that fits so well. 3.5/5.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

My thanks to Net Galley and William Morrow for this arc. Unfortunately i did not finish and gave up at 60% I was dragging thru this but in fell flat.

I had high hopes. Evie an SAT tutor finds the family murdered of the student she was going to teach and goes on the run with a woman tied up in the house. I was expecting more of a whodunit but got Thelma abd Louise.

I had really high hopes for this. The premise was really interesting to me and was giving queer Bonnie and Clyde. But the reality of the story was not it. I think from the very beginning it was very obvious and didn't even really seem like a twist. The story quickly gets derailed and turned into a romance with very little emphasis and seems to completely forget about the murders.

Second issue was that for a girl who is sooooo Gifted and Talented that she cannot just let it go even thought she's pushing 30 and admits that she feels like she's accomplished nothing..... she is not very smart. Why would the police just assume that she had committed murder if she had initially called the police. She does not make smart kid decisions she makes the worst possible choice in every single scenario which made reading this kind of painful.