I'll be honest, I'm not sure how to actually rate this one. It's probably more like a 2.5-2.75, which means I didn't hate it, but I'm not ever going to re-read it.

I was pitched the ARC of this book with a pretty catchy and light-hearted email (be gay, do crime, I believe), and the book ultimately does include both of those things (LGBTQIA+ representation and crime). However, it isn't really a light-hearted read, but it also really isn't a very interesting thriller.

The first two acts of the book follow Evie and Jae as they make a cross-country run away from the scene of a double homicide that Evie walks into. When she finds Jae under the stairs, tied up, she thinks of her as another victim of the crime and runs with her. These sections are meant, I think, to have a sense of foreboding as the pair avoid the watchful eye of the country. But, I'll be honest, large swaths of the acts are free of any kind of fear. The couple have a pretty non-stressful trek across the country and back, with only minor periods of actually being pursued.

The final act of the book shifts the tone and perspective of the book. It retells Jae's story from the past with the current plight of Evie. That act is actually very interesting from both a storytelling and structure perspective and I wish the whole book felt more like that act and less like the start of the book.

With that act in mind, I look forward to reading more from Hannah Deitch, even if this book fell a little short in my mind.

* Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review! *

I was super excited to get Killer Potential as an advanced copy but it was such a disappointment to me.

It started off strong and I was immediately intrigued and invested. But as it went on it felt like it lost its way. I never really felt that I understood Evie as a character or why she acted how she did and this made the entire book fall flat for me. I think it could have actually been a really good book with just a little more character development. Also it randomly tells you Evie is 29 over halfway through the book? She is described as a college student so that felt super random. Overall it just felt really repetitive and unrealistic which I can handle if the story is better.

I think a lot of people will enjoy this one so definitely take my option with a grain of salt but I found the whole thing pretty lackluster. I was between 2 and 3 stars but I was pretty entertained and didn’t hate the book so it gets a 3.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

*Thank you to William Morrow, Harper Audio, and NetGalley for the advanced copies of this book! All opinions are my own.*

I was lucky enough to get both and e-book and audiobook version of this and it was super fun tandem reading this one! I had a lot of fun with this. I'm seeing a lot of people calling it unrealistic, which seems like a weird criticism for a fiction work imo. I think this genre especially gets a lot of people dissecting how feasible the plot would be in real life, and to those people I say: you're simply no fun.

This book *almost* lost me with the romance subplot. I hate a gratuitous romance subplot, but I let her cook, and the twist made it make more sense. It was all part of Jay's manipulation/delusions!

This book is a perfect kitschy thriller and a wonderful debut. So excited to see what Deitch does now that she's got her feet wet. It's gonna be a popular one with a tone of patrons at my library, and I'll definitely be recommending it to a bunch of people. I'm sorry to those who don't know how to have fun, I guess. :/

Hannah Deitch’s debut thriller “Killer Potential” follows two young women on the run for murders they didn’t commit.
Twenty-nine-year-old Evie Theodora Gordon, the novel’s narrator, works as an SAT tutor for wealthy families in California. She begins the novel with the declaration, “I was once a famous murderess,” and spends the rest of the story explaining how she earned that title.

Evie arrives at the Victor family’s mansion in Los Angeles on a Sunday to find the house empty, with the front door ajar. The house is described in vivid detail, from the table and wallpaper to the bathroom. Upon entering, Evie discovers two bodies outside: Dinah, whose face is smashed in, and Peter, who is floating in the koi pond. Determined to erase all traces of herself, Evie turns to flee but hears a cry for help from behind a door at the bottom of the stairs. When she opens it, she finds a young woman, tied up and unable to escape. Evie frees the woman, but as they attempt to flee the house, Serena, the Victor family’s daughter, returns home. Mistaking them for burglars, she tries to defend her home. Evie throws a vase at Serena’s hand in self-defense, but when Serena’s body goes limp and unresponsive, and her boyfriend Lukas enters the room, the two women flee the scene.

Now on the run, with Evie’s face plastered across all the major news stations, she must rely on the woman she saved for help. The woman remains mute but has experience with theft and hotwiring cars. Together, they journey across the United States, hoping to uncover the truth about the Victors and find the real murderer.

Deitch’s novel is gripping, and the representation of a sapphic romance adds a refreshing layer as the two women fight for survival. As the couple travels from state to state, new obstacles arise, and more witnesses are left behind to recount their traumatic interactions with the women. Evie is constantly torn between turning herself in and moving forward with this new life on the run, knowing she may never see her parents again. While the novel is fast-paced, it lacks believability. The women steal cars, wallets, and money in order to survive and travel, but while their actions may be necessary for survival, the story fails to address the moral implications of their choices. Deitch argues that because the women could be innocent, they shouldn’t be held accountable for the crimes they commit while trying to survive. However, this argument is problematic. While some crimes may be forgivable, committing multiple crimes in the process of avoiding justice undermines the legal system. It would be unrealistic and dangerous for legislators, prosecutors, and judges to ignore the rule of law simply because the women claim they were innocent of the original crime.

A quick read where I wasn’t sure where the story would end up.
This definitely gave me a Thelma and Louise vibe with a criminal mind twist.
People are not always as they seem and remember, some will do anything to stay out of trouble.
Rounded up from 3.5.
Thank you NetGalley for the gifted copy.

This book started off with just a baffling decision by the narrator to flee a crime scene where she didn't commit the crime and thought the police would falsely accuse her. The second she flees, the police immediately pin the crime on her. The entire book I just could not get passed this absolutely stupid decision that makes no sense. This also is less of a murder mystery and more of a girls on the run book. I felt it could have been a lot stronger if it focused on the crime instead of the running away from the crime.

Killer Potential is a great getaway roadtrip story that throws together two women, Evie an SAT tutor to well-heeled seniors and the other one's identity is a mystery for quite a while. We know within a few pages that Evie arrives on a Sunday to tutor Serena Victor and finds both her parents dead, apparently murdered. We know later on, that in connection with this discovery, she also rescues the unnamed woman who called for help but is now unable or unwilling to speak. After a problematic encounter on the scene with Serena and her boyfriend, the two women take off on a getaway roadtrip that was really well conceived. Evie is cast nationally as the murder suspect and her companion a mystery. Her companion has many useful survival skills and Evie has some money that will let them get by initially with food and cheap shelter. At times, cheap shelter involves squatting in vacation homes or empty residences. While there are some similarities between the women, they each have very closed off places and their temperaments are wildly different.

So, at a minimum we have a double death that is probably a double homicide back in California and lots of petty thefts, shoplifting, car thefts, breaking and entering and a few more problematic crimes on the road. Evie's face is plastered all over newspapers but there is only an artist's depiction of her companion. While not central to the moment to moment plot, both women have had both male and female relationships which adds romantic/sexual tension to their evolving relationship. They bounce across the US, leaving clues that force them to bounce toward another planned escape, sometimes within the US and sometimes planning to leave the country. I enjoyed this book a lot. 4.25 stars rounded down.

This was a really different type of book to what I’ve ever read before. It had an interesting cadence and tone, and it really hooked me in. However I found the pacing to be a bit off as the story went along, and the absolute suspension of disbelief is very very high. There came a point where the book was no longer able to hold my interest and I had to focus to finish it. An intriguing idea, but not my favorite read. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to provide my honest review.

A perfect “what would you do?” book, Killer Potential kept me wondering until the end. Unfortunately, the end was fully avoidable in my opinion which would’ve invalidated the entire plot. Enjoyable, but not one I’d recommend.

Killer Potential is a thrill ride of a debut! SAT tutor Evie Gordon is on the run after finding her rich employers brutally murdered and fleeing the scene of the crime with the woman she found tied up in their mansion. The two become public enemies number one and two, and what starts as a misunderstanding, turns into a Thelma and Louise-style tale for the ages.

For such a dark premise, Killer Potential was a lot of fun! It read like a TV show and I could fully picture each event playing out on screen. I credit this to the novel’s expert pacing. The action is swift but the narrative says everything it needs to without coming across as gratuitous. Evie’s inner monologue’s about morality were by far the most intriguing aspects of the novel and despite some questionable decision making, I found her to be a likable and even (to a certain extent) relatable protagonist.

The romantic b plot served as a great companion to the thriller/mystery elements. Equal parts sexy and dangerous, the sapphic romance between fugitives added delicious tension to the story and made the twist that much more gut-wrenching. Speaking of the twist, I didn’t see it coming, but thought that it fit within the parameters that the author set. It made for a gripping reading experience and served the overall themes of the novel perfectly.

Overall, this is a stellar debut from Hannah Deitch and I’m excited to see what she writes next!

Thank you William Morrow and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Another very meh thriller! This one had an interesting premise (a SAT tutor finds her rich employers dead and flees— thinking the police will assume she murdered them). It’s a fun cat and mouse, sarcastic and mildly silly book. Unfortunately, I didn’t find this one very memorable! Three stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Thank you to @netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of Killer Potential. It’s out now!

Thank you to William Morrow for my copy of Killer Potential. This one comes out March 18.

I LOVED THIS BOOK! If you're into fast-paced psychological thrillers, Killer Potential is definitely worth checking out. This is Hannah Deitch’s debut novel, and she's already headed to my auto read list. This one has been compared to a modern Thelma and Louise meets Gone Girl and I can't agree more. I loved the hark humor, the fast plot and the characters that I will definitely miss now that the book its over. I can't wait for more from Hannah Deitch!

A mystery with some spice… I didn’t think it would work but it did. This was a lot of fun to read and a pretty fast read too. Highly recommend.

You know all those memes about former ‘gifted’ kids who are in therapy now? And burned out? With a major anxiety disorder and crippling fear of failure? (Me as hell tbh.) They have nothing on Evie Gordon, the main character in Hannah Deitch’s Killer Potential, who is all of the above and also one of America’s most-wanted criminals, to boot. (Overachiever much?!) Somehow, this mystery-thriller-road trip novel is able to be both a hell of a lot of fun and almost unbearably bleak [complimentary]. That’s a tricky line to walk, and Deitch pulls it off.

As a whip-smart scholarship kid with big dreams of ‘being someone,’ Evie never expected her post-college career to take such a nosedive. Now wallowing in the malaise of dashed ambitions, she turns to tutoring the children of the über wealthy residents of Los Angeles to eke out a living. That’s how she finds herself plunged into a cross-country (wo)manhunt when she shows up to a routine SAT prep session with high schooler Serena Victor, only to discover the front door to the palatial Beverly Hills home wide open, the girl’s parents brutally murdered in the backyard, and a malnourished and abused woman tied up under the stairs. (Not an ideal environment to memorize vocab, to say the least.) But before Evie can so much as utter “what the fuck?” things get even more chaotic, and she and the woman, Jae, rapidly go from bystanders to suspects to fugitives.

Armed with only her smarts, a shitty Nissan, hastily purchased Walmart sweatpants, and a questionable amount of gas station beef jerky, Evie knows she needs to figure out who actually killed the Victors and clear her name — between the FBI on their tail and every news anchor in America calling for her head, it won’t be easy. Luckily her mysterious, mute companion is an excellent thief with a knack for carjacking. So begins their spree across the US and back again, uncovering secrets about the Victors and each other along the way.

After reading this I know, without a doubt, I would not survive a week on the run from the authorities. Scratch that, let’s be honest: a day. An hour. Evie and Jae’s experience had my nerves in a chokehold. I like how progressively impulsive and unhinged Evie gets as she settles into her unexpected life on the run — she goes from a constant stream of anxious questions and mental spiraling to luxuriating in fantasies of a permanent life of crime. It’s only a matter of weeks before her plans for a PhD have been completely eclipsed by plans of how she and Jae might live out the rest of their days as bank robbers. Or, maybe they’ll escape to Canada, find a cabin, and get really into gardening. Freed from the burdensome mundanity of her lackluster post-grad life, Evie unspools.

On the outside this debut novel might seem like your average pulse-pounding thriller or murder-mystery, but it feels more literary than straight suspense. It’s often funny and unquestionably fast-paced, but powerful observations about classism, American success, and social mobility appear almost casually, sandwiched as they are between intense scenes of Evie and Jae fighting for their lives life or crashing a car. (And a boat. Don’t forget the boat.) It’s a great twist on the usual roadtrip novel. Jae and Evie work really well as a pair, and by the end of things, the true tenderness of their bond split my heart right down the middle.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a great book. I started reading this book at night and did not finish until 1:30 in the morning, I just had to finish the book. Evie Gordon and Jae Parks are both fabulous characters. Though the book is mostly about Evie, who is teaching Serena, SAT or tutoring is the main character Jae is just as important. You follow along with Evie, though, as she comes to the home like every Sunday to tutor Serena, the big difference this day is that both of Serena’s parents are dead. The story takes you for a ride, and you will not want to put the book down. An excellent book all the way around.

I thought this book was a bit unhinged and a wild ride. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it's like a sapphic Bonnie & Clyde.

*ARC received from NetGalley, but read after publication.

I went into Killer Potential mostly blind, having forgotten the synopsis since the time I requested the ARC. I had a completely different idea of where the story would go, and I've never been happier to be wrong.

This book took me by surprise with its slow-burning suspense, unexpected twists, and deeply unsettling final moments. Just when I thought I had things figured out, the story took a sharp turn that left my jaw on the floor.

If you enjoy psychological thrillers that mess with your head and leave you thinking about the ending long after you've finished reading, you definitely want to check this one out. #netgalley #killerpotential

Big thanks to NetGalley, Hannah Deitch, and William Morrow for the ebook. This psychological thriller took me by surprise in the best way! I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the unique plot had me hooked from the start. The vivid description of the house, the chilling murder scene, and everything that followed kept me on edge. And that ending—completely mind-blowing! I loved it.

Did I find virtually every choice made by the main character of this book absolutely maddening? Yes. Absolutely. But it was a well-written thriller with satisfying twists and a good premise. And although Evie was frustrating for me at times (okay, most times), she did feel like a very well-developed character. I would definitely read something else by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a digital ARC for review!

Killer Potential by Hannah Deitch, when Evie shows up to tutor her Sunday student Sabrina Victor she is shocked to find her parents dead on the patio and is fleeing the home when she hears someone call for help. this is when she finds a stranger tied up bruised and bleeding in the closet under the stairs. after freeing the stranger they go to leave the home only to run into Sabrina Victor who starts panicking and tries to hit EV with the lamp only for EV to retaliate with a vase and knock her out thinking she killed her. this is when every plan Hope and dream Evie had for her future is no longer, she finds herself speeding down the interstate with a companion that won’t speak and two murdered bodies in her rearview mirror. It isn’t until the next day that she sees she and who they’re calling her accomplice is wanted for the murder of the victors. despite not talking at first EV finds her companion quite capable and seems to know how to take care of things when things need to be taken care of and this is something that EV finds attractive especially in this new insecure life they’re living on the lamb. The stranger starts talking and says her name is JNEV finds herself falling for her but is she falling for the real J or the J she wants EV to see? Evie knows this lifestyle isn’t sustainable but doesn’t know how to quite end their story. after fleeing the murder as an innocent person they Kris Kross the country but by the time their story ends Evie will definitely be a murderer. as far as debut novels go I think the author did a phenomenal job I could definitely see what made Evie fall for Jay, but did find the timing quite inappropriate but who knows I’ve never fled from the law and maybe she just wanted to feel secure and Jay did come off as quite capable. Having said that there were many things in this book I raised an eyebrow or two over but mostly I think this was an awesome read I can honestly say I did not want to DNF at any point and found the story intriguing not to mention the stories within the story I really found this book entertaining and thought the ending was quite a good one not just the wow ending when you find out who did it but how it ended, I thought it was a great choice on the authors part. I definitely recommend this book to those who like great mysteries and although I could’ve done without the sex and romance that only happened a tiny bit and doesn’t take up much of the story.#NetGalley, #WilliamMorrow, #TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview, #HannahDeitch, #KillerPotential,