From the very beginning, this book had me hooked and totally second guessing my every suspicion!!! Very twisty and filled with those unexpected turns.

Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!!!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Ballentine for the free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The name of this book grabbed my attention and as I started reading, I became so engrossed in this slow burn thriller. I really like how the "mystery" prisoner in the future reflected back to the present telling the story.

Dylan, Isabel, and Priya are mourning the loss of their friend Beck, whose murder has not been solved even though the women know who did it. As they target Peter and then try to get away with their murder, we catch glimpses of Beck leading up to the murder, which really worked well.

Overall, this is a dark thriller with an unexpected ending. Highly recommend!!!

Can Dylan, Priya, and Isabel hold together when their plan to avenge their friend Beck, killed by the loathsome Peter Miles, goes awry. Really awry. And now Bree a detective is investigating. See, Peter is a cop and his pals are protecting him which makes it more challenging to kill him. Sure the women are motivated but they are inexperienced at murder. This gets a little silly at times but I gotta admit that it kept me turning the pages. Each woman has a different talent and then there's Bree, who I really liked, Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. No spoilers from me.

Peter Miles Has to Die… and You’re Gonna Love Watching It Happen
Welcome to the Texas revenge fantasy you didn’t know you needed but now cannot live without.
Katie Collom's Peter Miles Has to Die is what happens when grief, rage, and three brilliant women get fed up with the criminal justice system and decide: "You know what? Let’s do crimes. But, like, organized and emotionally justified ones."

Do I support murder?
No.
Do I support this murder?
Emotionally? Absolutely.

The Vibe:
Picture it: your best friend is murdered by a cop. Said cop gets protected by the good ol’ boys club. So you and two ride‑or‑die besties make a spreadsheet, plan a murder, and then get very in over your heads. It’s like The First Wives Club but with way more duct tape, trauma, and moral ambiguity.
And I could NOT stop turning pages.

Meet the Squad:
Dylan: Owns a dive bar and enough rage to power a Tesla.
Priya: Wields spreadsheets like other people wield swords.
Isabel: Surprisingly chaotic in a soft‑spoken, "oops I stabbed him" kind of way.
Detective Bree Righetti: Honestly? I’d read a spin-off series about her. Tenacious, brilliant, and has Big “I know you're guilty, but I need you to slip” energy.
What This Book Delivers:
*. Female friendships stronger than a triple-shot espresso
*. Slow‑burn tension that'll have you sweating (and not just from the Texas heat)
*. Plot twists like “Wait WHAT—oh no, oh YES”
*. An ending that slaps you in the face but lovingly, like a good drama series finale

Tiny Critiques? Sure.
Peter Miles could’ve been a tad more layered. He’s basically the human equivalent of a boot on your neck. But hey, not every villain needs nuance. Sometimes we just need a punchable face with a badge.

Peter Miles Has to Die is a Texas‑fried, feminist, thrill-a-minute manifesto for women everywhere who have absolutely had it. It’s clever, ruthless, emotional, and exactly the kind of book that makes you text your best friend “if anything ever happens to me, avenge me, you know the vibe.”
If you're into revenge with a side of tears and tactical planning via Google Docs, scoop this one up.

5 stars. 0 regrets. 1 new fear of what my friends are capable of.

Here's how I imagine a group chat between Dylan, Priya, and Isabel from Peter Miles Has to Die: because if you’re going to plan a murder, you absolutely need a group thread with chaotic energy and solid encryption:

Group Chat: Beck’s Avengers

Priya: okay so
i made a color-coded murder spreadsheet
don't @ me

Dylan:
omg did you at least use conditional formatting

Priya:
girl it’s me. i used pivot tables.

Isabel:
what’s a pivot table
is it like a table that… spins?

Priya:
i love you so much but never touch my laptop again

Dylan:
update: i found Peter’s jogging route
and by “found” I mean “stared at him from behind a cactus for 3 days”
Isabel:
you okay?

Dylan:
no.

Priya:
pls remember we are NOT murdering him yet
we have to be methodical
Dylan:
i am methodical
methodically mad

Isabel:
just sayin
if something were to HAPPEN
like… oops he fell down a well
it wouldn’t technically be our fault
Priya:
he lives in a ranch house in the suburbs

Isabel:
okay but what if we dug a well

Dylan:
ISABEL STOP HELPING

Priya:
new doc: "Operation Closure v3 FINAL ACTUALLY FINAL"
please do not rename it “Priya’s Deathbinder” again thx
Dylan:
no promises

Isabel:
uploaded a mood board to the shared drive
includes 3 flaming justice gifs and one photo of Nancy Pelosi side‑eyeing

Priya:
also i need y’all to please STOP GOOGLING “how to murder someone and get away with it” on the shared Wi-Fi
Dylan:
how else am I supposed to research!!?

Priya:
you read a BOOK, like a CIVILIZED OUTLAW

Isabel:
not to be weird
but I miss Beck
Dylan:
same

Priya:
always

Dylan:
okay
let’s make them pay

Isabel:
vengefully nods in lowercase

📁 attached: “Operation Closure FINAL FINAL FINAL ACTUALLY THE REAL ONE.pdf”
🔥💀🖤

Oh, yes. Let’s get into Detective Bree Righetti’s private messages on the side, because you know she has a sixth sense for drama, caffeine, and vigilante vibes.
Here’s her side thread with a fellow officer (we’ll call him Detective Josh Lin) as she slowly pieces it all together:

Chat: Bree & Lin | “Probably Another Arson”
Bree:
So… weird thing.
Peter Miles says he’s receiving threats.
Also swears someone’s been following him.

Lin:
Weird thing or Tuesday thing?

Bree:
I mean, both.
But this feels… off.
Like “vengeance with an Excel doc” off.

Lin:
What’s the motive?
Bree:
Dead girl.
No charges filed.
Three friends looking way too chill for a funeral that traumatic.

Lin:
And let me guess—one owns a bar?

Bree:
How did you know??

Lin:
It’s always the bartender. Always.

Bree:
Also, found a suspicious Google Doc titled “Totally Not A Murder Plan v6”
Shared between three people.
One comment just says “add glitter?” with 17 emojis.
Lin:
…subtle.

Bree:
Right??

Lin:
You think they’re actually going for it?

Bree:
Let’s just say…
if Peter Miles gets hit by a rogue espresso machine, I won’t be surprised.

Bree:
They’re smart.
Too smart.
Lin:
You gonna stop them?

Bree:
thinking emoji
I’m gonna find out what they’re planning.
Then maybe stop them.
Maybe.

Lin:
You’ve changed, Righetti.

Bree:
Or maybe I’ve evolved

Bree (notes to self):
Interview Dylan again
Cross‑reference Isabel’s Pinterest board
Ask Priya what the heck a pivot table is
Maybe… let this one slide?
(TBD)

And then we continue with the original BFFs

Group Chat: Beck’s Avengers
[Post-Murder Debrief Edition]
Dylan:
okay
so we did it
Peter Miles is now Peter Piles
(as in: what’s left of him is a mess)

Isabel:
🫣

Priya:
please never say that again
also
I ran the risk assessment and we’re at “mildly doomed” but manageable

Dylan:
a win is a win

Isabel:
is it bad that I slept great last night
Priya:
trauma nap. scientifically valid.
we’ll process later. or in therapy. or while stress-baking at 2am.

Dylan:
i vote cookies. justice-shaped.

Priya:
btw I shredded all physical copies of the plan
and digitally salted the Google Drive with decoys titled things like “Gmail hacks 2009” and “Emily in Paris season 4 leaks”
Dylan:
honestly
you’re terrifying and I love it

Isabel:
guys
what if they make a movie about us???
Dylan:
hold on
I’m opening a new group thread for this exact situation

Dylan:
ok real talk
who plays us in the limited series?
Priya:
me = Ritu Arya
100%
chaotic, brilliant, and can probably handle Excel formulas on camera

Isabel:
can I have Florence Pugh with glasses?
or just Florence Pugh holding a teacup and a knife?

Dylan:
yes
Florence Pugh energy but like
emotionally unstable and softly homicidal
it’s perfect

Priya:
and Dylan?
Dylan:
oh obviously I want Jurnee Smollett
but she’ll have to grow out her hair
and perfect the “rage mixed with tequila” face

Isabel:
and Detective Righetti?
Priya:
That’s gotta be Jessica Chastain
Sharp. Calm. Secretly terrifying.

Dylan:
…or Cate Blanchett if we want award bait

Priya:
Cate Blanchett is award bait

Isabel:
I’m picturing the trailer now
cut to black
whispered voice:
“She didn’t deserve to die… but he does.”
Dylan:
fade in: Gertie from accounting throwing a Molotov cocktail

Priya:
wrong book but I support the crossover

All:
Coming soon: Peter Miles Has to Die — the miniseries America didn’t ask for, but absolutely needs.

This mystery was about a death among four friends that goes cold and the other friends take it upon themselves to take action against the suspect. But things start to go wrong.

Thank you NetGalley and Bantam Publishing for the ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.

A very slow start that didn't keep me engaged even after the action picked up at close to 40%. The three women are supposedly best friends but I never got that feeling. There was no depth to their characters and at times they didn't even seem like friends, never mind besties. There wasn't enough background about Beck, the murdered friend. There wasn't much in the way of surprises and no tension. This could have been a tense thriller but there was something missing. I found myself skimming way too often. A satisfying ending though.

Katie Collom's “Peter Miles Has To Die” is a dark, fast-paced thriller about three women who decide to take justice into their own hands and the aftermath of their actions. United by grief and rage when their best friend is killed by Peter Miles, a cop who ends up facing no real consequences for this act, Dylan, Priya, and Isabel enact a plan for revenge that feels shockingly doable at first. However, once the act is done, things begin to spiral quickly and the three friends find themselves in over their heads.

Each of the three main characters brings a different perspective, and Collom does a great job of showing how guilt, fear, and paranoia creep in and twist everything. Readers are able to truly feel the weight of what they’ve done. It’s not just a concern about whether or not they’ll get caught; it’s how revenge changes them internally and how far they will go to keep this enormous secret safe.

“Peter Miles Has To Die” is a gritty, timely, and engrossing read. The narrative explores how justice, loyalty, and the best intentions can lead to terrible consequences. This is a thriller that mixes emotional stakes with tense, edge-of-your-seat plotting, and readers will find

Dnf this title.

I do believe every story has an audience and just because I didn’t like it doesn’t mean that others won’t.

The biggest thing that was rubbing me the wrong way included the girls’ attitudes about life. It seemed like everything is going wrong for them and the only way to improve it is to get angry. For me, I have definitely been through some hard stuff and have been betrayed, but I try to focus on me and what I can do to live within my value system. This was just too angry for me.

I will not be posting a review of this title on my Instagram because I don’t feel I can give an honest review that would incorporate the positives of the story.

Big trigger warning for dark topics like rape and torture. I think fans of Sharp Objects will really enjoy this book if graphic details don’t bother you.

Peter Miles Has to Die was so much different than I expected from the description blurb. I really enjoyed it. I think there were times where it was a little bit predictable but it didn't take away from the story overall. Three friends getting a little bit of vengeance for their friend's murder is a story I can get behind. But this really goes into the fall out that comes after. Some of the most impactful moments were those that showed just what type of impact this murder had on those three in the months following. I couldn't put this down.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Starts off very strong in a good way. Kept me guessing until the very end. Fast paced and moves through the story well. Gives you something to think about what is right, what is wrong, what is just and fair. How far would you go for justice? For your friends? A great summer thriller. Thank you to Net Galley, Kate Collom and Bantam for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Received an ARC via NetGalley.

I’m not sure what rating to give this. I liked the idea of it but I felt like you never got a feel for the friendships of the girls which should be her heart of the story. In addition to that, the police perspective on it.. I felt like maybe it would have been a stronger story if it focused itself either on just the girls or on the police office. Doing both took away a little from each, in my opinion.

Also. Why 1993/1994? The year didn’t really feel relevant to the story so why de-modernize it?

It was by no means a bad story, I just have a hard time categorizing it.

Trigger Warnings ⚠️ Rape, Murder, Torture. No graphic details.

Thanks so much to NetGalley for the free Kindle book. My review is voluntarily given, and my opinions are my own.

Really enjoyed this book, although I really wish he had just died right away, rather than chapters of them planning his murder. Didn't care too much for that, but once it focused on the investigation, it was amazing.

Not sure how I feel about the ending. At the same time, the ending will stick in your brain, making you remember the book forever.

Definitely would recommend this book!

I liked this one. The author said, here’s what’s going to happen with this book, and I’m going to write it so you enjoy the story along the way.

Peter Mills is a bad guy. He’s hurt a lot of people. Does it justify his murder? This book is fast-paced and fun. If there was anything I didn’t love, it was the ending, which seemed a bit odd, but it worked overall as it’s a fun ride to get there and an enjoyable read.

What are three friends who can't tolerate that the man they think killed their friend supposed to do when the supposed murderer is walking around free? Take matters into their own hands, of course. Dylan, Priya and Isabel hatch a plan that they're sure will work and will leave no clues behind, but what if things don't work out the way they envisioned?
This was a fun read if you don't mind suspending your disbelief. Even though there are several characters right out of Central Casting, the plot is well paced and the main characters have depth.

Fun revenge book! Loved the female friendships depicted but didn’t like the ending so much. Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine for the ARC.

Dylan, Isabel, Priya and Beck are all best friends. But then Beck is murdered, a brutal murder. The other three are certain who the killer is but so far he has not been arrested because of who he is. The three friends decide that Peter Miles has to die because he is the murderer and he is a monster. So they make a plan and carry out his murder. But there is a lot more to the story. We learn more about the friends and their lives. It is a unique story and I never would have guessed the ending!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

As much as the premise enticed me, this didn't quite hit the mark for me. The biggest moment of the story takes place a third of the way in, and it seemed to lose steam after that. There was just a lack of tension and emotion. With a story like this, there's almost no way for a true happy ending for everyone, but this one still left me a little frustrated.

I also really was hoping for more emphasis on female friendships, given the plot, but even right from the start, it never really delivered on that aspect. The three girls didn't truly seem to even like each other that much.

The writing itself, the prose, was the high point for me. I can also really appreciate some of the central themes here, surrounding abuse and corruption in the police force, and it was nice seeing those things brought to light.

Well, sometimes the title is the truth of it all! It's not often that a story genuinely surprises me, but I love when it happens, and this one absolutely did.
This book delivers compelling angst, hard social truths, and friendships that go above and beyond. The story hinted at, but left a significant question unanswered, but it falls squarely into that "do you really want to know?" category. Sometimes the mystery is more powerful than the revelation, and I'm perfectly happy not knowing the answer. It's the kind of ambiguity that lets you fill in the blanks, and although I’m not completely content with the conclusion, Collom makes the story linger in your mind long after you've finished.
With its terrific plot, genuinely likable characters, and skilled writing, this book hits all the right notes. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. It took me some time to keep the characters straight and to fully be pulled in.