Thanks to the Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley for this captivating eARC.

Wow, move over Dexter, there is a new serial killer vigilante in town, and I could not put this book down, I loved it! I finished it in one long sitting.

“This Girl’s a Killer” by Emma C. Wells is a riveting thriller that introduces us to Cordelia Black, a character who is as complex as she is captivating. By day, Cordelia is the epitome of success, a pharmaceutical rep with a flawless reputation and a wardrobe to match. But by night, she becomes a vigilante, doling out justice to the men who have managed to slip through the legal system’s grasp.

The novel is a masterful blend of suspense and moral ambiguity, forcing readers to question the lines between right and wrong. Cordelia’s double life is a thrilling ride, with each chapter peeling back layers to reveal the depth of her character. She’s a woman with a cause, a protector of her chosen family, and a person who demands control in a world that often feels uncontrollable.

Wells’ writing is sharp and precise, with a narrative that’s both fast-paced and thought-provoking. The supporting cast of characters, particularly Cordelia’s best friend Diane and her goddaughter, Sugar, add a rich layer of emotional depth to the story. The relationships between the characters are intricately drawn, and their interactions provide a counterbalance to the darker aspects of Cordelia’s life.

The plot twists are clever and unexpected, keeping readers on their toes until the very last page. “This Girl’s a Killer” is not just a story about a vigilante; it’s a story about survival, loyalty, and the lengths one will go to protect the ones they love.

Emma C. Wells has crafted a debut that’s both bold and daring, marking her as a promising new voice in the thriller genre. This book is a MUST-READ for anyone who loves a strong, complex protagonist and a dark story that challenges the conventional boundaries of right and wrong.

Cordelia Black may be a killer, but she’s also a hero in her own right, and her story is one that will resonate with readers long after the final chapter.

I haven't turned the last page yet, but I surely hope our protagonist stays free, so this can become a continuing series!

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Cordelia Black has a calling: she gets rid of predators, permanently. She has a system, and it works, until something makes her change her system, and now nothing works...

This is marketed as being similar to "Dexter " and I was all in for that part of it, but the detour into ridiculousness, like you'd expect in a Finlay Donovan book, had me rolling my eyes and wanting it to end. It wasn't the worst, and I was intrigued, but it felt a little forgettable for me (as someone who reads and loves the thriller genre).

It didn't work for me, but it might work for you!

CW: mentions of past animal abuse (off page), blood, gore, violence, murder, gaslighting, emotional trauma, death

3.5 stars / This was a pretty solid debut! I liked that the main character was essentially an anti-hero. I did feel that there were some loose ends at the end of the novel that were not fully resolved, so the story overall lacked a certain amount of closure. But despite that, there were some incredibly thrilling and fast-paced scenes that kept me fully engaged and reading. It was just the right amount of dark and twisty.

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Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC of this title. This review contains my honest and voluntary thoughts.

A solid 3.5⭐!!!

A great debut from Emma C. Wells!

Cordelia Black is a layered character who uses her dark past as motivation for a brighter future. Her inner dialogue is hilarious but also ridiculous. It was a little slow in the beginning but eventually picked up. A great illustration of female rage.

I wish Cordelia's backstory was explored more. It would've been great to see more of her metamorphosis.

Despite the dark subject matter, I enjoyed the slices of humor.

Ohhhh this was good. Modern day robin hood/serial killer that follows a moral compass? Yep this is that.

Meet Cordelia Black. Cordelia loves exactly three things: her chosen family composed of her best friend Diane and her goddaughter; her hairdresser (worth every penny plus tip); and killing bad men (she has a compass and never deviates).

Complex characters with multiple driving factors and a good dose of trying to keep everything contained which goes horribly wrong. I cannot say more good things about this book. It does have a lull in suspense around 40% but it quickly picks up and Cordelia is trying to preserve her innocence and her alibis and the weirdo little dog Mango.

I secretly hope there is a book 2 that features McSmiley because the quick absence of this character and then brief reencounter could be hinting at something bigger.

A pretty enjoyable fast paced story. Although I did have some issues with the repetitiveness and I didn't really like how it was wrapped up. I would've liked more of Cordelia's backstory and less of the random side plots.

One unimportant but weird thing I noticed was the surnames were all colours...Black, Brown, White...maybe there could've been some more variety there.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

Cordelia Black is a pharmaceutical rep; she loves designer dresses, doing her nails and hair, and loves to spend time with her best friend Diane and goddaughter Samantha, aka Sugar. She also loves killing bad men.

Cordelia Black had everything under control until Diane introduced her to Simon, Diane’s new boyfriend. Cordelia is a multi-dimensional character. Cordelia is strong and smart and has clear goals. She’s very protective of Diane and Sugar; she can do anything for them, even kill people if it keeps them safe.

Cordelia was motivated to kill bad men because of her past trauma, but it was never revealed what happened to her. A few things happened in the plot, but for some of them, there was no proper conclusion.

I liked how the author described Coredelia as an anti-hero character.

I enjoyed reading this book; it was an entertaining read. This book is perfect for those who love reading gripping thrillers with anti-hero MCs.

Wow what a read.
Cor takes out bad man on the side while balancing her family and work life.
And one day everything just starts to fall apart.

There is some loose ends that I feel like did not get resolved. Those do not take away from the main plot in any way, But my mind is like but that happen there.

Review: What an awesome book! There were times that I had to put the book down to get my heart rate back to normal! That is what I love in a thriller! I totally loved Cordelia, and totally get why she’s doing what she’s doing. I like that the predators didn’t get too much mention as to what they did, just how they died. Not too many do that with serial killer books and it was refreshing! Thank you so much to @netgalley and @poisonedpenpress for my early copy! Go preorder this book now! It comes out on 9/10/24!!!

3.5⭐️ Cordelia Black is a Pharma rep, that just so happens to be a killer of predators. She is very meticulous about everything, until one evening she decided to throw caution to the wind in order to save her family from someone she believed to be a predator.

This book gives me Dexter vibes which I love, she has a workshop so very similar to the kill room. There was just something about this book that made me keep putting it down that I can’t quite put my finger on.

I love that suspense in this book, I thought she was getting caught so many times, but somehow she managed to fly under the radar even with a baby in her tub for days?!?

I don’t want to know how the story even and if she gets caught, so I will be reading the next book to see what happens next. This book is definitely worth the read.

Give me more unlikeable female characters, please. Cordelia Black, you are a treat! She is kind of vain and selfish and we love her for it.

See, Cordelia is a vigilante. She kills men, but only the bad ones. She follows a code and always has a plan. But something is off with her best friend’s new boyfriend and when the situation snowballs, she’s left scrambling.

The pacing is good. I’m an anxious girlie and the fast pace of this book had my heart pounding. I wasn’t sure how Cordelia would get her mess cleaned up, but I’m happy with the way the story ended.

Some of the writing at the beginning wasn’t for me, but that’s just a personal preference thing. Overall, it’s a 4/5 for me. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this title. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

4.5 rounded up to 5 stars! I really enjoyed this suspenseful, heart racing, humorous and chaotic thriller. Lovers of the Stillhouse Lake series, the Mindf*ck series and My Wife the Serial Killer will enjoy this one! I loved the fast pace, the dark humour, the serial killer with good intentions and the anxiety of people showing up at inconvenient times. I think the end of this book left it open for an opportunity to have a second book written so I hope that will be the case. Definitely recommend this one, just check the trigger warnings first!

There has been a recent spate of books about a “righteous” serial killer who only kills “bad people” who arguably deserve it. This book unfortunately doesn’t measure up to the other entries in this category. Everyone except for the protagonist Cordelia was so flat and one-dimensional while Cordelia’s characterization was completely inconsistent. The dialogue and especially the text messages (with emojis!) sounded unnatural and were sometimes cringe-inducing.

There was also just way too much going on with all the side plots. Multiple story arcs felt like they were heading somewhere but then just… didn’t? For example, Cordelia begins sort of dating Christopher, a police officer, to make her best friend Diane happy and to get inside information on the police investigation into the string of disappearances (who are the “bad men” that Cordelia has killed). It quickly becomes clear that Christopher is really just a plot device with basically no personality and will disappear from the story when he no longer serves the story.

The much bigger side plot that really fizzled out was regarding Cordelia’s job as a pharmaceutical rep. Considering what has come to light regarding OxyContin and other prescription drugs, I was glad that the novel opens by tackling the issues with the pharmaceutical industry and with pharma rep tactics head-on. At the start of the novel, Cordelia learns that the sleep aid which has been her main account (and main source of income) is getting pulled from distribution due to the company covering up its lethal side effects. This is obviously bad not only because Cordelia is complicit in this scandal but also because her supply of sleep drugs (which she uses to knock out her victims) is being cut off. Unfortunately, instead of the main character having a crisis of conscience (because her main “hobby” is literally killing people who cross her strict moral code) or dealing with being a hypocrite, this side plot just turns into Cordelia trying to cover up her tracks with no real conclusion to the whole drug scandal.

In fact, I found the “character growth” that Cordelia and the narrative insist has occurred to be pretty underwhelming. The novel starts with Cordelia saying that she’s super organized, and punctual, plans for everything, and needs to be in control of the situation. Yet the reader never sees Cordelia exemplifying any of those traits. The very first scene is her frazzled because she’s late in delivering cupcakes to her goddaughter and her supposedly meticulously organized life only unravels from there. To put it simply, Cordelia is a hot mess in the middle of a meltdown for this entire book. Yet the “character development” is all about learning to let go of control and not being a perfectionist. Frankly, I’m unconvinced that she ever was *in* control in the first place.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this book! It is about a female serial killer who starts to slip up a few times. In her attempt to cover up her crimes she is absolutely hilarious. Such a fantastic mix of humor! I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC of This Girl's a Killer!

Cordelia is a lot of things - a successful saleswoman, a loyal friend, a passionate godmother. She's also a killer (surprise! It's in the title). She draws the line at only killing "monsters" - men who prey on vulnerable people and children. She's methodical about this, precise in her plan and never deviating from it. Until she makes an impulsive kill that throws her whole life upside down.

If you don't take this book too seriously, you're going to have a lot of fun. It's not a cold, hard, serious thriller. It's campy and stupid, and nothing goes right but in the most ridiculous ways. There were times when I thought, huh, how can homegirl possibly pull herself out of this one? And then, sure enough, something else would happen.

My only critique might stem from the Gen Z in me, but the whole 'monster' and 'smoke' thing was exceptionally cringy. Girl, either he's good or he's bad. Kill him or don't. I understand that this is your code of ethics here but it started to annoy me, the panic of whether or not there was 'smoke' behind his eyes. The guy sucks. Murder him!

Anywho, I enjoyed myself because I chose to and I think other people should choose to too! Publishing in Sept :)

This book was a RIDE. Cordelia is the perfect MC - flawed, confident, and the epitome of morally grey at its absolute best. Reminiscent of Caroline Kepnes’s You, except Cordelia would be one move of Joe every step of the way. What is it about these serial killers that makes them so lovable? At least Cordelia’s well-intentioned, more or less.

I was hooked from the very beginning with the fast-paced plot and Cordelia’s affable inner monologue. And then when things began to fall apart, they fell apart spectacularly. I felt a bit like Emily Blunt’s character telling Anne Hathaway’s character “No chance!” in The Devil Wears Prada. I was so invested in Cordelia getting away with…well murder. I was surprised at how well everything wrapped up at the end.

If you’re looking for a fun, but slightly dark novel with a snarky MC, I highly recommend picking up This Girl’s a Killer! Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was a super easy read to fall into, but fell flat for me. It was relatively fast paced, definitely stress inducing and was ✨extremely✨ reminiscent of Dexter (but with a female lead), which I enjoyed. Who doesn’t love a badass woman taking out horrible, disgusting men? However, it was pretty basic in terms of plot - predictable and a bit repetitive. One plot point in particular (that I was sure was going to be MAJOR) ended up being absolutely nothing which really grinds my gears. Like what was the point? All in all, not a bad book but definitely not a favorite for me.

[arc review]
Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
This Girl’s A Killer releases September 10, 2024

Cordelia is a salesperson for a pharmaceutical company by day, and a serial killer by night.
When a drug gets pulled from the market and Cordelia’s best friend introduces her to her new boyfriend, things take a turn for the worse at lightning speed.

The element of found family drew me in, but the story went downhill so fast.

My main problem was with how inconsistent the characterizations were.
Cordelia has been known to be extremely meticulous and punctual, so it didn’t add up at all that she was suddenly so frazzled and missing so many key details within a 24 hour time frame (being followed, missing the hair appointment, forgetting about the handyman).
In addition to that, there was just too much going on, from the bracelet, to the neighbours dog, dating a cop, forged signatures, and so forth. It became too chaotic and distracted from the main character arc. Sometimes less is more.

All of the scenes with Simon felt very awkward and strained. There’s found family, and then there’s whatever this was. At times it felt like Cordelia wanted to be in a relationship with Diane based on how aggravated she was. Considering their history, their dynamic presents as something more complex than just looking out for your best friend.

From a writing standpoint, too many words were overly emphasized with italics and it became distracting.
I would have liked a bit more backstory/depth on Cordelia’s trauma and more clarity on how her relationship fizzled out with the cop so easily considering he was very persistent in the takeout scene. Was their first kiss that horrible?

If you haven't requested this book, put it on your TBR list, or pre-ordered it yet DO IT NOW! This book was such a fun refreshing read. I absolutely loved the characters of Cordelia and her goddaughter. I loved the humor and the sass these two brought to the story. The author does a great job of making the reader think "ok there's no way things can get any worse" and then something else happens to poor Cordelia. There's a reason this book is blowing up before it's released. I will definitely be recommending this book as much as I can and I will be getting the physical copy for my bookshelf once it's officially released. Thank you NetGalley and Poison Pen Press for allowing me to read this ARC.

I requested an ARC of This Girl's a Killer after reading the description of the book. I was intrigued by the dark humor/murder mystery premise of the novel. Overall, I was so impressed -- I loved the setting, loved the characters, and loved the plot. I truly could not put This Girl's a Killer down!