The Kind Worth Killing

The Kind Worth Killing (2015)
by Peter Swanson

Imagine that you're reading a book and everything is perfectly fine and reasonably entertaining but you're pretty comfortable that you know where things are going... Then out of nowhere, things change. And then they change again, and again, and the book is suddenly much more interesting than you thought it would be. The Kind Worth Killing is another in the recent run of dark thrillers with a domestic bent (think Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train and Her) but it offers a new and unique spin on the genre and it's really quite cleverly done.

Delayed at Heathrow airport on his way home to Boston, wealthy businessman Ted meets fellow American, Lily. After several drinks, the two get talking and Ted reveals he's recently discovered that his wife Miranda is cheating on him. After a few more drinks, Ted and Lily hatch a plan to kill Miranda. After all, as Lily puts it, "Truthfully, I don't think murder is necessarily as bad as people make it out to be. Everyone dies. What difference does it make if a few bad apples get pushed along a little sooner than God intended? And your wife, for example, seems like the kind worth killing".

As it turns out, Lily is a little more complicated than she seems and she has a very unique take on life with a remorseless eye-for-an-eye attitude and an alarming capacity for violence. More details from Lily's past emerge as the story develops and her unexpected interest in killing Ted's wife starts to make more sense. Things between Ted and Miranda are also a bit less straightforward than you might expect, with further complications and twists cropping up (and the body count mounting) with every chapter.

I felt like we needed another picture, so here's author Peter Swanson.

With each chapter, the narrative switches between characters and includes multiple flash-backs to further colour the reader's understanding of the characters and the connections between them. Just when you start to get a good feel for the direction of the story, a new piece of information is revealed and the narrative changes direction again. Some of the plot twists are less subtle than others but some of them are fabulous and the overall effect is to create a gripping, suspenseful story where you're never quite sure who are the bad guys and who are the good guys.

Lily is a great character - she's intelligent and crafty and completely without mercy. She's basically an awful person, but somehow you find yourself sympathising with Lily and hoping that things turn out well for her. The other characters are less unique, however. Ted is a very straightforward, slightly dull husband who seems a little bit gormless for someone who's meant to be a successful businessman. Miranda is basically just Jessica Rabbit brought to life and her handyman boyfriend is big, dumb and not particularly memorable.

Miranda and her boyfriend are about as complex as these two.

Ultimately though, this is a fairly minor complaint. The Kind Worth Killing is a great read. It's clever, thrilling and very enjoyable.

8/10