Kill for Me, Kill for You - Steve Cavanagh - ★★★.¾

AUTHOR: Steve Cavanagh

GENRE: Psychological Thriller

PUBLICATION DATE: March 19, 2024

RATING: 3.75 stars.

In a Nutshell: An interesting psychological thriller with regular twists along the way. Inspired from the classic murder swap “Strangers on the Train”, which I haven’t read/watched and hence I could enjoy this as a fresh story. The ending might not work for everyone. An entertaining ride if you follow the golden rule of contemporary thriller reading: Do not overthink!

Plot Preview:

New York City. Ever since Amanda’s daughter and husband died, she has been focussed on avenging their deaths while still struggling to cope with her loneliness and grief. At a counselling session, she bumps into Wendy, who is also intent on a revenge plan against the man who destroyed her family. As they unburden to each other, they come up with a plan: You kill for me, I’ll kill for you.

Ruth, who also lives in NYC, had been a confident professional until the day a stranger with piercing blue eyes entered her house and attacked her. It was just luck that she survived, but her attacker has been untraceable. Ever since the traumatic incident, Ruth is petrified to be alone, though her husband Scott assures her that she’s safe.

How will Amanda and Wendy’s mutual-revenge plan work? Will Ruth ever feel safe again and will her attacker be found? What is the connection between the two arcs?

The story comes to us in the third person perspectives of Amanda, Ruth, Scott, and Farrow – the detective who worked on both Amanda’s and Ruth’s cases.

I had two advantages before beginning this read:

👉 No first-hand knowledge of any murder-swap book, even the one this is supposedly based on: Patricia Highsmith’s ‘Strangers on the Train’. I haven’t even watched the Hitchcock movie based on the classic. Thus I had no idea how the plot would go.

👉 No experience with any Steve Cavanagh book prior to this. This is the first time I’m reading his work.

As such, I went in blind, with no (great) expectations about anything, despite the hype surrounding this novel. Plus, I prepped myself to suspend disbelief – a mandatory requirement for contemporary thrillers, which seem to thrive on OTT scenes, an overload of coincidences and minimal common sense. All of this worked in favour of my reading experience.

Bookish Yays:

🤩 The perfect title for such a plot. It tells you everything you need to know and then shows you how little you know.

🤩 Amanda and Ruth – two women so caught up in their past that they can’t even face the present with their whole minds. They are flawed, impulsive, and broken. More importantly, both had their grey areas. I loved the imperfection of their characters, portraying how devastating the impact of grief can be, and how people handle trauma differently.

🤩 Farrow was an exceptional character. He is the kind of detective who uses his head as well as his heart, a pleasant change from the usual depiction of focussed and professional officers. I also love how his chronic back pain was used as a plot device, and not just in the action scenes. In most books, injuries and illnesses are conveniently forgotten after a couple of chapters, but here, it is actually a vital part of the plot throughout. Farrow’s partner Hernandez is also an effective character.

🤩 The portrayal of grief and PTSD: I don’t expect deep introspective writing from psychological thrillers, so it was a surprise to see the realistic way in which the emotional upheaval after a tragedy was depicted.

🤩 A steady build-up to the story, going slow in the beginning and consistently revving up the pace until the final showdown. I like how it took its time to establish the backstory for its characters, though this might not satisfy those readers who seek pacy action from the start.

🤩 Plenty of twists along the way. Though not all of them were unexpected, they were still enough to keep me entertained and hooked.

🤩 There are some clues that help figure out the link between Amanda and Ruth, but the journey is still enjoyable. The discovery of the expected truth didn’t reduce my surprise.

🤩 Many chapters end with mini-cliffhangers, making it tough to keep the book aside.

Bookish Mixed Bags:

😐 The violent scenes are pretty gruesome, but the author handles them with care and doesn’t dwell on them too long. That said, in one particular instance, I have no idea how the target survived after an attack with that kind of weapon.

😐 Implausible circumstances, unbelievable actions, impulsive decisions – all these are eye-roll-inducing, but present in almost every thriller nowadays, The difference is that these felt toned down and hence not so frustrating in this story, at least to me.

😐 There are several barbs against the then-US president that seem unnecessary, Though the significance of these comes out later, the political jabs are still distracting.

😐 I am a tad unsure about the final twist. I mean, I WAS impressed! No way I saw THAT coming and I just went slack-jawed at that reveal. It was a brave writing choice. But it is also not a settled ending, so if you like all things neatly tied, beware! I love how the story kept some things dangling (Life doesn’t always end at the perfect endpoint; why should books?), but I wasn’t entirely convinced by the revelation made as this final reveal negates the said person’s earlier behavioural pattern.

Bookish Nays:

🙄 This line: “They [serial killers] are the great white sharks of the human species.” NO! Sharks don’t kill for fun or for an adrenaline rush; humans do. Let’s not insult sharks and further spread such myths.

🙄 The writing is overly descriptive at times, especially when it is focussing on the physical actions of a character. This affects the pace.

All in all, my initial response after completing the novel was quite positive. But as I dwelt on the plot, and especially on the ending, the questions start popping up. I should have remembered my policy: don’t overanalyse!

Though I am not too convinced about certain turnarounds in the characters’ behaviour, the book still offers an entertaining ride. The atypical ending that leaves some things unsaid, will probably be a dealbreaker for some readers. But IMHO, authors have the right to decide what fate they want for a character they created, and just as in real life, karma doesn’t always work.

Is this ending leaving an avenue open for a sequel? Not sure. But if yes, I’m definitely in.

Definitely recommended to thriller fans, if you remember to go with the flow, don’t mind the slow-ish start, and are okay with unsettled character arcs.

My thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for the DRC of “Kill for Me, Kill for You”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.