Review: Dear Killer by Katherine Ewell

Title: Dear Killer
Author: Katherine Ewell
Publication: May 21st 2013 by Chronicle Books
Genre: YA Contemporary, thriller
Source: Owned
Goodreads

Rule One—Nothing is right, nothing is wrong.
Rule Two—Be careful.
Rule Three—Fight using your legs whenever possible, because they’re the strongest part of your body. Your arms are the weakest.
Rule Four—Hit to kill. The first blow should be the last, if at all possible.
Rule Five—The letters are the law.

Kit takes her role as London’s notorious “Perfect Killer” seriously. The letters and cash that come to her via a secret mailbox are not a game; choosing who to kill is not an impulse decision. Every letter she receives begins with “Dear Killer,” and every time Kit murders, she leaves a letter with the dead body. Her moral nihilism and thus her murders are a way of life—the only way of life she has ever known.

But when a letter appears in the mailbox that will have the power to topple Kit’s convictions as perfectly as she commits her murders, she must make a decision: follow the only rules she has ever known, or challenge Rule One, and go from there.

Katherine Ewell’s Dear Killer is a sinister psychological thriller that explores the thin line between good and evil, and the messiness of that inevitable moment when life contradicts everything you believe.

-- My Rating --

4/5 Oscars: Really Liked It

-- My Thoughts --

     This book caught me at first sight with its wonderful cover and intriguing title and exciting blurb. I knew I needed to read it , so, when I had the chance, I jumped at it and it was such a delight!
     Kit is London's most famous killer, known as the Perfect Killer. Every police officer is on her case, looking for clues, Kit is a smart serial killer, but she's also a 16-year-old girl. So, when she receives a killing order for someone in her own high school, she is very intrigued and the young police officer, Alex, also intrigues her with his wit and his insistence on the Perfect Killer case. Will these draw Kit finally into the hand of the police?
     A sixteen-year-old hired killer? Count me in. Although we might have heard a lot about young killers, mostly in the fantasy and dystopia genre, this was the first time I've read of such a young girl with an absurd job. And you cannot deny that it was as interesting as ever. This book was fast-paced and i could not pull myself away from it, not for one second. I needed to know every single thing that happened and that made me finish this book in only two days.
     This book's main center, is not romance, it's mostly the philosophical and moral part of what Kit does. Is it right to kill people? Is it wrong? Do "right" and "wrong" really exist or are they results of the human society's misplaced ideas? That was really intriguing and i loved Kit's take on it. How she rolled it over in her head and kept thinking about it and its consequences. She is one of the smartest girls I've seen in YA, but she also had her insecurities and flaws, she wasn't perfect.

     There's a little something going on between Alex and Kit, but we don't see anything, not even kisses. I was a bit disappointed in the romantic aspect, that's probably why I put four stars instead of five. This book is a thriller at times, a contemporary some other times, but it was still as amazing as I hoped it would be. This is for fans of thrillers and a little mystery on the side, you'll definitely like it.