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REVIEW: Bad Men by Julie Mae Cohen


Genre: Thriller | Crime | Romance

Release Date: 20th July 2023

Publisher: Bonnier Books

"My name is Saffy Huntley-Oliver, and I kill bad men."

Meet Saffy; Heiress, Cover girl, Philanthropist, Serial killer. When she isn’t doing charity in the conventional sense, she does her own brand - by killing bad men and making the world a little bit safer.

She’s never had a problem with men - until Jon. The only problem is she doesn’t want to kill him, she wants to date him. But inserting herself into the life of a disgraced true-crime podcaster who investigates serial killers isn’t quite as simple as she’d hoped - especially when they both find themselves caught in a murder investigation with a chance to catch a new kind of bad man…

"You can call me many things, many of them punishable by life imprisonment and/or death: I am a killer, a stalker, a blackmailer, a desecrator of corpses, a burglar, a thief, a liar, a narcissist, a sociopath and I have a low-ley shopping addiction that is harmful to planet Earth, but I have never in my life done two things: dyed my hair out of a box or been disloyal."

A devilish, dark and delightfully bloodthirsty story that invokes feminine rage in a chaotic revenge fantasy that allows us a glimpse into a woman who decided equality isn’t enough and demands payback.

Saffy was the perfect anti-hero — she was messy and chaotic, privileged and superficial, vindictive and spiteful but still undeniably charming and endearing. She blurs the lines of villains and victims an undeniable way and I adored it.

We move between Saffy and her current lifestyle and the days gone by, letting us into her life and seeing the little moments that may seem insignificant but slowly merge together to create something explosive. As we delve into her past, we see pain and suffering that no girl should have to endure and find ourselves supporting her murderous crusade completely.

Hearing from our love interest and fellow crime enthusiast Jonathan was a disturbing dramatic irony, making us wait with bated breath as we wait and see how up close and personal he’s going to get with this murderess as he sees it from the other side. He also brings an uncomfortable discourse on the thin line between morbid interest … and exploitative, unhealthy interest in death.

The story moves steadily, always racing on but lingering on little details and moments, the little snapshots that our own Jon would describe as “boring and anxious, routine and terrifying”. It’s building up the tension and an unsettling scene of suspicious calm and glamour from the get-go so that the entire book is like a pressure cooker just waiting to blow. It’s compulsive and obsessive, a dark thriller mixed with some wickedly clever humour and dry wit. But that’s exactly what I’d expect from a story that explores a serial killer whose current conflict is having a crush on a troubled and brooding true-crime podcaster and vigilante investigator.

If you have a gap left in your life after reading How To Kill Men and Get Away with it or After Dark — this book is exactly what you need to let you live out your violent fantasies to your dark little hearts content.


⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


I was gifted an advanced reviewers copy of this title in return for an honest review. Please check content warnings before reading as this title contains subjects that may be triggering or upsetting including references to child abuse, sexual assault and violence. 

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