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REVIEW: Killer Potential by Hannah Deitch

A scholarship kid with straight As and massive potential, Evie Gordon always thought she was special, that she'd be someone. But after graduating from an elite university, she finds herself drowning in debt and working as a private tutor to the children of Los Angeles's super-rich.

Everything changes when Evie arrives at the Victor family's lavish mansion for her weekly lesson to discover, not the bored teenager she excepted, but pure carnage: the bloody remains of Mr and Mrs Victor sullying their beautiful back garden, and a woman crying for help from within the walls of the house.

Within moments, Evie and the woman go from bystanders to suspects to fugitives.

Suddenly at the heart of a nation-wide manhunt, Evie finds that her mysterious companion, who refuses to speak, has quickly become the most important person in her upside-down life. Meanwhile, the press runs wild with Evie's story - anointing her the new Charles Manson, a blood thirsty ninety-nine percenter looking to start a class war. Evie is - finally and disastrously - someone.

"I did things. Decisions were made: I made them. Violence was done: I did it. Crime scenes were fled: I fled them. People were hurt: I hurt them. Someone was loved: I loved them. Not everything I did was bad. Just most of it."

Review:

Strap in and pack some snacks - we’re going on an adventure. A murder, a manhunt, sapphic love, an indictment on modern media and mob mentality, commentary on modern capitalist society and consumption all with a darkly funny run from the law. Too much? Definitely not. Think Thelma & Louise on coke and you’ve got something close.

Evie was a delight — starting off in a den of disgustingly extravagant opulence and privilege and opening up to show that she is just a mess inside, an imposter amongst the elite. A jaded, cynical and imperfect narrator who leads the story with slightly haphazard ways, filling us in on backstory, sharing a thought here and there, trying to make sense of the situation as it unfolds. For me, this stream of consciousness style felt a little too chaotic at times and it took me quite a while to get really into the book as we listened to several anecdotes breaking up the scene being set and then towards the end turned into a very “this happens-that happens” and the amazing energy of the middle 80% just didn’t make it there for me. That being said, most of the book is an exciting, comfortable frenzy, a fast paced, dynamic blur of interstates, motel rooms and stolen cars and two women running.

And what exactly unfolds is a tale of chance, circumstance and coincidence - making a striking note about how the things we experience, the people we meet, the forks in the road all shape and change who we are as people. Think wrong place, wrong time, bad decisions, bad people and just a little bit of murder.

A twisty on the run tale full of blood and betrayal with deeply complicated characters and sharp, clever writing.

⭐⭐⭐

  • Killer Potential will be available from 20th March with Orion Publishing. I received a reviewers copy of this title. 
  • This title contains subjects that may be upsetting including murder, violence, kidnapping and sexual assault. 

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