The Kind Worth Killing

PETER SWANSON

Synopsis from Goodreads: On a flight from London to Boston, Ted Severson meets the stunning Lily Kintner. Over martinis, the strangers play a game in which they reveal intimate details about themselves. But what begins as playful banter between Ted and Lily takes a turn when Ted claims, half-seriously, that he would like to kill his wife. Then Lily surprises him by saying that she’d like to help.

Back in Boston, Ted and Lily forge an unusual bond and talk about the ways Ted can get out of his marriage. But Lily has her own dark history she’s not sharing with Ted. As Ted begins to fall in love with Lily, he grows anxious about any holes in their scheme that could give them away. And suddenly the two are pulled into a very lethal game of cat and mouse, one in which both are not likely to survive when all is said and done.

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, William Morrow, 2016.

How acquired: Borrowed from my mom.

First line: “Hello, there,” she said.

My thoughts: While at my mom's house, talking about a book we'd both recently read and loved (LULLABY, by Claire Seeber), I commented that it made me want to read more of that genre. My mom promptly disappeared into her room and reemerged with this book in hand. I started it the next day and whizzed through it.

The chapters start out alternating between Ted, who just discovered his wife is cheating on him with their contractor, and Lily, who he meets in an airport bar. The find themselves on the same flight, and Ted spills the whole story to Lily, admitting that he'd like to kill his wife. And Lily, rather than being shocked, says she will help him do so.

As they take turns narrating, both in first person POV, we learn more about how Ted and Miranda met, and Lily's unconventional family, along with some secrets from Lily's past (although she does not share that information with Ted). They plot and plan how to murder Miranda and Brad, the contractor, and when the time is almost nigh, holy plot twist! Something right out of left field, and the twists and turns just keep coming.

This is a fast paced and engrossing book. I feel like I can't say too much about what happens without getting spoilery, but I was glued to the pages. The character's narrative voices aren't very distinctive, but that's literally the only complaint I can come up with. A brilliant and unexpected read, and I've already pre-ordered the author's next book and bought one of his previous books.