Dear Killer is really hard for me to review. On one hand, I enjoyed it. On the other, there were things about it that really let me down. Dear Killer really is one book that is perfectly in the middle for me.

The concept for Dear Killer is what really caught my attention and it’s the one thing I really enjoyed about it. Reading about a teenage serial killer is something I can honestly say I’ve never done. It was fascinating to be inside Kit’s head. She didn’t see anything right or wrong about what she was doing. The concept of moral nihilism was something I hadn’t heard of before reading Dear Killer. Katherine Ewell went in depth with the concept and it really did leave me thinking.

However, I had some problems with Dear Killer. I’ll start with my main problem which was Kit herself. I did not like her at all. She was cocky and full of herself. Her nickname with the media was The Perfect Killer and that’s exactly how she saw herself. She considered herself untouchable and she let it go to her head. I wanted to slap some sense into her.

Another issue I had was with the whole killings. Maybe I’ve read too many adult murder mysteries and maybe it’s partly because I have two former police officers for parents but I really didn’t see how any of this could work. First off, Kit describes herself as a skinny, relatively average height teenage girl. How in the world would it be possible for her to overtake men much larger than her and much stronger? I don’t care how much training you’ve had, it just doesn’t work that way. Also, she was way too cocky with her killings. She would kill people right out in the open. As if that wasn’t bad enough, she was killing 3 to 4 people a month. That just does not work. With the police looking as hard as they were, someone would have caught her.

One good thing about Dear Killer was the relationship Kit had with her mom. Admittedly, it was based on murder but still, it was good. Kit and her mom had a close relationship. They told each other everything. Kit learned everything she knew about murder from her mom. She knew that she could always go to her with any problems or complications. It’s definitely not your typical mother/daughter relationship but it worked for them.

There was also one other thing about Dear Killer that I both liked and didn’t like; the writing. Katherine Ewell’s writing style is very distinct and I enjoyed it. It’s detailed and thorough and I really felt like I could picture everything as Kit was seeing it. The only problem was that it really slowed down the story. What I felt should have been a fast-paced book ended up taking me much longer to get through.Overall, Dear Killer will greatly appeal to some, just not to me. I enjoyed it and I would recommend it but it won’t be on my favorites list.

What others are saying about Dear Killer:

The (YA) Bookcase’s review: “The story of a teenage serial assassin is violent and contains some slightly graphic material; however, it does a good job of engaging the reader to ask what is moral or ethical.”

The Phantom Paragrapher’s review: “I leave with these parting words that if you are a fan of serial killers – the people themselves, the person behind the mask and wanting a book told from the killer’s POV then Katherine Ewell’s book “Dear Killer” is the story for you.”