The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson with multiple performers

The Kind Worth Killing

Occasionally I take a break from books in a series and opt for a standalone book.  I gravitate toward books in series because I have a bit of an addiction, and serial books give me many hours of enjoyment knowing the next ‘fix’ isn’t far away.  To demonstrate; I was listening to the final hour of this book whilst standing in line for the signing of Jenny Lawson’s latest book “Furiously Happy.”  

Though I typically stay in the Sci Fi/Fantasy genre’s I also like a good mystery. (See “Your Next” by Gregg Hurwitz, narrated by Scott Brick http://www.audible.com/pd/Mysteries-Thrillers/Youre-Next-Audiobook/B0058DSPPG )
I qualified with both the book reference and “good” because I’m a little picky.  I’m picky because my mind, for better or worse, won’t disengage my analytical processes so I often figure out things well in advance.  If that’s too easy for me, it’s not that good.  So now you have been forewarned that I’m a hard person to please we’ll move on to this story.

I discovered this book and Peter Swanson via Audible’s “Daily Deal” which works well for me as I can experiment with new author’s/genres w/o a large expense.  Peter Swanson is apparently a new-ish published author and this is his second book.  I haven’t listened to his first “The Girl with a Clock for a Heart” (http://www.amazon.com/The-Girl-Clock-Heart-Novel/dp/0062267507) but I was happy enough with this effort that I’ll likely check it out.

We open this story in a bar in an airport where we meet 2 of our characters as Lily introduces herself to Ted and they begin to talk.  This talk progresses into a game of “Truth” where they both agree to absolute honesty.  Ted admits he’d like to kill his wife, who he recently saw cheating on him with their contractor who’s building his wife’s dream house.  And so starts the story.  Along the way we learn there is a lot more to Lily than she lets Ted know about, but you know it’s mostly little stuff everyone likes to keep to themselves…like the fact she’s a serial killer.  Little stuff.  :)

The story builds momentum as they meet again Stateside and plot and plan murder together.  Just as we think we know where this story is going…BAM…plot twist!  

This story has lots of twists and turns in it and are very well executed…until the ending.  Now I want to be clear here that this is strictly subject to my feelings on stories.  But my feelings for the ending of this story are similar to my feelings on that fondue restaurant The Melting Pot.  I am not a fan…look I go out to a restaurant to eat food prepared  for me not by me.  

This story's ending is left open to the reader's imagination.  I really don’t care much for ambiguity, like the crappy finish to the HBO Series The Sopranos, this story left me with a distinct lack of completion.

Overall though it’s a good story, with multiple performers which really helps to isolate each character's inner monologue and story.  I’m certain there are plenty of folks who like open ended finishes to stories.  I’m just not one of them.