I was looking for an interesting read in the huge pile of books that lay before me during a book sale and at that instant, The Killing Lessons popped up and lay itself in front of me. And when the cover looks like that, you have no choice but to grab it before anyone else even gets a glance. Believe me, I literally pounced to get this book off the table. Have you read the disclaimer on the cover? Do not read this. No reader deserves to be terrified like this. How could I let it go?
The book has a gripping start. In fact, my palpitations rose and fell with every pain inflicted on the victim. It’s difficult not to let yourself get immersed in the dark, violent nature of the book. But seriously, such high expectations can lead to massive trauma when the book loses its intensity way before it even begins to narrate the real story.
There are so many aspects to the story and its characters that the book loses its tight grip on the reader and begins to fall apart. Don’t get me wrong, the plot of the book deserves an applause but the execution (apart from the beginning chapters) is tiresome.
Two serial killers on the loose, slaughtering and raping women, need to be caught before they can get hold of their next victim. Detective Valerie Hart is an alcoholic cop who is in-charge of this case and obviously has a past she is afraid to deal with. She is broken inside and her work is the only thing that’s keeping her sane.
Honestly, I couldn’t relate to Valerie at times. She seemed so shallow and the author doesn’t really justify her depression through his writing. For the most part, her conversations with her ex-boyfriend seemed so cheesy. Was it all about the sexual pleasures after all? There was no soul in their relationship whatsoever. The ex-boyfriend angle almost seems forced just to bring some substance to Valerie’s character but fails. I could have done with her being single, not alcoholic and just trying to do her job.
There is a reason the killer kills and he thinks this is the only way to deal with his suppressed emotions. Initially, I was okay with the reason because I thought there was more to come. Alas, I was left bored. I could not come to terms with his need to kill. It all seemed childish in certain scenes.
Some of the chapters kept on dragging and I was tempted to skip them all and read the end. But I am not a quitter and take my reading pretty seriously when it comes to mystery books. I always have hope. In this case, sadly, the narration doesn’t do half the justice to the initial plot. Not that it’s an entirely bad read, but if you have something better on your to-be-read list then I would suggest putting this book on the back-burner for now and pick it up when you have very few options left.
Happy reading? Not for me.
RATING: 3/5
Favorite Quotes from the book:
“All fear was, in the end, fear of death. Once you knew you were dying, there was nothing left fear. It gave you the last great gift, infinite courage.”
“Your whole life could turn out to be nothing but you waiting to meet your own giant stupidity.”
“Better to laugh at your intensity than weep at your mediocrity.”
The Famished Reader 