Today I’m pleased to be part of the blog tour for Killing Pretties. My review is written with thanks to Sarah Hardy at Book On The Bright Side for inviting me on the tour and for my copy of the book.

Blurb:

Detective Sergeant Khenan Malice is a rubbish ex-husband, a crap father but a damned good detective. It’s a shame he spoils his only redeeming quality by being a bent copper.

Detective Kelly Pietersen joins the team to help find a missing woman. But Kelly has a secret…

Damien Kaplan is a leading criminal barrister and a keen amateur potter. He also happens to be a serial killer with a chilling approach to creating his art. He’s married to Elsa, though she considers him more of a possession than a husband. She controls those around her using sex and procures men and women for her husband to play with but only after she’s finished with them first.

Killing Pretties is his passion, having sex with them is hers. It is difficult to say which one is worse.

The missing woman brings all four crashing together – an incendiary mix that doesn’t end well.

Review:

In the very first chapter, our narrator, Damien Kaplan, introduces himself and explains that he likes to kill “pretties” – people who he feels are naturally pretty and have a sense of entitlement because of it. It may be unusual to introduce the killer on the first page, but in no way does this mean that everything is wrapped up straight away; in fact, far from it, and I enjoyed every minute of the ride upon which I embarked with these characters.

The first person narration means that as readers, we are taken into Damien’s life and we are given a chilling insight into his character. His methods are not for the faint hearted, but I loved the originality of this novel.

Killing Pretties is the first novel in the series featuring Detective Sergeant Khenan Malice and in this novel, he teams up with Detective Constable Kelly Pietersen. It’s clear quite early on that both detectives are flawed, but I loved Ashman’s exploration of their backgrounds and I look forward to seeing what they both do next.

The tension in the novel builds as we learn how all the strands of the story are connected, and although this is gradual, the pace of the novel is always fast and I remained intrigued until the end.

There are many twists and turns as the novel reaches its conclusion and I loved being kept on my toes the whole way through!

Killing Pretties is available from Amazon.

You can follow the rest of the blog tour here: