Synopsis:
In Love Letters to a Serial Killer an aimless young woman starts writing to an accused serial killer while he awaits trial and then, once he’s acquitted, decides to move in with him and take the investigation into her own hands in this dark and irresistibly compelling debut thriller.
Recently ghosted and sick of watching her friends fade into the suburbs, thirty-something Hannah finds community in a true-crime forum that’s on a mission to solve the murders of four women in Atlanta. After William, a handsome lawyer, is arrested for the killings, Hannah begins writing him letters. It’s the perfect outlet for her pent-up frustration and rage. The exercise empowers her, and even feels healthy at first.
Until William writes back.
Hannah’s interest in the case goes from curiosity to obsession, leaving space for nothing else as her life implodes around her. After she loses her job, she heads to Georgia to attend the trial and befriends other true-crime junkies like herself. When a fifth woman is discovered murdered, the jury has no choice but to find William not guilty, and Hannah is the first person he calls upon his release. The two of them quickly fall into a routine of domestic bliss.
Well, as blissful as one can feel while secretly investigating their partner for serial murder…
My Edition:
E-ARC provided by Net Galley
My Thoughts:
Wow. Love Letters to a Serial Killer reads almost like a case study. I know every single one of us has wondered about Those Women. You know. The ones who fall in love with convicted killers. You know, Ted Bundy, Tex Watson, Richard Ramirez, both Menendez brothers, both Hillside Stranglers, Bolin the Butcher, etc. I wish I could say this is an uncommon phenomenon, but it’s really, really not.
Love Letters puts us right inside the head of one of Those Women. Hannah, I have to imagine, would be a psychiatrist’s dream. And not just because of the serial killer thing – although that certainly factors in. It is pretty clear from the get-go that Hannah has some…issues. She’s a little neurotic, and she’s got a truly fascinating relationship with reality and the world around her. Is she completely batshit? No, absolutely not. But there are some signs that she maybe has some undiagnosed psychological stuff going on. I’d wager some sort of personality disorder at the absolute least (but I’m no doctor, in case you were wondering).
She has some intensely questionable decision-making skills, which I’m sure on some level we can all relate to (right? please say yes). But she just keeps compounding bad decisions with other bad decisions until she’s in so deep she can’t do anything but try to dig her way back out – which she is admittedly not great at.
Love Letters is at its core about a group of extremely dysfunctional people, and a serial killer (who is surprisingly functional, all things considered). It is not the most surprising story I’ve ever read, but it does definitely draw you in, even if you do already have a handle on what’s going on way earlier than you’d maybe like to. So points for that.
Rating:
Overall, this was a thoroughly entertaining read. Hannah is a bit of a trainwreck, and you really don’t want to look away, even if you already know how this is all gonna end. I vote: check it out.
Love Letters to a Serial Killer
By Tasha Coryell
Berkley Publishing Group
Published: June 25, 2024
ISBN: 9780593640272
Hardcover, E-book
320 Pages
