Kill For Me Kill For You

Reviewed By  Nan van Dissel       August 9, 2023

 

Author  Steve Cavanagh

Distributor:      Hachette AU
ISBN:                 9781035408160
Publisher:         Hachette. Imprint Headline.
Release Date:   August 2023  

   Website:   https://www.hachette.com.au

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There is a reason why Steve Cavanagh is an international award winning thriller author; his cleverly devised plots, well-fleshed-out characters and his ability to misdirect the reader. In ‘Kill For Me Kill For You’ he employs all three. It is more than an intriguing take on the classic Patricia Highsmith ‘Strangers On A Train’ story line, with its multiple twists and shocking revelations. All is not as it seems.

Amanda and Wendy both have lost their daughters at the hands of a heinous sexual predator, who despite destroying their lives has never been brought to justice. The grieving women meet at a bereavement support group and form an almost instantaneous connection. Knowing the man responsible and desperately wanting him dead, over drinks they agree to “I’ll kill for you and you kill for me”, as neither can find peace until the perpetrator is killed. Have they hatched the perfect plan?

Told from multiple perspectives, the reader is given insight into the troubled minds of the unique characters and with a powerful twist, the author brings their dual stories, which are running concurrently, together.  Although this appears to be a story of revenge in which two women unite in their all-consuming, unrelenting grief, it is also a tale of vigilantism, betrayal and lies.

I highly recommend this well-crafted, page turning, highly suspenseful psychological thriller, in which Steve Cavanagh leads the reader with numerous surprising twists in many different directions and finally to an unexpected climax. Members of a book club will no doubt want to discuss the moral dilemma facing the women. Does their extreme grief justify their contrived solution?  Where does revenge stop?