Title: The Kill Club

Author: Wendy Heard

Publisher: MIRA

Publication Date: December 17, 2019

Page Count: 368

My rating: 4 stars

About the book:

Jazz will stop at nothing to save her brother.

Their foster mother, Carol, has always been fanatical, but with Jazz grown up and out of the house, Carol takes a dangerous turn that threatens thirteen-year-old Joaquin’s life. Over and over, child services fails to intervene, and Joaquin is running out of time.

Then Jazz gets a blocked call from someone offering a solution. There are others like her—people the law has failed. They’ve formed an underground network of “helpers,” each agreeing to eliminate the abuser of another. They’re taking back their power and leaving a trail of bodies throughout Los Angeles—dubbed the Blackbird Killings. If Jazz joins them, they’ll take care of Carol for good.

All she has to do is kill a stranger.

“First rule of murder club, don’t talk about murder club.”

As you may have guessed simply from the title The Kill Club by Wendy Heard is not a new or overly original plot but one that tackles the idea of the characters killing a stranger in order for another person to kill the horrible person in their life. Regardless of this idea being done before Wendy Heard still made a compelling story with her version.

Jazz and her younger brother grew up in foster care but now that Jazz has aged out her thirteen year old brother is still in the care of their terrible foster mother, Carol. Jazz does everything she can from the outside to see her brother gets his medication and stays in school but Carol continues to mistreat him and despite the calls to child services nothing is done.

When Jazz picks up a burner phone she never expected it to ring and someone invite her to join a network of killers promising that if Jazz completes her mission someone will take care of Carol. All Jazz needs to do to save her brother is to kill a stranger but can she actually complete the mission or should she turn the evidence over to the police?

The Kill Club had a nice fast pace to it as you learned of the characters and their situations and the action begins. The story also had plenty of twists and turns added into the mix that kept the pages turning once the characters begin to learn about the club and all that it offered. Despite the lack of originality with the plot this was still quite the solid read overall.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online: 

Goodreads  /   Amazon

About the Author:

Wendy Heard was born in San Francisco and has lived most of her life in Los Angeles. When not writing, she can be found hiking the Griffith Park trails, taking the Metro and then questioning this decision, and haunting local bookstores.