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The Killing Kind

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Member Reviews

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Jane Casey is one of my favourite authors-she never disappoints. This book is no exception and is a fabulous read from start to finish. Well-written, well-paced. An excellent read. Recommended.

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This was a real well written twisty thriller which definitely kept me gripped throughout. I liked the main character Ingrid and really felt for her when she didn't know who to trust and her experience being stalked was absolutely terrified. I just felt the outcome was a bit convoluted with too many people being involved..

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Sometimes reading this genre can get a bit samey and you get a bit stuck in the mud. And then, along comes a book like this which, as well as blowing your mind, drags you out of the doldrums, restoring your faith in books along the way.
Ingrid is a defense barrister, well used to defending some rather dodgy characters that, in another world, would leave a nasty taste.. but everyone is entitled to a fair trial, innocent until proven guilty, and that is her job. One such defendant is John Webster, accused of stalking. A charge that Ingrid manages to safely bat away, leaving her client proved innocent. So, how does he reward Ingrid's good deed of pretty much destroying his accuser on the stand. Yup, that's right, he starts to stalk her instead. What a sick and twisted puppy...
Long story short and eventually Ingrid has moved on from this shenanigan. Webster has been incarcerated and, since his release, has left her alone. But she starts to wonder when a colleague is the victim of a tragic fatal hit and run. A colleague who had borrowed her standout umbrella, a colleague who could have been mistaken for her... Might it not have been an accident? Could she have been the intended target? Is Webster Back? And, if so, has he upped his game? And then, just as she is pondering it all, he shows up at her door protesting his innocence, affirming that she is in danger and demanding that only he can protect her?
Oh what a tangled web....
And a delicious one too. I simply devoured this book, start to finish in pretty much one sitting. Spurning all the life things I should have been doing. Well... the dust will only come back anyway!
I say quite a lot that a book sucks me in, well that feels like an understatement here. It did that, with claws out, holding me so tight, grabbing my attention and keeping the intrigue level so high I was powerless in its thrall. Over the top - not at all! It's how it felt at the time.
In Ingrid and Webster, the author has created one of the best cat-and-mouse antagonist-protagonist duos I have read about in time. Well crafted, feeling real all the way through as the author weaves them around and about each other. Developing them along the way separately and together. Their stories are interconnected but yet they remain separate.
Oh and it is so very well plotted and that plot is equally well executed. With great aplomb. In fact I could bang on and on about how good this book for ever but, to be honest, all I really have to say is that if you are a fan of this genre book, Read This Book. You won't regret it. I didn't.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

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When barrister Ingrid Lewis defends and wins a stalking case little did she know that the defendant would turn his attention to her.
John Webster is charming and charismatic and always gets what he wants and he wants to torment Ingrid.
And not just satisfied in ruining Ingrid's relationship and home he continues to stalk her but when Ingrid needs help she has only one person she knows that can help. John Webster.
How can she trust him and everyone else around her but is it better to to trust the devil you know?

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The Killing Kind by Jane Casey is a formidable story about Ingrid Lewis, barrister and how she has a stalker, John Webster. This is a stand alone novel and is interesting and intriguing about why people commit the crimes they do and what motivates them. There are many twists and turns to the story and the reader is never quite sure who did what, to whom and why.
Highly recommended

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Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for this ARC.

Wow, this was one thrilling read. The author is fairly new to me and I really enjoyed this book. I liked the main character Ingrid who is a barrister, she is believable and very tenacious. When a friend/work colleague dies suddenly Ingrid believes that she was the target and investigates this alongside the Police. Add a stalker into the mix and you’ve got a book filled with lots of suspense and tension. I found this to be an action packed read and I loved the different story threads and plot twists here. Who can Ingrid trust and is everyone what they seem? The last quarter of the book really picked up it’s pace and raced to a final conclusion that had me on the edge of my seat. I had suspicions of who was behind everything (and was right) and couldn’t think how or why and all was revealed at the end. Plus another reveal I did not expect! I think this is a very cleverly written book with a great plot that had me on tenterhooks at times! It was engaging and held my attention from beginning to end and is a book I would really recommend.

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I loved this book and found it to be a brilliant book to read.
The characters and story are excellent and there are several twists and turns so you don't really know who is doing what to whom.
I was pleased that Ingrid kept herself pretty much together and didn't fall into panic and stress situations. I don't want to go into detail about what happens as I don't want to spoil the book for anyone browsing through this review.
Please don't miss it

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It wouldn't surprise me if Ingrid Lewis was coughed up on a distant shore by a dyspeptic whale for she is the Jonah of the legal profession, people around her seem to die. However, she is the heroine of the novel The Killing Kind by Jane Casey. I must declare bias here, barristers, courtrooms and a cracking thriller ticks most of my boxes. This novel delivers in spades. At first it seems a simple plot but you quickly realise it has multiple threads. Poor Vicki who was stabbed to death in Ingrid's flat, Belinda who borrowed Ingrid's umbrella and ended up under a lorry, I could go on but you get the picture, Ingrid's a person to steer clear of. The Killing Kind is a thriller which enthralls, teases and tantalises right to the very end and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Encouragingly the tech is off-the-shelf stuff too with the exception of a battery powered heater which was sadly laughable.

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Thanks a million HarperCollins UK for ARC reader's copy of The Killing Kind in exchange for an honest review! Absolutely enjoyed, as always, Jane Casey writes a good one! This is a crime fiction standalone, quick read and hard to put down, twists and turns.

The plot is about a covert narcist personality to one of the previous Clients Ingrid has represented in the court ages ago, but even she won the case in his favour his attention switched towards her by destroying her own life and peace of wellbeing and now he seems to have returned, except this time it seems almost impossible to be proven and many disbelief her most of the time.

The impossible seems to be happening and sudden accidents take place around her and to people she knows. She is trying her best to figure it out what would be his next move to be unpleasantly surprised again. Ingrid's gut feeling says more than she is able to know at the time without giving any further spoilers, as a reader I enjoyed the plot, as there are many narcissistic personalities around us and I believe the author has drawn very clear picture of that it is like to be around one as well the character experience a journey once she is personally affected and not just someone non-involved that may be drawn by the person with disorder to feel and express any feelings. Even through a tough experience main character changes along within the plot, and I think it is very well written.

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would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this amazing gripping book

a stalker
a barrister
and a murder made to look like an accident

oh my word this book ticks all the boxes, we have an up and coming barrister who defends a client and that same client becomes her stalker and ruins her life....

this book keeps you on the edge of your seat...so many twists and turns...loved it

cant wait for the next book from this author

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Jane Casey’s Maeve Kerrigan series is entertaining. The killing kind, her latest novel, is a gripping psychological thriller from the get-go.

Ingrid Lewis is a barrister, and her professional life involves dealing with a criminal daily.

One morning she was running late. And once she reaches the courthouse she meets an old-time colleague Belinda Grey. But a few hours later, Belinda dies in a road accident. Ingrid feels guilty as she senses Belinda’s death was wrongful because she wasn’t the target. Ingrid was!
And from here starts a twisted game that might not just destroy Ingrid’s career, but she might lose her life.

Ingrid Lewis performs her legal job with honesty, and she loves it. She is a part of the prosecution team, and she firmly believes in evidence. Everything is not calm and regular in her life. In 2016, after she saved John Webster from a prison sentence, her life became a living nightmare. John Webster made her his next target by destroying everything in her life, including her home.

The story is narrated in two timelines between 2016 and 2019. The story is layered with mysteries, and once the revelations start, it doesn’t end until the last page. Ingrid Lewis becomes paranoid once she investigates Belinda Gray’s accident. She has a lingering sense of someone watching her or is going to attack her. But she did not have definitive evidence that it’s John Webster, but she knows it’s him!

Ingrid Lewis is portrayed as a strong woman with firm decision-making skills. But with the paranoia and people dying around her, she cannot see things straight or decide.

John Webster in the mix only complicates matters for her. John Webster is a smart, ruthless, and eagle-eyed man. Once in his clutches, difficult to come out of it.

The mystery and the climax are not just gripping but compelling. It is difficult to resist until the reader finishes the book. The book has different formats for email transactions and newspaper articles. They are tiny things that keep the reader engaged.

Casey never creates perfect characters, they have humane flaws, and they sound real. And this continued with Ingrid as well.

If you love a twisted psychological thriller, this should be your pick.

My rating for the book 4.5 stars.

Thank you, NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for the copy of the ebook in exchange for my honest review.

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As usual in my reviews I will not rehash the plot - plenty of other reviews like that out there already! My advice is to read this book for yourself - you won't be disappointed!

This is a high tension psychological novel that had me on the edge of my seat - unusual for me (I read a lot of books in this genre) but it really got under my skin.

You cannot help but be gripped by the unfolding events - and just when you think you've worked out what's going on, something happens to apparently prove otherwise! There is a lot going on, and you won't quite know who to trust or believe. You might expect Ingrid (the main character, our heroine) to crumble under the weight of various horrible incidents, but luckily she's made of sterner stuff!

I was quite pleased with myself for figuring out one of the plot threads, but there was a lot more to the plot than that so I can't give myself full marks by any means!

This was my first read by Jane Casey, but I am pleased to discover that she's written a series, which I shall now seek out!

Recommended for lovers of psychological dramas - possibly not for anyone who's had a "stalker" though!

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC. All opinions my own.

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A good thriller. It took me a while to get hooked, but this may just be me as a lot of reviews state the opposite. Once I did get into it though, it was fast-paced, twisty and included the right element of threat throughout. The characters are big and well written and the plot has unique elements, which is getting harder in the thriller market.

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This standalone novel by Jane Casey is an engrossing read. It tells the tale of barrister Ingrid Lewis, a victim of stalking and harassment whose life we see unravelling over the course of several years.

This book had me hooked straightaway. It benefits from a detailed plot packed full of twists and turns.

Fans of Jane Casey will love it, as will those new to her work.

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Fight or flight??
I know which option I’d choose if I were unfortunate enough to be in Ingrid Lewis’s shoes, a barrister well used to dealing with the worst humanity has to offer but who’s not entirely immune to the horrors of some of the cases she encounters. One man in particular has adroitly wormed his way under Ingrid’s skin, following the role she played in defending him against a stalking/harassment allegation. Turning the tables on her, systematically dismantling pieces of her life one by one John Webster sought to leave Ingrid with nothing more than terror to accompany her every waking thought. All that might well be in the past but with the sudden death of fellow barrister Belinda Grey,victim of a road traffic accident, Ingrid is convinced Webster is resuming his plan of attack, and he’s got Ingrid firmly in his sights, his physical presence a reminder that Ingrid is never far from danger. With her senses on high alert at all times, constantly assessing her surroundings and the individuals within them, Ingrid is living on the edge of sanity, pulling you into a world where peace of mind has long since ceased to exist. As the saying goes old habits die hard yet Webster’s claims that this time around he’s acting as her protector are hard to believe. But when your defences are down doubt creeps in rendering anything plausible and Ingrid can attest to that.

Fear is Ingrid’s constant companion and as its icy cold chill snakes it’s way around the contours of her life, leaving her tormented, confused, conflicted, paranoid and trusting absolutely no one this is a brilliantly terrifying, chilling read. Robbed of the ability to trust, Ingrid finds herself in a vulnerable, isolated position exactly right where her tormentor(s) can enjoy watching her squirm. How easy then it is for Casey to sustain an electrifying level of uncertainty when she has imagined a dark complex character in the shape of Webster. Cool as a cucumber, calculating, dangerous and manipulative, this character is perfectly poised to muddy the waters; the truth remaining elusive until the very end. Surprising the reader time and again with an escalation in violence surrounding Ingrid and those she’s come into close contact with both in the past and present, nothing and no one is off limits as Ingrid’s life unspools at an alarming rate. How much worse can Ingrid’s life possibly get? Well, you’ll soon discover the depths to which her life can plunge to as the author wastes no opportunity in twisting the knife further like a master executioner! Inevitably descending into a proverbial game of cat and mouse, unsure who to fear most is possibly the most scariest aspect of this novel.

I felt as if I was witnessing an elaborate, intricate but macabre dance between multiple players, the steps of which are unknown, at least until the blindfold drifts from Ingrid’s eyes. The idea that your worst enemy paradoxically could actually be your saviour is so beautifully executed with every interaction between the pair fraught with tension and anticipation. There’s never any danger of putting this book down! One more page becomes one more chapter with Casey keeping the reader left guessing as to what horrors can befall this barrister turned detective next. Obscuring the boundaries between good and evil, justice and morality, she uses Ingrid’s current plight and her profession to her advantage, highlighting the injustices in the criminal justice system particularly in relation to certain types of crimes. Apart from one obvious element, nothing is as it appears as the author exposes you to the dark, wicked side of human nature. Weaving court transcripts, police interviews and email messages into the narrative, there are so many layers to this crime thriller it’s impossible to draw the line between good versus evil.

Although I’ve developed a love/hate relationship with this genre, authors like Jane Casey are the reason I don’t completely turn my back on this popular brand of fiction. Masterfully plotted, maintaining tension, fear and doubt at a level that is nerve shredding Jane Casey displays a remarkable talent for imagining the type of characters who fall through the cracks of the justice system, bringing them to life in a way that despite their obvious faults renders them beguiling, fascinating and terrifying in equal measure. John Webster is a character you’re unlikely to forget in a hurry! And with an ending unlikely to disappoint even the harshest of critics you’d be wise to read this just as soon as you can! Just remember to lock yourself away with a warning not to disturb until further notice!

Did I enjoy this book? ABSOLUTELY! Would I recommend to fans of crime thrillers? 100% WITHOUT A DOUBT! Am I already eagerly anticipating Jane Casey’s next book release? YOU BET!

My thanks as always to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review.

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Like most crime enthusiasts. I am a fan of Jane Casey’s Maeve Kerrigan series., so an opportunity to read her first stand-alone novel was far too good to pass by. And it is, of course, a cracker!

Ingrid Lewis is a barrister. She’s good at her job and doing well when she is called on to defend a stalker. John Webster is a clever, cunning sociopath who likes to see the impact he has on his victims and to make them do things they do not want to do. Ingrid gets her client an innocent verdict, but it seems that, rather than being grateful, her success has only served to intrigue him and now it is Ingrid who is the focus of his nightmarish attentions.

Ever since he walked free, Ingrid’s life has turned to dust. She becomes the target of texts and emails, he posts fake videos designed to destroy her reputation and even sends risqué material to her boss. His campaign of harassment peaked when her house burned down and she lost the love of her life, her fiancé Mark. Everywhere she goes she has to be constantly on her guard, checking to make sure she isn’t being followed.

So after she lends a colleague her distinctive umbrella and that colleague is the victim of a tragic accident, Ingrid is sure that John Webster has killed the wrong woman and that John Webster’s real target was Ingrid herself.

Jane Casey does an excellent job of depicting the life of a woman who is being stalked. The level of obsession of stalkers is so creepy and very chilling and we can see how much of Ingrid’s life is curtailed by the constant feeling that she is being watched and followed. Not even a restraining order makes much difference, though the one she had has now expired.

Now she’s living in an open plan loft apartment in a gated community and yet still she does not feel safe. With good reason, it transpires…

Casey’s tense and dramatic story shifts from past to present as we learn through witness statements, court scenes, and from police interviews what has transpired in the past in Ingrid’s cases and in her own past. It’s fascinating to hear the cases she has handled and the ways in which people behave…you know reading this that these cases all have the stamp of authenticity on them and despair at the irresponsible behaviour of so many.

There are many strands to this novel and at times I found myself wondering how reliable a narrator Ingrid herself is, given everything she has been through it’s not surprising that she can’t trust anyone and feels hunted and under strain.

Then a death occurs and Ingrid is convinced that she is onto something and determines to follow up her instincts, especially when she can’t get the police to treat her as seriously as she would like. Fortunately she has DC Adam Nash to turn to. Sympathetic to her cause, despite the lack of any evidence, he agrees to help her with her enquiries.

From then on Ingrid is in the midst of a whirlwind of events and Casey throws the reader’s expectations up in the air and plays with them as if they were part of a plate spinning trick. Riddled with twists and turns, false leads and expectations, Casey has created a humdinger of a creepy and menacing psychological thriller that is deliciously clever.

John Webster and Ingrid are great characters; he is cunning, malevolent and utterly ruthless without morals or scruples – a Moriarty type of figure. Ingrid is strong woman with good instincts who has been manipulated and ground down by her Webster until she has no idea who she can trust. But if she trusts the wrong person, her life is at stake.

I spotted one element of the wonderful layered creation that is The Killing Kind, but the whole thing is put together so cleverly that it hardly matters; there are so many thrills, twists and surprises in this intelligent and deftly plotted novel that I could still be surprised and delighted at how it all comes together.

Verdict: A beautifully layered, cleverly plotted, pacy novel with lots of surprises that kept me reading. Definitely recommended.

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Ingrid Lewis is a barrister and has dealt with more than her fair share of tricky clients. Yet John Webster is something else. After successfully defending him on a stalking charge he turns against her and Ingrid loses everything: her home and relationship. She believes she’s finally escaped his clutches but then he reappears claiming she’s in danger and only he can save her. Friend or foe? Stalker or saviour? Ingrid doesn’t know who to trust.

I read this book in a couple of days. With each chapter you are pulled deep into the plot and just when you think you know who she should trust there’s another twist. If you’re looking for a book full of suspense and tension then this is it.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins and the author for the chance to review.

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Wow! What can I say about this, it left me with a long lasting impression of what it must be like to be a victim of stalking. The adrenaline was rushing through me, I couldn't stop reading, because I just couldn't predict what would happen next.
Such a harrowing story, told from the viewpoint of Ingrid, a barrister. What is real, what is paranoia? What is going on and who is stalking who? Its also a complex, compelling, cleverly crafted mystery with a body count along the way!
Jane Casey at her best. Highly recommended.

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This is a brilliant court room thriller/read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and action with wonderful world building.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.

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This was a tense, engaging thriller. I had no idea who to trust and the twists and turns kept me guessing thorughout and on the edge of my seat. I highly recommend!

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