“My name is Denver Brady, and I am a serial killer.”

What an opening line to hook you right in! How to Get Away with Murder is a book within a book. The narrative alternates between chilling, yet often humourous, excerpts from a novel allegedly written by a serial killer and the perspective of DI Sam Hansen.

Sam has been off-duty, recovering from PTSD, but one evening she stumbles across the crime scene of a young girl, where a copy of How to Get Away with Murder is found beside the body. This pushes Sam to return to work and she is soon helping to investigate the murder which mirrors one described in the book. Sam must analyse the book to ascertain whether it truly is written by a real killer or a delusional fantasist. And if Denver is real, did he kill Charlotte or is there a dangerous copycat on the loose?

I had fun trying to solve the mystery myself. I had a big list of notes and ended up with eight reasons why I thought I knew who Denver Brady was… However, I was way off but loved the journey nevertheless!

A highlight for me was the humour in the book. Both Sam and Denver have some cracking lines, despite Denver being an awful person obviously! One favourite was: “my house looks like the kind of place Liam Neeson would rescue his daughter from.”

A fantastic debut from Philipson. Clever, dark and thoroughly entertaining.

Thank you to Bantam for the proof copy.