Dear Killer by Katherine Ewell

Everyone probably has that one person they'd like to kill and this book addresses that desire. Through the eyes of a teenage serial killer, this novel deals with the struggles of being a murderer.

Kit seems like a normal London teenager, but she's really the city's notorious serial killer known as the "Perfect Killer." She's been raised to be a murderer since she was child in order to take over for her mother who had also been a murderer. They receive letters in a secret mailbox from people requesting the death of certain people, and it is Kit's job to answer those letters. After she murders them, she leaves the letter behind as her signature. She's lead to believe that "Nothing is right, nothing is wrong," so she's not doing anything wrong by killing these people. When a letter arrives asking for the murder of a schoolmate, she befriends the victim and starts to make decisions that have her question what she's been raised to do.

This novel has an interesting premise because I'm sure we've all thought about one person we'd like to see killed. This book just takes it a step further and finds a person to make those wishes come true. For the most part the victim has wronged the writer in one way or another, so it's not like they're entirely innocent, right? The fact that it is a teenage girl makes it a smidge hard to believe, but if she's been trained to do this since she was a child, maybe it is a bit more believable. The novel makes Kit this complex character. For the most part she is just a cold blooded killer, she doesn't really try to justify what she's doing. But then she murders without a letter and starts to question everything. I don't know that she necessarily grows throughout this novel, but the author does a good job of getting into the head of someone who sees nothing wrong with murder and believes the people need her.

This was an enjoyable book. It is an easy read that draws you into the world of a teenage murderer.
MMK

White Crow - Marcus Sedgwick

Winterfold, England used to be a booming town, but the ocean has swallowed up parts of the town over the years. Rebecca and her father head there for the summer because her father called off a search for a young girl back in Greenwich, and that lead to the girls death. Rebecca explores the village, and encounters Ferelith. Ferelith has grown up in Winterfold, and knows the history of the town. She takes Rebecca to old graveyards, the only church left standing, and a building called the Hall. Back in 1798, a French doctor came to the town and was trying to raise evil spirits to possess people. Ferelith straps Rebecca in the chair where the victims once sat. Rebecca is frightened and scared. After a few hours Ferelith comes back to release her, and Rebecca doesn't want to be friends anymore. Rebecca heads home and realizes that the necklace her father gave her must have fell off in the Hall. She heads back and Ferelith is there waiting for her while a thunderous storm closes in and threatens to take away the Hall.

This book was ok. It left me a bit confused, and unsatisfied as a reader. I did like the journal entries from 1798, which mirrored what was going on with Rebecca coming to town as the new girl. I wish the entries had been incorporated more into the story instead of being just put in between the chapters. The ending and the title of the book left me confused. I think I was expecting more out of the book than what was written.

T.B. 8/16/11