David Bell is one of my favorite summer authors and he writes really great books that keep you hooked! Kill all your Darlings is a good one and I'm telling everyone to pick it up in August!

I received a gifted galley of KILL ALL YOUR DARLINGS by David Bell for an honest review. Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review!

KILL ALL YOUR DARLINGS follows struggling English professor and writer Connor. The death of his wife and son have wrecked him and he’s been unable to write ever since. Knowing he must produce something in order to solidify his position with the university, he is getting desperate. When one of his students turns in a handwritten manuscript and then disappears, his desperation has him making the decision to publish the book under his own name.

Problems begin when his book about the murder of a young woman is targeted by police who feel the plot too closely resembles the death of an actual woman in the area to be a coincidence. Connor is therefore an obvious suspect and he must weigh the potential risks and benefits of admitting to what he has and has not done. More and more secrets around the case, his missing student and the university life around him begin to emerge.

I enjoyed KILL ALL YOUR DARLINGS, though I’m not sure that I ever really enjoyed Connor himself. The man brought all of this on himself making very bad decisions and that track record pretty much continued throughout the rest of the novel with bad choice after bad choice. I think the fact that his life held such heartbreak did allow me to feel for him and give him some grace.

I thought the author did well at bringing some twists to the story that I didn’t see coming. There were moments toward the middle and the end that got a bit slow for me, but even so I was hooked to see how all of this resolved. I did have a couple of questions still at the end, but overall thought this was a solid thriller read!

This is the first book that I have read by David Bell but it will not be the last one for sure!!

This thriller is set in a college town in Kentucky. Dr. Connor Nye is an English professor and is still trying to get over the deaths of his wife and son in a freak accident. He needs to be published to achieve tenure but he is not able to write. He has the thesis of a student, Madeline, who is missing and decides to submit this as his book. This is when everything starts to unravel…Madeline returns for her cut of the money and trouble begins. Who will we find out is involved in crimes in this small town??

This book was very engaging and I did not want to stop reading as I needed to know what happened next. I received an early digital copy of this book.

"Going home meant entering that museum of grief, that monument to everything I'd lost."

Connor Nye is an English professor and a published author. He drinks a bit too much, trying to escape from the pain of losing his wife and son to a sudden accident. But Connor has a dark secret to hide - he is guilty of plagiarism, having published his student's manuscript under his own name. Why doesn't his student protest? She doesn't protest because she has gone missing, for two years, and everyone assumes she is dead. And now a police detective believes Connor is a murder suspect, because the book is just a little too true to life and Connor wrote details only the killer could know.

This novel by David Bell is totally engrossing and so well-written. The plot is believable, the issues are timely and the protagonist is flawed but likeable. He continues to make poor choices, but we are rooting for him nonetheless. Many of the characters appear unreliable and cannot be taken at face value, so that the reader begins to question everyone's motives, even Connor's. Events unfold at a quick pace which keeps the reader's interest.

Perhaps the only criticism might be that the ending and epilogue felt a little flat and rather anti-climactic. However it is a satisfactory ending with no loose ends. I would certainly recommend this for any mystery fan that enjoys a briskly-paced mystery with no gore.

So I’m not a huge thriller fan, but I’ve been getting a little more into them lately.

Kill All Your Darlings is an interesting story, but also very very frustrating. A lot of the issues in this story could have been prevented if PEOPLE JUST USED COMMONSENSE AND TALKED TO EACHOTHER!

Should I die? Or risk ruining my life? Hmmmm let’s go with death.

Should I come clean that I stole this book? Or face Murder charges? Murder charges it is!

Every character had a habit of choosing the most extreme scenario for them to be in, and at times it made me want to throw it against the wall (but I read this on my kindle and I would have been sad if I broke it).

I don’t know how much I loved the various time jumps and POV’s. A lot of Madeline and Sophia’s story could have been told in Connor and Rebecca’s stories, and it was entirely necessary to include the jumps into the past, although towards the end there were a few past Madeline scenes that were really important to the general plot.

My main goal in any thriller is to be surprised but not shocked by the whodunnit. I don’t want the reveal to be like “omg I’ve known since the beginning that Becky murdered her sister, just say it already” but I also don’t want it to be “oh Becky’s uncle’s neighbors sister who was mentioned once murdered her sister…dafuq?” It needs to be a nice happy medium between the two, and Kill All Your Darlings does this very nicely. The reveal is a little surprising but it also makes perfect sense, once the killer was revealed it was like “OF COURSE, there’s no one else it could have been, why didn’t I realize that earlier?”

I really enjoyed the characters in this one. Most of them are very morally grey characters, who make both very smart, sound choices, but also make major mistakes that can cost them. Connor especially, he lost his wife and child in a terrible accident, he developed a drinking problem, he was depressed, should his actions during this time define his entire life? Should he be held to a higher or lower standard based on what he did during this time period? This novel dives into this concept, on how harshly someone should be judged for their actions, weather they are malicious in intent or not.

Overall, I did really enjoy this book. Is it my favorite thriller? No, but it’s enjoyable and holds your attention through every page, and deals with a lot of serious issues. It’s a good and quick read, and I recommend it for any thriller fan.

KILL ALL YOUR DARLINGS By David Bell
Thriller fiction
416 pages

In the king of thriller fictions newest book we have a college professor and a female student. Connor is a laidback professor who has tragedy in his life. Madeline is a young student who has wrote an amazing novel for her thesis project.  She turns it in even though she has doubts. Two days later Madeline is reported missing.  No one has seen her . Fast forward to two years Madeline is back and has found out that professor Connor published her novel under his name. She is out for revenge.

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!! This novel threw me for a loop and then some.  This one drew me in right away and had me reading late into the night. I had to find out where this story would go next. I was not disappointed!!!!!!!  I highly recommend this novel to thriller fans everywhere.

Thrillers are my thing. I love a good thriller. That said, there was something unique about the premise of this particular one. It had a mystery within a mystery which made it even more thrilling! That combined with the cover made me immediately request it when I saw it on Netgalley.

I had already been Netgalley approved when I received an email from Penguin Random House asking if I would read, review, and be a part of a blog tour. I, of course, said yes!

This book is told from multiple different perspectives in both the past and present day. This was a genius way of writing from author David Bell because it let the reader in on the complete story from all sides but it also added little details to the overall plot that left little crumbs for the reader to piece together.

Honestly, it took a few chapters for me to really get into the plot, but once I figured out who was who and how they fit into the story it got exciting! The plot twists are plenty and they keep coming. Some I guessed while others threw me for a loop.

This is a twisty, multi-layered read and the author did a wonderful job setting the scenes and growing the characters.

I keep typing out things to say and then quickly deleting them, realizing I will be giving away a detail or twist to the story. I am struggling to figure out what to say without giving you all spoilers!

I guess I will simply say this- GET THE BOOK! It's a fun, quick and thrilling read that is perfect for the pool or beach! It was a 4 star read for me!

"Kill All Your Darlings" is set to be released here in the US on July 6, 2021 so preorder now!


Special thanks to Netgalley, Berkley Publishing Group, Penguin Random House, and author David Bell for allowing me an advanced e-copy to read and give my honest review! I look forward to reading more books from this author!

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC.

🌟🌟🌟🌟 4/5 stars

This is my first David Bell mystery and I am definitely going to have to check out his backlist. Kill All Your Darlings is a fast-paced, fun thriller with a sympathetic main character and plenty of twists and turns.

Kill All Your Darlings tells the story of English professor Connor Nye, who is struggling with the loss of his wife and son, as well as severe writer’s block. Needing to publish a novel to secure tenure at his job, Connor decides to publish a manuscript - the manuscript written by his missing student. When the book is released, Connor finds himself thrown into a murder investigation. Turns out, his missing student’s manuscript contains details from a real life murder that were not released to public. Implicated in a murder, Connor races to solve the crime and find out what has really been happening in his own neighborhood.

I have been loving the mysteries lately that have been set in the publishing world with main characters that are writers. It adds a slight meta quality that I find fun and interesting. Connor is an excellent main character who I really rooted for. (Also, I really loved his dog, Grendel. Grendel was a good boy.) The side characters were all well-developed and the multiple timelines and POVs were excellently utilized to add even more mystery and tension. I could not put this one down and absolutely loved the ending.

Overall, Kill All Your Darlings is a well-crafted, tense, and quick thriller perfect for fans of Peter Swanson and Jean Hanff Korelitz!

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first book by Bell and it will not be my last. I loved both the dual timelines and multiple POV’s. The short chapters with mini cliffhangers kept me on the edge of my seat. Aside from Rebecca I didn’t really like any of the characters but that didn’t take anything away. I liked following the drama they got sucked into and I was itching to see how it would play out. This was a gripping thriller packed with twists and secrets waiting to be revealed.

⏰ Releases Tuesday! ⏰

🚃: Book Tour with Suzy Approved

📖: Kill All Your Darlings

🖊: David Bell

📆: July 06, 2021

🖨: Berkley Publishing

“He can still be a killer but give him a redeeming quality too.😉 “

Connor Nye is an Advanced Fiction Creative Writing Professor that has done something very wrong. Desperate to succeed in life; thinking that he would never get caught, he’s shocked when his past comes back to bite him in the ass. Dr. Nye plagiarized a student’s work, who has been a missing person for six months. What could possibly go wrong except for EVERYTHING?!

When he arrives home one evening & his dog Grendel isn’t at the door barking; tail wagging, he knows that someone has been in his house & is possibly still there. But he can’t believe his eyes when he realizes what he’s faced with.

“I guess it isn’t every day that a ghost shows up in your house.”

The fun continues after this night when Detective Bowman comes banging on his door demanding answers. “My Best Friend’s Murder,” the book that he recently “wrote” & published, describes a Homicide that happened three years ago in their town. The pages describe gruesome details that were never released to the public.

“...It’s almost like you where there when she was killed.”

Now Connor is between a rock and a hard place, either admit that he wasn’t the writer and lose his career, tenure; reputation, or figure out how his former student knew this information. Either way he needs to get the spotlight off of himself as the new number one suspect for MURDER. He chooses the latter & is plunged into a world where there’s no turning back & he can trust no one.

“Try not to run...”

But before you believe Connor you must realize that he lost his wife & son to a tragic accident years ago & he’s never been the same since, he drinks, he walks his dog around aimlessly & he is lacking a real purpose in life. Most importantly, he is still a thief, so can we really trust him?

“The cops, he said, liked to cover all the exits, but if you tried hard enough, you could always find a window, a trash chute, an exhaust vent...”

You’ll never look at a scarf the same after this one. 😬

4 ⭐️.

Thank you to Suzy Approved Book Reviews, David Bell, Netgalley & Berkley Publishing for my gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is my second book by the author and I really enjoyed both of them. As a fellow Kentuckian, I love reading about places I’m familiar with.

With multiple timelines and points of view, the author keeps you engaged.

I would highly recommend Kill All Your Darlings.

Connor Nye publishes his thriller novel - one problem, he didn’t write it, his missing student did, and now she is back. The story and the details in the novel points suspiciously to an unsolved case from years back. Does he fess you and lose his job or keep the ruse going?

Set in academia, this suspenseful read had me turning these pages well through the night. Thank goodness for the perfectly paced novel and the wonderful twists, this book certainly took my breath away. Smart, compelling, and exciting, Kill All Your Darlings checks off all the boxes for me in this amazing thriller read!

English Professor Connor Nye has just published his first book. The plot of his book is a thriller about the murder of a woman. The details in the book match a real unsolved murder in Gatewood, the town where Nye teaches and lives..details that the police never made public!

BUT Connor did not actually write the book. It was written by a former student, Madeline, who disappeared two years prior.

Why did Madeline disappear, who actually killed the woman two years ago, and what other secrets are in this college town?

This book was told in multiple perspectives and timelines which I felt made the book flow very smoothly.

This book is a thriller but it also deals with sexual harassment, the pressure to be published, and grief which I felt added interesting layers to this read.

The main characters in the book have some interesting back stories and that also added another dimension to this thriller.

This was a fast read with well placed twists and turns and one that has a group of characters with questionable ethics.

David Bell. I’m a fan! I was so intrigued by the title that couldn’t pass up a chance to read it.
I was hooked from the first page and it never let up. The characters were brilliantly written, and there were so many layers to unfold that I had to keep reading! Struggling students and equally struggling professors, friendships, murder, the fine line between professor-student relationships-who walks it, who crosses it.The story switches between past and present but flows seamlessly as it builds up to an ending that you won’t want to miss!

Thank you for my gifted copy in exchange for an honest review

VERY cool story!! The story did take me a minute to get into and to make that connection with the main character, Connor, but once I did, it was on! Professor Connor passes off student Madeline's manuscript as his own, it's about a murder, she disappears, reappears, he is implicated...what a delicious mess!! I have read most of David Bell and can recommend them all. This one is no different!

Thank you tp #NetGalley, David Bell and Berkley Publishing Group for this ARC!

This book was filled with red herrings and false trails that kept me guessing all the way until the end. Connor Nye was a sympathetic widower who lost both his wife and son in a horrible accident. Barely able to function as a professor, when he has to turn in a book in order to get tenure, he does the unthinkable. He turns in a student’s paper as his own work. Well, that is plagiarism, but since the student disappears and the book is all about a murder, Connor’s problems are just beginning. He has to try to stay sober in order to clear his name. Nothing and no one is as they seem in this riveting suspense, as Connor discovers during his investigation. There are some really creepy professors at his school and that made for a dark and spine-tingling atmosphere. The characters were not particularly likable. Even Connor seemed weak at times, unable to get past his losses in life. However, the entire book was compelling and the premise about writing about a murder that actually occurred was intriguing. I especially enjoyed getting to know how the characters interacted with each other and the hidden nuances that were evident once I began to figure out what was really going on. This was a great read with tons of clues to keep my mind busily trying to organize them!
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

4.5 Stars

Oh what a dilemma...
Connor, a creative writing professor, is still mourning the loss of his wife and teenage son. One of his students, Madeline, gives him her thesis story about the murder of a woman, a story that sounds eerily like an unsolved murder in the college town. Madeline then goes missing and is presumed dead. When Connor needs to have published a book to gain tenure and is at a loss creatively he decides to have Madeline's story published as his own. Then Madeline shows up and demands Connor give her the money from the book or else she'll ruin him. At the same time the police suspect Connor of being involved in that unsolved murder after revealing in 'his' book details of the murder never released by the police. From here this high speed thriller twists and turns it's way to a surprising reveal and satisfying conclusion.
Like previous books by this author the writing is superb, accessable and succinct. With short chapters that keep you saying 'just one more' I couldn't put it down. Here it is, 3AM and I just finished it!
If you're looking for a compelling thriller that hooks you and takes you on a dark journey, I highly recommend this one.

Masterful plot, pacing, and characterization made this thriller within a thriller really hard to put down. Connor Nye is a popular English professor still in mid-spiral after losing his wife and son in a freak accident. Grief and drink are not his friends when it comes to staying sharp for his students. Plus, he's just published his first novel, a thriller about the murder of a young woman in a college town, and the reappearance of a former student at his book launch sends his life from disheveled to threatened.
*Kill All Your Darlings* -- the title borrowed from the William Faulkner quote -- is written from three different characters' perspectives; one in first-person, the other two in third-person. Time jumps from present-day to two and a half years earlier and back, and author David Bell makes these jumps fluidly, with each jump feeding the plot just enough to further mount the suspense. With its underlying theme of sexual harassment in academia, this book is timely as well as being a page-turner.

[Thanks to Berkley Books for an opportunity to read an eARC of this book in exchange for my opinion.]

“𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚠𝚎 𝚙𝚞𝚜𝚑 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔…𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝚖𝚎”

This was a fast paced thriller told from multiple POVs and timelines. It involves a professor and his students. This book highlights the unfortunate disgrace that happens all to often when persons of authority take advantage of the people underneath them. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a surprise ending!

This was my first time reading Bell's book. A fast moving story that had me interested the whole time. There were no big twists, as everything seemed to unfold easily and step by step. In a very structured manner we're told the story of Madeline and Connor and what happened to these people to end up where they did.

Connor is a professor who publishes a novel. And when one of his past students shows up at his doorstep in the middle of the night to accuse him of stealing her manuscript, well things do unfold. Did I mention that that student, Madeline has been missing presumed dead for the past couple years? Well, Connor is not only confronted about plagiarism, a detective shows up asking questions about a murder that had way too many similarities to his book.

So many connections to make and figure out, it was quite a journey. I liked the characters, and got invested in their stories. I wanted to find out what has been forgotten or missed because of them being too involved in their own worlds, being too drunk, or just being too naive.

In the end, this book explores the darker culture of universities - how easily kids get manipulated, abused and used by their supposedly mentors. TW: Sexual assault, murder.