I’ve read all of Jane Casey’s Maeve Kerrigan series and found them to be excellent reads. This standalone is a slow burn with lots of tension. The stalker claims he is the only one who can save her. The characters are well-developed but they don’t know who they can trust. The book has an intriguing plot with lots of twists and turns and a good ending. If you love gripping psychological thrillers then you will enjoy this one!

This was my first book by Jane Casey and it was incredible!!

Barrister Ingrid Lewis finds herself in a bad situation once again after fellow Barrister Belinda Grey is killed in an “accident” while walking across the road. Ingrid believes she was the intended target due to the fact that Belinda was using her umbrella at the time of her death. Ingrid successfully defended an accused stalker named, John Webster. Ever since then, Webster has tried to destroy Ingrid’s life with her fiancé, Mark. Webster burned down her home and has sent her endless harassing emails and texts.

Jane Casey has created a truly gripping psychological crime thriller. While reading this story I developed several plausible theories to explain the events that take place, only to be proven completely wrong at the end. I can highly recommend this book with one serious warning…you may need to pull an all-nighter because the hours will disappear and it is impossible to put down! I will be checking into this author’s extensive back catalog in the near future.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper 360 for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This review will be posted to my Instagram Blog (@coffee.break.book.reviews) on September 20, 2021.

I'm afraid to say that I couldn't finish this book. It was so boring that I dreaded even picking it up.

Ingrid has a stalker. A stalker that has played havoc in her life. A stalker that has ruined relationships. A stalker that now wants her dead, but does he really? He now wants to save her from her enemies, but isn’t he her only enemy? When those associated with a case she participated in start dying, she knows she’s next, BUT Ingrid no longer knows who to trust, not even sure of her own instincts anymore. This book will keep you guessing throughout and like Ingrid you won’t know who to trust ... can we even trust Ingrid?? Compelling from start to finish, Casey keeps the reader glued to the pages

2.5 Stars

This was an okay read. I found the first half more enjoyable because of the tension and the not knowing who was telling the truth, what to believe or who to trust. But, somewhere around the halfway mark the protagonist, who is supposed to be a whip smart lawyer, started to do stupid things and that's where it became unbelievable and that ruined it for me. When it came to the ending and I began to think about my review, I realized there were too many plot holes for my liking.

This is a great stand-alone novel from the author of one of my favorite series, Maeve Kerrigan. This book is the story of Ingrid a young barrister, caught in the crosshairs of a stalker. Daily threats of violence and death have made her fearful, asking for the help of the police. Her stalker is clever and the threats continue as Ingrid runs for her life.

There are constant twists and turns, yet Casey bring everything together. There really are points that had me turning pages, trying to catch up.

I do recommend it to those of us that enjoy a good mystery. Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to review this very fine mystery.

This stand alone from Jane Casey is whip smart and terrifying. I am a big fan of her Maeve Kerrigan series, with its combination of character, complex plotting and nuanced look at police work. In this standalone, the central character is not a policewoman but a barrister, youngish Ingrid Lewis, happily involved with Mark.

As Ingrid goes through her court routine in the opening scene, which sets up not only the legal surround but some of the relationships and events that carry through the book, she lends a colleague her umbrella. As she’s hurrying out later to another case, she sees that the umbrella borrower has been a victim of a hit and run. As she is interviewed by a police officer about her colleague, she mentions a stalker from her past. She’s afraid the man saw her umbrella and pushed the wrong woman under a bus.

The story then backtracks in time, to where Ingrid is part of a team defending the stalker. She interviews the stalking victim’s friend and reading the exchange makes you uncomfortable. As Ingrid has put it to herself: “we separated ourselves from questions of morality because we had to.” She has a job to do and that involved decimating the victim of a stalker. As the woman melts down after court, the stalker turns his attention to Ingrid.

Ingrid and Mark’s life is made hellish by the man, who is completely relentless. While Ingrid thinks he is off her back for awhile (he’s been in prison) the hit and run has her on guard once again. As Ingrid begins to be fenced in by other deaths, some very close to home, the threads that tie the victims together are not at all clear.
As she tries to make sense of everything that’s happening, she has the help of police detective Adam Nash, who helps her to make sense of what’s happening around her. Unfortunately, the only other person who can help her make sense of what’s happening is her stalker, John Webster. Ingrid feels one predator understands another and she turns to him for advice, much to Adam’s disapproval.

As this skillful storyteller sets her net, it becomes increasingly unclear who Ingrid can trust, and at times if Ingrid herself is to be trusted. Casey allows no easy assumptions on the part of the reader. While this book falls into a certain trend – a stand alone thriller featuring a woman – it also defies the trend. There’s the specific detail of the life of a barrister, detail which relates masterfully to the story at hand and to the choices Ingrid makes professionally and personally.

Ingrid challenges herself, turning the tables as she realizes her skillset – assembling evidence, putting together a story – can help her find a solution to what’s been happening around her. Casey has always been a subtly feminist writer, and it’s something I’ve cherished about her books. Her Maeve Kerrigan series follows a young police detective who is beset by sexism as she does her job, but she does it anyway. In the same way Ingrid works through the system in place in her job as a barrister, and she uses these skills to solve the crime.

This is also a thriller though, so Ingrid’s flashes of insight come almost a beat too late. This complex story is so well put together, where each cog of the story turns the cog of the next bit. Barbara D’Amato, a writer a revere, once said to me that she admired Agatha Christie because her storytelling was so “organic”. What she meant was that one part of the story flowed naturally from the part before it, making the whole a complete picture in the end. Casey has this same gift. A golden age gift, operating in the contemporary thriller world. This book is enhanced by its specific setting and by the characters Casey brings to life on the page. This is one of the reads of the year.

This book was very good, almost a five for me, except the style was a bit more detached than i liked, esp given what the main character was dealing with. She was being stalked, people around her are dying and her stalker wants to help her. Is there anyone to trust. this is a tense unpredictable book, with lots of clues and lots of ends to be tied up, which the author did very well 4.5

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The synopsis of this book sounded intriguing to me so I requested a copy to read.
Unfortunately, I have tried reading this book on 2 separate occasions and during this 2nd attempt, I have
decided to stop reading this book
and state that this book just wasn't for me.
I wish the author, publisher and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.

This book dragged out so much that once I saw it was almost 500 pages, I quit reading. I couldn’t connect to anyone or anything in this book so I threw in the towel. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this early release in exchange for my honest opinion. It’s just not for me.

Such a thrilling, page-turning read. Having had a stalker myself I felt that the fear and mental torture were captured very realistically. I loved the character of Ingrid. She wasn't perfect but that's what was so great about her. I loved her job as a barrister. It was unique for this kind of story and I felt it added so many layers to it by both making her extremely tough and smart but also very vulnerable.

I found it hard throughout to figure out who were the true bad guys. There were so many options and I changed my mind throughout. I love to be kept guessing and end up surprised because I've read so many of this genre of books that it can become predictable but this was not like that.

I look forward to reading Casey's back catalogue and any future books from her.

First, thank you to the publishers at Harper 360, Harper Collins and Netgalley for this e-ARC of The Killing Kind.

Wow! What an incredible story! The Killing Kind is my first book from Jane Casey, but it won’t be my last!

Ingrid Lewis is a barrister living in London. A few years ago, she defended a man named John Webster against a stalking charge and subsequently got him acquitted. Then he turned his sights on her. After completely dismantling her life and leaving, he’s back, this time with an offer of help. Someone is after Ingrid. Someone looking for revenge. Ingrid will have to start trusting her gut instincts if she hopes to uncover whoever is trying to kill her and their reason why.

The Killing Kind is a long book that moves quickly! The writing was superb, and I really enjoyed the mystery. While one guess I made turned out to be right, I was still surprised at the entire underlying story. I felt that this book was written to get people to start thinking about certain court cases in a different light. The law isn’t as black and white as we’d like to believe unfortunately, and this story presents that to us in a way that’s easy to understand. I highly recommend this book for lovers of London, mysteries, and case studies!

The Killing Kind releases September 21st! Preorder your copy today!

TW: Rape, Murder, Stalking, Abuse

Like being smacked alongside the head........again, and again, and again.

The Killing Kind is one of those novels that takes you through an endless array of dark streets, smokey pubs, deserted buildings, crusty courtrooms, and apartments in the zone of helter skelter. I'll be honest. I've been sitting on 3 Stars, but I kicked it up to a regal 4 Stars because I was so smitten in the beginning stages. Jane Casey lights the wick on this dynamite, but we're exhausted by the time of the explosion.

Ingrid Lewis is one of those main characters with Love/Hate running through her DNA. I was taken in by her honesty of emotions and her zealous courtroom energy in the Central Criminal Court, "Old Bailey" in London in 2019. As a barrister, she's overworked and sometimes under appreciated. We know that a little rain can be a good thing at times, but Ingrid had no idea that the act of kindness in loaning out her umbrella would be the demise of a fellow solicitor.

A rush to cross a busy intersection with said umbrella in hand, Belinda Grey is run over by a truck that morning. The police have determined that it was an accident. But after viewing the action from a video cam of the incident, Ingrid has heavy doubts. And Jane Casey will take us through a maze of events that will solidify Ingrid's premise. Ingrid becomes more and more determined that someone is after her. But she's hard-pressed to know exactly why.

We'll meet John Webster who's one of the creepiest characters ever written. Webster has a history of being a manipulator and a hell-bent controller of women. Ingrid defended him in a previous case. He's left his jelly prints on her and has stalked her relentlessly in the past. Ingrid took out a restraining order on him with an arm's length of incidents. But Webster sidesteps long-term prison like that mosquito that buzzes in your ear constantly with no consequences.

And at the core of The Killing Kind is the mounting frustration that Ingrid experiences when no one believes the subtle signs of life disruptions that are pinning her to the mat. That is......until a dead body turns up in Ingrid's own apartment.

Heaven help me, I enjoyed the mind games and the innuendos splashed throughout this one. This was my first experience with a Jane Casey novel. (Believe me, I'll be back for more.) Casey can write like her hair is on fire. But "writes and writes" can add too much weight to the descriptors of certain scenes and, in addition, with the overuse and repetition of long walks down dark streets. At 480 pages, The Killing Kind was in need of a paring knife to whittle down some of the excess. Still a good read and worthy of a looky look.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to HarperCollins Publishers and to Jane Casey for the opportunity.

Back in 2014 I read Jane Casey's first psychological thriller "The Burning", which kicked off a series featuring Detective Constable Maeve Kerrigan. It was such a great ride that I went on to read several more in the series. I'm a big fan of UK based mysteries (think Tara French, Paula Hawkins, Erin Kelly).

FIRST SENTENCE: "I think about death a lot; it's my job."

THE STORY: As a successful barrister, Ingrid Lewis had a comfortable life. That is, until a man named John Webster refused to stop following her. The strange part is that she had defended him against an unpleasant stalking case a few years back even though she wasn't convinced of his innocence. He was acquitted.

Now it appears he may be behind all sorts of random acts that have become more and more destructive and seemingly targeting Ingrid and everything that's important to her.

WHAT I THOUGHT: The first thing I notice when I start reading a new book is the style. Jane Casey's writing is intelligent and sharp. I was immediately drawn in and finished the book in two days.

Ingrid is a likeable character although she occasionally makes decisions in her personal life that are questionable and put her in harms way. Telling the story from her point of view allows the reader to get a sense of what a barrister is and does (the author's husband IS a barrister) compared to a lawyer. A few literary tricks flesh out the story.

I don't feel the ending quite lived up to the rest of the book although it was satisfactory. "The Killing Kind" would make a marvelous first entry in a new series. And the fantastic news is that the book is set for TV Adaptation by Sony's Eleventh Hour Films!

BOTTOM LINE: Don't hesitate to pick up "The Killing Kind" or any book with Jane Casey's name on it! Highly recommended. (And it has a great cover!)

DISCLAIMER: Thank you to NetGalley / Harper 360, Harper Collins for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

How have I not read Jane Casey prior to this book???
A very fast-paced story, genuinely and credibly told.
Ingrid is a barrister, whose colleague is run down. Ingrid instantly thinks that she was the intended target. Bodies and circumstances begin to pile up. And she believes its the man who previously stalked her, burned down her home and left her life in pieces. And then...……….the stalker shows up, insisting it's not him, but he can help...……..
The only reason why I would not rate this 5 stars is that I personally found it difficult to believe that Ingrid, a very solid and smart woman, would allow someone who had wreaked havoc on her personal and professional life in a big way back INTO her life, in a position of (modified) trust.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for an ARC of this story.
Casey's style of writing is very current and slyly knowing. I really enjoyed the story, the characters and how it moved and arced. I do recommend this story.

Wow! The Killing Kind by Jane Casey intrigued me from the first page, lured me into the story by the end of the first chapter, and held me by the throat for the rest of the book. What a ride!

I can only imagine how difficult it was to write this complicated, multi-layered thriller, and I’m in awe of the author’s construction skills. Not only does she write exceedingly well, she creates a multitude of interesting characters that keep the story moving and keep us guessing.

The book’s central plot is unique and highly dangerous to carry out. The protagonist, barrister Ingrid Lewis, teams up with anti-hero John Webster, the man who has stalked her, tormented her, and nearly ruined her life for the greater good of solving multiple murders. How they work together is at the heart of the story. Be prepared to have your suspension of disbelief stretched nearly to the breaking point by last third of the book, but the excitement Casey creates makes for great entertainment.

The Killing Kind was my first book by Jane Casey but definitely won't be my last. Many thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for providing an ARC to read and review. *NetGalley Top Reviewer*
This review will be posted on Bayside Book Reviews at https://baysidebookreviews.com on release day 9/21/21.

Jane Casey strikes again! An unsettling, poignant mystery, The Killing Kind, is a clever new novel from one of crime fiction's best.

Ingrid Lewis is a young barrister who excels at her job. She's worked on cases for all manner of clients, but one of them, Mr. John Webster, will stick with her. After a successful acquittal, John Webster begins stalking Ingrid. Her life gets turned upside down; every person and every act is scrutinized. She is always looking over her shoulder.

After a catastrophe in her personal life and the imprisonment of John Webster for fraud, Ingrid has settled into a life of work and friends. But then a co-worker dies, and Ingrid is certain it was because she had lent the co-worker her umbrella. Once again, Ingrid's life turns into one of fear.

There are twists and twists aplenty in The Killing Kind. Jane Casey crafts an expertly executed plot. The novel flows beautifully, and the inclusion of mock court and police documents gives the book a tactile essence.

One of my favorite things about Jane Casey is her characters. She consistently crafts them with fantastic depth and intrigue. Her Maeve Kerrigan series is chock full of some of my favorites, and The Killing Kind is no disappointment. Ingrid is believable. She is afraid but resilient, intelligent, yet blind to the facts. Her career as a barrister is one of the more realistic and well-used character points in the novel or many novels at that.

She did defend John Webster, who, as it turns out, is actually a manipulating creep of a stalker. Her other cases include a college rape case, where she was part of the team defending the young man accused. When the facts are laid out, there is a lot of grey, and the case- and the people part of it- isn't so cut and dry or black and white. Jane Casey accomplishes so much in just those few cases of Ingrid's, commenting on the genuine burden of the accuser and the accused.

But my favorite character in this novel is John Webster. (Yes, the psychotic stalker.) It all comes down to the miraculous writing of Jane Casey, making him not only detestable but also the hero? Yes, he is kind of a hero. But, in truth, Ingrid is her own hero, which is why John Webster succeeds in his role within the novel.

The Killing Kind is a marvelous crime fiction novel, with astounding characters, crafty twists, and a good deal of "newness" to the genre.

⭐⭐⭐.5 Stars
I love good court drams plus this cover is great!
Ingrid Lewis has been successful in defending many clients including stalker John Webster; however, he then turned his attention to her; he not only stalks her but is manipulative and is destroying her personal life.
Ingrid believes she has finally escaped his intimidation; but when Belinda Grey a colleague who just borrowed her umbrella ~ (aww the red umbrella on the cover) is run down and killed, Ingrid believes she was the intended victim.

I read enough psychological thrillers ~ so I know four things:
> Expect twists and twist and turns!
> Be suspicious of everyone!
> The most obvious person didn’t do it!
> There will be many secrets!

Twist and turns kept me guessing.
Started out really liking it ~ did have some slow spots ~ but did end up good!


Want to thank NetGalley and HarperCollins, for this eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for my honest professional opinion.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for September 21, 2021

This book was sent to me by Netgalley on Kindle for review. This story is intriguing and mysterious. The characters are easy to like-some of them...there are different aspects of the story...such as the main character’s relationship with a stalker...romance...friendship...legal ramifications...frightening events...try this one. At times, the story is slow going, but the craft of this writer is outstanding. I was surprised at the ending...not easy to discern. One of the best...

The Killing Kind by Jane Casey—essential reading for every psychological thriller fan who enjoys a dark story where the tension builds to almost unbearable levels.

Like every good thriller, The Killing Kind by Jane Casey opens with a suspicious death. We just aren’t certain at the start whether the death is a horrific accident or a murder. In the first chapter, we met the central character, Ingrid Lewis, a London barrister. Lewis is a tenacious lawyer who is good at her profession, and she likes to win. When she arrives at court, she runs into a fellow barrister, Belinda Grey, a more senior lawyer Lewis once seconded on a rape trial. Grey is on her way out following a brief hearing. After a brief catch-up, when Lewis learns Grey arrived without her umbrella, she insists that Grey take hers since it’s pouring rain outside. Lewis believes the rain will end before she finishes her hearing. Grey agrees, takes the umbrella, and departs. Following the hearing, Lewis is horrified to learn that Grey died in an auto-pedestrian accident on the way back to the office. Fearing that the umbrella may have blocked Grey’s vision, causing her to step off the curb of a busy street in front of the truck that struck her, Lewis feels unsettlingly responsible for her colleague’s death.

The novel then dips two years into the past—via Lewis’ memories of another past court case where she defended a man named John Webster on stalking charges. After Lewis destroys the female victim on the stand, the court acquits Webster. While he beats that rap, thanks to Lewis, it’s clear from the trial testimony that Webster is an evil sociopath. Almost predictably, after the trial, Webster turns his obsessive tendencies on Lewis and starts stalking and harassing her.

As the story continues, we learn from Lewis’ perspective how Webster’s terrorizing activities come close to destroying her life completely and leave her living in abject fear, clinging to her sanity by a thread. Perhaps the worst part of it is that Webster is so skilled at covering his tracks that even the police don’t fully believe Lewis, which adds to her anguish. Frankly, as the months transform into years, there is a point where even the reader starts to doubt her sanity to the point that Lewis becomes almost an unreliable narrator.

While the novel is gripping from the jump, Jane Casey effectively lulls the reader into a false sense of security with the initial chapters, but when she punches the gas pedal, the suspense and tension accelerate from zero to sixty in an instant. As we await potentially fatal outcomes, some of humanity’s most powerful emotions play out on the page.

To describe The Killing Kind using standard clichés like “nail-biter” or “edge of your seat” would be a disservice to the book. Those terms wouldn’t even begin to adequately describe the trepidation and tension this novel generates for the reader. Jane Casey is an artist who expertly employs tension as her medium. We become her canvas. I recall few thrillers I’ve read in the past that accomplished this so effectively. I had to read the book in two sittings, not because it failed to hold my attention, far from it. It’s wickedly good. I simply had to take a break from reading. Halfway through the book, I developed what I’m sure was a tension-related headache on the first day. I rarely ever get headaches for any reason, which should tell you much about this endlessly tense novel. Only the novels of Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø have ever affected me this way.

All I have to say after reading The Killing kind is, Jane Casey, where have you been all my life? I can’t imagine how difficult it will be to find another thriller to read this year that will even come close to delivering the thrilling entertainment this book delivers. But now that I’ve discovered this Irish -born author, I’ve happily discovered she has many other novels I’ve yet to read. The Killing Kind by Jane Casey is essential reading for every psychological thriller fan who enjoys a dark story where the tension builds to almost unbearable levels.

The Killing Kind by Jane Casey (Harper Collins Publisher) goes on sale September 21, 2021. It’s not to be missed by fans of the genre.

The publisher provided me an advance reader copy of the book for this review, representing my honest, unbiased opinions.