Petra is a struggling journalist about to made redundant yet again when she pitches a story about the murder four years ago of Olivia, an alt-right influencer and Harvard student. Petra mentored Olivia at a teen journalism camp and thus has a tie with her. Petra is given the go-ahead to start a podcast on the case and throws journalism ethics and all common sense out the window in her pursuit of the story and making her podcast a success. Although I despised Petra, and story is compulsively readable and the mystery did suck me in.

About to be laid off , journalist Petra Kovach convinces her editor that she has a new lead on the unsolved murder of Olivia Anderson, an alt-right YouTube influencer. Petra had been Olivia's camp counselor at a journalism boot camp but gradually lost touch as Olivia's views changed. Now Petra has two weeks to announce a major breakthrough on the case in her first podcast. As she pursues different leads, how far will she go to keep her job? Does she care about the impact on people's lives as she broadcasts stories not based on proven facts? Interesting look at the moral challenges facing a reporter in pursuit of a story.
#KillerStory #NetGalley

5 enthusiastic stars! I adored this authors first novel so I was super excited to see this one pop up and it did not disappoint. Fast paced and creepy. This has a unique plot that takes you through some crazy unexpectedly dark places. Many jaw dropping moments while you turn pages at breakneck speed. This will leave your heart pounding and your mouth dry. When you reach the end you will be left in disbelief. A fantastic must read!

At the 30% mark I was already struggling with Killer Story, but NetGalley reviews gave it 4 stars so I decided to keep going, figuring it had to get better. I got to the 45% mark, skimmed until 60% and finally gave up. As much as I want to know who really killed Olivia (assuming it's actually uncovered in the end), I couldn't deal with Petra anymore. She has no regard for anyone other than herself, she has questionable morals, gives the journalism profession a bad name and did horrible things in the name of saving her job. I know this is a work of fiction, but I couldn't stomach all that she did and no ending was worth reading (skimming) the remainder of the book. I am a big fan of true crime, podcasts and solving old cases, and for those reasons was very excited about this book. I am clearly in the minority with my thoughts and opinions so fans of Matt Witten and those that think the synopsis is intriguing should still give Killer Story a try; hopefully it works better for you than it did for me.

When Petra Kovach was a camp counselor,she befriended a young girl and they stayed in touch. However, the girl became a radical alt-right you tuber and Petra always wondered what caused her to change.

Now Petra is a struggling reporter on the brink of being fired from her third job reporting job. She learns that the young girl she had befriended was murdered in her dorm room and the case had gone cold, Petra pitches the idea to her boss to start a podcast and find out who killed her friend.

Things with the podcast go really well at first, and Petra is able to flesh out several suspects. However, things start to backfire on her when she accuses people on the podcast and uses questionable means to get her information. Add in that her boss wants to bring in her nemesis to help with the podcast and things start getting even worse.

This is a great story and I highly recommend it!

Petra Kovach, an aspiring investigative journalist, finds out she is about to be terminated from her job at at a Boston newspaper. Petra pitches a plan to investigate a cold case. Petra had a friendship with the victim and convinces her boss she could solve the murder. He agrees to keep her on for a trial period and they decide to use a podcast to report the progress of her investigation. So Petra is off and running, blindly working to solve the murder as she crosses ethical, moral and legal boundaries and alienates her partner and her best friend. She bulldozes the reputations, careers and lives of the lives of the suspects. The book delves into Petra's self-talk and rationalizations of her very bad decisions as she gets deeper and deeper into the muck of lies and cover-ups. She continues to believe the end justifies the means. I found myself routing for Petra to get caught, get fired and deal with the fall-out. The book is a page turner, but pushed plot believability. Wouldn't the newspaper protect itself from the criminal behavior of staff? One would hope. Thank you Netgalley, publisher and author for the opportunity to read a digital copy of Killer Story.

Petra, the main character, has been laid off from three jobs in her short career as a newspaper journalist. In order to avoid losing yet another job, she pitches a story investigating the tragic death of a friend she met at camp. Her desperation leads her to lie to her boyfriend, her boss, the media, potential suspects, coworkers, and herself. I so strongly disliked her moral choices--enabled by her pushy boss and work rival--that I often wanted to throw the book across the room.

Instead I found myself staying awake past my bedtime, reading chapter after chapter. I hoped Petra would grow and change. I hoped her boss would do the right thing. Her boyfriend Jonah was the only likeable person in the book because he seemed to see things more clearly than anyone else.

If you like Hank Philippi Ryan's bestselling thrillers featuring investigative reporters you will probably also like this one. Witten is a skilled writer who knows how to keep the pace moving.

I read a lot of mysteries and thrillers, so I have pretty high standards. Even though I enjoyed this winding, twisty story of a journalist obsessed with solving Livvy’s murder, I struggled with tons of components of the story. The main character, journalist Petra Kovach, behaves in an incredibly morally gray way, which makes it hard to root for her throughout the book. There are also so many red herrings that by the time readers make it to the end, they’re just frustrated. It wasn’t a satisfying ending for me, although the correct killer did end up brought to justice. It’s just a somewhat aimless book with an unlikeable narrator, so I struggled a bit.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the early read. I loved The Necklace by Matt Witten so as soon as I saw this, I had to request it. Killer Story was indeed that, this story keeps you guessing until the end. You follow Petra as she tries to solve the murder and your suspects change just as often as hers. You will fly through this book.

Desperate to save her journalism career, Petra starts a podcast to investigate the murder of her friend, a college student and YouTube star. This fast-paced thriller has lots of twists and turns, and Petra's sometimes questionable actions give the reader a lot to think about. A great read!

4.25⭐️

I loved the authors previous book a mystery/psychological thriller The Necklace, so couldn’t wait to jump into this book.

Petra is a young journalist, struggling to keep a job in a volatile industry. Her old friend Livvy who she had drifted away from because of her far right views is murdered. The suspected killer was found not guilty. Petra is determined to do her own investigation, she managed to save her current perilous job by offering the story to her boss, with supposed breaking new information. The condition is that it’s done as a podcast, on a tight deadline.

I quickly gelled with the easy going chatty writing style. Petra is despicable with the aggressive measures she takes to get her story out there, She was heavily coerced, but that doesn’t let her off the hook!
She got swept away with fame and glory losing sight of the cost to others.

I really liked Jonah. A caring guy with a great moral compass.

The revelations and red herrings are smattered throughout to keep interest levels high. There were lots of grey areas in the book,accusations were bandied about on suspicion not evidence and certainly not verified from other sources before putting it out to the public.

It’s described as a mystery, but to me the mystery element takes a back seat, and it’s a story about integrity and morals.

I thought including book club questions was a good idea. I’ll post my answers in a separate post on my blog for anyone who has read the book and wants to participate.

It’s a book that had an impact on me. I shouted at Petra frequently. I can’t say I exactly ‘enjoyed’ it, I didn’t like the majority of the characters, but it did get a marked emotional response from me. It wasn’t an easy relaxing read.

It didn’t have the same impact as The Necklace, but it’s a very different book to that one. I would recommend reading it

I am looking forward to the next book.

If like me you are interested in true crime, this fiction is for you.

This was an absolute engrossing story of what happens when the media crosses with crime investigations.

Petra Kovach is a writer. A writer in the struggling art of print media. With the threat of being laid off from another newspaper hanging over her head, Petra decides to give it on last shot and make a big sensation with an old cold case.

The uniqness to Petra revisiting the murder of a controversial right-wing You-Tube sensation, is that she has a personal connection to the victim.

And she's ready and desperate enough to go after all the dirt and dig up anything new she can to save her job, I mean solve the case.

This book involves the sensation and my obsession of true crime podcasts reevaluating old cases and putting it out to the public.

This book was thrilling, intriguing and made me cringe with the lengths Petra goes to to prove she's the best reporter.

Dealing with moral dilemmas, professional ethics and general human nature, this story takes the reader deep into the dark world of murder and media.

Petra’s career as a reporter is failing with yet another disappointment. She needs to find a way to rejuvenate her career. She pitches the idea of a true life podcast. The first case will be about a victim that she is familiar with. The victim was an alt-right influencer on a social media platform. The victim was a camper at a camp Petra was a counselor. The case never turned out any leads and Petra felt she needed to find justice for her. She used all her resources and burned bridges along the way. Her only saving grace is to solve this case before she catches the eye of those involved. A solid mystery/thriller story, that has enough twists and turns to keep this story exciting.

Disclaimer: Thank you to NetGalley and Oceanview Publishing for this review copy, I received this review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This thrilling novel follows a journalist who displays deep hunger and passion for the potentialto discover the truth behind the murder of her well-known acquaintance, an infamous YouTuber. A deeply involving and unusual thriller based around that journalist, Petra Kovach. The book in general is easy to read, but hard to put down. Each time I was thinking "This is the last chapter" and everytime I proved myself wrong.

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC of this book for an honest review.
Petra is a reporter who has been down on her luck with jobs. She is about to lose the latest job when she pitches the idea to just let her try to hunt down her young friend’s killer and what a big story it would be helping the paper. She starts out wanting to find the person but another employee is working the story too.and it becomes a jealousy issue. She picks one guy after another bringing the story out in a podcast but just about ruins her reputation,, her job and her relationship with her fiancé. She definitely goes overboard. The story starts out exciting but I have to say there were just too many suspects brought into the storyline.

American crime author Matt Witten’s sophomore mystery, Killer Story, is less a mystery than a fast-paced journey down the worst of modern true crime reporting. When budding reporter Petra Kovach flukes some potentially revelatory information about an old murder, after which a suspect was tried but exonerated, she stakes her career on a podcast pursuing justice. Only the case proves thornier than expected, and she plunges down a rabbit hole. The author is a smooth, involving stylist and the tale, told through Petra’s eyes, is well-paced and offers surprise after surprise (although the climax underwhelmed me). A former journalist, the author also stages a morality narrative about modern reporting and its shortfalls. An engrossing read, Killer Story is a refreshingly straight, lively mystery/drama, well worth reading.

Matt Witten is a mastermind! I was roped in from page one. This particular book although written by a man was written incredibly accurate from a woman’s perspective. The surprise plot twists and incredibly believable premise truly drew the reader in. I found myself staying up until the wee hours of the morning reading. The author capitalized on some of our hot button topics happening in our country right now with the media and race relations. Somehow, he managed to pack this into an artfully writer suspense driven novel. I can’t wait to read his next book!

This is a story you can really get your teeth into, lots of leads to a murder and each one followed up but was it right? I wasn't sure who had done it and was surprised at the ending but it was right and makes you realise there are no short cuts in life.

A no holds barred look at the current state of media and reporting in modern times, Killer Story is an engaging whodunit novel that will intrigue and infuriate you. A car crash of a story that you can’t look away from as the investigation to find the killer unfolds.

Petra Kovach is a newspaper reporter in Boston, trying to make a name for herself and find stability in a tough industry. However, the paper is struggling and desperate to keep from being laid off yet again, she pitches a true crime story idea to her editor about an unsolved murder of Olivia “Livvy” Anderson, a young woman she knew and cared for until she was killed. This being a very personal story for Petra, she will stop at nothing to find new clues, conduct an investigation and find the killer. Fighting office politics, apathetic law enforcement, multiple suspects and her own code of ethics, Petra must constantly make decisions on how far she’s willing to go and how many people she’s willing to burn to get justice for Livvy…and to become famous for her reporting while driving millions of clicks to her written stories and podcast.

Matt Witten has achieved quite an interesting feat by making unlikeable characters sympathetic. The main characters in this book are not good people. They are constantly exercising poor judgment that show them to be unethical, conniving, self-centered and criminal, all while deluding themselves into thinking the ends justify the means as long as they solve Livvy’s murder. However, despite wanting to smack some sense into these people, you still can find a way to understand their desperate behavior because we all know what it’s like to be ambitious about your career and/or struggle to deal with the loss of someone close to you. So while the decisions these characters make – Petra, Natalie and Dave in particular – are frustrating at best and unforgivably despicable at worst, you keep reading with at least a little understanding of their predicament and a smidge of sympathetic hope that they will see the light, turn it around and do the right thing before they become completely unredeemable. And if not, you want to be there to see them get what’s coming to them for their terrible actions.

If you like true crime podcasts and books, then you need to pick up a copy of Killer Story. This is right smack in the middle of your wheelhouse. And if that’s not your jam, it’s still a compelling read for the suspense and spectacle of a solid murder mystery.