The synopsis was promising but the book was so poorly written that it was a struggle to finish. I do not recommend it.

Who can you trust? Who's telling the truth? What's been exaggerated? Who's real?

Gia and Abby have been best friends ever since Gia's mom has worked for Abby's family and an unspeakable tragedy bonded them. Years later, the two have a falling out when Gia refuses to give Abby her blessing to marry a guy Abby barely knows. However, when Gia receives an email from Abby asking her to come to Greece for Abby's birthday, Gia hesitantly agrees to come. What unfolds is a multitude of secrets, betrayals, hookups, and breakups.


There were very few moments that I could guess in this book, which I loved! There were a ton of twists and this book kept me on the edge of my seats for the whole read! I don't normally love an unreliable narrator, but this one was done is such a fun way! My only complaint was that it was hard to know what timeline we were in sometimes as they weren't always laid out. The author would switch timelines mid chapter without any preamble and it confused me sometimes.

But this was definitely a fun, tense, thrilling read! Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing - Ballentine for an eARC of this book! All opinions are my own!

Destination thrillers are becoming a favorite for me. This one transported me to Greece. Reading Gia’s manuscript feels like a fever dream and definitely brings the Talented Mr. Ripley that I can only assume Wood was going for. This has lies, deception, sex and everything else you want in a summer thriller. And hey, maybe don’t marry someone you’ve known for 2 months?

Abby Corman and Gia Torres have been best friends almost all their lives. When Abby’s mother took the position as personal chef to the Torres family all those years ago, neither girl envisioned how close they would eventually become. Abby was dazzled by Gia’s charm and daredevil attitude, while Gia was steadied by Abby’s more sensible presence. Gia’s wealthy father Hugo even took a shine to Abby, paying for her schooling and vacations so that the best friends would never have to spend too much time apart.

Abby has since grown up to be a corporate lawyer, while Gia travels the world as an acclaimed memoirist. The women keep in constant touch, but even so, Abby is taken aback at receiving an unexpected wedding invitation from her bestie. Gia has only been dating Garett Hoegg for a few weeks now, but is certain that theirs is a lasting passion worthy of matrimony. Both Abby and Benny, Gia’s younger brother, caution her to take more time. Gia agrees to get Garrett to at least sign a prenup but marries him almost immediately after. The newlyweds then jet off to live on the Greek estate where Gia, Abby and Benny spent so many of their own summers growing up.

As is the way of such things, Gia soon comes to regret her hastiness. She doesn’t mind giving Garrett money to help tide over his shipping business, but other facets of his personality begin to bother her more and more. When Benny comes to visit with his latest actress girlfriend in tow, things come to a head, with Gia taking an intense dislike to the newcomer:

QUOTE
It’s unfortunate, because I haven’t seen my brother in months and I’d like to spend some quality time with him, but not if it means spending time with her. Or even worse, leaving her alone with Garrett.

Though perhaps she’d be doing me a favor, taking him off my hands.

I don’t mean that. But after yesterday, I think it’s safe to say the honeymoon is over, and I wonder if I made the right choice in marrying him. I wanted passion and excitement and unpredictability, but maybe those aren’t the right ingredients for a marriage. Maybe Abby was right.
END QUOTE

Several months later, Benny and Abby each get an invitation to celebrate Gia’s thirtieth birthday with her in Sweden, just the three of them once more. They’re surprised but willing enough to upend their schedules to meet, especially since they’re both starting to suspect that Gia has finally come to her senses regarding her hasty marriage. But when Gia doesn’t show up, sending only a series of increasingly weird and unlikely emails to excuse herself, the pair decide to fly to Greece to figure out what’s going on.

Abby does not have the best memories of the last extended period of time she spent on the islands. If the typewritten memoir she and Benny find in the deserted Torres estate is any indication, Greece hasn’t been the happiest place for Gia recently either. As they begin to search for their missing loved one, the manuscript becomes their main source of clues. Will they be able to follow it and find her before the very worst happens?

Told from the perspectives of both Abby and Gia, this is a novel that examines the cost of keeping up appearances while harboring devastating secrets. Despite their seeming closeness, Abby and Gia have plenty to hide, from the world and from each other. Soon enough, Abby’s quest to find her friend has her unsure of whether she’s become inextricably entangled in someone’s sick idea of vengeance for crimes Abby long thought buried. When she tries to come clean to a local authority about what really happened the last time she was in Greece, he gives her some sage advice, under the guise of asking if she knows what a remora is:

QUOTE
“It’s a fish about this big”--he held his hands three feet apart–”with a suction cup it uses to latch onto sharks. The remora keeps the shark clean, and the shark provides protection and food for the remora. But if the remora becomes too annoying, or the shark is particularly hungry, it will eat the remora.”

I drew back. “Are you saying I’m a… parasite?”

He shook his head. “It’s a mutually beneficial relationship between the shark and the remora, but the shark always has the upper hand. Do you understand what I’m saying? A shark may provide for you, but it will never be your friend.[“]
END QUOTE

The social commentary is pitch perfect in this novel of wealthy killers and thieves. Ladykiller has all the intoxicating ingredients of a thrilling beach read, with its unreliable narrators and gorgeous settings, but chooses to inject a dose of elevated literary philosophy into the mix towards the end. Even as a reader who is deeply in love with metafiction, I thought that the ambiguous ending was not as strong as the rest of the otherwise solidly glamorous and sordidly sensational novel. That same ending does, however, provide an interesting change of pace from the rest of the subgenre, with the novel as a whole being an entertaining riff on jetsetting summer escapism.

Gia is what you might call a "poor little rich girl". When her wealthy father dies, he leaves his children property, but gives the majority of his wealth to charity. Now Gia and her shotgun-wedding husband Garrett are renovating Gia's Greek home so they can sell it for a cool $15 mil.

Gia seems excited about an upcoming birthday trip to Sweden to see the Northern Lights with her brother and best friend. There's been some sexual tension between Benny and Abby in the past, although neither one has acted on it for various reasons.

Except, Gia doesn't show up to the birthday bash. Abby wonders if Gia did it on purpose to push Abby and Benny closer together. But then why won't Gia or her husband answer their phones? And why is Abby receiving threatening emails about something that happened in her past?

Told between Abby's point of view and a manuscript written by Gia, everyone in Ladykillers has secrets: Abby, Gia, Garrett, Timeo and Emilia (the husband and wife who end up staying at Gia's home). Who can you trust?

This would be an excellent book club read with lots to discuss: unreliable narrators, what you would do in these situations, how great it would be to live on a Greek island. Ha ha.

This steamy book definitely kept me guessing!

Ladykiller is published by Bantam and was published on July 9, 2024. I received a free e-ARC to review.

Ladykiller was a ok read for me. It seemed very slow.
The location descriptions were great.
The mystery twist was ok.
The ending? Not sure what to say about that.
Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I just read Lady Killer which took place on a small island in Greece. It is a psychological thriller about 2 friends - one wealthy, one her best friend and daughter of the former family cook - when the wealthy friend goes missing, her friend has to find her and unravel not just what happened to her but also what happened when they were teenagers. This was such a page turner. One story line was written as a manuscript because the woman was an author, leaving me not knowing what was truth and what was fiction. So many red herrings and twists and turns where I knew something wasn’t right but then when everything seemed suspicious, it threw me off and I didn’t know which way it would go. A fun summer thriller with a beautiful setting.

Book Review

LADYKILLER by Katherine Wood
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

When a young woman vanishes from her remote Greek island estate, her best friend races to find her, using clues found in the explosive manuscript she left behind.

This book was really good!! it flipped back-and-forth between present day Abby’s story and the manuscript written by her best friend Gia… it was so twisty and cryptic and it was one of those books where you didn’t know who to trust!! Perfect book to read this summer at the beach or pool that captured my attention right away!

This was a fun, easy read. The perfect beach/vacation book. There’s enough to keep you intrigued and wanting to read more, but it’s not so gripping that you must read it in one sitting. I really liked getting two points of view and reading the manuscript. Open endings aren’t my favorite so I do wish the epilogue had more resolution or a final twist to make it more exciting. Overall 3.5 stars and a fun read.

A little summer thriller? Yes, please. First, because I didn’t realize this right away—Katherine Wood wrote The Lions Den and The Siren, which are both popular books.

LADYKILLER takes place in two POVs — Gia, newly married but missing in action, leaves behind a manuscript and its pages form one narrative. Abby, Gia’s childhood best friend, is eager to discover where Gia is after she flies to Greece only to have Gia no show. Abby’s search forms the second narrative. The issue? A lot of things aren’t adding up. A sexy romp through Greece, you aren’t sure who to believe, and just when you think you know something shifts your perspective.

By the end, I wasn’t sure I knew what the truth was… but that was part of the fun!

Read if you like:
✨ The Guest List by Lucy Foley
💗 psychological thrillers
🔥 dual POVs

Amazing setting! I loved the descriptions of how the other half live in Greece. Greece is now on my bucket list.

We start the story with two POV’s; Abby, the best friend of the uber wealthy Gia and Gia, who point of view is told by chapters in her manuscript. There’s a mystery at the beginning and lots of secrecy. I was a little frustrated towards the middle of the book. We kept getting snippets of the past and what really happened, but then it was pulled away at the last minute.

As Abby begins to fear for Gia’s safety from her violent husband the book takes off and doesn’t stop until the twist. Lots of drama, secrets and seduction. Still not sure how I feel about the ending.

I don’t read quite as many thrillers as I used to, but I was drawn to this one because it’s partly set in Sweden and Greece and involves part of the story being told through a novel manuscript. Ladykiller follows the two very different lives of best friends Abby and Gia when one of them vanishes, leaving only a manuscript to lay down a trail of clues. Initially, I was absolutely drawn into this story and couldn’t read it fast enough, but, by the end, it felt less like a thriller and more a story of one friend trying to force the other into revealing her secrets. I was missing the thrilling elements and, at some point, just stopped caring about what happened to any of them. None of them really changed and secrets still hung over this friendship that probably should have been long over by then. Sadly, this did not live up to my expectations, but I can’t say I didn’t find myself thoroughly invested in that novel manuscript.

Abby and Gia have been best friends since they were children, but couldn’t be more different. Gia is an heiress who always gets what she wants, whether it’s things or boys, even if it’s a boy Abby’s interested in. Abby is the daughter of the hired help, pulled into Gia’s orbit and bound to always give over to Gia’s whims and fancies. Greece and Gia’s family home there holds a special place in their friendship, and haunts them from the time they were eighteen after a tragedy unfolded. Years later, Gia is married to a wealthy businessman Abby doesn’t like or trust, but her father has passed and left his family with almost nothing. Now needing to sell her family’s Greek home, Gia and her husband are working on renovations, causing strife between them. But Gia talks her friend and her brother Benny into joining her in Sweden for a birthday trip. Only Gia never shows up. Concerned, Abby and Benny head to Greece, where they find an empty estate and Gia’s latest manuscript filled with breadcrumbs that just might lead to her whereabouts.

Ladykiller did such a great job of hooking and reeling me in that I expected to really enjoy this one and be blown away by how it ended. Unfortunately, it lost all its steam for me about three quarters of the way through. There isn’t even the satisfaction of any kind of wrap up because the ending is left wide open with almost nothing resolved. There are a bunch of secrets that are revealed, but none of them Gia’s, which just made everything in this novel feel manufactured by her so she could get the answers she wanted. Which kind of makes sense considering she’s had everything given to her on a silver platter. It kind of made me feel bad for Abby because she always gets the short end of the stick when it comes to Gia, but I enjoyed her romance, so at least she didn’t come out of this empty handed.

As spoiled as she is, I actually really liked Gia’s character. She absolutely pulls off being that kind of spoiled heiress, the kind who thinks she can do whatever she wants and get away with it because, well, she does. Always. I don’t really understand why Benny humored her so much and why Abby was her friend for so long, but they are bound together by a tragedy from when they were eighteen, even if I think that should have spelled the end to everything. Anyways, Gia was remarkably well characterized, complete with a complexity I didn’t expect. There’s more to her than meets the eye, and certain talents behind her polished exterior. I found myself fully immersed in her manuscript, but eventually found myself not believing a word. It was gripping, though, and I think that’s the only element that really gave me that thriller feeling. It ends off abruptly after setting the stage with a possibly murderous husband and strange guests who have more secrets between them than I think even Abby had.

Abby herself wasn’t quite as interesting and fascinating as her friend. I often found myself impatient to get away from her story in the present day to return to Gia’s manuscript. She’s hardworking, but agrees to take some time off to travel to Sweden, otherwise I don’t really know who she is. Her entire identity felt wrapped up in who she is in relation to Gia. She’s Gia’s friend, she has a crush on Benny, and she’s hiding secrets. Otherwise she felt perfectly bland. If it weren’t for her secrets and her romance, which went far too smoothly for my tastes, I don’t think I would have remembered her, and she’s telling half the story. I felt bad for her, though, because all of her secrets are forced out into the open while Gia gets to pout and keep all of hers. It felt terribly unfair, but I could guess all of Abby’s secrets a mile away. It made me wonder what, exactly, the point of this story was.

What I did love, though, was the setting. Thanks to Gia’s manuscript, it’s primarily set in Greece. I loved the feeling of lounging in the warm sand and swimming in the sea. It felt idyllic, like a perfect summer vacation. Even just walking around in the town, no matter how hot it was, was delightful. It was fantastic to get to meet so many secondary characters, and it was fun to find out who was real and who wasn’t. But I really enjoyed getting this glimpse into the lives and dramas of the wealthy. I loved traveling to Greece in this book, so that was definitely a highlight for me,

The story, unfortunately, just fell apart to me. I had hoped for a story where Abby and Benny had to race against the clock to find Gia. Instead I just got a woman being forced to divulge her secrets. Of course, Abby being sent some mysterious messages felt suitably thrilling for the first half of the novel, but everything else just failed to hit the right mark. Once Gia’s manuscript ended, so did my interest. Everything from that point just felt too easy and lackluster. Even Gia’s guests weren’t really interesting once their secrets came to light. It just gave more things for the reader to not believe, and it was tiring after a while. I stopped caring about all the secrets because, as far as I was concerned, this was a novel built on secrets upon secrets and I no longer found myself caring if one secret led to another.

Ladykiller could have been a truly thrilling read. It had all the elements, all the right characters, all the intriguing motivations. But it fell apart thanks to a relatively thin foundation, because secrets really don’t hold up well enough to support a complex, thrilling story. I loved reading Gia’s manuscript, but Abby was boring to me, and I couldn’t fathom why Abby decided to stick by Gia and remain her friend. This could have been amazing, but it ultimately fell apart for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

I am so thankful for this ARC. however, I have really struggled to connect with the characters and stay interested.

Ladykiller is a riveting thriller that masterfully intertwines setting, atmosphere, drama, and murder into a compelling story. A well-crafted thriller that hits all the right notes. Katherine Wood's talent for building atmosphere, creating drama, and delivering a gripping murder mystery makes this book a must-read for fans of the genre. The seamless integration of these elements, along with the delicious twists and turns, results in a story that is both captivating and unforgettable. I enjoyed this so much!

Thank you to Bantam books for allowing me to read Ladykiller by Katherine Wood. This book was a little boring but, I am glad that I stayed with it to enjoy the twisty ride.

#hurricanereading

"Time is like water; some of it is clear and some of it is murky, but the more that stands between you and the past you’ve buried, the less you can see it."

This a fun yet pretty basic and formulaic thriller. It kept me occupied when I didn't have electricity and I tore through it

Thank you netgalley and Random House Publishing Group Ballantine.

Thank you @netgalley for my advance copy. I am OBSESSED with this cover. I swear its the cover of the summer. This is my first time reading Wood and it will definitely not be my last. Her writing is so well done. This novel was a bit on the "soapy" side and I did not expect it. I would call it "thriller light" however, the drama was engaging and I found myself wanting to see what happened next. This was a perfect popcorn thriller.

It’s incredibly difficult to assign value to a book like this, which is essentially a conscious ripoff of an older, classic book. It’s a Ripley rip-off, undoubtedly, but what was the goal in publishing this? Is it an update to a familiar tale? Did the author actually think they were producing something novel? Or is the purpose to consciously revive a previously successful plot writ large by another author and simply say “hey, I know this is a great premise for a story and I’m just here to entertain?”

If it’s the last of those then I have little issue with this book, which keeps your turning the pages, successfully mimics the air of Highsmith’s work, and is, in the end, at least satisfactorily entertaining.

Tougher if the book was meant to stand on its own as an original or even semi-original narrative. Even as a “new spin” on an old trope, there isn’t much to go on here. And like most imitations, it fails to capture the sense of place, the depth of story, and (in this specific case) the sense of menace that made the original so compelling.

There have been many Ripley-derivative novels over the years that have succeeded in doing something new with the concept. This is fine as a way to divert your attention for a few hours, but I didn’t see anything original or uniquely compelling here.

I love an unreliable narrator and honestly, Gia is definitely on par with the best of them. This book reminded me a little bit of Gone Girl with the book vs diary in this one. I am thinking we might see Gia pop up again in another novel because she’s just that good.

This was such a fun sexy thriller! You get the pov of gias manuscript and real time ! A summer in Greece with spice, murder, and money lots and lots of money! And you know how that makes people act! The drama and people you just get sucked into the fun of what’s happening! Toward the end it got a little more fast paced. I thought the end was a little predictable, it’s felt a little yea I saw that coming. But that didn’t make it any less fun!
3.5⭐️
Thank you to Bantam, Penguin Random House and Netgalley for my gifted copy.