I stopped after the first section, 5% in. The writing wasn’t for me. It was slow and a little all over the place, leaning more literary. I can see this being a popular book club book, three stars for the target with four to five for the right readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC of this book for an honest review..
The story is based on Gia, Abby and Benny. There are lots of twists and turns. It’s set on a beautiful Greek Isle which gives you a really good visual.
I do want to alert readers there is racy sex and drugs so if you can’t look past that I am giving fair warning. I did enjoy the book.

The story centers around two women best friends. Gia grew up wealthy but after the death of her father, is rapidly losing her money. Her sketchy new husband is also not helping matters. Her best friend Abby grew up in her shadow, benefiting from her friends’ wealth and generosity. She is more level headed and logical but still cares deeply for her friend.
Gia goes missing, along with her sketchy husband. We learn about past incidents that were covered up by the police and the threatening notes that Abby has recently received.
Hm. Difficult to write a review for this one! I’m wavering between 3 and 4 ⭐️. It certainly kept my attention and I stayed up way too late reading it, but I was annoyed that by the end of the story, we still did not know what was truth and what was lies.

Oh lord ok there was a lot to unpack with this one. I loved how fast paced this was. There was a lot of plot lines that it got kind of confusing at that point. I loved The cover of the book it’s gorgeous

This was a surprise ARC from the publisher.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It kept me gripped the whole time and was a nice change of pace from the other books I've been reading (mostly fantasy). The settings described sounded beautiful and luxurious. It takes place in the Greek Islands and Sweden for the most part. The locations were very easy to picture while reading.

From the beginning, we get some back story about Abby and Gia's friendship. Then we begin to get Gia's Manuscript (journal?) entries sprinkled in. The manuscript chapters are full of drama and it is a messy mess in the best way a la reality TV / lifestyles of the rich and famous. There was a bit of graphic spice in those flashbacks, but they were less descriptive and more 'this happened'.

The mystery kept me reading and the twists were great. I docked it a star only because the ending is left ambiguous. If you're someone who needs solid answers (like me), the ending may disappoint. I kept waiting for another big twist/reveal and it never came. It didn't bother me as much as that does at times, especially because I had a pretty clear decision made early on in the book so I'm going with my gut.

I'm now adding seeing the Northern Lights from a glass igloo to my bucket list.

Thank you to Random House and Katherine Wood! I'm excited to read more by this author!

Who doesn't love a Ripley-esque story? This psychological thriller set mostly in the Greek Isles has rich people behaving badly, unreliable characters, complicated friendships, conmen, duplicity--what more could you ask for? I get the impression that this will have a big release, simply based upon their wide reach for early reviews and the fact that this book has already garnered TV interest. It's a fun read, and I largely enjoyed it. I did struggle, however, to buy the connection between Benny and Abby. I'm sure the author added this relationship to provide some heart for a story otherwise laden with unlikeable characters, but I just didn't feel it. But mostly, what left me wanting for more, was the ambiguous ending. I get why the author left things this way (can you ever really know the truth with some people?), but the book was wild and splashy all the way up to the 95% mark, and then it just...petered out. It felt like a promise was broken with the reader. Like a romcom without the happy ending. Four stars. A strong debut. I'll read more from this author.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this one! I’ve never read anything from this author before, so this was a great introduction of her work. It is filled with suspense and is a must-read for all suspense lovers out there.

Ladykiller is a mesmerizing novel of secrets and mysteries that unfold
With every page read but as each page is read the mystery becomes more complicated . You think you know exactly what's going to happen and then the opposite becomes true or maybe not. It is just maybe one more lie. I loved the ARC Katherine Wood wrote even if secrets are still pending.

The email from Kathleen Quinlan at Random House said, " I devoured Ladykiller in an afternoon about two months ago, and I haven’t been able to stop talking about it." I just finished and I can see why, my heartrate is up and I'm still recovering from the tension. It was one of those books where you think you know what's coming, but then no you did not. A mystery with steamy romantic scenes weaved in, this one will keep you looking over your shoulders.

The story written by Katherine Wood is told in two ways, Abby's straight perspective, and clips from her best friend Gia's manuscript. Gia and her brother Benny are the children of the late Hugo Torres, who notoriously left his billion dollar fortune to charity, leaving his ex-wives and children to fend for themselves. Abby met Gia when her mother was the Torres' family cook when they were children. Abby and Gia instantly became friends and Hugo was so impressed with Abby, he sent her to the same boarding school as Gia, and paid for her education at Georgetown. Abby and Gia summered at Gia's family home in Greece. They were thick as thieves. After one particularly scandalous and traumatizing summer, Abby went back to the states to finish law school and begin her career, and Gia wrote a bestseller monetizing her experience. Their friendship was never the same. Abby warns Gia about the man she is about to marry, but Gia disregards her childhood bestie's warning and follows her heart and marries him anyway. When Abby thinks Gia is in trouble, she rushes to Greece before it's too late.
What unfolds in this story is how the truth of that summer comes back to haunt them both, and how Gia's mistakes in trusting the wrong men become a problem for the whole family, including Abby. The book is filled with unsavory characters, the writing is so good you can feel the fear and apprehension as the story progresses. Betrayal, romance, friendship, intrigue- this one is coming out just in time to be one of your favorite summer reads of 2024.

Thank you to Netgalley, Random House and Ballantine Books for this ARC. Can't wait to share with friends next summer!

This book was so good! Absolutely 💯 loved it. Thanks NetGalley and to the publisher for this. I look forward to reading more from this author.

I've enjoyed Katherine's other books (written under Katherine St. John) so I was excited for this one. The premise is great, and the writing drew me in right away. Some readers won't appreciate the format, but I thought it worked very well to have the manuscript for what's essentially the past storyline. This is an entertaining and suspenseful novel. At times I grew tired of the "rich behaving badly" aspect, but the author kept me turning the pages. While the ending is a bit unsettling, I understand why the author made this choice.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance electronic ARC; all opinions in this review are my own.

Ladykiller is the perfect summer vacation, beach read. It's a fast-paced mystery/thriller set in Greece. Abby and Gia have been best friends since childhood, but grow apart after Gia marries a man she barely knows. In the hopes of repairing the relationship, Gia invites her brother, Benny, and Abby to meet in Sweden. When Benny and Abby arrive, Gia is nowhere to be found. There is so much that happens in the book. I thought I knew what was going on, but by the end I wasn't so sure. The author does a phenomenal job of keeping the reader in suspense. Thanks to NetGalley and Bantam for the ARC.

Steamy, exotic, intriguing, confusing. Set mostly on a Greek island, the description of the food, sea, and geography are awesome. An abundance of pleasures of the flesh. The clues in the book are clever and the premise is interesting, though not unique. The POVs from two main characters move between a manuscript written in the past and a current view. These crisscross in ways that are intriguing but initially confusing. The ending is odd - maybe deliberately with the theme of the book - dropping the reader in an unsettling place.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballentine for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I see a few reviews mentioning they weren’t a fan of how this story was told- but I disagree. It kept me hooked and needing more. I read this in one sitting because I was enthralled by the manuscript and then because I NEEDED answers. That being said, I STILL NEED MORE ANSWERS. My opinions on every character wavered back and forth constantly, which is something I enjoy when it’s intentional (as it is in Ladykiller)

I will say, I don’t get the title choice. Also, all of the Greek mythology mentioned flew right over my head.

3.5 stars rounded up. While I liked the premise of this book, there were a lot of slow-moving parts, and the ending wasn't my favorite. I liked the characters and the dual telling. The mystery of it is fun, the open interpretation of the ending I do like but could have ended without the epilouge.

Gone Girl meets The Lion’s Den, with several of my favorite thriller themes: Toxic friendship, rich people behaving badly, murder and con artists, all in a glamorous Greek island setting. A fun, spicy and well-paced read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I love my mystery/thrillers with a side of rich people escapism, so this hit and it hit deliciously. I'm into this trend of Greek island vacation noir, all sunlight and the sea and bad husbands and too much money, like let's gooo. In the midst of all this scenery the plot left me wanting a little bit, I could have done with a bit more finality to the ending. (And props to Gia for banging out a flawless first draft of a novel while on vacation...share your tips, girl.)

I do think this book had something interesting to say about underprivileged kid/wealthy benefactor relationships and I appreciated the presence of that theme undergirding everything, though it felt ultimately undercut by the way things ended up. Overall, though, the setting was so vividly rendered and the writing solid enough that any complaints I have feel more like debut novel foibles that can be shaken off on the next go-round - which is to say I'll be looking out for what Katherine Wood writes next!

My thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you #NetGalley and #RandomHousePublishingGroup for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.When an heiress goes missing, her best friend races to unravel the secrets behind her disappearance using clues left behind in an explosive manuscript.I loved the chapters where you're reading Gia's Manuscript up until Abby finds it and it is up to you to decide if she's really lying or not. I loved the characters and the writing. The story was super fast paced and i couldn't put it down.

This was an automatic approval from Netgalley that I got in my email. So since that was kind of exciting I decided to check it out. I took a lot of time to get into it. This is dual POV from Gia’s manuscript and Abby in present day. By the time you get to Abbys POV the stuff with Gia has already happened so that can get confusing. At about 50% things start getting crazier and I was more hooked. However this book was so open ended that I was frustrated and not sure what even happened. There’s no definite conclusion. Did they do it or not. I need a conclusion in my books unless there’s a sequel which I truly hope the author continues with something.

Where is Gia?

This novel centers around the disappearance of Gia, who vanishes from her luxurious Greek island home.

Her friend Abby and brother Ben join forces to find her, using the journal she left behind.

I found this book incredibly easy to read. The setting was lush, the characters misbehaved, and there were lots of twists and turns. The use of the journal reminded me of the novel Verity, in a way. Can a journal ever be completely truthful? Is it filtered, and if so what truth is it trying to portray, if, in fact, it can be trusted at all.

This was one of 3 islands set on a remote Greek isle that I read back to back, so it did blur a bit with the others. Maybe Greece is the hot novel setting for this Summer?

Regardless, I give this book 4 stars for sheer enjoyability. What a great beach day Summer read this will be!

Thanks to Netgalley for providing an advance reader copy of this novel for my review.