****Mild Spoilers ahead****

This was such an interesting book. I got the sense the author wanted more than anything to impress upon the reader: Never underestimate what a mother will do for their child.

The Audiobook was really well performed with easy to distinguish voices for the numerous characters.

The story featured two mothers but lost me with the figurative one (the government protecting its citizens). What started as an intriguing (albeit frustrating) story of a teen acting out and establishing independence, quickly became a 'who dunnit' with the 'big bad' ending up being a governmental plot (legit or otherwise) that felt wildly out of place.

The fact that the whole story took place in about a week is nuts considering the choices made by the main and supplemental mothers. The main character even says something to the effect of "I remember when I was worried about clerical work / my inbox just a few days ago'.

It was exciting to see a normal person's life upended in such a short time and while they didn't turn into a super soldier or 'save the world', there were a few moments where the plot armor was on a bit too thick. And the 'getting really angry' to overpower an assailant with significantly more training in combat really took me out of the tension in the scene.

Overall, this was fun and had enough momentum to keep from getting too stuck in the near exponential ramping of conflict.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the free audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

Boots Marez is a Latina single mom raising her adopted son, Jarel, who is jailed for the murder of one of her former students. Boots runs a charter school that helps undocumented workers.

Cynthia Farrell narrates this story and while I did enjoy her characterization of Boots, her voice for Jaral was really off IMO. I kept imagining a surfer dude or Shaggy for the son and that really took away from the story for me.

The narration issue and the slow pacing of this story did not hold my attention. I found the story and characters a bit flat and clunky. I found myself continuously checking the time while listening to this one which is never a good sign. Unfortunately, just an okay read.

The novel explores the intense vigilance of a mother whose son is accused of murder. It weaves through various story arcs, focusing on persistence and grit as she strives to protect her loved one, despite uncertainties about his innocence.

I appreciated the multicultural perspectives presented in the story, which added depth and relevance, and found that the narrative moved at a brisk pace. I would recommend this book as it offers a compelling look at familial loyalty and justice. However, I felt it lacked a certain element that would elevate it from good to exceptional.

I really enjoyed this thriller. It’s important to talk about racial prejudice and I feel like this book covered that quite a bit. The narration was great and the storyline was educational and thrilling. Great debut thriller. 😊

3.5 ⭐️
Not The Killing Kind has everything you might look for in a mystery/thriller. I listened to it in one day really, which speaks to its pace. It never really lags or slows down. It did lose me in some places, however.
I really enjoyed the set up and beginning, but felt like the ending really lost steam to me. I hate it when your ending for the book is better then the actual one. I just felt like this could have gone so many ways, and it went in a strange direction instead of somewhere cool. I still really enjoyed the journey.
I found it a bit political, which is always a little annoying. I feel like the real world is political enough.
All in all I would recommend this to some for sure.
Thank you netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the AAC.

"Not the Killing Kind" is the type of book that I find most difficult to review. These types have a solid point or basis, but something in the execution trips me up. This leaves me with an average , not bad I'd like to note, reading experience. It is worth readers time and interest, it just doesn't remarkably stand out.

Let me start with the positive. It is clear that Kelson has a love of nature and environment. The descriptions of forest, of ocean, and even the urban spaces have beautiful but practical outlines drawn. Our lead character isn't one I necessarily connected with but she is one who truly stands on her own in her life. She knows herself. That's refreshing. I also found her relationship with her son to be a little different than most depictions. While his actions, the inattentiveness, brevity, and quiet nature, might be common in the typical stoic rebellious teenager there is a clear love and appreciation under the personal frustrations. This is reinforced when we eventually find out the causes of his secrecy. I adored their banter and the musical connection they had together.

I was skeptical of some of the social-political issues throughout a lot of the book, not because they aren't valid problems in our world, but that they felt rehashed. However, it is more of a connection than the heart of the true twists. I will also praise it for recognizing the relevance of bilingual and adult education. And, without spoilers, I had a sigh of relief when it comes to a road not taken when so often of connections of the type are brought into the picture do.

The problems start to pop up for me in the execution of these ideas. Small catches and flaws. The chain of events didn't so much unravel in the way of a true stand out mystery-thriller in that you see them slowly come undone. Most loose ends are tied, but in a very monologue style laying at the reader's feet. There was one connection that I couldn't believe Wanda was missing. The author states of Wanda's own rough past, but the element of the anger and trauma she carries doesn't feel like as much of an under current. There's the start of an underlying thread of Wanda's work place that feels less like a pivotal point and more of an excuse to let the lead feel she can do certain things in a 'nothing to lose' feel. There is also a level of recklessness that seems beyond the small slip ups that are usually made by mystery protagonists to keep the quest rolling.

There were also two points that made me flat out pause. The first is completely fickle to get hung up on and shouldn't be seen as a negative but it stuck out. Going by the age Wanda adopted her son, that would place her around 39. I'm not too far off from that age myself. so it was a touch baffling to me when an administrator of a private school where it's made a point that lgbtq issues have been contested by some parents and so would probably educate themselves a little on the matter, wouldn't know what the term 'pansexual' was when a character drops it into conversation. The more aggressive small hangup was a very complex medical procedure being performed with no experience seemingly pretty perfectly given the resources and circumstances. Yes, one had a record of emergency assistance, but I don't recall it being medical. and the other would be familiar with first aide and CPR from their job, but as someone who's had that type of training three times I certainly could not remember it as accurately as its laid out even when I wasn't under immense pressure.

All in all this book honestly does have some big, important, ideas. It has some really complex layering that I truly appreciate. As a debut, I believe a lot of the messiness in pacing and structure really just has to be attributed to that it's a first full marathon run. However it is enough for me to certainly be curious to see what the author's second installment and what she's learned from this admirable adventure leads her to.