I can’t remember the last domestic thriller that swept me up the way this book did! If you enjoy fast-paced popcorn thrillers with Mr. and Mrs. Smith vibes, this is it!

Our story alternates between Hazel and Fox with reader’s getting a bird’s eye view straight into their marriage. How do two former murderers go from hunting down bad men to raising a baby in suburbia?! Buckle up and find out! Mackay treats readers to such a fun story with pure entertainment factor.

I loved getting to know our two main stars, but also experiencing the secondary characters who they interact with. There are moments of tension and drama throughout that will keep readers on the edge of their seats, but it’s the sprinkling of humor that keeps readers coming back for more.

If you’re in need of a fun thriller, snag yourself this book asap!

Haze and Fox are serial killers. Their aim is to make the world a safer place by eliminating one “bad guy” at a time. They meet, fall in love and marry. They continue their killing until they have a child. They pledge to stop their murderous ways. Haze becomes a stay at home mom and Fox gets a job in finance. Now Haze is having trouble living without the rush she gets from killing and Fox is cannot support the family’s lifestyle with his job alone. How should they proceed?? I heard about this book from a podcaster who described it as humorous. I didn’t find anything humorous about the many murders and I didn’t find the characters likable at all. The whole premise of this novel didn’t work for me. I thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I really loved this premise and adored the ending, but it really could have been half as long! I think the goal was to drive home the drudgery of regular suburban life and the couple's difficulty in adjusting, but I live real life every day. I don't need a primer on the monotony! Overall still very fun and twisted and worth the read.

Loved the book and the writing! It started off strong and I enjoyed it. Was a little long and drawn out in some spots but overall good

I really liked the premise of this story. I truly felt for the main character feeling as though she had lost her identity. I think we all go through stages like that and it is the people like Fox in our lives that help us through it.

I had no clue what to expect with this book, but I was pleasantly surprised. Hazel and Nathaniel are living the suburban life raising their adorable child. Their marriage has gone to crap and both seem to make matters worse when trying to fix it. Throw in that they are serial killers and the only friend Hazel has made in years is a cop on maternity leave, and you have a great story! I really enjoyed it!

A Serial Killer's Guide to Marriage is a thrilling approach to exploring the complexities of married life through the lens of a serial killing partnership. While there is a little too much miscommunication trope for me, I enjoyed Haze's tone and the way she navigated the events.

Overall, I thought this book was a a little too boring and a little too long. I feel like it would’ve been better if there was some added comedy to that. Other than that plot was really good..

i loved the beginning of the story sm like i will eat up this plot everytime 🏃🏻‍♀️ i did feel like it kinda dragged just a bit towards the middle and there was some miscommunication but like i loved haze and fox tg and the ending was worth it!

thank u netgalley for the arc!!

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group Ballantine for the eARC.

Oh this book was so much fun. Parts of it were repetitive, but honestly to be in the mindset of these characters - a delight.

A Serial Killer’s Guide to Marriage by Asia Mackay is your typical back-and-forth about a marriage dissolving, each giving their part in the debacle, as well as their view of the other’s The twist is that they are serial killers. Much like Dexter on television, they think their work is justified as they kill only bad men. They just do it methodically. I typically veer away from this trope as there is too much whining and not enough action. This one was a little different, but not much.

The three main characters, married couple, Fox and Haze were not newly married, but they were new parents when they decided their pastime was no longer appropriate. They must protect Bibi at all costs. There is a lot of back story to these characters, mostly Fox’ family, rich and supremely dysfunctional, which probably led to his need to kill. Haze had grown up in difficult circumstances, and her first kill, in high school, was about retribution on a man (boy) who had wronged a woman (girl). That became their theme. Then, enters Jenny. Haze need a friend and it was Jenny, a police officer on maternity leave with an ex (also a policeman) that was a total scum bag. Haze didn’t plan to kill him, but rather to make him pay Jenny all he owed her and little Felix. Spots in this book were highly entertaining. I have always thought I’d like to read a book from the point of view of the criminal. I didn’t. Decently done, though. Good characters, clever plot, except for the inevitable whining.

I was invited to read A Serial Killer’s Guide to Marriage by Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #RandomHousePublishingGroupBallantine #AsiaMackay #ASerialKillersGuideToMarriage

The title is great, it’s super intriguing. The book itself sucks. It’s repetitive and annoying. I wish it was more positive and uplifting when it came to marriage, instead it was negative the entire time. This wasn’t really a thriller or mystery honestly. The characters fell flat and they were annoying. The ending felt rushed.

This was a fun book! Two vigilante serial killers fall in love and get married. When Hazel falls pregnant, Fox decides they need to hang up their hobby to give their daughter the life she deserves with two parents. It is really hard on Hazel, killing bad men is what makes her feel alive. When she is on a jog, a man attacks her and she doesn’t hesitate to kill him. Then the guilt and the lies begin…..

I loved the humor in this book! I was highly engaged and read it fairly quickly. It is a character driven story that may not be for everyone but it WAS for me! I loved how the writing flowed making it an easy read. It is about marriage and lies, and is well paced.

I definitely recommend this one!

This was such a good book! I really hope there is a sequel in the works or this ends up becoming a series.

Hazel & Fox have marriage problems soon after the birth of their baby girl. Fox is concerned that their hobby might risk their family. But Hazel is bored without the constant thrills of murdering men “who really deserve it”. Thus starts the new thriller, A Serial Killer's Guide to Marriage.

The idea of merging Mr. And Mrs. Smith with Dexter is an intriguing one. However in this book, the two main characters were pretty annoying. Also, very unlikable. Detestable even. I was hoping they would both die, or at least go to jail, by the conclusion. Speaking of the conclusion, it was totally unbelievable even by comic serial killer plot (is that a sub-genre now?) standards. In fact after reading A Serial Killer's Guide to Marriage, I still wasn’t sure if this book was trying to be a parody, of plots that I liked much better, or not.

Obviously, I didn’t enjoy this book very much. But you may be okay with it if you:
1. Don’t mind disliking the main characters in a book,
2. Are okay with unbelievable book conclusions, and
3. Feel intense animosity towards an ex and need a healthy outlet for your frustrations that doesn’t end with jail time

Now that I’ve written it down, I can see that this book might have a wider audience than I assumed. I’ll give it 3 stars to average my rating with the general consensus toward a 4 star ranking.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bantam for providing me with an advanced review copy.

This book was not for me the main point of conflict in this book was miscommunication and it frustrated me to no end. This book follows Hazel and Fox two “ good” serial killers who get married and start a family and have to retire to keep their family safe. We follow the couple years later as they are trying to stay clean but family drama may cause these killers to slip up.I wanted to like this book the writing was good the plot was entertaining but I absolutely hated the two main characters which just made this book drag for me. This was my first book by this author but I would definitely try another from them. I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for an honest review.

This book is not a romance. What it does do is focus attention on a couple who have arrived at the point where the “honeymoon period” has ended. The two main characters – Hazel (or Haze) and Fox - both remember the time now passed when they were so totally in sync that they thought alike, acted in perfect harmony, and shared everything that happened: good and bad. Now, even though they are still deeply in love, they are more willing to move off on their own and keep to themselves things that they feel they don't want to share.

This might seem a strange analysis of a book that carries the title that this one does, but at heart the book is about the marriage issues of two people. These issues are serious enough to threaten the entire fabric of their marriage.

Haze and Fox came from very different kinds of dysfunctional childhoods. While Haze was raised by a single mother who, frankly, did not want Haze in her life and never had. As soon as Haze was of age, she struck out on her own with all her built up anger and frustrations. Fox, on the other hand, was the scion of an extremely successful and wealthy family who wanted nothing more than to have their son follow lockstep in their path. Fox, however, had dreams of his own. The clash between Fox and his parents only resulted in less and less control over his own path in life.

The end result was that both Haze and Fox found themselves on an identical path, though they did so on their own. They both became serial killers, vigilantes, really. Neither killed willy-nilly; both only chose as their targets those “bad guys” who seemed to escape the legal system. In their eyes, their targets were evil enough to deserved capital punishment because of the pain they had inflicted on innocent people.

Then Haze and Fox met up and discovered that someone else was like them. They fell in love and when they discovered that Haze was pregnant, they married and became a family. They also vowed solemnly to give up their past lives and become the kind of parents that their daughter deserved. What follows is an analysis of that happens when each each makes some serious mistakes. One of those mistakes results in news stories of the return of the “Backpacking Butcher”, as they were collectively known. This was a breach of the sacred vow on which their marriage was based. So what happens if a decision is made to attempt to cover up that mistake and not let their spouse know?

I found this book fascinating, thought provoking, and remarkable true to life—even though the basis of the story in the lives of two serial killers is way over the top. I highly recommend this book and suggest that it might be a great read for the right kind of book discussion group. I appreciated the opportunity NetGalley game me to read and offer my honest review of this book.

This is the kind of book where when you finish, you sit in awed silence while you process what you read. This took me on such a wild ride through so many emotions, and I never thought a story about serial killers would move me to tears. Every time I thought I knew what was happening there was another unexpected twist. This book will definitely get a reread.

Take another look at who you think is the perfect suburban couple, we meet Hazel and Fox an ordinary married couple with a baby they are rich and beautiful and living a life we would dream about having.. but behind that Façade they are living a whole other life we find out that they are a couple of serial killers who .
But now they have to raise their daughter which is turning out to be not what they expected.
Hazel is now feeling depressed and angry and Fox finds hisself working a lot.
This is a darkly comedic and thrilling novel that explores the life of an ordinary married couple with an extraordinary past.

A great thriller with well developed characters of a married couple who share an odd affinity for murder.
Murder is what brought Hazel and Fox together. However, once they become parents, the thrill of committing justice killing must stop for the safety of the family. One of the spouses disagrees, and this is where the novel comes alive. Thanks, Netgally, for the advance ebook.