A Serial Killers Guide to Marriage was absolutely unbelievable. This book was nothing like I expected and was everything I needed and more. I was absolutely enthralled by the storytelling - there are so many layers to this book, from the POV chapters to the timeline changes to the artwork blurbs, there were so many clues and things to uncover and an absolute curveball at the end.

I can truly say I have never read a book like this and I already see it being a top book of the year for me despite it only being January. I’ll be referring this book to everyone.

I really wanted to like this because the premise sounded quite fun, but I found myself mostly irritated while reading it. The first problem I had was with Hazel and Fox. Hazel was annoying with her constant whining that came off delusional and entitled. Then there's Fox. In a book where basically every straight male character is an abuser of some sort, Fox manages to be this magical male who is handsome, rich, and feminist. That's not to say such a man doesn't exist in real life, but it just seemed over the top.

As far as serial killing goes, there's only a few detailed throughout and how Hazel lucked out with not being caught prior to meeting Fox just seemed silly to me. And then there's the ending where everything was just wrapped up so nice and neat. It came off unbelievable, especially a specific character's actions. It also seemed like it was setting up for a sequel.

Overall, this wasn't anywhere near being the worst thing I've read. There were even some enjoyable moments I liked, but it just wasn't my cup of tea.

Meet your neighbors. Hazel, Fox and baby Bibi are your typical young suburban family......well, not quite. This story line, while not qute original, was very entertaining as readers are invited into Hazel and Fox's home to watch their often questionable behavior. They are retired serial killers, but the good kind. They only killed the bad guys and really enjoyed giving them what they deserved. The story is full of thoughts and actions that will bring a smile, even a chuckle, to your reading enjoyment. Asia Mackay has penned a winner. It's going to be interesting to see if we meet up with Hazel and Fox again.

When Hazel discovers she's pregnant, she and her her husband Fox hang up their killing tools to raise their daughter. This leaves them unsatisfied and unhappy with each other, and they begin to keep their coping mechanisms and secrets from one another. This was a twisty, interesting book but I felt like the ending was a little bit too easy. If you're looking for a fun, quick read, this is pretty good!

(3.5) I was very intrigued by the book's description, like two ex serial killers married(?!?), no brainer. As I was reading, I felt like I did when I watched the show YOU in the way that I know that I should not be cheering on a serial killer but I so didn't want anything bad to happen to Haze or Bibi. The first shock of the book was a little predictable but the main twist at the end I didn't see coming and I really should have.


Thank you to Netgalley, Asia Mackay, and Random House for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

Hazel and Fox have it all - they are wealthy, beautiful, in love and have a gorgeous little girl - but their marriage is in trouble. Once they settled down when they learned they were having a baby they also decided to stop their favorite hobby, the one that ties them together - killing bad men vigilante style. Each thinks the other is doing fine in their new boring and stable lives, but neither has really eased into the new life and the lack of killing is killing their marriage.

Cute set up, cute concept, execution just didn't work for me. I'm not sure if it was the pacing or just not enough connection with the characters but it took me a while to finish this one because my heart just wasn't in it. There were some parts that I really enjoyed and those sections read faster but I was hoping to enjoy this one much more than I did.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bantam for the ARC to review

3.5 stars

Hazel and Fox are two serial killers who attempt to trade their mutual love of killing bad guys for a normal suburban life with a baby. They’re interesting characters who you’ll find yourself rooting for (almost) all the time. The dual POV is a fun way to unravel the plot as they contend with both typical marital issues and the kind that only married serial killers would encounter.

Unfortunately, the ending brings this down to a 3.75 star rating for me. While the majority of the book had a good pace, the end felt rushed. There wasn’t enough explanation behind the major turnaround we saw with one of the characters.

I liked this book so much more than I thought I would! It turned out once I started it, I could not put it down! Dual POV so it really keeps you guessing! Haze and Fox are both likable, and I literally laughed out loud multiple times. It defintiely gives Dexter vibes without the gore. Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for an advaced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

This book was really fun!

Fox and Hazel have a weird hobby: they are kind of, sort of, serial killers. But it’s fine because they heavily research victims and only kill men who need it. Fast forward and they have a little girl, Bibi, and love in the suburbs. They’ve dropped the hobby to protect their daughter. But Hazel is having a hard time adjusting to being a suburban mommy. And then she “slips up”.

The book is told from the perspective of both Fox and Hazel, with bits of their past sprinkled in. The reader gets to learn about their relationship with each other and the development of their hobby. The reader also knows they’re each keeping secrets from each other, and the revealing of the secrets is handled in a funny way, even though the content is serious.

This book struck a really great balance between being funny, heartfelt, and tense. I really enjoyed this and hope there’s more to come!

Absolutely loved this book! I found it to be unique with 2 serial killer's trying to navigate a marriage. Apparently serial killers have the same issues as us regular married folk! I can't wait to rad more from this author.

A Serial Killer’s Guide to Marriage by Asia Mackay is such a wild, darkly funny, and completely unique thriller. The idea of two ex-serial killers trying to live a normal suburban life while juggling playdates and murderous urges is just chef’s kiss. Hazel and Fox are this chaotic mix of relatable and terrifying, and honestly, I couldn’t get enough of them. Hazel’s struggle with leaving behind her old life of vigilante justice is so entertaining. Meanwhile, Fox is the perfect balance, all about dad life, but you can tell the killer instincts are still there. The plot is insane in the best way, and there’s this underlying humor that makes the whole thing feel fresh. If you’re into dark comedies, thrillers, or just want something totally out of the box, you need to read this!

Unfortunately I have decided at 17% to soft DNF. I may come back to it in the future but I felt overall really bored and it isn’t what i expected it to be! I hope to pick it up and try again in the future, but at this point i have chose to DNF.

Thank you to NetGalley & The Publisher for a free ARC of this story in exchange for an honest review!
I have BIG feelings about this book. As I was reading it, I kept thinking "This is going to be my first 5 star read of the year" until the last few chapters. But I will get to that.
First of all, I find the cover to be very deceiving. I typically associate cartoon covers with cozies, and this read so much more like a full thriller, which I loved! The wedding dress is confusing, because there's no wedding in the story and they even talk about how Haze & Fox didn't have a real wedding themselves, so I don't feel like that aligned with the story very well.
Okay so the actual story!
Fox & Haze have the perfect marriage, or so it seemed. With a beautiful house, a love for their daughter so strong it keeps them going, and all the typical life troubles, nothing stands out about this couple, except the fact that they're serial killers. But they're retired, bad-guys-only serial killers, so it's okay? I guess? I'll go with it. I loved the premise of this story, and the flashbacks we got from then-to-now. I thought Haze was incredibly well developed, but I could've used a little bit more out of Fox. Overall, the plot of this story was enough to keep me wanting more and flying through the book. I loved the relationship between Jenny & Haze, and even Bibi and Felix. Their relationship felt incredibly organic, and started off incredibly realistic with Haze going into it the only way she knew how, selfishly. Realizing down the round that the bond organically strengthened and became something real was a really cool evolution.
Okay, here's my issues. I have two very big ones that honestly made this book harder to love the more I thought on it. Through the book, we see the issues in Haze & Fox's marriage. They're very real problems, and every one of them made sense and I could see the strain they would put on any marriage. The characters even realize that all of their issues could've gone away with a conversation and honesty, which is exactly what magically solves this huge martial issues. Each one of these characters did something horrible to the other (Haze killing without telling Fox, which to them is a huge issue. And Fox literally doing ALL HE DID), and they just magically let it go. I cannot believe Haze would just magically forgive Fox for what he did in the last chapters.
Second, the character arc of Jenny was just too unbelievable for me. There was nothing leading me to believe she would have made that jump into morally gray. She couldn't even go after her own ex for money, but the reader is supposed to believe she would be totally fine going vigilante? It just shook me very hard out of this story.
Overall, I gave it 4 stars because I loved the first 90% of this book, but if I had to give it an overall rating, it would be 3 stars because that ending just crashed the whole thing for me.

What a treat for fans of thrillers that showcase women who are frighteningly competent lethal weapons. If you’ve enjoyed Deanna Raybourn’s Killers of a Certain Age and/or Cindy Dees’s Second Shot, A Serial Killer’s Guide to Marriage is right up your alley.

Like the quartet of female assassins in Killers of a Certain Age, Hazel has no qualms or regrets about the people she killed. They were bad folks, and they got what was coming to them. She and her partner—her husband Fox—made a great team. In common with Cindy Dees’s “retired” U.S. government assassin Helen Warwick, Hazel does not like being put out to pasture, now that she and Fox are living quietly in the suburbs. Hazel had a difficult childhood—her father missing from the picture, her mother an alcoholic, foster homes her lot until she graduates and goes to art school. She finds her niche in art school but tragically, for a girl who finds friendships very difficult, her bestie, Matty, kills himself. They were not romantically involved, Matty was gay, but Hazel, on some anguished level, hates him for leaving her and hates herself for not seeing how utterly depressed he was.

Everything changes for Hazel when she meets and marries Fox.

A small registry office ceremony followed by the honeymoon of our dreams—and our victims’ nightmares. Sex, bloodshed, and room service. All my favorite things. I loved calling him my husband: “My husband will be right back,” “My husband is just paying the bill,” “My husband is going to make you bleed.”



For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer. He was a part of me now. We were a team and together we soared. We had years and years of flying high. We got so much work done. So many bad men finished. So many good times enjoyed.



And then everything changed. He changed. I wanted to have it all; he wanted to give it all up. The passion that had peppered our early years quickly drained away. There was no spice there anymore. Forget fifty shades of grey, it was death by a thousand shades of Farrow & Ball white.

Clearly, Hazel and Fox lived an extraordinary life in London and on the continent but since the birth of their daughter Bibi, they’ve been immured in the countryside. Haze feels enclosed and confined: “I’d never thought it would be down to the man I loved firing a baby into my belly, a house in the suburbs, and a whine about doing the right thing. Yet here I was. Trapped. Caged. Bored. So. Fucking. Bored.” It doesn’t take a genius to know that something’s got to give.

Lest you think that the reader only gets Hazel’s point of view, nope, Fox also comes to life. Fox is an expat, the oldest son of an extremely wealthy New York City family. When his family becomes aware of his propensity to kill his fellowman, instead of turning him over to the police or getting him psychiatric help, they paper over the incidents and grant him unlimited access to his trust fund. That is if he’ll leave the United States for good. It was inevitable that Hazel and Fox would meet, marry, and murder: they have so much in common.

In the same way, Fox embraced the science of killing those who, in his estimation, needed to be eliminated, he transformed himself into the perfect doting suburban father. He can’t understand why Haze seems unable to put the needs of their daughter above her yearning for excitement and danger. Asia Mackay cleverly discloses how Fox, an adrenaline junkie in his former life, keeps his urges and memories in check. For years he has gone to AA meetings—because he’s addicted too, just not to alcohol.

A Serial Killer’s Guide to Marriage doesn’t only concern itself with the thrill of the chase and the high that results after a successful elimination—readers will wonder after they get to know Hazel and Fox, “can this marriage be saved?” Especially after Hazel breaks her marriage pact with Fox and kills someone (yes, someone awful, someone who trying to rape her and who knows what else).

You simply must read A Serial Killer’s Guide to Marriage to see how this macabre and often deliciously funny story unfolds. No spoilers but I guarantee that you will not guess how the story ends. Brava Asia Mackay!

These serial killer soul mates were made for each other. Unique, funny and completely unexpected, A Serial Killer's Guide to Marriage is the perfect dark comedy/suspense book. i couldn't put this book down and lamented when I had to. I will be reading anything else that Mackay writes.

Loved it and it was very impress with the book. Really enjoy the complexities of their relationship, it gave a realistic sense of and feel to the characters. We dig into strong topic that gives that reality and depth to the book. Hard to put down after the twists and turns that the storyline took and you just want to know how all will end.

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Bantam books for this ARC for review. Marriage is hard. Marriage is even harder when two former serial killers get married and try to live the normal suburban lifestyle. Hazel and Fox are just an ordinary married couple now with a baby. No more killing. They quit cold turkey when Hazel got pregnant. Before that, they had it. An enviable London lifestyle, five-star travels, and plenty of bad men to rid from the world. They were vigilante killers, only bad people. But now, they are soooo bored. But Fox is an amazing father. But Hazel is dying. She needs just one more kill. It’s an addiction. Just to take the edge off. But she doesn’t tell Fox. This book was amazing and hilarious!! About the reality of marriage and having a kid, (not the murder part, per se, but hey, we listen and we don’t judge 🤷‍♀️) but about communicating and dealing with losing that part of you from before and getting through it together. I loved this book!

OMGGGGGG this book was one I was SO HOPING to get an ARC of because I was just dying to get my hands on it!!! YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK!!! This is definitely one of my favorite reads so far, and I’m sure it will be in one of my top spots for 2025 fave reads!

This wasn’t a great read for me. I just had a hard time getting into it for some reason.
Others may love this book.
I encourage you to give it a go and see what you think. It just may be your jam :)
Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

3.5 A Serial Killer's Guide to Marriage by Asia Mackay is a fun and fast-paced read with surprising depth beneath its quirky premise. With vibes reminiscent of Mr. and Mrs. Smith (the TV version, because #TeamJennifer), it balances the relatable struggles of a couple losing their connection with the high-stakes intrigue of, well, serial killers.

The story is an entertaining mix of humor, tension, and heartfelt moments, making the wild concept feel unexpectedly grounded. However, some of the ending reveals left me feeling a bit icky, and certain beats started to feel repetitive as the story progressed. Still, it’s an enjoyable ride for fans of dark humor and unconventional romance.