A Thrilling and Witty Ride – A Must-Read!

Serial Killer Games is a refreshingly quirky take on the thriller genre, blending dark humor, unexpected twists, and a cleverly crafted mystery. The novel keeps you engaged from start to finish, balancing suspense with moments of sharp wit and laugh-out-loud absurdity.

The characters are dynamic and unpredictable, making it impossible to guess who to trust. Just when you think you have it all figured out, the story takes another sharp turn, keeping you on edge until the very last page. The writing is sharp, fast-paced, and effortlessly entertaining, making it perfect for fans of both psychological thrillers and dark comedies.

If you are a fan of “Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone” and other Ernest Cunningham stories, and love a novel that keeps you guessing while making you chuckle at the same time, Serial Killer Games is a must-read.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC read.

#netgalley

I really didn’t like this book. It sounded like it was going to be so good. But I thought the plot was boring. I didn’t like the writing style of this book. I wanted to DNF and I should have. This was just not for me.

I have to say this book started very strangely. You are not really sure what you are getting yourself into. The author did a great job with the weaving and wandering to capture the reader's interest, but at some point, it got to be a lot for me. I like to know what I am reading, and something about where we are going in the book.

This is a very odd story in many ways. I’m not even sure what to classify it as but I think it’s a romance. It is also classified as a mystery; true crime could fit, though.

Regardless, Posey manages to take the weaving and wandering into a story that is very compelling with the developing “interest” between the characters. Loaded with dark humor, inuendo, and, dare I say, romantic interest, the two became partners, at work and at home, and that is when it gets interesting.

I loved the transformation of the characters as the story develops from the weird and strange, loaded with secrets, to misunderstood people harboring pain and loneliness.

Overall, Serial Killer Games is loaded with games. You have to be savvy enough to follow along and play too. Clever and unique.

While there are thriller aspects to this book this is so much more than a traditional thriller it is more of a dark rom-com thriller. While I enjoyed this one and read it really quickly it was not exactly what I was expecting! It was full of a lot of dry and dark humor. The writing felt very witty and creative. The characters and their actions all felt very mysterious and intentional, like all parts were fully thought out.

Doloras and Jake work in the same office building, one day after being in the elevator Doloras becomes convinced that Jake is a serial killer. After that day the two start to have conversations full of banter that helps keep the story moving. The relationship between these felt like an intense game of cat and mouse! There were also a lot of lovable side characters that helped make the story great.

Overall this was a enjoyable read! If you like dark rom-coms full of witty banter, morbid humor, and unexpected twist then this is the story for you!

Thank you Net Galley, Berkeley, and Kate Posey for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Wow! Loving the crossing of murder and romance going on, it was fun! It was well blended with some charming dialogue between the two main characters but it was also very obvious. I found it fun but unsurprising.

I'm a little unsure on how to rate this book. First this book was labeled as suspense and thriller which is neither. It would be more of a romance book in my mind but not even that entirely. This book is not what I expected, but it was decent. I felt like it was overall a faster read, although there were parts that took time to try to trudge through. I was mostly disappointed that it wasn't a thriller like it had been labeled. I'm a huge mood reader and it just took me about. If you're into reading a book about 2 characters who connect over serial killers briefly, then this may be a book you'd enjoy. but its romance not a thriller or suspenseful book at all.

Thank you Netgalley for the Advanced Reader Copy for my honest opinion.

Okay so overall, this is a 3/5. The copy was kind of misleading (and I totally get why) but this wasn't what I wanted it to be. I was here for the Butcher and Blackbird of it all and the reveal (no spoilers) was so much more lighthearted than that. I know people will love this but it wasn't what I was expecting so a little disappointed on that front, personally.

This book was not what I expected, but in a very good way! I kept thinking I knew what would happen and by the end of it I can honestly say I wasn’t even close. Will definitely be recommending to friends.

I don’t know that I should admit this in mixed company (or any company, really) but I’ve been on a bit of a serial killer romance binge. I’d blame Brynne Weaver’s “Ruinous Love” trilogy but the fascination began a few decades before that. I was obsessed with the late 70s flickTime After Time, in which Jack the Ripper steals HG Wells’s time machine and the OG serial killer runs amok while romance blooms in the background. Did I mention I watched this as a small child and my dad introduced me to this film? How very Wednesday Adams of me. And, oh look, a segue . . . 

Speaking of delightfully morbid Goth girls, one of my favorite characters, Cat, in Kate Posey’s Serial Killer Games - the title, of course, caught my eye when it came across my ARC offerings - is just that: a delightfully morose six year old with the voice of a chain-smoker and fashion sense of a Victorian ghost. Despite the fact that SKG focuses primarily on love interests Jake, an oxymoronic permanent temp who’s either one hell of a serial killer or just another grey-suited cog in soulless corporate Canada’s cement jungle, and Dolores, aka Dodi, who’s either a black widow or vampire moonlighting (daylighting?) as a C-suite wannabe, the minor characters really flesh out their questionable budding romance.

There’s so much to say and yet, though I’ve never met a spoiler I didn’t like, I don’t (and can’t really, because ARCs) want to give too much away. In a nutshell, or, rather, the cold corporate elevator that Jake and Dolores find themselves flung together in, Posey’s protagonists capture each other’s interests almost immediately. Jake, who is “grey rocking” his way through life, attempting to blend into the scenery as the perfect temp, one who’s a bit too observant about his fellow, albeit temporarily so, employees, is just a little too on the nose, what with his same corporate drone suit, thick-rimmed (read: Clark Kent) glasses, and hair parted just so. Dolores, however, notices that there’s something, well, several somethings, off about him, and immediately hones in on the gratuitous gloves he wears at all times. Canadian winters aside (and, believe you me, I know something about that level of cold), the gloves seem less about warmth and more about protection . . . of the wearer, from having their fingerprints left behind. 

The fact that there’s a serial killer on the loose that’s offing finance bros across the downtown area by staging their suicidal jumps from very tall buildings, aptly named the Paper Pusher? Well that’s just the icing on the cake and also what has Dolores’ hackles up. She immediately recognizes Jake for what he is: an imposter. In her mind, there’s no way someone this clever, attractive, and desperately seeking to blend into the scenery can be anything but a serial killer. And her mind would know, in that she’s got her own dark past that Jake can’t help but sense - a beautifully dark spider capable of spinning her web around unwitting men - and also wants to indulge in. In noticing one another and, subsequently, throwing each other a lifeline to avoid being sucked into conversation with Doug, your stereotypical clueless middling manager who has no idea how he got his job or what it really entails, the two engage in their dark fantasies of seeing the other as a potential killer and, in this, kindred soul, and begin their flirtation with the titular serial killer games.

I’ll give it to Posey, I was on my toes throughout the first third of the book and felt off-kilter for much of this reading. In a good way. After their first “date”, in which Jake follows a nearly naked Dolores into his roommate's luxury bathroom - wielding a knife, no less - and she trips on the also nearly naked corpse of a very endowed young woman lying lifeless in the shower, it’s clear that these two share the same killer kink. Little spoiler here, spoilerette if you will, but the corpse turns out to be one of many that Jake has had to dispose of for his egomaniacal, tortured, and rich roommate, Grant. In fact, it’s Jake’s specialization in “removal” that really enamors him of Dolores. The spoiler part of this (and, really, this is still within the first few pages) is that the corpse isn’t dead, as such, but rather a high-end sex doll, one with whom Grant has run the course of his “romantic” relationship with and needs to have out of his sight like yesterday.

The sex doll, one of oh so many, as it turns out, provides fodder for the Best. Date. Ever. Dolores and Jake reenact one of her favorite podcast murders in which a killer mall Santa (it’s the Christmas season, by the by) left the limbs of his corpses as perverse presents all around town. Of course, the magic of their date is fleeting and reality sets in and Dolores pulls away and Jake doesn’t even have an idea how to make a move on the woman with whom he not only shares his unique “interests” but also was, you know, just naked in his shower hours earlier and yet could not seal the deal with, to her chagrin.

Along the course of their relationship, wherein Jake is keeping close tabs on Dolores, who crashes his obligatory birthday dinner with his beloved aunt Laura and her husband, his despised uncle Andrew, who never fails to remind him that he’s not his son and that the now-grown orphan needs to better in every facet of his life. Especially, once Dolores arrives, in the realm of female company, as Andrew’s clutching his pearls at her appearance and general zero-f's-given demeanor. In fact, it’s after she storms out of the restaurant, clutching a half-drunk bottle of wine like a lifeline, that she and Jake indulge in their passion, in the form of a kiss that is, and she gifts him with a real part of her: Dodi, her nickname. 

And herein lies the rub. How can these two maybe (but probably not, but maybe?) serial killers distinguish reality from their far more vibrant imaginary lives in which they’re not just trying to make it through the day but powerful and, moreover, important to someone else in their own right. And that, when all is said and done, is what makes Serial Killer Games one of the most entertaining (despite a severe lack of smut) books I’ve read in a while. Whirlwind trips to dispose of bodies in Las Vegas and Elvis-ordained marriages aside, the good stuff is what’s at the core of the story: two sad, seemingly boring people who simultaneously want to be ignored and seen at the same time. Jake, as his job suggests, has been temping his way through life - a butler side character who lives to clean up others’ messes and make their lives run more smoothly - for the better part of a decade after he discovers he’s succumbing to the same tragic and terminal illness as his biological father. Dolores, who both is and isn’t the black widow she’s presumed to be, is so intent on sheltering her fragile heart and toeing the line that she too is like the vampire Jake jokes that she is: without substance or reflection.

Ultimately, this book hit my sweet spot: just weird enough (between criminal (also maybe criminal) lawyer Grant and his sex dolls, Cat and her Goth girl eeriness, sweet Aunt Laura, whose favorite game to play is I Spy (A Murder Weapon), and Grandpa Bill, whose convinced Jake has come to kill him and is polite enough to invite him in for tea before he does it), intriguing enough (who’s the real killer here?!), and endearingly romantic enough (Jake and Dolores are long-game couple goals). At the end of the day, it’s a treatise on family, in whatever form that may be, and how a healthy fantasy life can be the key to a healthy and satisfied reality. I’m looking forward to seeing what Kate Posey has in store for me next, even if I'm groaning at the fact that she has me tap-dancing on the knife's edge of trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

ARC Review ✨️

♡Delores & Jake♡

Kate wrote such an enthralling story! I was sucked right into it by the end of the first chapter.

This is the perfect read for any fans of dark humor and a slight obsession with the crime world 🤣🖤

Delores, our MFC, is absolutely obsessed with anything crime related, specifically serial killers. She's desperate to find one "in the wild." Her fascination with that might end up putting her in a twist of events.

Jake is the new office temp, and Delores is 100% convinced he's one. When her morbid fascination leads to something totally different, a new romance buds. That's when the suspense aspect comes into play because now you're unsure if he's the killer and dangerous, or do they actually just have a very unusual romance✨️🖤

This being a debut novel really surprised me. I thought the author did a perfect job blending all of the different aspects together as well as creating some enjoyable main characters with some pretty amazing side characters as well🙌🖤

Tropes:
🖤Dark humor
✨️Suspense
🖤Unusual romance
✨️Fascinating main characters

Thanks so much to the author, Netgalley, and Berkley Publishing for the Advanced Copy!

Sorry.....I informed you that although I tried to read this book, I was not at all interested and gave up on it. I was surprised as the titled was quite interesting. I might try it again.

I am not a fan of romance novels and with a title like Serial Killer Games, I hadn’t paid attention to the main genre for this book. Luckily, I am a big fan of snarky humor and Serial Killer Games has it in spades. It’s dark and twisted. But it is also heartwarming. I adored it.
Jake Ripper is a temp at a corporate office when he encounters Dolores Dela Cruz. They are drawn to each other, each seeking out the truth about the other and using what they learn to attempt to up the level of the cat and mouse games they’re playing. But the attraction outweighs their normal instincts. The book alternates between their two POVs. Smartly, Posey doesn’t make them into caricatures. She has imbibed them with real issues, feelings and concerns. But as much as I loved them, it was Cat that stole the show.
Every time I thought I knew where the plot was going, I was surprised. Not surprised. Shocked. This one really threw me for a loop. Time after time. I lost count of the number of twists.
There are some hysterical scenes. Laugh out loud funny. I almost lost it during the scene with HR. This is perfect when you need something light but can’t handle saccharine.
This doesn’t read like a debut. I can’t wait to see what Posey does next.
My thanks to Netgalley and Berkley for an advance copy of this book.

Thought this was an interesting read. Jake is a temp at an office and one day he sees Dolores who likes to fly under the radar. They both have an obsession with serial killers and begin to play games with each other. A good read!

I LOVED this book!! I was a little confused for the first several chapters, but it all came together. I found it to be fun and surprisingly emotional. I definitely recommend reading this book. What a great first novel for Kate Posey. I can’t wait to read more from her!!

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for an eARC in exchange for my honest review. This was an odd one to read (and possibly even odder to review). A romcom/murder-mystery between two people who may or may not be serial killers sprinkled with the sad realities of office life. By all accounts, I should love it. However, the first half of the book and the second half are dramatically different.

The first half is incredibly slow-paced. By 30%, I was tempted to shelve the book. The second half is definitely the core of the novel and I was impressed Posey was able to reconnect all the strings. Readers will need to stick through the "will-they, won't they" before getting to the real story. If you’re looking for a thriller with twists, family drama, and cop drama, this is for you. Romance takes a back seat to the dark jokes and bleak realities of temp work, dysfunctional families, and the semi-unethical true-crime podcast industry.

There was not a content warning included in this book (I know we all love a good murder mystery) but readers should be advised there are allusions to spousal abuse, child abuse, and sexual assault.

🌟🌟 Serial Killer Games 🌟🌟
⭐️⭐️⭐️. 3/5
🫑 0.5/5
Author: Kate Posey
Releasing 4/29/2025

This was such an odd book but at the same time it was good. Delores goes to work, goes home, and repeat. She's also absolutely obsessed with true crime. She especially loves a podcast and listens often.

Jake is the new office temp. He's worn that title several times now and this job was no different than the rest. What was different was Delores. He intrigued her and the air of mystery made her even more interesting.

Delores believes Jake is a serial killer and Jake thinks Delores is a serial killer. What Jake doesn't expect is that Delores asks for his help disposing of a body.

Just when you think you know what's going on...PLOT TWIST! Then twist, twist, and an extra twisty twist! If you like a good mystery, banter, and a very slow burn give this one a read.

Thank you @netgalley for my copy to read and review!

I love a good murder mystery rom-com!! I was expecting more suspense, and I didn’t find myself at the edge of my seat. Which is fine, but if you are hoping for that, you will be disappointed.

I did find myself laughing throughout the book. The two main characters are quirky and loveable, but they have a pretty twisted, dark humor, and I love that.

I do think there were some pacing issues. I got kind of bored halfway through, but overall, I was happy I stuck with it because there were some unexpected twists and turns.

I would definitely pick up another one of Kate Posey’s books because she is a little unhinged, and I’m here for it.

Rating: 3.5/5

This was such an interesting and original story! I really liked the writing style and overall plot. Can't wait to read more from this author.

Oh this was fun!!!! I started it and wasn't sure the direction it was going in but then was having a blast! Fun and quirky with dark humor (my favorite). Loved the ending and plot twist. There were a few times where I felt like it was going in one direction only to be confused by what was happening...this could be more because of my brain than anything though. I think this will be a fun book to read when you want a mystery/thriller but with a little more humor.

"I never knew what I wanted from her. I just wanted. Maybe it is hunger. From the moment she stepped into that elevator, it was like not realizing you were starving until you were offered something to eat.

4/5 stars

This book, was so uniquely different than normal rom coms. The premise of the book is wholly twisted to be something we don't see right away. The mystery and dry humor kept me going throughout this whole story laughing out loud.

Thank you for Netgalley for the ARC! I'm really excited to convince all my friends to read this one. Genuinely there were aspects that had me thinking things would go a specific way for the twists and turns to always catch me by surprise.

I felt like the writing was witty and filled with dry humor. The characters were surprising and had parts of each of them clearly thought out and intentional. I was very much interested in the blurb of this book when I applied for it and I am so happy with what I ended up getting.

Dolly is a cunning mystery. As we learn about her and her past becomes more clear there is a lot that is said in this book between the lines. She is smart as hell and if not a little chaotic, relatable. The more you learn the bigger heart she has, even if being let into her world takes a little bit of time.

I could buy him a pair. Dress him up like he's my doll. I thought girls were given dolls to play with to prepare them for motherhood, but when I grew up, I realized it had prepared me for babying a series of man-child boyfriends.

She NEVER minimized herself. Told it how it is and had no f*cks in sight. I loved her.

Jake was truly the perfect match, his type A maniacal personality was softened by everything he did for the people around him. From taking care of a roommate that..... is probably the most unique character in the book? To family dinners he absolutely did not need to attend. Jake is the bookish man that has "nothing to lose" but in their adventures of the Los Vegas strip and Christmas shenanigans this debut book is one that I'll remember.

I recommend going into this one with an open mind and willingness to just go for the ride. I had a wonderful time with it, theres a deeper story behind it all and it has plenty of lessons that I loved so much.