Killing Kate by Alex Lake

Imagine there is a serial killer very close to where you live and all the victims happen to look like you. Scary, right? Well this is the premise of Killing Kate. Kate Armstrong has broken up with her long-term boyfriend and is enjoying her new single life but she starts to get the feeling that somebody might be watching her. Is it Phil, her ex, who can’t get over her, or is it the strangler?

This is one of those books that makes you want to keep on reading. The chapters are short and often end on a cliffhanger, ramping up the tension nicely. It also freaked me out a bit when I was reading it in bed at night. There are some elements that I thought didn’t quite ring true and the ending was all a bit neat, but I do think it must be very hard to wind up the twists and turns of a psychological thriller satisfactorily.

I must admit that I did guess who the killer was pretty early on but that didn’t spoil anything for me as the story moves along at a fast pace and there was always the element of doubt in there. Was it really who I thought it was?

I haven’t read After Anna yet, but I think I will enjoy it based on my experience of Killing Kate. I was certainly hooked right from the beginning and couldn’t wait to see how it turned out.

4/5

With thanks to the publishers and Amazon Vine for the review copy. Killing Kate was published on 6th October 2016 by Harper Collins.