A review by crothe77
A Serial Killer's Guide to Marriage by Asia Mackay

emotional tense fast-paced

5.0

 
I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

A Serial Killer's Guide to Marriage by Asia Mackay is a first person dual-POV thriller about a serial killer couple. Hazel and Fox have a beautiful daughter, a luxurious lifestyle, and a trail of bodies between them. Their days of killing predatory men are supposed to be over but Hazel has grown tired of the monotony and wants things to go back to how they were. Meanwhile, Fox’s rich parents want him back for the sake of appearances after his brother's divorce.

A major theme is feminine rage. Hazel is an artist who mostly depicts scenes of women getting revenge on the men who hurt them and others and we get descriptions of some of those paintings. Hazel had been in the foster care system for most of her childhood and we get some allusions to what she went through while being bounced from house to house and the anger she has from all the times men have preyed on her. She’s also convinced that Fox is cheating on her because their relationship has gotten stale, which leads to her ‘cheating’ by finding a new target without even consulting him.

Fox and Hazel’s marriage is on the rocks by the time the book opens. We see how they met (while Hazel was killing a different man) and how they are perfect for each other (they both love killing people) but Fox is more restrained. One thing that tipped them over the edge is how careful Fox is in the wake of them having a child, Bibi, and how that takes away any kind of excitement that could keep Hazel happy. Fox is also keeping secrets as he tries to figure out what his parents do and do not know about the years since he's seen them. Hazel, for her part, isn't really communicating her needs either, and seems to struggle to understand that their marriage has changed since having a baby.

Hazel and Foz are not likeable protagonists and I think the big draw here is how dysfunctional their marriage is. They built their entire relationship on the fact that they're both into killing people. They have a lot of the same problems many couples who have a toddler at home do while also having this big itch Hazel needs to scratch. When they start keeping secrets, things only get worse. It's a lot like watching a car crash; you know what's coming but you can't look away.

Content warning for depictions of sexual assault

I would recommend this to readers who wanted something like Dexter where a serial killer only kills bad people and fans of books with strong themes of feminine rage

 
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