The Kill

The Kills #3

by Richard House

Evidence of a violent crime is found in the basement of an Italian palazzo. A missing American student appears to be the victim, two mysterious brothers the main suspects. The strangest thing: the murder seems to have been inspired by an old crime novel, a book called The Kill.

256 pages, Paperback

First published April 25, 2013

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads database.

Richard House is an author, film maker, artist and university lecturer. As well as the digital-first novel The Kills, he has written two previous novels (Bruiser and Uninvited), which were published by Serpent’s Tail in the 1990s. He is a member of the Chicago-based collaborative Haha. He is the editor of a digital magazine, Fatboy Review: www.fatboyreview.net

Born in Cyprus, Richard House is an artist and writer. His first novel, Bruiser, was short-listed for the Ferro Grumley Gay Fiction Award in the USA. The Kills has been longlisted for the 2013 Booker Prize. He currently teaches at Birmingham University, UK.

Reviews

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I gave this book 50 pages but as far as I can tell it is a fairly typical crime novel. I'm perplexed as to why it made the Booker longlist, but not enough to finish it.

[Aaron (Typographical Era) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Richard House is about to put an extreme amount of faith in you as a reader, but the real question is how much do you trust him as a writer?

As book three of his addictively mind-blowing epic The Kills gets underway, it appears as though House has hit the pause button on his tale of military conspiracy in order tell a completely different, yet just as interesting side story about a grisly murder that takes place in the basement of an Italian palazzo. Trust him. Even if this drama seems unconnected to the main narrative that’s been building for the previous 500+ pages in the series, this detour will eventually make some sense.

READ MORE:
http://www.typographicalera.com/the-k...

[Ananya_thebookishgirl · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sypnosis- Evidence of a violent crime is found in the basement of an Italian palazzo. A missing American student appears to be the victim, two mysterious brothers the main suspects. The strangest thing: the murder seems to have been inspired by an old crime novel, a book called The Kill.

Review- Crime is one of my favourite genres. I bought this one for the cover..but as it’s said..don’t judge a book by the cover. It started off well, just the perfect murder. But it became increasingly bewildering with every chapter. Firstly, there were too many characters, making it impossible to keep track of all of them. Most of them were totally unassociated with the murder. Every scene was over-described. I skipped many paragraphs at a go. I still kept up as I expected a good ending, but it was precisely what disappointed me the most. It ended with a completely unrelated character, thinking something totally unrelated with the whole book. The murder had no result, no criminals caught, no one even knows what exactly happened to the victim.

[John Naylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

I honestly did not realise when starting this book that it was part of a series (book 3 of 4). This might have affected my enjoyment of this.

Reading this as a standalone, it feels disjointed. The connections between the scenes sometimes just don't connect and time seems distorted. The characters lack consistency and the plot seems to jump around without finding somewhere to settle. There may be answers in the prequels and sequel but there isn't enough here to encourage me to seek them out.

There are sequences that seem dreamlike and don't seem to carry the plot forward. It isn't the worst read I have had this year but I also could not find a reason to recommend this. The feeling I got was an art house movie that some people will adore but most won't get much from.

[Anoop Pai B · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book simply does not make any sense. Although it is a part of the series, the book itself states that this can be read and enjoyed alone. Both seems to be complete fallacy because I believe that this book does not make any sense even if read from a series' perspective.

There is a murder and there are patsies but that is about it. No details on the victim, the killers, the investigation are elaborated and are not even touched open. Many different stories about characters open up but adds no value to the entire narration.

0/5 stars.

[Leo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hhhmmmmnnnn, I'm really not sure! I really liked the first part, well written and easy to visualise. Then it just got lost, as I got nearer the end I realised there would be no answers, I have only read this book in the series but it did say it could be read in isolation. Introduced to lots of characters and then as you invest in them they disappear (not literally, just not written about again) To sum it up, disappointing

[Andy48 · Rating 2 out of 5]

1000 pages, 4 books, to tell the story of corruption in the world of contractors in Iraq late in the US occupation, a plot of huge proportions with severe consequences for most of the characters; problem is, the first 500 pages make sense, the second 500 pages, aside from the last 10, are inconsequential to the economy of the story, boring, with a useless set of new characters; a frustrating read.

[Meg Harrison · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have no idea what is happening.

[Nicola · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn’t realise until I finished the book that it is part of a series. Although it does state it can be read and enjoyed alone. I beg to differ! I have absolutely no idea what just happened?!

[Calzean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book 3 of 4 in a series called "The Kills" which relate to the Iraqi war.

This book is self contained and covers a murder that occurred in Naples. Not having read any of the other books in the series I could not see the link to the Iraqi war.

The story tells of a series of people who's lives are affected after a murder (or murders) occur. No one really knows what happens and you are left to your own at the end to make your own decisions.

A very different writing style, the plot is hard to follow and the open endness could be thought of as either brilliant or annoying.

[Blair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second book on the 2013 Booker long list. This was creepy and dark and I am a little afraid to go outside. But, I am also a little confused. This is the third book in a series of four and I am guessing that I missed something in the first two. But why would the long list choose the third book in a series? Especially if you can't understand everything without the first two? I sort of want to read the others to figure this all out, but I may need to get over my disgruntled state first.

[WendyRG · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extremely odd, and somewhat dissastisfying. A book that (perhaps) inpsires a killing, that is then made into a book and finally a movie...not to mention you don't really find out who was killed (how many people?) nor by whom exactly. Very, very strange, yet I now want to try and find the first in the series (this book is the third of four).

[Devin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm starting that this detached method of describing characters and actions isn't a stylistic choice and is instead Richard House just being terrible at character development.

Also... this thing narrates like a bad film. And this story has no relation to the previous two before it. And it was kind of boring.

[Nina · Rating 2 out of 5]

WELL WRITTEN BUT I DON'T CARE FOR CRIME NOVELS

[Chepah Abdullah]

I dont know if im gonna finish but i guees i have to. Few episode i think i can guess where the story leads to.it took me really a long time to finish this book huh...

[Fwdecker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really strange and creepy and wonderful. Dust jacket makes comparison to Bolano's 2666 are spot on. Great read.

[Wimdeklonia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ik denk dat ik niets van dat boek gesnapt heb, zonde van mijn tijd