Reluctant Killer

by Lisa R. Perron

A policeman once told Katherine that anyone is capable of killing another person under the right circumstances. She didn't believe that she could ever someone's life, until her husband Jacob woke her in the middle of the night with the whispered words, "They've found me." Before she could ask who, Jacob handed her his loaded handgun and said, "If any of them get past me, you need to take care of him. She thought she'd never be able to shoot a person. Yet here she was, gun still hot in her hand, an intruder covered in blood at her feet. Who was this man in her closet? More Importantly, who was Jacob?

320 pages, Hardcover

Published November 15, 2022

Reviews

[Diane Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book at the Los Angeles Festival of Books a few years back, and thought it would be a good quick read to finish my month and to reduce the height of my TBR book tower. It’s a crime thriller, not necessarily my go to genre, but crime thrillers can be thrilling reads once in a while, hence the reason for the genre.

This might be Perron’s first stab at thriller writing. Her repertoire is small, and the story is standard, about a woman who is awakened by her husband in the middle of a home invasion, then learns that her husband is not the man she thought him to be. In fact, his past is shady, and the night ends with her shooting a stranger dead and with him disappearing on the run.

If this is an intriguing setup, this might be the story for you. Told in first person, present tense, we follow Katherine as she investigates who her husband Jacob once was while she manages how she could have been such a fool to fall in love with him. She also has a rough past of her own that she needs to come to terms with: a pastor father convicted of killing his wife—Kate’s mother—in cold blood. Kate never forgave her father for his sins at the beginning of the story and now, because she has to kill a man for her own safety due to her husband’s past, Kate struggles with the fact that she herself is capable of murder.

Perron’s writing style is essentially stripped down. No overly flowery prose, which makes for a good clean read. We feel Kate’s dilemma and sympathize with her. She’s not a superwoman. She deals with the trauma of the inciting event in a real, human way, and I like this about her character. She struggles with her feelings for a man who has always been kind and loving to her, and with the revelation of the heinous things he is proven to be capable of. It puts her in danger and forces her to have to fend for herself.

While the book is generally well written, there are just enough grammatical mistakes to betray an inexperienced editor—or maybe an over-reliance on basic editing software. There are passages where the narrative lapses from third person present tense to third person past tense, and it’s noticeable. I try to overlook these kinds of occasional errors because it happens, but if it happens enough to pull me out of the story, I feel the need to make note.

Otherwise, though, Reluctant Killer is a good beach read for the general thriller fan. 3.5 stars

[Meagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend this book! Loved it! Captivating story with a great message. Could not put it down!