A gripping, atmospheric debut psychological thriller
#blogtour #thekilleryouknow @srmatersauthor @littlebrownuk
"I'll murder three strangers. and you'll know it was me."
Synopsis
You need to kill at least three people, right? So that's what I'll do.
When Will jokes about becoming a serial killer, his friends just laugh it off. But Adeline can't help but feel there's something more sinister lurking behind his words.
Fifteen years later, Adeline returns to Blythe for a reunion of the old gang - except Will doesn't show up. Reminiscing about old times, they look up the details of his supposed murder spree. But the mood soon changes when they discover two recent deaths that match.
As the group attempts to track Will down, they realise that he is playing a sinister game that harks back to one they used to play as kids. Only this time there are lives at stake . . .
Published 2nd May 2019 in paperback by Sphere, £7.99
Ebook and Audio also available
My Review
Welcome to my Thriller book of the year so far! This magnificent debut By S. R. Masters left me fascinated, enthralled and reading late into the night as i could not put this book down!
A simple reunion for 5 friends in 2015 and and the no show of one of them leave the remaining group reminiscing about his strange character and comments of the past which lead us to Will's declaration that he would one day become a serial killer.
A few drinks down and a quick google search later the group are on to 2 events that could be his crimes!
What follows is a fascinating dual time line account of the summer of 1998, when the five friends roamed the area they lived experiencing the highs and lows of teenage relationships, mixed group dynamics along with an ongoing feud with a neighbour.
Back and forward we jump from that summer to the present time in 2015 and the ongoing search for Will and whether he is, as they begin to suspect, a serial killer.
This is a very original read which reminded me of both Steven Kings coming of age novel Stand By Me as well as the same flow of written feelings of group dynamics and relationships in his the novel I.T. I also found the timeline style of writing similar to the latter and also to C J Tudors debut Chalk man from last year.
I absolutely love this book This is part thriller, part mystery, part coming-of-age novel, and I found myself invested in each timeline equally which does not normally happen in duel time line books for me, normally your looking forward to what happen in one but here i was just a interested to hear what happened in the past while been thrilled by the hunt for Will and what that meant for the present.
Being a teenager myself in the late 90s, I really loved the musical and movie references this honestly evoked such a sense of nostalgia regarding my own teenage days and dramas!
Full of twist and turns aplenty and i really can say no more as i don't want to add any spoilers!
If your looking for a thrilling psychological mystery then look no further, this debut has it all! and I for one cannot wait to read more for S.R. Masters, I am not ashamed to say I am already a number one fan!
Author Bio
S. R. Masters studied Philosophy at Girton College, Cambridge before working in public health and health behaviour for the NHS.
He is a regular contributor to UK short fiction anthology series The Fiction Desk, having won their Writer's Award for his short story Just Kids.
His story Desert Walk was included in Penguin Random House USA's Press Start to Play collection and he continues to have short fiction published in a variety of magazines.
He grew up around Birmingham but now lives in Oxford with his wife and son.
The Killer You Know is his first novel.
You can find him on Twitter @SRMastersAuthor or on his website http://www.sr-masters.com/
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Social Media Links
@SRMastersAuthor
http://www.sr-masters.com/
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Thank you to the publisher and author for sending me an advanced reader copy of this novel and the opportunity to review these works.
All reviews are my own unbiased opinion.
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