Killing Kate by Alex Lake

My phone bricked up and I lost all my pictures because somehow I didn't set them on any backup plan...so that was fun. Luckily I have a new phone now (and a backup schedule) but yeah, that sucked. 

So this book is actually set in the UK and noting that the blurb is down my alley (murder-mystery)...I honestly picked it up because of the cover. Isn't is eye-catching? That yellow and blue/gray combo is perfection and I'm seeing it in other covers now. 

I bought it at Target because I have a Target problem. I'm working on it. 

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Title: Killing Kate
Author: Alex Lake
Page Number: 406 pages (paperback)
Genre: thriller, fiction, mystery
Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers
Year: 2016

A serial killer is stalking your home town.
He has a type: all his victims look the same.
And they all look like you.

Kate returns from a post break-up holiday with her girlfriends to news of a serial killer in her home town – and his victims all look like her.

It could, of course, be a simple coincidence.

Or maybe not.

She becomes convinced she is being watched, followed even. Is she next? And could her mild-mannered ex-boyfriend really be a deranged murderer?
Or is the truth something far more sinister?

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The book starts with Kate and her girlfriends on vacation in Turkey. While there, Kate meets a man from her hometown. This was not odd to me as I've seen the Brits on vacation. I was unaware of the reputation of the 'British Tourist'  before living in the UK because while I live in a touristy area...we don't get a lot of Brits so it was truly a revelation.

I mean revelation as the coming of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. I'm not going to go off a massive tangent but there's a large grouping of the British tourist set that are infamous for their behavior. Let's just say when I went to Spain that there were little colonies of ex-pats everywhere, with pubs, British food, no Spanish anywhere, etc. We don't really get that type of tourist where I live as it costs an arm and a leg to visit here so maybe they're too busy getting their money's worth. 

Not important to the book other than to say, it is not shocking a character would run into someone from her hometown...I ran into several people from my area of the UK because they congregate near their pubs (which were on the way to the beach). Right, back to the book. One of the reasons that Kate has taken a holiday is her breakup with longtime boyfriend, Phil. Phil hasn't taken their breakup well and this is a situation for Kate that continues throughout the book. Phil is quite desperate to get back with her and because of that he crosses all sorts of boundaries that she sets up.

Upon returning to her home in England, Kate hears the news that another young woman has been found murdered. This is a bit unnerving to her because both of the murdered woman resemble her. As the book progresses more women are murdered, who all look like Kate, which adds to her fear over Phil's inability to let their relationship go.

Kate also begins to date the man she met on holiday (who was named Mike). Mike helps her secure her house and doesn't freak out when Kate tells him of her concerns about Phil and this mysterious serial killer.

Intertwined throughout the book is the backstory of Kate's friendship with three other girls (they call themselves the "fab four") and the little mystery that one of them is no longer with the group. It's unknown if there was a falling out or the other woman has died. Also included are scenes from the killer's point of view, his raison d'etre so to speak.

The denouement of the book is, of course, Kate vs. the serial killer. His/Her identity is confirmed, the whereabouts of the missing fourth friend is revealed and Kate has to fight for her life. I'll go ahead and say that I gave this three stars (as in I liked it well enough but don't feel like a re-read anytime soon). I thought that some of the characters were a little extra (ex: Kate donning a disguise/revamp of her look to fool the serial killer) but not really verging on the "too stupid to live"/TSTL trope. I also found the whole plot predictable (but it's a fairly normative plot in a murder-mystery way, so that didn't annoy me) with red herrings that weren't that believable.

The only part of the book that kept me in suspense was what happened to Kate's vanished friend. Alex Lake could have gone multiple ways to give a resolution there but I thought the one she picked was the most interesting.

This book was an easy read, I read it in under two hours. Lake's other book (After Anna) seems to be a favorite across the web so that might be a good book for me to check out from the library. As for Killing Kate, I'll be honest with you, if you don't find the characters TSTL than this is a nice enough beach read but if they grate on you I don't think this book will be for you. 



If you'd like to read a sample from this book, Harper Collins has proved one here.