Book Review: Killer Potential by Hannah Deitch
The Details
Media Type: Ebook
Title: Killer Potential
Author(s): Hannah Deitch
Publisher: William Morrow
Pages/Length: 320 pages; Hardcover
Release Date: March 18, 2025
Source: NetGalley
Add it on: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookshop | Libro.fm
Darkly funny and provocative, this edge-of-your-seat thrill ride follows two unlikely fugitives—an SAT tutor who finds her rich employers brutally murdered and the bound woman she frees from their mansion—an irresistible debut novel perfect for fans of The Guest and My Sister, the Serial Killer
A scholarship kid with straight As and big dreams, Evie Gordon always thought she was special, that she’d be someone. But after graduating from an elite university, she finds herself drowning in debt and working as an SAT tutor for the super-rich of Los Angeles.
Everything changes one Sunday, when she arrives for her weekly lesson at the Victors’ Beverly Hills estate and, in lieu of a bored teenager, finds the bloody remains of the parents strewn through their beautiful back garden, and a woman crying for help within a closet. As Evie works to free her, the two are spotted—and within moments, they go from bystanders to suspects to fugitives.
Suddenly at the heart of a manhunt and accompanied by a mysterious woman who refuses to speak, Evie knows the only way to clear her name is to find the real killer. But first she’ll have to break down the barriers of her companion, who is quickly becoming the most important person in Evie’s upside-down life. Their breathless spree takes them across the U.S. as developments in the case shock the nation and the press runs wild with Evie’s a gifted kid turned killer. She’s now on the cover of every magazine and newspaper—anointed the new Charles Manson, a bloodthirsty ninety-nine percenter looking to start a class war. Evie is finally someone.
By turns cuttingly hilarious and deeply insightful, Killer Potential is a strikingly original debut. A literary novel with the page-turning intensity of a thriller that asks timely questions about our belief in the romance of social mobility, and how the stories we’re sold about our potential can shape the course of our lives.
The Review
Is it cliché to start this review with the fact that Killer Potential had so much potential, but ultimately didn’t complete the assignment? That’s truly how I feel about this book, and I’ve given myself a fair amount of time to mull it over. I was pulled in by the premise of a “lesbian Bonnie and Clyde story” and I do love a good literary crime novel. My hopes were high! Alas, there were a lot of things about Killer Potential that just didn’t do it for me.
Let’s start with the good first though. There’s a lot of good narrative in this story, especially at the points where Evie is critiquing the current state of America. She mentions a lot about feeling let down by the education system, and there is a fair amount of commentary on corporate crime and how it thrives in the shadows. I even agreed with Evie’s outlook on the mega rich, and their all too shiny lives hiding so much darkness. When Evie has a moment where she feels oddly pleased to be in the spotlight, regardless of the circumstances that got here there, I felt that too.
The problem is that as relatable as Evie is in some ways, she’s also endlessly frustrating in other ways. There’s a lot about this story that requires you to fully suspend disbelief. The spree of car jackings, the altercations with witnesses, and even just the sheer amount of time that Evie and Jae are able to stay uncaught by the police were pretty baffling. I know there would be no story otherwise, but Evie makes a whole bunch of terrible decisions. Truth be told, I wanted to literally shake her so many times.
My other issue was Jae’s backstory. When the story starts out she’s unknowable. Tough as nails, but unwilling to divulge anything concrete about herself. Which, makes sense, once you get to the twists in this story. It was the idea that Jae’s impoverished upbringing led her to this point in her life that frustrated me. The idea that poverty and crime are inevitably linked is just so cliché. I would have loved to see a deeper character arc for our Jae. She deserved so much more.
The plot itself isn’t too badly done. The beginning of the novel is understandably slow, as the reasons that Evie is now a wanted criminal slowly unfold. I actually enjoyed this part the most, as the two women got to know and trust one another. Be warned, there are on on-page, pretty steamy love scenes here. In case that’s not your jam. The second half of the book then went into warp speed to round things out before the ending. This latter half felt like an entirely separate book and threw me off a bit, but I did like the ending! It was solid.
So, yeah, 3 stars from me! There’s a lot of good here, and I know this is going to be a book that a lot of readers enjoy.
