A darkly twisted and wonderfully original debut thriller for fans of Riley Sager and Jessica Knoll – at an annual weekend getaway for the adult children of serial killers, the participants begin to wonder if somebody’s continuing the family tradition when one of their number turns up dead.

Plenty of people have lousy parents, but Nicola Fischer’s father has just been convicted of murdering five young women, including her best friend. Fired from her job and hounded by reporters, Nicola passes the time by doomscrolling and drunk-dialling Greer Woods, the alluring host of the hit show To Catch a Killer, who cracked the case and turned Nicola’s life upside down before disappearing along with her so-called ‘best intentions’.

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When an email from Greer finally shows up in Nicola’s inbox, there’s no apology or explanation, just a cryptic invitation. The Death Row Club is an annual weekend getaway for the adult children of serial killers – and Nicola is the newest reluctant member. Desperate to escape her small town, she accepts the offer with barely a second thought, forging tentative bonds with her fellow club members, most of whom seem intriguing, and only slightly unhinged.

But when an uninvited guest shows up at their remote wilderness retreat, everyone is put on high alert, and the next morning paranoia turns to outright fear. Because one of their own is dead, and the rest of them are left with only one question.

If the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree, which of them is the bad seed?

My Review

As the daughter of a prolific serial killer, whose story has just been told on the hit show To Catch a Killer, Nicola Fischer’s life is in tatters. Fired from her job as an art teacher, too many people believe she colluded with her father and is therefore guilty by association. She is going to lose her house, she doesn’t know what to do.

Greer Woods, the woman who hosts the show and purported to be her friend has disappeared. She ignores her texts. Then Nicola gets an invitation to a weekend retreat called the Death Row Club for the children of serial killers.

On the plane survivor Zach swaps seats to sit next to her and soon reveals that’s where he is going too. It’s all very strange and mysterious. Once on the island, it becomes even stranger. There is someone in the woods who seems to know who they are and why they are there. She just wants to stay to hide from her abusive father. But they don’t want her there or understand how she knows about the retreat, and so Zach is tasked with returning her to the mainland.

It’s at this point that we need to decide if Nicola is an unreliable narrator. When one of the party turns up dead, she becomes the main suspect, because she is the only one that no-one knows. I must admit that I too started to doubt her innocence. We only have her word that she didn’t know that her father was a murderer.

There are so many twists and turns in the second half that I did get confused, plus one scene I found a bit unbelievable. Occasionally I had to reread and try to work it out. The whole Steffani story was a bit of a distraction for me, but all in all it was a cracking read.

Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours

About the Author

VA Vazquez was born and raised in Buffalo, NY where she currently teaches English. She received her BA in English from Barnard College and used to live in Scotland in a town inhabited by more sheep than people.