The Killing Kind

Written by Jane Casey

Narrated by Emily Barber

Now a major new TV series starring Emma Appleton and Colin Morgan The incredible new break-out thriller from the bestselling author.

Ingrid will never forget what John did.
The people he hurt. The way he lied about it so easily. The way she defended him.

Now he’s back.
He says a murderer is after her. He says only he can protect her.

Would you trust him?
The clock is ticking for Ingrid to decide. Because the killer is ready to strike…

Praise for The Killing Kind

'Nobody understands the dark gap between justice and the law better than Jane Casey' Val McDermid

‘Cool, accomplished, compulsive’ Cara Hunter

‘Extremely tense and very gripping’ Ruth Ware

‘A compulsive page-turner ’ Steve Cavanagh

‘A breathless game of cat-and-mouse’ Erin Kelly

‘A truly masterly thriller’ Liz Nugent

‘Tense and well-plotted’ Harriet Tyce

‘Each twist tightens the screw’ J. R. Ellis

‘Tense, pacy, addictive’ Sarah Vaughan

‘Brilliant plotted’ Catherine Cooper

'One of my favourite writers’ Dervla McTiernan

‘Twisty and unexpected’ Ann Cleeves

‘Heart-stopping twists ’ Sarah Hilary

‘Endlessly surprising’ Catherine Ryan Howard

‘One of those 'just one more page' books’ Susi Holliday

‘Authentic, tense, thrilling’ Will Dean

‘Intricate’ Jane Shemilt

'Fast-paced’ Jo Spain

‘Brilliant’ The Times

‘Creepily good’ Daily Mail

‘Chilling’ Sunday Times

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: May 27, 2021
• ISBN: 9780008492311

Jane Casey

Jane Casey was born and brought up in Dublin. She then studied English at Jesus College, Oxford, followed by an mPhil in Anglo-Irish Literature at Trinity College, Dublin. Married to a criminal barrister, she lives in London and worked in publishing as a children's books editor.

Reviews for The Killing Kind

[K G · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Thoroughly enjoyed this one. It is a bit over the top and implausible, but it keeps you guessing, what seems obvious isn’t, the characters are rich and well developed and the narration is phenomenal. Will definitely seek more by the narrator and will look for other books by the author - hopefully her novels aren’t too formulatic.

[Angel White · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Lately it seems like these kinds of Audiobooks start out really good, then lag majorly in the middle, become entirely too predicable to enjoy, and then just relief when finished. ? Hopefully the next one will be better.

[smik_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Barrister Ingrid Lewis persuades the Crown prosecutor to drop the charge of stalking against John Webster by destroying his victim Emma Seaton as a trustworthy witness. They had been in a relationship for a number of years and Emma clearly could not get away from him. He took her savings; he beckoned, she came running. Ingrid's treatment of Emma in court is cruel, and eventually Emma tries to take some revenge.Little does Ingrid realise that she too will become one of John Webster's victims. Things begin to happen shortly after the stalking trial - strange phone calls, her fiance's parked car is damaged, Ingrid's details appear on a call girl website, and more. Ingrid is convinced the source of the problems is John Webster, but he convinces investigating police that he is blameless.As the story ramps up, the author uses some interesting devices to add to the plot and to provide more mystery: email conversations between three people, court reports and so on.A well constructed novel that has the reader wondering about everyone in Ingrid's life, and just how good a judge of character she is. And she is obviously dangerous to know....

[booklover217 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"Trusting him was like keeping a great white shark as a pet."If don't trust anyone, including yourself was a book then The Killing Kind by Jane Casey would be it. Imagine someone killing people around you but you're the intended target and to top it off the only person who it seems you can trust is your stalker, ex-client. What a concept! This book had me in a state of panic from the first few pages. I have never been so scared for a character, like I was for Ingrid. The suspense building was on point and had my heart racing the entire time. I didn't trust a single soul and I couldn't believe how trusting Ingrid was. Webster, the stalker gave me Dexter and Hannibal vibes. My level of anxiety as I read this one was through the roof. It was psychological thriller gold. I had to keep putting it down but then I would feel instant fear because I needed to know if Ingrid was going to be safe through the night. If this was a movie, I would be alternating between holding my breath, covering my eyes and screaming. It had everything I loved in a thriller.What really hit home were the themes at the core of the plot. It makes you see how victims are blamed and not believed, especially women. It shows how the law isn't perfect and it's not always about guilt or innocence. Being good or bad is not an either/or concept. It also shows how trauma and fear can keep you trapped and put blinders on you. One of the main themes was how often the justice system fails women and treats their concerns as hysteria. I highly recommend this one if you love a book that's gonna play with your mind and keep your heart thumping put of your chest. Someone point me in the direction of Jane Casey's backlist because I need them all.Thanks to @harpercollins and @tlcbooktours for the gifted copy. #TheKillingKind #JaneCasey #HarperCollins #TLCBookTour #thrillers #fiction #psychological #bookstagram #bookreview #tbr #bookrecommendation #bookish #booksandmurals #booksandart #reading #spookyseason #books #bookworm #bibliophile #booktour #newrelease #bookphotos #stalker #bookfeature #bookstagrammer #readersofIG #scarybooks #gifted

[samantha71020 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Killing Kind was a suspenseful read that kept me turning the pages as fast as I could. It's actually a pretty thick book - my copy was 470 pages but I flew through it. It's one of those reads that you don't want to set down because you just want to see what is going to happen next. One of the things that I enjoyed the most about this book was that you didn't know who to trust. Ingrid previously had a stalker - John Webster - who it seems like may be coming back into her life. And as the summary above states - he is stating that he can help her because it does look like someone is trying to hurt or kill her. Could it be John that is trying to insert himself into her life again or who is trying to cause her harm? Or could it be someone else trying to hurt her possibly related to her job as she works in criminal defense. Who can she trust? Is there anyone? These questions swirled around constantly in my head while I was reading this book. It really helped to up the level of tension and suspense that was present throughout this book. I was so caught up in this book that I just didn't want to set this book down. I especially was intrigued by John Webster's character and what his motivations were. This book won't be for everyone though - it deals with some difficult subject matter that won't be for every reader. I will include content warnings below for the major ones but if you have specific questions just let me know. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and am eager to read more by this author!Read this book if you enjoy suspenseful, page turning reads that you don't want to set down. I've read one of this author's book so far (book one in a long running series of hers) and this was a great reminder that I need to get back to that series. This book would be a great place to start if you don't want to begin a long running series and want to give her a try with a standalone instead. Highly recommended!Bottom Line: A book that I just couldn't stop reading!Disclosure: I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher as part of a TLC book tour. Honest thoughts are my own.Content Warnings: Rape (this is on page somewhat so be warned that this could be triggering for some readers), suicide, stalking

[twink_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Jane Casey is a Sunday Times bestselling author. Her latest book is a standalone titled The Killing Kind.Ingrid works as a barrister. She defended John Webster on stalking charges and won. But, he then turned his attentions to Ingrid and her life.Novels with stalkers in the mix are quite frightening. I think that's because it's quite real, especially with social media playing such a large part in so many lives. For a novelist, it gives a plot many directions to take.Casey did a great job creating a wonderfully creepy antagonist in John Webster. His dialogue and actions let the reader experience his sociopathic tendencies. I'm torn on Ingrid. She started off as a likable character, but then seemed to become a different person. In the end, I didn't like her at all. There are unknown characters that also play a part in this plot. We only know there's something afoot from their email exchanges.Casey flips the timeline from past to present as we learn that what has transpired is affecting what's happening now. The connection is fairly obvious, but Casey puts a nice twist into the mix in the final chapters. (Saw that one coming too)The Killing Kind was a bit of a chunkster coming in at 480 pages. I do think it could have been pared down a bit. The first bit had me totally engrossed, but the hold the book had on me lessened as it progressed. Ingrid got repetitive, essentially doing the same thing again and again. Cat and mouse games are fun, but only for so many times. I will be the first to say that I'm quite pragmatic. I did find some of Ingrid's actions to also be more than a little far fetched for a number of reasons including - is she not in fear for her life? The Killing Kind is entertaining, but not as believable has I would hoped. That being said, I can see this one as a movie.

[nbmars · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When we first meet Ingrid Lewis in her late twenties in 2019, she has been a London barrister for the past seven years.She justifies helping to get “not guilty” verdicts for less than savory defendants by explaining that “We separated ourselves from questions of morality because we had to. Everyone deserved a decent defence or justice couldn’t be done.” But Ingrid is perhaps a little too good at what she does, and relentless. She admits: “You weren’t there to get answers. You were there to coax your witness to give the evidence that made your case, or to goad them into saying something that demolished the prosecution’s case, depending on which side you were on.”As the story develops, however, Ingrid begins to see that there are more important considerations than just winning or losing. Especially in cases involving women who have made accusations of abuse against men, the consequences of losing these “he said, she said” cases can be devastating, not only to the victims, but to the barristers who helped get their abusers off the hook. To her horror, a number of people associated with a particular “not guilty” verdict she helped achieved are dying in curious “accidents,” and Ingrid has had a number of close escapes herself. She knows she is targeted but can’t prove it. Experiencing a problem common to many abused women, she finds that “I was all too familiar with trying to tell police officers about . . . ’unwanted attention’ . . . No one took you seriously until you were dead, and by then - from your point of view, anyway - it was too late.”And in fact, the narrative is interspersed with email exchanges among people who clearly intend to harm Ingrid, but it is not apparent who these people are or why they are so intent on killing her.She also has been openly harassed by John Webster, a client she actually helped get exonerated in 2016, but who became obsessed with Ingrid. She told the police that Webster “likes fear. He likes manipulating his targets. He was drawn to me because he wanted to see what it would take to break me. I was confident, I suppose, and . . . happy. He saw me as a challenge.”He had been in prison for nine months for a fraud case. Ingrid had a restraining order on him but it recently expired. And now Ingrid sees him everywhere, both figuratively and literally. He comes close to destroying everything she ever had, even besides her peace of mind. She even lost her fiancé Mark Orpen, with whom she was madly in love, but we only find out how and why later in the book.It seems there is only one member of the police who takes Ingrid’s fears seriously, Adam Nash. He positions himself as Ingrid’s protector, and she increasingly turns to him for both physical and emotional support as the tension ratchets up.But readers don’t know who to trust any more than Ingrid does, or even if Ingrid’s account of what has been happening can be trusted. Meanwhile, the bodies keep piling up.Evaluation: This psychological crime thriller is plenty tense and scary, with a cast of characters almost uniformly suspicious, and a continuing onslaught of twists and turns. Running underneath the story is also the disturbing theme of what happens to women who are targeted by men, and how easy it is for men to get away with what they do to them. If you have a strong stomach and don’t get easily triggered by abuse, this book will keep you turning the pages. It doesn’t rise to the level in quality of her Maeve Kerrigan series, however. It's a bit uneven and none of the characters are all that likeable.

[pgchuis · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

SPOILERSThis was very readable, but rather unconvincing. It was obvious to me from very early on that Adam was one of the mysterious gang of three exchanging emails about Ingrid, so there was no big twist for me. I couldn't get my head around Webster - what exactly did he want from/for Ingrid? Would he really have given up at the end? Are most stalkers also career conmen? Why did Ingrid believe Mark had been having an affair when their relationship was demonstrated to be so solid, and she knew the sorts of things Webster was capable of? Two undercover police officers were set to watch over Ingrid and a whole team were investigating her (tenuous, albeit ultimately mostly correct) suspicions, but no one informed Ingrid herself? And so on and so on.I did approve of her decision at the very end about Vicki and Vicky though.Looking forward to the return of Maeve and Josh.

[vanessacw · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ingrid Lewis is a barrister and after defending a particularly crafty stalker, finds herself stalked by him herself. And then one of her colleagues is killed and Ingrid thinks she’s the intended victim. Is her stalker trying to kill her? You will have to read this book to find out!This is a gripping psychological thriller no doubt about it. There are plenty of twists and turns - it’s definitely a real rollercoaster of a ride. I never knew where it was heading next. I did have to suspend belief at times but I was desperate to find out where it was all heading. With a great cast of characters, an intricate plot and an engaging style of writing, it made for an exciting read. This is the first book I’ve read by this author but it won’t be my last.