Review: We Kill Killers (Dark Crime Series #2) by S.T. Ashman

     

Print Length: 300 pages

Publisher:  S.T. Ashman (June 7, 2024)

From Goodreads.com: In the gripping sequel to the thriller hit I Kill Killers, Leah and Agent Richter return—this time as an uneasy duo, balancing on the razor’s edge of trust and chaos.

When an old foe resurfaces in Boston, Leah and Agent Richter are thrown into a deadly race to stop a new wave of brutal murders.
But working together is anything but simple.
Leah, a vigilante who fights fire with fire, thrives on breaking rules. Agent Richter, bound by duty, knows she’s as dangerous as the killers they’re hunting.
Yet, he trusts her.

Their fragile alliance is tested when a new FBI agent arrives, bringing questions they can’t afford to answer and dangers they can’t escape.

In this deadly game of cat and mouse, Leah and Richter have only one choice: hunt—or be hunted.

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My Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Even though this was very much what I would call a filler novel (and I’ll get to that in a moment), I did enjoy this one more than the first book. I liked watching the tentative alliance between Richter and Leah slowly take shape as they began to trust one another, even if true to form, Leah tended to take her role in things a bit more  enthusiastically than Richter would have liked. Still, their dynamic felt more solid here, and that alone made the story more engaging for me.

I also really liked the introduction of Agent Rose. She brought a much-needed layer of unpredictability to the narrative. We know exactly why she was brought in, and under what circumstances she became a mole for the brass, but I appreciated that she wasn’t written as a passive observer. She held her own, never let Richter get under her skin, and maybe most importantly, when she was given sensitive information, she didn’t immediately dismiss it. Instead, she did her own research to either prove or disprove what she’d been told. That choice said a lot about her moral compass and who she is as a character. I even liked the ending, which I have seen a lot of people hated, because it clearly and effectively set up the third and final book in the trilogy.

Now, where this one lost points for me (and why I called it a filler novel) is the handling of the overarching plot. The train track killer from book one carries over into this story, yet for the majority of the book, we are no closer to learning who he is or why he does what he does. Instead, we’re given two other killers who are “dealt with.” One turns into a full-blown media circus that, in my opinion, was completely unnecessary, while the other death barely registers at all. Other than serving as a reminder that Leah is, in fact, a serial killer who kills serial killers, these deaths felt pointless. After the initial chaos surrounding the first one dies down, it’s never mentioned again; despite the involvement of political parties, which you would think would have lasting repercussions. The second is handled even more casually, never referenced again after Leah tells Richter she took care of it.

There were also several scenes involving Agent Rose that had little to do with her role as an agent, like her interactions with gangbangers or her reporting to McCourt. While these moments did add depth to her character and showed what she was dealing with behind the scenes, it still felt like padding when one of the main reasons I continued the series in the first place was barely being addressed.

That said, I already have the third and final book downloaded on my Kindle, and I fully intend to jump right in. Despite the excess filler and stalled plot progression, that ending was perfectly executed. To quote an the Electric Light Orchestra song, “We’re heading for a showdown.” And honestly? I can’t wait to see it.