Killing Me

March 13, 2023
Gagnon (Unearthly Things) sets a high bar for herself—making a crime novel that centers on multiple serial killers funny—but doesn’t quite clear it. Amber Jamison is bound and gagged in the back of a van in Johnson City, Tenn., the latest captive of the Pikachu Killer. Under imminent threat of being strangled, shaved, and painted to resemble a Pokémon character, Jamison is rescued by a ski-masked woman who wields a cattle prod and kills Jamison’s captor. Her narrow escape from danger proves short-lived, though, as Jamison makes her way to Las Vegas and finds herself involved in the search for another serial killer. Her rescuer resurfaces under unsettling circumstances, and Gagnon reveals that Jamison is a veteran con who may have faked her initial capture. Jamison’s narration never quite convinces, though she does land a few jokes and twists along the way. Readers seeking a serial killer thriller with a light touch would be better served by Benjamin Stevenson’s Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone. Agent: Stephanie Kip Rostan, Levine Greenberg Rostan.