‘He’s coming for you….’
– The Killing Kind
[ About the Book ]
He tells you you’re special…
As a barrister, Ingrid Lewis is used to dealing with tricky clients, but no one has ever come close to John Webster. After Ingrid defended Webster against a stalking charge, he then turned on her – following her, ruining her relationship, even destroying her home.
He tells you he wants to protect you…
Now, Ingrid believes she has finally escaped his clutches. But when one of her colleagues is run down on a busy London road, Ingrid is sure she was the intended victim. And then Webster shows up at her door…
But can you believe him?
Webster claims Ingrid is in danger – and that only he can protect her. Stalker or saviour? Murderer or protector? The clock is ticking for Ingrid to decide. Because the killer is ready to strike again.
[ My Review ]
The Killing Kind by Jane Casey was just published May 27th with Harper Collins and is described as the ‘new break-out thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author.’ Jane Casey is known for her bestselling crime fiction series featuring the tenacious Maeve Kerrigan and The Killing Kind is sure not to disappoint the legions of Casey fans all looking for more from this most authentic of crime writers.
‘Nobody understands the dark gap between justice and the law better than Jane Casey’
Val McDermid
‘A compulsive page-turner ’
Steve Cavanagh
‘A truly masterly thriller’
Liz Nugent
Ingrid Lewis is a free-lance barrister in London. Once upon a time her life had been unfolding nicely, working in a job she enjoyed and living with the man she loved and hoped to marry someday. But in 2016 Ingrid crossed paths with John Webster, a man with a twisted sense of right and wrong, a psychopath who latched on to Ingrid following a case that saw his defence team win in court. Ingrid had been part of the team. John Webster became obsessed with Ingrid making her life hell, destroying her confidence and ruining her relationship. Eventually he was incarcerated for unrelated criminal activity but Ingrid had recently heard he was up for release. Ingrid has tried to rebuild her life following its piece-by-piece destruction by John Webster. She has moved to a different home on numerous occasions and her whole demeanour is now subdued. Ingrid no longer wants to be noticed
‘I opted for flats so I could get places quickly, and work clothes that verged on dowdiness they were so plain. I didn’t like attracting attention any more.’
But Ingrid loves her job and the thrill of the courtroom helps her to get up and out every morning. On one particular day she enters the ladies cloakroom and loans her umbrella to a colleague. This simple act was to unleash a chain of events that would almost send Ingrid over the edge. Her colleague died a very tragic death that day, under the wheels of a truck, an event thought by the police to be an unfortunate accident. But Ingrid doesn’t believe this. Ingrid thinks it was meant to her lying dead in the morgue and that her colleague’s death was all due to the fact that she had been using Ingrid’s umbrella.
When a second young woman is found savagely murdered, a woman with direct links to Ingrid, she is convinced that John Webster is involved. But what she had not expected was that he would come back into her life with his sleazy and disconcerting personality and claim his innocence. He is adamant that he is not involved in these supposed threats against Ingrid’s life. And he wants to help…..
Ingrid deals in facts and evidence. Certainty is what Ingrid needs before she is convinced of something. She is analytical and practical. She is used to gathering information, connecting the dots and presenting them to a judge and jury.
With John Webster’s words slowly infiltrating her thoughts, Ingrid begins to wonder who she can trust. She feels panicky, very unsettled. With little evidence to prove her theory, Ingrid decides to take a more forensic look at the information she has gathered to date.
‘I think about my job, which is to take facts of a case and arrange them into a story – without elaborating or exaggerating – and how that story must convince the jury to believe my version of events. I am very convincing. I tell a good story’
Ingrid’s job as a barrister require objectivity and it is with this eye that she disassembles the information available to her. Yet every-time she takes a step forward, something else happens knocking her back both physically and emotionally. Ingrid is scared. She genuinely believes there is a target on her head yet she is unable to convince others that she is correct. John Webster believes her but can she believe him? After everything he has put her through, after the complete destruction of her previously perfect life, can John Webster ever be trusted?
A game of cat and mouse ensues as Ingrid attempts to unravel the truth. I will admit that Ingrid’s actions did frustrate me at times as I *quietly* roared ‘Why’? Living on the edge, with paranoia her constant companion, Ingrid does seem to lose control of her senses, taking risks that seem completely irrational for someone who works so closely with facts. John Webster, however, takes centre stage for me. He is a brilliantly drawn, sinister individual who really creeped me out. He is intimidating with every action, every word. His logic is beyond warped and his perverted view of justice makes for very disconcerting reading.
Ingrid Lewis and John Webster have a very distorted relationship. He frightens Ingrid, yet she seems to hold a certain amount of respect for him. I think his personality scares her, yet fascinates her, in equal measures. A strange but intriguing dance to witness, and wonderfully portrayed by Jane Casey.
The Killing Kind is a highly enjoyable, engaging read filled with menace, suspense and lots of drama. The theme of stalking is most certainly dark but Jane Casey deftly handles it, while also adding her own amusing side notes and turn of phrase throughout. As expected, the legal side of the story is very realistic, at times providing a very thought-provoking look at some of the more unsavoury aspects of a barrister’s job and how the judicial process works.
And the fantastic news is that The Killing Kind is set For TV Adaptation By Sony’s Eleventh Hour Films.
“I am thrilled to be working with such an incredible team to bring ‘The Killing Kind’ to TV,” said Casey. “Zara and Jonathan’s creative response to the book is enormously exciting and I look forward to working with them, Paula Cuddy and the team at Eleventh Hour Films to tell Ingrid’s story in a new way.”
– Ref VARIETY Read more HERE
[ Bio ]
Jane Casey has written eleven crime novels for adults and three for teenagers. A former editor, she is married to is no stranger to a criminal barrister who ensures her writing is realistic and as accurate as possible.
This authenticity has made her novels international bestsellers and critical successes. The Maeve Kerrigan series has been nominated for many awards: in 2015 Jane won the Mary Higgins Clark Award and the Irish Crime Novel of the Year for The Stranger You Know and After the Fire, respectively, and won the Irish Independent Crime Novel of the Year Award for Cruel Acts, at the Irish Book Awards 2019.
Born in Dublin, Jane now lives in southwest London with her family.
Twitter ~@JaneCaseyAuthor
