Madie’s Margins: A Bad Book but a Good Time–How to Kill Men and Get Away with It

Rating: 2.3 stars

“How to Kill Men and Get Away with It” by Katy Brent is not my typical read; it’s a semi-popular BookTok thriller, with a millennial focus. However, it was marketed as a dark comedy and a female rage novel. I’m a female with rage, so why not?

The premise of the book was interesting, as it followed Instagram influencer Kitty Collins who, fed up with men, decides to start killing the worst of the worst, describing herself as a “female Dexter.” The book is dedicated to “...every woman who has ever walked home with her keys between her fingers,” which hooked me.

Unfortunately, while I was reading the book, I noticed many contradictions, for example:

Kitty, in the first few chapters, states that she doesn’t overdo it with alcohol in public, because even an open-book influencer has her secrets. She says when she does drink, she drinks herself into oblivion, and she does it privately. Kitty then proceeds to drink excessively in public constantly, even taking shots of straight vodka on an empty stomach.

Kitty is vegan, but early on she doesn’t seem overly serious, admitting to having Botox, which isn’t vegan-friendly. Then, she spends the rest of the book being self-righteously disgusted by others eating meat, a foreign seafood restaurant not having a separate vegan menu and the thought of someone becoming vegan for any reason other than moral obligation. After a while, Kitty’s veganism starts to feel forced down the reader’s throat. I understand the satire of Kitty being horrified to see a pig sent through meat processing, yet Kitty being euphoric to watch the same occur to a predator. I just feel like she comes on too strong and hypocritical.

Despite the book being dedicated to women who hold their keys between their fingers, and Kitty doing the same in the earlier chapters, when she spots a woman doing this while being followed, she thinks it’s stupid and ineffective.

Despite these inconsistencies that seem to be the result of poor editing, Kitty Collins is, in general, annoying, hypocritical and, despite her literally stating she is “not like these other girls,” she is in fact like every other girl mentioned, except for the fact that she is a murderer.

Kitty discusses the various eating disorders of her best friends very lightly, including her friend Tor’s bulimia. Kitty is aware of the eating disorder in real time and still trivializes it, even as Tor drinks foreign tap water to make herself sick, which is very dangerous.

Despite some readers calling Kitty “a sociopath with a selfie stick,” which I find hilarious, I don’t think the book gives Kitty ample characterization to explain the shenanigans in her head.

I would like to take a moment to state that having a mental illness does not cause someone to do bad things. It’s clear that the majority of people with mental conditions are fully functioning members of society and so many are wonderful people who do awesome things.

However, there’s a link between poorly treated conditions and violent behavior, and I wish there was some psychological discussion about Kitty’s behavior. My issue isn’t that Kitty isn’t mentally ill enough to be a serial killer, but that Brent creates a serial killer vigilante, who self-medicates with alcohol and downers without considering the mental state of her protagonist beyond her short-term responses to traumatic events.

The last major critique I’d like to make is the inconsistent writing style. There are high points, but it’s mostly just dry millennial cringe. Even though millennial cringe isn’t inherently bad, it’s not the dark comedy I was hoping for. There were two separate Hello Kitty references, and, in my opinion, that is two too many. At the book’s worst, there were these overly artsy descriptions that read less like a thriller and more like a 12-year-old’s “Sold to One Direction” escapism fanfiction.

So, it was a bad book. There are very few nice things I can say about it, except that I read it. In fact, I devoured it. I was giddy watching the dumpster fire, and I was making s’mores as Kitty continued to up the ante past all limits of suspension of disbelief. That does count for something, and there are some redeeming qualities. There's a handful of interesting characters like Tor and Hen, friends of Kitty’s, and a truly phenomenal plot twist.

To recap, this book is incohesive, the main character makes me want to rip my hair out and Tumblr called to get its one-liners back. It’s so crazy, it may still be worth the read, especially if you skim over Kitty’s inner monologue.

Kidding! ...Maybe.