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“An invaluable manual that I return to again and again.”―Hugh Grant
I wasn't smashing the patriarchy; I was killing it. Literally.
Hazel and Fox are an ordinary married couple with a baby. Except for one small thing: they're murderers. Well, they used to be. They had it all. An enviable London lifestyle, five-star travels, and plenty of bad men to rid from the world. Then Hazel got pregnant.
Now, they’re just another mom-and-dad-and-baby. They gave up vigilante justice for life in the suburbs: arranged play dates instead of body disposals, diapers over daggers, mommy conversations instead of the sweet seduction right before a kill. Hazel finds her new life terribly dull. And the more she forces herself to play her monotonous, predictable role, the more she begins to feel that murderous itch again.
Meanwhile, Fox has really taken to being a father. Always the planner, he loves being five steps ahead of everyone and knowing exactly what’s coming around the bend. Plus, if anyone can understand Hazel needing one more kill, it’s Fox. But then Hazel kills someone without telling Fox. And when police show up at their door, Hazel realizes it will take everything she has to keep her family together.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
January 14, 2025 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9798217020324
- File size: 282287 KB
- Duration: 09:48:02
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from October 21, 2024
Artist Hazel Matthews and wealthy heir Nathaniel Foxton “Fox” Cabot, the married protagonists of Mackay’s wildly entertaining latest (after The Nursery), have spent the last few years traveling across Europe, murdering men who prey on women. Their exploits have earned them the Interpol nickname “the Backpacking Butcher.” When Hazel becomes pregnant, Fox decides it’s time to settle down, and the couple decamps to the London suburbs to raise their daughter. Fox takes a job in an office; Hazel sees her artistic inspiration buried beneath a mountain of diapers and playdates. Restless, she kills a man on her own—one who she believes deserved to die. Soon, however, Hazel learns that one of the mothers from her toddler’s playgroup is a cop who’s been investigating the case of the Backpacking Butcher, and that this latest kill has put her on Hazel’s trail. Mackay brilliantly exaggerates the stifling aspects of parenthood through the eyes of her charismatic killers, wringing both laughs and pathos from her deliciously outlandish premise. This is sensational. Agent: Alice Luytens, Curtis Brown U.K. (Jan.)Correction: A previous version of this review incorrectly identified the cop who is investigating the case of the Backpacking Butcher. -
Georgia Tennant's lively performance as main character "Haze" and Kyle Soller's more understated interpretation of her husband, Fox, might make us think that these two somewhat boring suburbanites are just like their upscale neighbors--hosting dinner parties and caring for their adorable 2-year-old, Bibi. Haze attends mommy/baby groups, while Fox goes into London for work. Perfectly ordinary, right? Not quite. Because Haze and Fox are former serial killers--of bad men only, of course. Through shifting points of view, Tennant's sometimes snarky, sometimes melancholy delivery and Soller's deliberate cadence perfectly articulate the story's darkly humorous tone. The audiobook is a bit too long, but the characters are peculiarly endearing. S.G. © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine
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