Melissa ~ Bantering Books's Reviews > Love in the Time of Serial Killers

Talk about paranoid.

Phoebe Walsh is obsessed with all things true crime. It’s even the subject of her dissertation. The problem is, because of her obsession she suspects everyone she meets of being a serial killer. Which, of course, doesn’t bode well for romantic relationships.

So when her new neighbor, Sam, offers to help move a desk into her family home late one night, in his bare feet, Phoebe knows he’s up to no good and is probably out to kill her. And it doesn’t matter that he’s handsome, kind, or that her heart speeds up at the mere sight of him. In her mind, he’s a murderer – and no way will she cave into the attraction and be involved with the next Jack the Ripper.

Sure. Whatever you say, Phoebe.

Being a romance novel, there’s not a whole lot of surprises in the pages of Alicia Thompson’s Love in the Time of Serial Killers. We know how the story will go. But the fact that I loved it as much as I did caught me unawares, along with the amount of depth there is to Phoebe’s character.

Phoebe is complicated. She’s sensitive and insecure but also an abrasive asshole, all because she has impenetrable walls around her heart and doesn’t know how to be vulnerable. And poor Sam, she makes things so hard for him. She pulls him towards her and then pushes him away, time and again. But it’s all part of their connection and the chemistry between them.

Speaking of chemistry, the love scenes are very, VERY open-door and graphic. I wouldn’t say the book is pornmance, but it comes close. Just a heads up.

Thompson’s next novel, With Love, from Cold World, is set to publish in August 2023. Lucky for me, I already have a DRC, and you can bet I’ll be reading it. Thanks, Berkley!


My sincerest appreciation to Alicia Thompson, Berkley, and NetGalley for the digital review copy. All opinions included herein are my own.