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*I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.*

The premise of the book was quite interesting, especially as I never heard of a serial killer support group before in any other books. Since I only knew support groups for victims/survivors I thought that the title was quite funny.

But did the premise promise what it said?
Somewhat.

I did like the beginning and how it didn't take long at all to get rolling. As well, as the first plot twist was shocking. I did predict it, before it happened, but it was very smart done and I read lots of books with smart plot twists before, so it isn't hard for me to find them out. Nevertheless, this plot twist wasn't right in front of your eyes, which made it well-done. Cyra was an interesting character to get to know and her backstory as well. I was surprised when I got to know Mira more and seemed to dislike her even though I liked her at first. It changes a lot when a different person, with different perspective, tells the story.

Even though I liked the first plot twist, I disliked the second and in general felt like the ending was not good enough.

Except the protagonist, everyone else was flat. I surprisingly could distinguish their names, but they felt just like the others. Yes, we good backstory of them which was actually cool, as they had their own chapter for this, but they all were one-dimensional. What many don't get is that when you describe a character every time you meet them, like the first time you met them, they won't get any depth. The reader actually needs to get to know them, by seeing more of them and not just reading some backstory.

Lastly, the depiction of serial killers, but also sociopaths wasn't done correctly, at all. It depends on what kind of sociopath you have, but they can show emotions and borderline sociopaths have even outbursts. So when I saw once again the wrong myth in this book that sociopaths don't have emotions or don't have empathy (which both isn't true, they just lack empathy, but they can still feel it), I felt a bit betrayed.

Cry. Do something. Don't just stand there like a sociopath,[...]

The book is supposed to be about serial killers, but no research was done for it. Every serial killer in this group seemed dangerous and they acted like a typical film serial killer, nothing special or in general different.

—â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä�
Thank you Crooked Lane Books, for the advanced reader copy of Serial Killer Support Group by Saratoga Schaefer

Started the book: 17. October 2024
Finished the book: 17. October 2024
Wrote the review: 18. October 2024