EDIT: I should have included a warning on my original review - this is very dark fiction, featuring not just a deep dive into the cesspool of the killers' minds, but also some very graphic description of those crimes, as they occur. I'm not especially squeamish, but those parts of the book were uncomfortable for me, especially those that gave the victims' thoughts and experiences.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:This thriller has nearly all the elements that I really enjoy - an whopper of an opening scene, excellent pacing, characters both empathetic and repulsive, and a satisfying ending. It was not without flaws, though. The events were heavily dependent on implausibly freak timing, which is fine if it's once or twice in a story, but here it was nearly every pivotal event. The romance, or more precisely the personal relationships, used some eye-rollingly common tropes. The main character was a little too "tortured hero" for me.

Still, the writing was good enough to overcome these flaws, and I enjoyed it enough that I'll be looking for other books by this author.

Audiobook, borrowed from my public library via Overdrive. Christina Delaine's performance was excellent. ( )

Bloody and with enough grit to supply a sandpaper factory. I read it in an afternoon and am on to the next one soon. ( )

Un thriller davvero intrigante e che mi ha conquistato. Dall'inizio non si capisce dove si voglia andare a parare e mi ha colpito il modo in cui l'autore è riuscito a creare una narrazione coerente e incalzante al punto giusti. Se amate i thriller ben scritti e strutturati fa sicuramente al caso vostro. ( )

This is a bit of a throwback to the 90s serial killer boom but manages to hold its own. Gripping and very well written in the main, I only had two gripes with it:
1) at times it's so horrible and bleak you want to stop reading it (you can't though, it's too gripping)
2) one of the sub plots really loses its way for a while and the book is less satisfying as a result
Despite those things, this is a compelling, horribly believable read. ( )

I was ready to anoint The Killing Lessons a new classic in the psychological thriller genre about 2/3 of the way through. It had such vividness, brutal yet humane, finely drawn characters and just absolutely word perfect prose, deliciously crafted sentences I wanted to eat with a spoon. However, the book stumbled somewhat down the stretch with a somewhat anticlimactic and overlong denouement. But still, a quality thriller with well above average writing. ( )