Book Review: A Serial Killer's Guide To Marriage by Asia Mackay

About the book

A couple that slays together, stays together.

Hazel and Fox are an ordinary married couple with a baby. Except for one small thing: they're ex-serial killers.

They had it all. An enviable London lifestyle, five-star travels, and plenty of bad men to kill.Not many power couples know how to get away with murder.

Then Hazel fell pregnant and they gave it all up for life in the suburbs; dinner parties instead of body disposal. But recently Hazel has started to feel that itch again.

When she kills someone behind Fox's back and brings the police to their door, she must do anything she can to protect her family.

This could save their marriage - unless it kills them first.

Why we love it

Well if the title alone isn’t enough to peak your interest, the eye-catching cover certainly will. This is the sort of book that practically screams ‘read me, read me’ and while you should never entirely judge the book by the cover, in this instance it’s completely justified.

Bold and darkly comic, it perfectly blends domestic humour with thrilling suspense.

The story is told through the eyes of both Haze and Fox, flipping between both perspectives as they grapple their conflicting desire to build a stable, loving upbringing for their toddler Bibi with their innate urge to wreck murder and mayhem on their unsuspecting victims.

Serial killers with a penchant for taking out bad guys, they’ve given up their life of crime for a perfectly normal suburban lifestyle - but some habits are hard to break and apparently for Haze and Fox, murder is one of them.

So far, so funny. Yet beneath all the ‘Mr and Mrs Smith’ style humour, as the story gradually unfolds it delves into the messy complexities of marriage and parenthood after the honeymoon’s over, as well as the psychological struggles that led each character down this dark path.

It’s a credit to Asia MacKay that she’s created two characters that have committed countless horrendous crimes and yet you’re still somehow rooting for them to find a happy ever after.

The storytelling is engaging and well-paced, the characters are interesting and well-rounded, and their individual struggle to maintain a sense of personal identity within the facade of this fake suburban lifestyle is unexpectedly moving at times.

I really enjoyed this book and completely flew through it - thoroughly recommended for anyone who loves dark humour and an unusual premise.