Love in the Time of Serial Killers

I enjoyed this book. I am a true crime junkie and had a lot of fun with the references thrown into the book about shows and non-fiction books. I loved the idea behind her PhD topic. I feel like societies exposure to true crime in all varieties totally lead to thoughts of bodies being in trash bags that you see along the road or the sketchy behaviors people may have.

Phoebe moves into her father's house after he passes away and notices the new neighbor across the street. A man about her age who seems to be doing some sketchy things in the middle of the night. When she starts to insert herself into his life in order to prove he just might be a serial killer, she realizes that her past and personal obsession with true crime may be leading her to some seriously misconstrued thoughts.

I liked the way the story shows her grief for a relationship with her father that she never really had and the struggle Phoebe has with herself when it comes to building new relationships. She's used her education as a way to keep people at arms length. I thought this was going to be a lot darker given the content warnings at the beginning but it was well done and the story ended up being really good.

I am glad I had the opportunity to read this one and will be looking into more books by Alicia Thompson!

felt like a terrible, middle school aged self insert. the book fails to address anything about true crime and the downfalls of the community, such as how it affects survivors and victims families. as a criminal justice major it was horrendous to see how obsessive the main character was about the wrong things. i hated all the slang and pop culture references - the sibling dynamic was the worst of it. i have never written a review before but felt like i had to warn others of this book.

This was a fun read overall. The main character, Phoebe, was a bit… much. She’s written too “I’m so closed off” “I’m so unlovable” that it makes it hard to read at times. The idea of a PhD candidate writing her dissertation on the inner workings of true crime genre of literature was an interesting idea but the constant references to movies and pop culture really gave a “trying too hard to be cool” vibe and was sometimes too much and would throw off the whole scene. All together it was funny and the right amount of steam. If you’re looking for a good beach read with some true crime sprinkled through, you might like this.

Cute book! Did move slow at times, but as a true crime girlie I enjoyed the references! Definitely more romantic than I anticipated!

2.5