🇬🇧 Review: Der Killer in dir
Title: Der Killer in dir
Author: Max Reiter
Where to buy: Buecher.de & Amazon.
*I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.*
Likes:
Gets exciting fast. Doesn't need 30+ pages, like some books.
The conscience when you kill someone was shown and describes very well in this book. Alex wasn't just brave, he had a conscience even when he was a cop and did it due to his job. That makes him look human, who has weaknesses. Like he is a actual person and not a book character. He seems real and not one-dimensional.
It shows how Alex changed his behaviour and thinking pattern when killing someone without any 'good' reasons, like when he was a cop. But the main point here, it changed something in him, and the book did not act like it was normal and doesn't change a person how they are.
Alex is actually smart. He is the only smart person in this book. He doesn't fall for tricks, and re-checks that he didn't leave any traces when he killed. When he writes a suicide letter of someone else (to make it seem like suicide) he also checks the chats of that person to know his writing pattern and copy it successfully.
The last plot twist is unpredictable.
Dislikes:
The diary notes aren't good. You don't remember always what someone said to you, so why use speech marks? Who does that in their own diary? And how can Alex remember it exact? The time tense is wrong sometimes too.
As an ex police officer is he acting too dumb and does things too weak. It's stupid that he tells his victim that he used to be some cop and that he ALWAYS trains at the same time at the same place like his victim. It's suspicious.
As a policist you think a lot and notice small details. So why does he marry a woman who he only knew for 3 months and who didn't even tell everything about herself? He even mentioned in the book that after 10 years of marriage he still doesn't know about her childhood (which is an important part on development and its issues, doesn't that seem suspicious to him?)
Diaries don't always have full sentences and usually are cut for thinking pauses and to show huge feelings, like being angry. Or perhaps also sad. It never happened here. No matter how strong his feeling were. Made it seem less than a diary entry.
Bertini never harbored suspicions. Alex is new in the environment and stuff, so isn't that a bit distinctive when murder happens? Bertini doesn't have any kind of mistrust or second-thoughts about Alex. He trusts him. Too much.
As mentioned in my 'like' list, it's hard to describe how one feels after killing someone and how they 'fight' inside their head. Fighting against the liking of killing. Personally, I think it wasn't that well done in this book.
No one. Literally no one would willingly let themselves be hanged. The 'lie' that was said to the victim wasn't convincing at all and just stupid. Who would voluntarily put a rope around their neck to 'play an act'. Of course he will kill him. Why are the characters in this book so stupid?
Sometimes English terms weren't that fitting in some situations. I never heard a German say 'not amused' without actually speaking fully in English.
I don't get why characters all the time, no matter which film or show or even book, take the threat literally and will always believe it. Always. It could just be a bluff. They could lie. Why does no one gets that? Why is Alex so stupid? He risks everything just so that his family is safe. For what? For a bluff?
Except the last plot twist were all others predictable. They were cliché-like and way too often used than making me shocked about it. Most of them I also already know before they were revealed.
How it works: Only everything that is lower than 9 gets reduced from the final rating. Depending on how strong it inflicted the overall enjoyment of reading it effects differently.
[ Story 4 / 10 ]
[ Characters 2 / 10 ]
[ Triggering 0 / 10 ]
[ Topic/Genre 8 / 10 ]
[ Writing style 9 / 10 ]
[ Grammatic and spelling 10 / 10 ]
[ Ending 5 / 10 ]
Final Rating
2/5
Thank you for the advanced reader copy of Der Killer in dir by Max Reiter.
Started the book: 07. April 2024
Finished the book: 08. April 2024
Wrote the review: 08. April 2024
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