Reader, I Murdered Him

De: Betsy Cornwell

Narrado por: Elisabeth Lagelee

In this daring tale of female agency and revenge from a New York Times bestselling author, a girl becomes a teenage vigilante who roams Victorian England using her privilege and power to punish her friends’ abusive suitors and keep other young women safe.

Adele grew up in the shadows—first watching from backstage at her mother’s Parisian dance halls, then wandering around the gloomy, haunted rooms of her father’s manor. When she’s finally sent away to boarding school in London, she’s happy to enter the brightly lit world of society girls and their wealthy suitors.

Yet there are shadows there, too. Many of the men that try to charm Adele’s new friends do so with dark intentions. After a violent assault, she turns to a roguish young con woman for help. Together, they become vigilantes meting out justice. But can Adele save herself from the same fate as those she protects?

With a queer romance at its heart, this lush historical thriller offers listeners an irresistible mix of vengeance and empowerment.

©2022 Betsy Cornwell (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

Powerfully cathartic

Just enough murder happens to validate the title, but the focus is on a woman discovering what strength she can in a time when women had very little power, choosing her own fate (and not just “having some say in the man she marries”). It has action and romance and an arc to keep you engaged without sliding into tropes.

Good but not the best

I did ok with the voice of the narrator but got a little bogged down with the story. I do think it is very important to have strong women in stories and I liked that aspect of the story. We need to let our daughters know that they can be warriors when it is necessary. It felt a little like men were to much of the enemy in general. Not every man is a villain, though there are certainly plenty of them out in the world.

Narrator’s Voice didn’t work

The story itself is okay but the narrator’s voice didn’t fit that character at all. I had to force myself to finish the book. The story is very predictable. I knew the big “twist” was coming from the beginning and it doesn’t read very accurate.