The Killer You Know by S. R. Masters

This is part whodunnit, part psychological thriller, and part serial killer thriller. When a group of friends meet up for a reunion having not seen each other since their teenage years, they start reminiscing about the past. One of their number hasn’t turned up and they recall how he said he wanted to become a serial killer, that having learned that one needs to commit three murders to be categorised as a serial killer, one day he would go off the radar and kill three people in three particular ways, making their deaths appear like suicides. They would read about the deaths, realise he had gone to ground, and know he had fulfilled his promise.

The friends - Adeline, Rupesh, Jen and Steve - talk about their missing friend, Will, recalling how strange and odd he was. Wracking their brains, they dredge up the ways Will said he would kill his victims and stage their suicides - the method of death, the locations he would do it - and they Google these on their phone. They are horrified to discover that deaths as described have occurred, and combined with the fact that Will does indeed appear to have gone off the radar, they fear the worst. So begins their investigation, none of them taking it too serious at first, all of them starting to do so as the narrative unfolds.

The novel is structured in alternating chapters, those set in 2015, the year of the reunion, and the summer of 1998 (though a couple of the past chapters are set in 1997). The 2015 chapters are all told from Adeline’s perspective and she is the novel’s main protagonist, while the chapters set in the 90’s alternate from each character, so we gradually learn how their teenage years were perceived by each of them in turn. It is an effective structure which allows the author to tease out the tensions amongst what at first appears to be a close-knit friendship group.  

As teenagers, the group lived in the small village of Blythe and it is to here that they return for their reunion. Another reviewer on Amazon compared the chapters in the 90’s in particular as akin to something Stephen King might write, and with its depiction of young people coming of age, while grappling simultaneously with the boredom of rural living and a growing sense of foreboding, there’s definitely something in that comparison. Another author who’s work it compares is CJ Tudor’s novels. Obviously King and Tudor write horror and supernatural suspense, while Masters has written a crime/suspense novel, but there’s definitely a strong similarity. Stretching the comparison a little further, the 2015 chapters where the characters have to return to where they grew up to slay their demons is akin to King’s novel It, where the characters have to return to finally deal with the demonic clown Pennywise. 

The Killer You Know is a well crafted crime novel and one that kept me interested to the end. Needless to say things aren’t as simple and straightforward as they first appear and the friends quest to find out if Will has indeed become a serial killer opens up a Pandora’s Box of adolescent grudges and tensions that perhaps would have been left buried in the past. It’s well plotted, keeping the reader guessing and second guessing and there are plenty of twists, though when the final denouement comes it’s clear that Masters left a trail of clues throughout (plus the odd red herring of course). All in all this was a thoroughly enjoyable debut and this is an author to watch.

4 out of 5 stars