Gone Girl meets Big Swiss in this electric, binge-of-a-debut about a millennial antihero who seeks revenge on her ex-situationship with a hex, only for him to actually, literally die.

Lillian and Henry have been enjoying each other’s company, especially in bed. Even though Lillian’s best friend calls it “situationship,” Lillian is determined to lock Henry down—and she has a plan. She’ll be the best, most accommodating version of herself until he falls in love with her. But when Henry blindsides Lillian with a breakup, Lillian exacts revenge by performing a drunken hex on him.

Lillian expects Henry to come crawling back to her. What she doesn’t quite anticipate is becoming a prime suspect in his murder case when he’s found dead. As Lillian grapples with the loss of her sort-of-boyfriend, she’s hit with another That Henry had a long-term girlfriend he also left behind.

Desperate to control the narrative, clear her name, and assume her rightful place as Henry’s mourning girlfriend, Lillian’s pursuit of the truth will throw her into a dangerous tailspin. A deliciously addictive novel that explores our darkest, most human impulses, A Good Person heralds Kirsten King as a striking new voice in the canon of celebrated fiction.

I received an advance copy of this book courtesy of the publisher. All thoughts are my own.

If ever there was a main character you loved to hate, it would be Lillian, the protagonist of this book. She is a complete sociopath. I loved her humor and her shitty attitude, but at the same time, I hated her. She’s selfish, she’s entitled, and she has zero morals. But I gotta admit, I think there’s a little bit of Lillian in all of us.

Here’s the deal. Lillian is sleeping with Henry. Her best friend calls it a situationship, but Lillian thinks she’s wrong. Henry likely wants more and Lillian’s got a whole plan to lock him down. She’ll be the perfect version of herself until he falls in love with her. But then Henry dumps her out of nowhere. So in a fit of drunken rage, Lillian performs a hex on him. She expects him to come crawling back. What she doesn’t expect is for him to turn up dead, and for her to become a prime suspect in his murder.

As Lillian tries to process losing Henry, she gets hit with another bombshell. Henry had a long-term girlfriend the entire time. Now Lillian is desperate to control the narrative, and claim her rightful place as Henry’s mourning girlfriend. That’s kind of hard to do when your choices are completely unhinged.

While watching Lillian as an outsider, the choices she made were absolutely shocking. But here’s the thing. If I were to put myself in her shoes, I could probably validate half of the choices she made. Maybe not all of them. Okay, definitely not all of them. But some? Yeah. And that’s what makes this book so unsettling.

The author does a really good job at straddling the line. Is Lillian despicable? Or is she us? Is it just easy for us, as readers, to say we hate her and condemn every action she takes because it’s easier to judge someone else than it is to look at our own actions? This one really made me think.

I was laughing one minute and in absolute horror the next. Lillian is darkly funny. Her internal monologue is sharp and ruthless. But she’s also doing and saying things that made me physically recoil. And yet, I couldn’t look away. I kept reading because I needed to know how far she would go.
It didn’t help that I have friends who are 100% Lillian. I have been Jamie, the best friend watching this all unfold and trying to talk sense into someone who refuses to listen. This book brought up a lot of feelings. It held up a mirror I wasn’t entirely comfortable looking into.

I also loved the ending. Yes, I wanted to know what happened next, but I also like the ambiguity of it.

The writing is incredibly sharp.

King has a gift for making deeply unlikable characters compelling. Lillian is messy, delusional, and manipulative. But that’s what makes her so effective. Like us, she needs to be seen and to matter. Lillian holds up a mirror and makes us question the lengths we’ll go to in order to control how others perceive us and the lies we tell ourselves to justify our behavior. It’s uncomfortable and it’s honest in a way that makes you squirm.

This is one of those books that people are either going to love or absolutely hate. There’s no middle ground here. If you need your protagonists to be likable, or if you can’t handle morally bankrupt characters doing morally bankrupt things, skip this one. But if you’re drawn to dark, messy, complicated stories about deeply flawed people, you’re going to devour this just like I did.

I listened to this on audio and the narration by Ellen Adai is pitch perfect. She nails Lillian’s voice. In a way, she made it feel like I was sitting and listening to one of my friends tell me their life story.

Needless to say, I couldn’t get enough. This is a brilliant, twisted, darkly funny debut. I’ll definitely be keeping my eye on this author. It’s addictive, it’s disturbing, and it’s going to stick with you long after you finish.