Rutabaga's Reads 2025: Part 1

Here is my first adult fiction compilation for 2025 (I’m aiming for two). This variety includes a novel that features triplet sister serial killers, a novel that features stylishly decorated cookies and a novel that takes place in Seoul, South Korea.

How I’ll Kill You (Mar. 21, 2023) by Ren DeStefano.

<This is a standalone novel.>

Identical triplet serial killer sisters have descended upon a sleepy town in the Arizona heat. They all have names on birth certificates, but they do not go by those names. They were abandoned as newborns with their umbilical cords still visible and no names. They were shuffled through the foster care system and mostly not homed together. 25-year-old Sissy is treated like the youngest, and it’s her turn to find a man, then make him want her and love her, so she can make him dead. She’s always been the one cleaning up her sisters’ messes. Sissy introduces herself with her fake ID as Jade Johnson. Both Iris and Moody take turns playing the married twin sister who goes by Lisa Canter. When Sissy lays eyes on the man she later learns is Edison, she knows he’s the one. She often daydreams of how she might kill him. Edison is a widower, and Sissy’s caught off-guard when she realizes he has a stepdaughter (Sadie). Sissy doesn’t plan to kill her, but schemes to become a trusted adult in her life, which will be especially useful when Edison is dead. What really gets Sissy is when she realizes she’s in love with her mark. Considering anyone outside of her sisters to be a friend or found family is the ultimate betrayal. And if her sisters, who’ve killed thrice apiece, so much as suspect she’s fallen for Edison, will they merely push her to kill him quickly and leave before six months is up? Or might they plot her burial site, too?

            In DeStefano’s adult fiction debut, readers delve into the mind of disturbed sisters. Told from Sissy’s perspective, hers is a struggle of sisterly loyalty vs. betrayal, dispassionate actions trying to hide loneliness and a desire for love. It’s easy for someone who’s grown up well to think, Pull yourself together! This is a psychological thriller and a dark romance, but it’s also something of a bildungsroman, with Sissy discovering what type of person she truly isn’t and the type she wants to be. This novel is clever and malicious, filled with sinister scenarios and messy clean-ups, self-sacrifice and the emotional pain of wanting what one cannot have. “How I’ll Kill You” isn’t for the faint of heart, giving readers twisted love that has them rooting for a psychopath.

            Notable lines: “His hands have built and carried and created. Mine have dismembered and buried and destroyed.” (Sissy, p. 87)

            P.S. I checked this one out from the library as my Blind Date with a Book back in February 2024.

How the Murder Crumbles (June 20, 2023) by Deb Sennefelder.

<This is the first novel in a series.>

“Put that in your icing bag and pipe it.” Those are some of Mallory Monroe’s famous last words to Beatrice ‘Queen Bea’ Wright, food blogger and town menace, before she’s found dead on her kitchen floor, flour around her body and a bloodied marble rolling pin nearby. Because multiple people witnessed Beatrice accusing Mallory and Mallory’s late Aunt Glenna of stealing a cookie recipe, including Detective William Hannigan, Mallory has become suspect number one. This affects her sales, her two employees continue to butt heads, she catches her (now ex-) boyfriend with another woman, and that woman, Aspen Leigh, has suddenly relocated to Wingate, Connecticut, is living in the apartment over Mal’s bakery (which is owned by Mal’s cousin Darlene), and has apparently decided Mal’s her one friend in town. That doesn’t make sense to her, either, but what does make sense is initiating her own investigation in order to clear her name. The deeper she delves, the more obvious it is that the killer may be whipping up another murder.

            In the realm of cozy, adult fiction mysteries, this is a solid entry. There are a few cookie recipes included at the story’s end, and Sennefelder bakes up a whodunit that’s tasteful and tastefully decorated with dashes of humor throughout. I would absolutely want to visit Mal, Kip and even Claudia at The Cookie Shop, though no Almond Meltaways for me, please. I much prefer chocolate! It’s not a highly remarkable story, but it has well-rounded characters and a steadily-moving plot. Mal should definitely leave investigating to the professionals, and, while I know she’s desperate to clear her name, the way she demands answers from whichever hapless person she’s decided is her next murder suspect is really off-putting. I don’t expect to continue this series.

            P.S. This library checkout was my Blind Date with a Book this month.

If I Had Your Face (Apr. 21, 2020) by Frances Cha.

<This is a standalone novel.>

Told from four viewpoints, this novel follows five young women making their lives in Seoul. Ara is a mute hairstylist; she’s been mute ever since she was the victim of a violent attack. Kyuri is the kind of beautiful that money can buy, working at a “10 percent” room salon (“a salon that supposedly employs the prettiest 10 percent of girls in the industry”), critical of herself, and utterly judgmental of anyone she deems ugly (which is most other women). Sujin, Ara’s roommate, is fixated on making her face beautiful so that she can work in a room salon like Kyuri. Kyuri’s roommate, Miho, is a talented artist who grew up in an orphanage, is the only one of them to venture to America (on a scholarship) and has a chaebol boyfriend who’s definitely unfaithful. Wonna, a floor below the other four, is the only one who’s married and is preoccupied with becoming pregnant, expecting that her child will love her like her physically abusive grandmother did not. All struggle financially, even Kyuri, who hides it well. Miho, whose current life Kyuri’s envious of, states, “… but I was the first to come to America. Without being adopted, I mean.” Each young woman is navigating an uneasy life in an expensive city, but friendship knits them together.

In previous novels I’ve read, it’s a glittering, shiny Seoul, but this Seoul is unflinchingly hard and sometimes downright brutal. It’s still a world with disturbing, impossible beauty standards (and the plastic surgery debt to go along with it), ruthless social hierarchies and K-pop obsession. The characters can barely afford to live for today, much less plan for tomorrow. This is an insightful, contemporary story of sisterhood and female friendship, provocative and biting, powerful and gripping. I did not expect to be swept up in the compelling realism of the story. Cha’s writing doesn’t only shine light on economic inequity, but the effects of classism and patriarchy on these young women. These aren’t women from chaebol families. Like most of us, they are working-class women, trying to succeed in a harsh world. Physical beauty will fade, but novels showcasing universal human challenges like this will not.

"The String" by Caleb Breakey

The String (July 16, 2019) by Caleb Breakey.*

The conductor runs the show. It is elaborate, and his rules are simple. Know that participation is mandatory, and know that if you don’t follow the rules, threats aren’t mere threats, but heinous actions against others, whether those close to you or your fellow participants in the string. University cop and SWAT team member Markus Haas has gotten tangled in the conductor’s twisted web. How he came to the attention of the conductor isn’t right away known, but Markus is a good guy, and in the conductor’s shattered mind, there must be something about breaking down a strong person. Someone who is strong in mind and body. Markus has no intention of playing this game by the conductor’s rules, but will he change his mind when the conductor takes those whom he cares for the most?

            This psychological thriller was unlike anything I’ve yet read in inspirational fiction. It was unexpected, though not in a negative way. The plot is certainly intricate and is weighed down by the gravity of the situation. This story is not for the faint of heart; the story can get violent. It is as twisted as the mind of its conductor. I thought the number of “strings” (unwilling participants) were too many, and it frustrated me that the protagonist seemed so far behind the antagonist when the protagonist clearly has the training, skills and smarts to investigate. And while I appreciated that this Christian fiction story wasn’t preachy, I still thought the threads of faith were too subtle. Not to say I expected vocal prayers every few chapters from the characters, but this is a story of keeping the faith in the midst of evil. Because of that, I expected faith to be a little bit more than subtle, but this first in the Deadly Games series remains a solid debut.

* Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Revell Books. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions are expressly my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

"The Sixes" Review

(A) What sort of Hall is it that masquerades as a professor at a small college in Pennsylvania, and (B) what are pretty, smart, athletic and cunning? (Answer A) It’s Phoebe Hall, and her Manhattan life as a renowned celebrity biographer is in shambles after being falsely accused of plagiarism. (Answer B) The others are the rumored high society mean girls of fictional Lyle College in a secret-yet-not-so-secret society known as the Sixes. “The Sixes” (August 2, 2011) is a psychological thriller by Kate White.

            Phoebe chooses Lyle as her quiet destination upon a teaching offer from her former boarding school roommate and good friend, Dr. Glenda Johns, who is president of the college. Phoebe’s been in Lyle a mere two months when a student, Lily Mack, goes missing. She had spoken to Lily once two weeks before, but the girl seemed distressed. Now Phoebe was mentally kicking herself for not trying to figure out why the girl was in such distress. The next morning, the girl’s body is found washed up on the banks of a nearby river.

            And Lily’s isn’t the only body.

            As Phoebe’s devoted her professional life to the details of celebrities to create bestselling biographies, she is used to being in research mode. Glenda taps into Phoebe’s researcher-sense and prompts her to go on an “information-gathering mission” for the campus. There have been a lot of sixes turning up: at times, it’s the actual number, but other times it’s represented by six of something (e.g. checkmarks or lawn chairs).

            Once Phoebe begins asking suspected Sixes members questions, nasty pranks on Phoebe come to light. They involve things that aren’t too extreme like a bowl of six apples, but they escalate. Nevertheless, by now she is so invested in her research, she wants to continue, especially realizing the Sixes do exist, and that Lily, the deceased girl, was involved with the group. Were the Sixes involved in Lily’s murder? Is there a serial killer on the loose as the snooty, ego-high, Dean of Students, Tom Stockton, believes? Could the murderer even be the handsome psychology professor, Dr. Duncan Shaw? What is his possible connection to everything?

            Delving into this horrific case also brings to light negatives from her past. What happened to her when she was a boarding school student? (One word: Fortuna.) And can she finally work through it after all these years?

            There are plenty of other interesting, likely suspicious, tidbits that Phoebe uncovers. Glenda’s husband, Mark, has never been close to Phoebe, but now he is downright rude to her. Phoebe accidentally realizes that he has issues of his own. There’s also campus security head, Craig Ball, with his iffy scare tactics on students and Val Porter, a professor who has something to confess.

            If you like psychological thrillers and murder mysteries, you’ll want to read this stand-alone novel. Though Phoebe is the main character, there are a lot of supporting characters. On slim occasion it was tempting to mix up characters. For my part and for whatever reason, I kept wanting to confuse Tom Stockton with Craig Ball and vice versa, though I blame that entirely on the image that they both seemed impertinent. And to note, if it’s a concern for you, there are the occasional language vulgarities and scenes of intimacy, though nothing overly graphic.

            White takes this secret-society-psychological-thriller idea and runs with it. Will you fit the pieces together before Phoebe does? Can Phoebe piece them together to save her life? Remember, what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.