Most of my reading fare is quite earnest, but every once in a while – when I’m in the right mood – I sit down for something a little snarky. I grew up in Florida reading Carl Hiaasen and Dave Barry, so crime and comedy have always seemed connected. So I was pretty excited to get a preview of Killing Me by Michelle Gagnon. (Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for the gift copy!)

Killing Me promises a novel full of twists and turns and Plotting. The story literally opens with our protagonist, Amber, sitting in the back of a serial killer’s van, and it only amps up from there. Somehow (I’m trying not to spoil, at least this early) she ends up in Vegas, hunting down a dangerous criminal. Along the way, she befriends a variety of women who support her quest (with differing levels of enthusiasm). We’re promised a funny, fast-paced adventure – so what does Gagnon deliver?

Women helping women

Killing Me features a motley crew of women pitching in to take down a serial killer. We’ve got Amber, our wily con artist who narrowly escaped a serial killer at the start of the novel. There’s her savior – who turns out to be more prickly and complex than might be expected. And then there’s Dot and Jessie and Marcella, the ragtag group of motel workers and sex workers who Amber befriends in Las Vegas.

Each of these women brings their own sets of skills and stories and connections to the table. And, strikingly, each volunteers her support – they don’t need a deal or a bargain to help out another woman in need. Contrast this to more traditional ensemble casts, which often require some form of monetary remuneration. It’s not that there’s no money involved – but that each instance seems driven primarily by the goal of support, not wealth. The women in Killing Me can rely on each others’ goodwill to help them through tight situations. Out of the crew, I found Dot and Jessie the most intriguing – their strength lies in their soft skills and connections, not merely their intellect or hard power. It’s refreshing to see a spotlight on feminine power in a dark comedy context.

A question of identity

Killing Me uses these women and their complex backstories to explore the importance of identity – in self-understanding and in forging relationships with others. Each character has layers to unravel, which inform how much they can (and should) trust each other. I’ll avoid spoilers here, but not all the trust given is fully warranted. It’s nice to see Gagnon exploring this in a way that can have real consequences for characters, and it better fits the tone of the novel. (It would feel off, somehow, for the core message of a dark comedy to be “always trust random strangers”.)

It’s certainly an interesting topic, and one that goes under-explored. We’ve known through literal scientific research that women form social connections differently for a long time, so it’s nice to see it portrayed as positive here. (Amber’s asides throughout the novel referencing her psych degree seem to similarly explain intuition that many women develop to fit social norms.) It’s a stance that subtly champions the power of women, without drawing attention from the plot.

That said, I’m not sure Gagnon fully builds out her characters to the depth needed to support this theme. It actually felt a little strange even framing the theme as “identity” – because while we know what different characters can do (and to some extent, why), we know little else about them. This means that we learn a ton more about the “useful” characters (Dot, Jessie, Amber, the mysterious savior) than others. Marcella is particularly underserved for someone described as almost magnetic. We’re told she’s charming, but have no idea why, or how, people learn to like her. Even with Dot and Jessie – we learn enough to trust them, but not necessarily enough to understand them.

Thinking about comedy

Beyond these ideas of identity and trust, the story didn’t have a core theme. It’s not that I need my comedy to have a moral…But so much dark comedy has A Point (think Promising Young Woman or Parasite). The best comedy roots its humor in highlighting uncomfortable truths about society and really exploring its ramifications. By forcing characters to voice the strange norms we often take for granted, great comedy shines a light on the contradictory and even unfair elements of society.

But Killing Me isn’t really set up for level of introspection. Instead, Gagnon draws humor from surprise and absurdity. A serial killer who paints his victims like Pokémon, or the reflections of a motel owner on running a motel. By necessity, the humor drops off when the plot gets going. As things get personal, there’s no room to drop in surprising tone shifts. Instead, any laughs come from the sheer shock / surprise of violence or other plot elements. This isn’t inherently bad – it’s just not my flavor of humor preference. I like my humor with a side of thinking, and this just wasn’t it for me.

Reader’s notes & rating (⭐⭐⭐✨)

This is a bit different from my usual fare – darker and more tense, but with more moments of surprise. While reading, I found myself glued to the page – I really wanted to see what would happen next. But once I finished, I personally felt the story was a little shallow in parts that I, personally value – particularly the character relationships. Even if I don’t read it again, I would probably recommend it to someone else for what it is – a fast-paced read with a heap of absurdity thrown in. 3.5 stars.

Killing Me will be published on May 16, 2023.