- Genre: Thriller, LGBTQIA+
- Published by: William Morrow
- Publish date: 18 March 2025
- Number of pages: 320 pages
- Author’s website: https://www.hannahdeitch.com/
- Support local! Buy the book on BookShop!
Darkly funny and provocative, this edge-of-your-seat thrill ride follows two unlikely fugitives—an SAT tutor who finds her rich employers brutally murdered and the bound woman she frees from their mansion—an irresistible debut novel perfect for fans of The Guest and My Sister, the Serial Killer
A scholarship kid with straight As and big dreams, Evie Gordon always thought she was special, that she’d be someone. But after graduating from an elite university, she finds herself drowning in debt and working as an SAT tutor for the super-rich of Los Angeles.
Everything changes one Sunday, when she arrives for her weekly lesson at the Victors’ Beverly Hills estate and, in lieu of a bored teenager, finds the bloody remains of the parents strewn through their beautiful back garden, and a woman crying for help within a closet. As Evie works to free her, the two are spotted—and within moments, they go from bystanders to suspects to fugitives.
Suddenly at the heart of a manhunt and accompanied by a mysterious woman who refuses to speak, Evie knows the only way to clear her name is to find the real killer. But first she’ll have to break down the barriers of her companion, who is quickly becoming the most important person in Evie’s upside-down life. Their breathless spree takes them across the U.S. as developments in the case shock the nation and the press runs wild with Evie’s a gifted kid turned killer. She’s now on the cover of every magazine and newspaper—anointed the new Charles Manson, a bloodthirsty ninety-nine percenter looking to start a class war. Evie is finally someone.
By turns cuttingly hilarious and deeply insightful, Killer Potential is a strikingly original debut. A literary novel with the page-turning intensity of a thriller that asks timely questions about our belief in the romance of social mobility, and how the stories we’re sold about our potential can shape the course of our lives.
Rating: 4/5
This was so fun! I knew I would like this because of the comps: The Guest by Emma Cline and My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite, and as a former “gifted” child who felt really connected to the main character. It’s one of those novels that starts off elevated and just continues skyrocketing from there.
Evie Gordon is paying off her student loan debt by tutoring the wealthy in LA. One day, she arrives at one of her lessons to find the parents of her tutee murdered and someone asking for help behind the walls.
From there, her life spirals out of control as she and the woman she rescued go on the lam because she is now suspected of the murders.
What unfolds is a Thelma and Louise-like road trip of crime, except if Thelma and Louise also ate each other out at night haha. I enjoyed this novel and didn’t expect it to be a well-written blend of social commentary on wealth inequality, the justice system, and humor.
Have you read this book? What are your thoughts? I’d love to know!
I received an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book from Netgalley and William Morrow. This has not impacted my rating and this review is voluntary.
Musings by Michelle 