Review: "Love Kills Twice" by Rien Gray

 

The Breakdown:

✦✦✦✦✦ 5/5

Pacing: fast

Mood(s): tense, dark, emotional,

Genre(s): romance, suspense, thriller, contemporary

TL;DR:

🔪 hot, nonbinary assassin

🔥 spicy scenes from multiple perspectives

🔎 uncovering an academia conspiracy

"I was her first little apocalypse.

In the end, I never stopped being a heartbreaker."

Review:

I devoured this book, partially because I had a book club meeting 2.5 hours after I started it (with Rien Gray joining in, so exciting!), but mainly because Gray's writing is fantastic. Love Kills Twice is a quick read with a kind of femme fatale character, Justine, who is contracting an assassin to kill her abusive, cheating husband. The assassin, Campbell, turns out to be suave, polite, and definitely not what Justine imagines an assassin to look or act like. Justine becomes infatuated and has to balance knowing about her husband's impending death with trying to hide her interest in his soon-to-be killer ... until Campbell kisses her at a gravesite during one of their most vulnerable moments, leaving her hiding an affair instead. Through all of this, Campbell grapples with their past and their attraction to Justine, a client that they would typically keep off-limits.

Gray has amazing prose with compelling and impactful lines and dialogue. Every word had me wanting more — every part of Gray's writing in this book feels intentional, like they knew precisely what each word means for the plot and the characters (which, to be fair, they probably did and do). Love Kills Twice is filled with memorable lines and moments, from the hardened killer genuinely apologizing to Justine, who couldn't remember the last time that happened to her, to the language used regarding Campbell during a sex scene. Going through Gray's website, you can see that they say their books will always have a happy ending, which is something I adore. I'm sure there are plenty of good books without one, but I have a hard time enjoying books without happy endings. I can take angst up until the very end, though! This book's romance starts with the idea of working on a set deadline: until Justine's husband dies. You go through the book knowing this, until ... well, I don't know if I want to spoil too much of the book. Gray crafts an emotional arc expertly, allowing you to have emotions and tensions rise as turn each page (or swipe, as this is currently only an ebook).

Filled with beautiful complexity, especially considering that this is under 200 pages, I loved the main characters. Justine is an artist who put that aside to support her academic husband as an art dealer, who shows his appreciation through belittling and abusing her and cheating on her with the young college girls who take his gender studies classes. Campbell is sophisticated, charismatic, and so casual about their keen observation and comments that their danger lingers throughout every ounce of their being. As Justine notes in the first chapter, "That kind of reflex hangs the word 'danger' in my mind like a neon sign. They’re a predator, surrounded by unknowing prey." And, not to say too much, but Justine definitely ends up enjoying being their knowing prey.

Overall, this is a great book that perfectly develops the characters and world for the rest of the four-book series. This book took me about two hours to read, so it's perfect for someone with a busy schedule or who wants to be able to read something in one sitting (guilty!). Love Kills Twice could also work as a standalone if the idea of a series is intimidating. Ultimately, as long as you're cool with the content notes, this is the perfect book, even if you haven't read much of this noir-inspired genre.

Content notes:

Gray includes a list of content warnings on the first page, which include:

• Sexually explicit content
• On-page murder of a main character
• On-page cheating and power imbalance
• Off-page domestic abuse
• Mentions of past war-time trauma

To this, I would add:

• Graphic depictions of drug use/abuse
• Moderate depictions of (light/mild) BDSM and BDSM themes
• Minor to moderate depictions of mass graves