THE KILLING RULES, by Bree Despain, Entangled: Mayhem Books, Aug.4, 2026, Hardcover, $27, Paperback, $15.99 (young adult, ages 16 and up)
A teenage girl is cursed with an insatiable bloodlust to kill dangerous men in The Killing Rules, an upper YA contemporary paranormal thriller by Bree Despain.
Seventeen-year-old Harper Westbrook isn’t afraid of monsters…she is one.
For the past three years, she’s been one of the Blood Bound―girls and women cursed with a bloodlust only satisfied by killing terrible men. Once every three months, she trades in her pom-poms for a lethal throwing axe. Her life is led by a strict set of rules to keep her dark secret as hidden as the bodies she buries.
And her number one rule? Stay away from Grayson Jones.
The boy she was totally falling for until the night her curse manifested, everything went horribly wrong, and she killed his father. It was self-defense. Or at least that’s what she keeps telling herself.
Grayson is an investigative reporter for their school paper, and he’ll stop at nothing to find the truth behind his father’s gruesome death.
As he follows new clues down darker and darker paths―to an unbelievable world of mythical beasts and the men who hunt them―Grayson doesn’t realize he’s on a collision course with Harper’s biggest secrets. Now, she must stop him before he exposes her family to the Hunters, even if it means risking her life and heart.
Because who could ever love a monster like her? —Synopsis provided by Mayhem Books
In 2010, back when I was a newspaper book critic, I reviewed Bree Despain’s debut novel, The Dark Divine. In it, I said:
“The mark of a good writer is the ability to hook readers right from the beginning and to keep them interested throughout the story. It’s a skill that Despain has in spades. Like the synopsis in the book’s cover, Despain gives nothing away. Instead, she allows the story to develop naturally at an even and inviting pace.”
Fast forward 16 years, and the same could be said for Despain’s latest novel, The Killing Rules.
The Killing Rules is a dark paranormal thriller, that captures and holds interest from beginning to end. Despain’s writing is smooth and comfortable. It’s told through the alternating viewpoints of Harper and Grayson. Despain captures each character’s voice with ease. And despite that dark nature of her book, Despain’s writing has a brightness that lifts the story.
The Killing Rules moves quickly. It’s full of twists and has a campy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer feel, perfect for older young adults and up.
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