Book review: The Death Row Club by VA Vazquez

The Death Row Club by VA Vazquez was the second book I’d read in a short amount of time involving an adult daughter discovering their father was (in fact) a serial killer. Though this has a very different flavour to Happy Woman.

I found elements of this a little confusing and I’m unsure if Vazquez means for that to be the case (duping us), or if it doesn’t flow as well as it could or I missed obvious details or foreshadowing. For example, it’s not clear (initially) that Nicola’s father’s murders were committed twenty years earlier. And there’s reference to true crime show host Greer playing a role in uncovering Nicola’s father’s crimes but then we learn Nicola had been helping Greer on the case. And it seems that was coincidental until we (eventually) learn it wasn’t. Huh? That aside, I became sufficiently invested in the unfolding events so needed to hang in there.

About this book

Plenty of people have lousy parents, but Nicola Fischer's father has just been convicted of murdering five young women, including her best friend. Fired from her job and hounded by reporters, Nicola passes the time by doomscrolling and drunk-dialling Greer Woods, the alluring host of the hit show To Catch a Killer, who cracked the case and turned Nicola's life upside down before disappearing along with her so-called 'best intentions'.

When an email from Greer finally shows up in Nicola's inbox, there's no apology or explanation, just a cryptic invitation. The Death Row Club is an annual weekend getaway for the adult children of serial killers – and Nicola is the newest reluctant member. Desperate to escape her small town, she accepts the offer with barely a second thought, forging tentative bonds with her fellow club members, most of whom seem intriguing, and only slightly unhinged.

But when an uninvited guest shows up at their remote wilderness retreat, everyone is put on high alert, and the next morning paranoia turns to outright fear. Because one of their own is dead, and the rest of them are left with only one question.

If the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, which of them is the bad seed?

My thoughts

Despite the early discombobulation, Vazquez is able to create an intriguing ride for readers, with some complicated, and often deceitful and unlikeable, characters. Nicola is our main narrator so we’re privy to everything she knows… or at least is willing to tell us. Our other narrator Steffani, is a girl on the run from her father.

Vazquez dips into some areas I would have loved her to explore further. I liked that she had Nicola ponder the fact she couldn’t ‘hate’ her father despite his actions and her fear that, as she was more and more exposed to negative media about his crimes, she’d forget the father she knew and loved. It was also interesting to see how the other members of the ‘death row club’ perceived their murderous pant/s.

There are several twists on offer near the end of the book and some I didn’t see coming. Ultimately though there was something about this that just didn’t hit the mark for me – although I would still recommend giving it a go as the concept is quite unconventional.

The Death Row Club by VA Vazquez was published in Australia by Simon & Schuster.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.