PEOPLE’s Best Books of October 2026 Selection
"As if Patrick Bateman’s feminist, anti-capitalist sister narrated her own delicious tale of revenge and comeuppance.’ —Lacey Dunham, author of The Belles
"The perfect spiritual successor to films like Heathers and Jennifer's Body." —Saratoga Schaefer, USA TODAY bestselling author
‘A bloody treat.’ —Chelsea G. Summers, author of A Certain Hunger
Would you still love me if I were a murderer…?
Morello is a nobody: a homeless orphan and starving artist with nothing but impossible dreams of escaping obscurity. Then Florence appears—dazzling, dangerous, and offering Morello a way out, on one chilling condition: each year, they must hunt and kill one of the art world’s predatory men. In return, Morello will inherit a life of privilege and promise.
Together, they transform revenge into twisted performance art, staging each murder with meticulous, theatrical flair. But when Morello falls for Jude, a wealthy art student who offers her a glimpse of a life sans murder, her carefully curated reality begins to unravel, and she’s one lie away from losing everything she’s killed for. With the body count rising and anonymous threats closing in, Morello must finally ask herself: Is the cost of vengeance ever truly paid? And after a life shaped by violence and manipulation, will she ever become the artist of her own fate, or will she remain forever someone else’s muse?
Compulsive and deviant, My Violent Muse is a razor-sharp thriller about revenge, exploitation, obsession, and the dangerous bargains we strike for power, survival, and love.
Genre: Mystery
"As if Patrick Bateman’s feminist, anti-capitalist sister narrated her own delicious tale of revenge and comeuppance.’ —Lacey Dunham, author of The Belles
"The perfect spiritual successor to films like Heathers and Jennifer's Body." —Saratoga Schaefer, USA TODAY bestselling author
‘A bloody treat.’ —Chelsea G. Summers, author of A Certain Hunger
Would you still love me if I were a murderer…?
Morello is a nobody: a homeless orphan and starving artist with nothing but impossible dreams of escaping obscurity. Then Florence appears—dazzling, dangerous, and offering Morello a way out, on one chilling condition: each year, they must hunt and kill one of the art world’s predatory men. In return, Morello will inherit a life of privilege and promise.
Together, they transform revenge into twisted performance art, staging each murder with meticulous, theatrical flair. But when Morello falls for Jude, a wealthy art student who offers her a glimpse of a life sans murder, her carefully curated reality begins to unravel, and she’s one lie away from losing everything she’s killed for. With the body count rising and anonymous threats closing in, Morello must finally ask herself: Is the cost of vengeance ever truly paid? And after a life shaped by violence and manipulation, will she ever become the artist of her own fate, or will she remain forever someone else’s muse?
Compulsive and deviant, My Violent Muse is a razor-sharp thriller about revenge, exploitation, obsession, and the dangerous bargains we strike for power, survival, and love.
Genre: Mystery
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