When a surprise copy of Bad Men by Julie Mae Cohen dropped into my post box, I was delighted and I’d like to thank whichever lovely publicist sent it my way. I’m delighted to share my review of Bad Men today.

Bad Men was published by Zaffre on 20th July and is available for purchase through the links here.

Bad Men

It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to kill them . . .

Saffy has a secret. A secret that she is deeply ashamed of. It’s not the fact that she’s a serial killer in her free time. In fact, she’s quite proud of that. After all she’s only killing the bad men. She is making the world a better place.

No, her secret is far worse than that. Saffy has a messy, inexplicable, uncontrollable crush. So while she’s busy plotting her next murder, she also has the much harder task of figuring out how to get a boyfriend.

But if there’s one thing Saffy knows, it’s how to get her man . . .

My Review of Bad Men

Serial killer Saffy is out to get her man.

Oh my goodness I enjoyed Bad Men. It’s utterly brilliant. I think Julie Mae Cohen may just have invented a new hybrid genre that is perfect for readers of romantic fiction, comedies, thrillers, murder mysteries and police procedurals and that is far, far better than the sum of its parts. I absolutely loved every moment of this witty and entertaining book.

Given the dark and disturbing opening and the fact that Saffy spends an awful lot of her time planning her next kill, Bad Men is so entertaining and funny. As we have Saffy’s first person voice speaking directly to the reader, we become complicit in her actions. This has the effect of making us entirely on her side even when she’s contemplating how to dismember or dispose of her next victim.

And that’s the crux. The men Saffy murders are not victims. They are abusers of all kinds; bullies and thugs who deserve what they get. They are indeed Bad Men! Far from despising Saffy for her actions, as my moral, rational brain thought I should, Julie Mae Cohen manipulated me into loving her sharp, sassy, feisty and hugely intelligent protagonist completely unreservedly.  As for Jon, I was on tenterhooks the entire story wondering just what might be in store for him as he is increasingly drawn to Saffy. No spoilers here though so you’ll need to read the book to find out.

The plot is breath takingly good. Brilliantly structured, fast paced and exciting, Bad Men zips along. I absolutely devoured the book, unable to set it aside because it’s written with such wit that even quite gruesome moments have a humour that ameliorates their unsettling effect. I thought this was genius.

Smoking hot and totally thrilling whilst dripping in wit, Bad Men is the thriller you simply mustn’t miss. I couldn’t have enjoyed it more.

About Julie Mae Cohen

Julie Cohen grew up in Maine and studied English at Brown University, Cambridge University and the University of Reading. Her award-winning novels have sold over a million copies worldwide, and have been selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club in the UK.

Julie is an Associate Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Reading, and runs an online school, Novel Gazing. She is a Vice President of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, a founder of the RNA Rainbow Chapter for LGBTQ+ writers, and a Patron of literacy charity ABC To Read. She won the 2020 Romantic Novelists’ Association Inclusion Award.

Her bestselling novel Together has been translated into eleven languages and optioned for television; The Two Lives of Louis & Louise was long-listed for the Polari Prize and has been optioned by Enderby Entertainment as a feature film. Her first historical novel, Spirited, was published in July 2020, with Summer People out in 2022. Under the name Julie Mae Cohen, her first thriller, Bad Men, is published by Bonnier in July 2023. She lives in Berkshire, UK with her teenager and a terrier of dubious origin.

For further information, visit Julie’s website, follow her on Twitter @julie_cohen, and find her on Instagram. Julie is on Facebook too.