Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano - ADVISABLE

Finlay Donovan is Killing It (Finlay Donovan #1) by Elle Cosimano, 355 pages. Minotaur Books (St. Martin’s Press), 2021. $18.

Language: R (111 swears, 2 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG13

BUYING ADVISORY: ADULT - ADVISABLE

AUDIENCE APPEAL: MANY

The start of the day is bad with a nanny no-show, a toddler with scissors, and being late to a meeting with her agent, and Finlay (31yo) is just trying to keep her head above water despite how each choice makes the day become worse—and then the worst. She’s desperate. At the end of the day, the question Finlay has to answer is whether she’s desperate enough to bury a body.

The situations that Finlay gets tangled in are convoluted in the best way, and readers get the fun of two stories in one as Finlay uses her new experiences as fodder for her writing project. All of my questions were addressed throughout the book—and I loved that Casimano gives readers the space to form the questions before Finlay does. The story ends with a cliffhanger that leaves even Finlay dumbfounded.

Finlay is described as “pale,” Julian is described as “tanned,” Veronica is implied Hispanic, and there are some Russian mobsters. Also, Georgia is part of the LGBT community. The mature content rating is for alcohol use; illegal activity; kissing; partial nudity; mentions of drugs, strippers, pornography, nudity, human trafficking, and rape; groping; innuendo; and implied sex. The violence rating is for blood and gore, implied domestic violence, gun use, suicide, and murder.

Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen