Kill All Your Darlings by David Bell

(Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a  copy of this book!)

about book: (summary from Goodreads)

After years of struggling to write following the deaths of his wife and son, English professor Connor Nye publishes his first novel, a thriller about the murder of a young woman.

There's just one problem: Connor didn't write the book. His missing student did. And then she appears on his doorstep, alive and well, threatening to expose him.

Connor's problems escalate when the police insist details in the novel implicate him in an unsolved murder from two years ago. Soon Connor discovers the crime is part of a disturbing scandal on campus and faces an impossible dilemma--admit he didn't write the book and lose his job or keep up the lie and risk everything. When another murder occurs, Connor must clear his name by unraveling the horrifying secrets buried in his student's manuscript.

This is a suspenseful, provocative novel about the sexual harassment that still runs rampant in academia--and the lengths those in power will go to cover it up.

When a student disappears and is presumed dead, her professor passes off her manuscript as his own--only to find out it implicates him in an unsolved murder in this new thriller from the USA Today bestselling author of The Request. 

my thoughts:

Professors stealing their student's dissertations and publishing it as their own work - is that a new genre? I know that 'publish or perish' is the thing in academia, but seriously? This is the second book I've read this year with that exact plot line. Of course, I love the idea. Having been in the academic world for a bit, I just love the drama that this idea inspires. Not only does it makes you suspect the professor, but you also can't help but wonder about the rest of the academic staff or their students. Makes you wonder what other dirty secrets are being hidden away. I remember all the snarky gossip that exists within the academic world, so I can only imagine how much fun it must have been to write a book about this topic and that world. 

Kill All Your Darlings by David Bell is all about Connor, an English professor who is now a widow following the deaths of his wife and son. He is grieving. And, he is struggling to keep it together - home and career. So, he does the unthinkable and steals his student's paper and publishes it as his new novel. The student has gone missing and he figures that she's not going to turn up, so why not ensure that he keeps his job by publishing a new novel? Except, the novel starts to do rather well. And, the missing student shows up at his house.  Oh, and the cops come a knocking when they recognize details in Connor's story that match a murder scene. Say what?! Yep, Connor has unwittingly placed himself smack dab in the middle of a murder investigation as the prime suspect.  Talk about regretting your actions. Looks like Connor has no one to blame, but himself. And, he has no one to help him out of this crazy mess, except himself. Yikes!

Bell has written a suspenseful story that has twists and turns throughout, which will leave you guessing all the way through. Such a fun read! I just loved getting to know Connor and piecing together who's guilty of what. Definitely a great summer read!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book!