Title: The Killing Rules
Author: Bree Despain
Publication Date: August 4, 2026
Publisher: Entangled: Mayhem Books
Format Read: Kindle e-ARC
Genre: Horror, Mystery & Thriller, Teens & YA
“For the past three years, she’s been one of the Blood Bound―girls and women cursed with a bloodlust only satisfied by killing terrible men. Once every three months, she trades in her pom-poms for a lethal throwing axe.” Those are the first two sentences in the synopsis for The Killing Rules by Bree Despain. Girls and women who punish bad men? Heck yes. Trading in pom-poms for a lethal throwing axe? This just made me giggle. I guess I have a dark sense of humor sometimes. What a fun YA read this was!
Three years ago, Harper and Grayson were starting to fall for one another. They’d been bus buddies for a long time, and their relationship was gradually blossoming into something more. And then Harper killed Grayson’s father when her Blood Bound powers first manifested. Her grandmother, who raised her, created a list of “Killing Rules” to help keep her safe. Number 1 on that list was “Stay away from Grayson Jones.” Grayson, though, is still desperate for answers about who killed his father, and when another murder that’s similar to his father’s happens close to home, he decides to put his burgeoning investigative reporter skills to work. This will bring Harper and Grayson back together in unexpected ways.
This story is narrated entirely in the first person by Harper and Grayson in alternating chapters. The author has done quite well at crafting these two characters. Neither is perfect nor terrible. Their motivations and logic make sense for the teenagers they are. If anything, they both exude higher levels of maturity and self-awareness than one might have expected. I found myself rooting for both of them, although I didn’t see how the ending could possibly be good. Well, it was good and relatively happy overall, but the events of the final chapter made it feel almost implausible. However, why quibble about that? The entire journey there was pretty fun.
The story touches upon several themes. The ones that felt most important to me are patriarchy and gendered power, inherited legacies and generational cycles, female rage, love and acceptance, and choice versus destiny. Only girls and women become Blood Bound, and they kill terrible men. Meanwhile, the exclusively male Hunters seek to kill the Blood Bound. This story is about the girls who refuse to just sit back and take it. The bloodlust is strongly connected to anger at violence against women and the fantasy of turning that violence back on its perpetrators. I totally empathize with that. The central emotional question is essentially, Can someone know the worst, darkest parts of you and still love you?
The writing style is fast-paced, cinematic, and highly accessible, driven by Harper’s conversational first-person voice. Despain favors punchy sentences, short paragraphs, and vivid sensory details that make the suspense and action easy to visualize. The prose is straightforward rather than lyrical, prioritizing momentum and immersion, while Harper’s sarcasm and dark humor add personality to even the most violent scenes. Graphic moments are visceral but rarely lingered over, allowing the novel to balance supernatural horror, mystery, romance, and humor without becoming overwhelmingly grim. Overall, the writing is darkly funny, suspenseful, and extremely bingeable.
The Killing Rules was a fun “girl-power” read, although I suspect both Grayson and Harper could use some therapy after everything that happens in it. This is evidenced by the following trigger warnings: death, blood, violence, firearms, murder, graphic imagery and language, kidnapping, bullying, stalking, imprisonment, animal abuse, and sexual harassment. Child trafficking, child abuse, torture, grooming, Nazis, and death of family members are also mentioned as part of the story.
This book is a great fit for readers who enjoy fast-paced YA supernatural thrillers with morally gray heroines, dark humor, and a healthy dose of female rage. Fans of monster mythology, secret societies, complicated first love, and stories that blur the line between justice and vengeance will find plenty to sink their teeth into here. Readers who enjoy Holly Jackson’s propulsive, twisty YA mysteries may also want to give this one a try.
Nerd Rating: 🤓🤓🤓🤓— pom-poms, throwing axes, and female rage
Click here to learn more about The Killing Rules and Bree Despain.
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Do you think violence can ever be considered justice, or does it always become vengeance?
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I read a digital copy made available by Entangled: Mayhem Books through NetGalley, and this review reflects my honest opinion.