Killer Potential
The hot, twisty, stay-up-all-night novel for fans of THE GUEST and MY SISTER THE SERIAL KILLER
Published on 9. April 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
320 pages
978-1-3996-1958-5 (ISBN)
Description
'Compelling, creepy and cool . . . a Thelma & Louise for our times'
PAULA HAWKINS, author of The Girl on the Train
'Fierce, fun, wild and enraging'
CHRIS WHITAKER, author of All The Colours of the Dark
'Razor-sharp writing, frenzied pace, twists and turns - prepare for impact!'
BONNIE GARMUS, author of Lessons In Chemistry
'Pump this into my veins. A modern day Thelma & Louise for lesbians who make Das Kapital jokes'
MADELEINE GRAY, author of Green Dot
Decisions were made: I made them. Violence was done: I did it. Crime scenes were fled: I fled them. People were hurt: I hurt them. Someone was loved: I loved them. Not everything I did was bad. Just most of it.
A scholarship kid with straight As and massive potential, Evie Gordon always thought she was special, that she'd be someone.
But after graduating from an elite university, she finds herself drowning in debt and working as a private tutor to the children of Los Angeles's super-rich.
Everything changes when Evie arrives at the Victor family's lavish mansion for her weekly lesson to discover, not the bored teenager she excepted, but pure carnage: the bloody remains of Mr and Mrs Victor sullying their beautiful back garden, and a woman crying for help from within the walls of the house.
Within moments, Evie and the woman go from bystanders to suspects to fugitives.
Suddenly at the heart of a nation-wide manhunt, Evie finds that her mysterious companion, who refuses to speak, has quickly become the most important person in her upside-down life. Meanwhile, the press runs wild with Evie's story - anointing her the new Charles Manson, a blood thirsty ninety-nine percenter looking to start a class war.
Evie is - finally and disastrously - someone.
Droll, dark and deeply insightful, Killer Potential is an edge-of-your-seat break-neck ride, a queer love story, and a darkly funny critique of the horrors of late capitalism and how the stories we're sold about our potential can shape the course of our lives.
PAULA HAWKINS, author of The Girl on the Train
'Fierce, fun, wild and enraging'
CHRIS WHITAKER, author of All The Colours of the Dark
'Razor-sharp writing, frenzied pace, twists and turns - prepare for impact!'
BONNIE GARMUS, author of Lessons In Chemistry
'Pump this into my veins. A modern day Thelma & Louise for lesbians who make Das Kapital jokes'
MADELEINE GRAY, author of Green Dot
Decisions were made: I made them. Violence was done: I did it. Crime scenes were fled: I fled them. People were hurt: I hurt them. Someone was loved: I loved them. Not everything I did was bad. Just most of it.
A scholarship kid with straight As and massive potential, Evie Gordon always thought she was special, that she'd be someone.
But after graduating from an elite university, she finds herself drowning in debt and working as a private tutor to the children of Los Angeles's super-rich.
Everything changes when Evie arrives at the Victor family's lavish mansion for her weekly lesson to discover, not the bored teenager she excepted, but pure carnage: the bloody remains of Mr and Mrs Victor sullying their beautiful back garden, and a woman crying for help from within the walls of the house.
Within moments, Evie and the woman go from bystanders to suspects to fugitives.
Suddenly at the heart of a nation-wide manhunt, Evie finds that her mysterious companion, who refuses to speak, has quickly become the most important person in her upside-down life. Meanwhile, the press runs wild with Evie's story - anointing her the new Charles Manson, a blood thirsty ninety-nine percenter looking to start a class war.
Evie is - finally and disastrously - someone.
Droll, dark and deeply insightful, Killer Potential is an edge-of-your-seat break-neck ride, a queer love story, and a darkly funny critique of the horrors of late capitalism and how the stories we're sold about our potential can shape the course of our lives.
Reviews / Votes
Compelling, creepy and cool, Hannah Deitch has written a Thelma & Louise for our times -- Paula Hawkins, author of THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN Fierce, fun, wild and enraging. Killer Potential is by turns moving, thrilling, raucous and funny. A deeply accomplished debut -- Chris Whitaker, author of ALL THE COLOURS OF THE DARK Pump this into my veins. A modern day Thelma and Louise for lesbians who make Das Kapital jokes -- Madeleine Gray, author of GREEN DOT Razor-sharp writing, frenzied pace, twists and turns - prepare for impact! -- Bonnie Garmus, author of LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY Thelma and Louise, but meaner and darker, this novel asks us to consider why we still need to tell stories about the women in our lives and the women in our media. And how the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves often leave the biggest mark. This book seethes with tension, desire and greed -- Araminta Hall, author of ONE OF THE GOOD GUYS Wickedly funny, intoxicating and shocking, Killer Potential is the queer crime novel you've been searching for. It's a love story and a road trip coiled tightly inside a thrilling nation-wide manhunt. You. Are. Not. Ready -- Lucy Rose, author of THE LAMB Like encountering a strong electrical current: Killer Potential is bright, bracing, and surging with power. Deitch's writing style is fast-paced and undeniably bold. This is the kind of book that imprints itself on your brain; it's that wild of a ride. Killer Potential is one hell of a page turner and an honest to goddamn ton of twisted fun -- Kristen Arnett, author of MOSTLY DEAD THINGS Thrilling, audacious, and laden with more booby traps than a survivalist's lair, Killer Potential heralds the arrival of a stunning new literary voice. A riotous, wholly singular debut -- Kirstin Chen, author of COUNTERFEIT Killer Potential is a twisty, wild ride of a novel that will keep you reading until the early hours. Stylish and brilliant -- Kate Hamer, author of THE GIRL IN THE RED COAT I'm obsessed with this novel. It's a funny, shocking pageturner and the writing crackles with quality. So good! I can't stop talking about it -- Kate Davies, author of IN AT THE DEEP END A hot, twisty fever dream you'll never want to wake up from . . . Killer Potential throbs with deliciously cunning characters and a fierce intensity that will keep you turning every page quicker than the last -- Zakiya Dalila Harris, New York Times bestselling author of THE OTHER BLACK GIRLMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Orion Publishing Co
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 197 mm
Width: 126 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
224 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-3996-1958-5 (9781399619585)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Hannah Deitch is a former SAT tutor and current PhD candidate in English at UC Irvine, where she studies Marxist theory and contemporary pop culture. A former arts magazine editor with a Master's in journalism from USC, Hannah has been published by the LA Times, LA Weekly, and the LA Review of Books. She lives in Los Angeles, where she also works as an editor at a romance novel-based mobile game studio.