I received this book for free from the Bought, Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
A Killer Motive by Hannah Mary McKinnon Published by MIRA Books on September 9, 2025
Genres: Fiction / Crime, Fiction / Family Life / Marriage & Divorce, Fiction / Family Life / Siblings, Fiction / General, Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Amateur Sleuth, Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths, Fiction / Thrillers / Crime, Fiction / Thrillers / Domestic, Fiction / Thrillers / General, Fiction / Thrillers / Psychological, Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense, Fiction / Thrillers / Technological, Fiction / Women
Pages: 400
Format: Audiobook, eBook
Source: Bought, Publisher
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In this thriller for fans of Ashley Elston and Jeneva Rose, a manipulative kidnapper gives a true crime podcaster one week to locate her brother’s best friend. If she succeeds, she’ll learn the truth about her brother’s disappearance six years ago, but if she fails, his friend will die.
You never know who’s listening.
To Stella Dixon, sneaking her teenage brother out of their parents’ house for a beach party was harmless fun—until Max disappeared without a trace.
Six years later, Stella’s family is still broken, and she can’t let go of her guilt. The only thing that keeps her going is helping other families find closure through A Killer Motive, her true crime podcast.
In a bid to find new sponsors and keep making episodes, Stella goes on a local radio show. But when she says on air that if she had just one clue, she’d find Max and bring whoever hurt him to justice, someone takes it as a challenge.
A mysterious invitation to play a game arrives, with the promise that if Stella wins, she’ll get information about what happened to Max. Stella thinks it’s a sick joke…until Max’s best friend vanishes. And she’s given new instructions: tell nobody or people will die.
Desperate and unable to trust anyone, Stella agrees. But beating a twisted, invisible enemy seems impossible when they make all the rules…
What if your podcast became the bait in a deadly game?
In A Killer Motive, Hannah Mary McKinnon delivers a pulse-pounding thriller that blurs the line between justice and obsession. At the heart of the story is Stella Dixon, a true-crime podcaster haunted by the unsolved disappearance of her brother six years earlier. When a cryptic challenge arrives promising answers—but only if she plays by the rules—Stella is thrust into a chilling psychological maze where every clue could be a trap, and every silence could be fatal.
McKinnon masterfully weaves themes of guilt, grief, and the hunger for closure into a narrative that’s as emotionally resonant as it is relentlessly suspenseful. With anonymous threats, vanishing friends, and a villain who seems to know Stella’s every move, this isn’t just a mystery—it’s a reckoning. But a reckoning for who?
Readers who crave layered characters and high-stakes tension will find themselves hooked from the first page. Here’s an excerpt from a Killer Motive with my review of the audiobook following.
Chapter 1
Stella
My pulse thudded in my neck like Morse code. A steady tap-tap loosely translating as come on. Shoving my hands under my thighs, I slid farther down the passenger seat and peered over the dashboard toward the darkened house at the end of the street.
For ten minutes I’d willed the motion-activated porch lights to stay off. Hoped the heavy living room drapes with the silver ring print I’d been mesmerized by as a kid would remain closed, allowing us to stay undetected.
Tap-tap.
Already 9:47 p.m. Where was he?
The cloudless Maine sky had long transitioned from bright blue to bubble gum pink before enveloping our corner of the East Coast in a blanket of rich black velvet. A cool breeze drifted through the open car window, providing a welcome break from the searing early August temperatures.
Rain was on its way for Portland and beyond tomorrow, which would be a welcome relief. For now, the sound of buzzing cicadas filled the Friday night air while this summer’s hottest anthem played on a radio somewhere in the distance.
The classic smell of freshly cut grass invaded my nostrils, conjuring memories of picnics in the park, running through sprinklers, and hands sticky from melting strawberry popsicles. Like those lazy days years ago, tonight would be perfect. All I needed was for my brother to show up.
“Do you think he changed his mind, Stella?” Jeff said, his voice a gentle rumble.
Glancing at my boyfriend, I took in his dark blond hair, straight nose, and the sculpted stubble accentuating a set of epic cheekbones. I let my gaze sweep across his toned biceps and chest. Underneath the faded-but-somehow-still-fitted Alanis Morissette T-shirt was a set of rock-hard abs I couldn’t wait to run my hands over again. Part of me almost wanted Max not to show up so we could go straight home.
I reached for Jeff’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “No, he’s too excited for the party. I bet he’s waiting for Mom and Dad to fall asleep in front of the TV.”
Jeff laughed. “Way to make them sound ancient.”
My parents were fifty-one. I was about to reply that compared to Jeff’s twenty-four years and my twenty-two, that was ancient, but the sight of Max emerging between a pair of fir trees stopped me. With a mischievous grin on his face, he speed-walked toward us, his hands tucked into the pockets of a Simpsons hoodie.
I smiled at my baby brother. Baby was slightly unfair considering his eighteenth birthday was under two weeks away, but I’d forever tease him about being four years younger. Max didn’t mind. He knew that from the moment I first saw him in the hospital, swaddled in a bunny-print blanket, his plump cheeks rosy red, I vowed I’d be the best big sister in the world.
Tonight, my solemn promise meant busting his grounded ass out of his minimum-security prison, aka our parents’ house, so he could join Jeff and me at what would be the coolest party of the weekend. Lighthouse Beach was a twenty-five-minute drive from Deering, the Portland neighborhood where Max and I had grown up, and now I couldn’t wait to get going.
Max slid into the back seat of Jeff’s old red pickup truck. I turned around, laughing at my brother’s beaming face and the perpetual impish twinkle in his green eyes, which looked so much like mine.
“We were about to leave,” I deadpanned. “Thought you’d chickened out.”
Max snorted. “As if.”
“Are we picking up Kenji?”
“He’s at his girlfriend’s so he’ll meet us at the beach,” Max said, before jokingly adding, “He’d better, considering he’s taking off next week. Some best friend he is, leaving me
behind.”
“Hey,” I shot back with mock indignation. “I thought I was your best friend.”
“Are you two sure about this aiding and abetting?” Jeff cut in before Max could throw a good-natured sibling zinger my way. “Your mom will go ballistic if she finds out.”
Max shrugged. “I don’t care. She’s way overprotective.”
“You know her reasons,” Jeff said.
We all did. Mom’s older brother died when she was nine and he was seventeen. It was terrible how some asshole truck driver had run over our uncle, killing him instantly. Still, Max’s rebellion tonight was fueled by the fact Mom had banned him from going to California with Kenji, saying it was too far away, and Max was too young. They’d had a massive argument about it, which led to my brother being grounded for the weekend, hence tonight’s great escape.
“I told them I was heading to bed,” Max said. “They never check, but I stacked my pillows under the duvet just in case. Nobody will notice.”
“If they do, I’ll take the full blame.” I patted Jeff’s hand. “Max, we’ll drive you home. No after-parties with Kenji, got it? What Mom and Dad don’t know can’t hurt them.”
“Sir, yes, sir.” Max gave me a salute. “Anyway, I’ll need some sleep. I’m volunteering at the clinic tomorrow. Woolly had a mass removed and I want to be there for him.”
“Woolly?” Jeff said. “Dog or sheep?”
My brother grinned. “Giant Angora rabbit. He’s awesome.”
“You’re such a softie,” I said before letting out a whoop. “All right, let’s go. Lighthouse Beach, here we come.”
A KILLER MOTIVE by Hannah Mary McKinnon
Available September 2025 from MIRA.
Copyright © 2025 by Hannah McKinnon
My Thoughts:
If you’ve ever binged a true crime podcast late into the night, wondering what drives someone to chase the darkest corners of humanity, A Killer Motive will feel like it’s speaking directly to you. Hannah Mary McKinnon’s latest thriller doesn’t just deliver suspense—it digs deep into grief, obsession, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.
Stella Dixon is a podcaster with a purpose: uncover the truth behind her brother’s disappearance six years ago. But when a cryptic message arrives promising answers, but only if she’s willing to play along, Stella finds herself caught in a psychological game where every clue feels personal and every silence feels threatening. McKinnon doesn’t just build tension but also empathy. Stella’s desperation is raw, her choices are messy, and her vulnerability makes her one of the most compelling protagonists I’ve read this year.
What I loved most was how McKinnon uses Stella’s podcast not just as a plot device, but as a mirror to the current state of the world. The ethics of storytelling, the voyeurism of true crime, and the fine line between justice and exploitation are all explored. This is a thriller that asks hard the questions like what happens when your search for truth becomes someone else’s entertainment? And what if the person pulling the strings knows you better than you know yourself?
The pacing is razor-sharp, the twists land with emotional weight, and the antagonist—who remains chillingly elusive throughout most of the book—feels like a ghost haunting every page. The emotional resonance lingers throughout though. A Killer Motive isn’t just about solving a mystery; it’s about confronting the ones we carry inside. The dual points of view of Stella and the villian deepen your emotional connection to Stella and her drive to find what happened to her brother.
I give A KILLER MOTIVE a five out of five. I’ve really enjoyed other books by this author, and A Killer Motive is her best yet. The audiobook I bought on audible made the time fly by as I was absorbed in the brilliant work of narrators Amy Hall, Mel Benjamin, Nick Thurston, Bernadette Dunne, and Carol Schneider. Ultimately, this book is more than a thriller. It’s a meditation on grief, obsession, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive. McKinnon delivers a narrative that’s both gripping and haunting, leaving readers breathless and introspective. If you’re looking for a thriller that grips you by the throat and doesn’t let go, but also makes you think about the cost of closure, this one’s for you.
Find A KILLER MOTIVE
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About Hannah Mary McKinnon
Internationally bestselling author Hannah Mary McKinnon was born in the UK, grew up in Switzerland and moved to Canada in 2010. Her seven suspense novels include NEVER COMING HOME, THE REVENGE LIST, and ONLY ONE SURVIVES, and her work has been optioned for the screen. She also writes holiday romantic comedies as Holly Cassidy. Hannah Mary lives in Oakville, Ontario, Canada with her husband and three sons. You’ll find her on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Threads as @hannahmarymckinnon, and please visit www.hannahmarymckinnon.com for more.
Find Hannah Mary McKinnon
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