3/5 stars

What's it about? Lou returns to her life as a mother, wife, and professional hugger, chosen to be resurrected as a clone after being murdered by serial killer Edward Early. As Lou struggles to connect with her life, she learns through a support group for Early’s victims that her murder may actually be unsolved.

How’d I find it? After enjoying Tell the Machine Goodnight so much, I had to pick up more of Williams’ books.

Who will enjoy this book? This had the feel of Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones for adults. Or Black Mirror in novel form.

What stood out? The vaguely near future of My Murder contains novelties that are an apt setting for a government human replication program: real life avatars called “skins” that can disguise one’s identity, intensely real VR games (one that allows players to experience the murders or murdering, for example), self-driving vehicles. This reality is eerily close to ours, which makes the ethical implications of a society that continues to harm women all the more visceral.

Which line made me feel something? This bit of text from the chapter “Unhappiness:” “The fear was shapeless, so I gave it shapes. It was a lake, and I was under its water. It was a floor, and I was under its boards. It was a mouth, and I was under its tongue.”