Hey hey hey, another day, another crime book waiting to be read and reviewed! This time we’re diving into The Perfect Psychopath by Alice Hunter, one of my most-anticipated releases of 2025. And let’s just say… I have thoughts. I had big expectations going in, and while some things really worked for me, others left me a little unsure. Let’s talk about it.
So here it is, my humble The Perfect Psychopath Review.
The Perfect Psychopath – Book Synopsis
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Title |
The Perfect Psychopath |
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Author |
Alice Hunter |
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Genre |
Thriller, Crime, Psychological Thriller |
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Format |
352 pages, Paperback |
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Pubished |
May 22, 2025 by Avon |
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ISBN |
9780008662844 (ISBN10: 0008662843) |
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ASIN |
0008662843 |
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Language |
English |
The Perfect Psychopath – Quick Summary
The Perfect Psychopath by Alice Hunter – Trigger Warnings, Sensitive Topics and Age Rating
Before we go any further, I always like to include a quick note on sensitive content. Every reader is different, and some themes in this book might be difficult for certain people.
If you prefer to check content warnings before reading, just click below to reveal the list of trigger warnings, sensitive topics and age ratting.
Plot Overview
The Perfect Psychopath by Alice Hunter follows Ellie, a prison psychologist who ends up tangled in a series of disturbing events, all while trying to keep it all together as her past slowly creeps back in. From the start, I was intrigued by the premise, prison setting, mind games, and plenty of psychological depth.
Ellie’s sister Grace vanished five years ago, and ever since, she’s carried the weight of not knowing what happened, along with the fear that the truth might never come.
But on what should’ve been Grace’s 30th birthday, an old contact gets in touch with news, a body has been found, and the details sound a lot like the modus operandi of Lucas Haynes, a convicted serial killer serving a life sentence. Lucas is one of Ellie’s patients at the prison where she works as a psychologist.
Things get even more suspicious when Ellie learns that something belonging to Grace has turned up at the crime scene. For the first time in years, she starts to wonder if she might finally uncover the truth about what happened to her sister. She begins to believe this murder, and maybe others, could be connected to Grace’s disappearance. To get answers, Ellie will have to face her own ghosts, and digging into Lucas’s twisted mind might be the only way to do it.
My Thoughts
What I Loved
This was my first Alice Hunter book, and while I was looking up more about the title, I was surprised to learn that she’s actually a psychologist and used to work in a prison as an intervention facilitator.
That background really comes through in the way she writes the therapy interactions between Ellie and Lucas Haynes, a serial killer with strong manipulative traits. Their conversations are tense and uncomfortable, and Lucas has this unnerving presence that makes every scene feel super intense. You can sense Ellie trying to stay professional while clearly being affected. On top of that, Hunter uses real psychological terms and procedures, which I thought was really clever and added a strong sense of authenticity to the story.
What Surprised Me
The way the book is structured really stood out to me. Instead of just sticking to regular chapters, Alice Hunter mixes in text messages, journal entries, police reports, case files, and news snippets. It caught me by surprise, in the best way. I wasn’t expecting so many formats, but they all work together and help pull you deeper into the story. These little extras make everything feel more real and add another layer to the reading experience. You get different points of view and just enough extra detail to make you second-guess what you think about certain characters and their actions.
Vibe Check
There’s a sad, heavy mood running through the story, and the overall atmosphere is tense and claustrophobic. The prison setting — oh boy — really adds to that. I loved the whole Silence of the Lambs vibe. Everything is quiet, intense, and honestly, pretty nerve-racking.
What Didn’t Work for Me
Now, let’s talk about why I ended up giving this one 3.5 stars, even though I really liked the premise and the psychological depth of the book.
To start, I found Ellie really frustrating and, honestly, kind of hard to like. I caught myself rolling my eyes at her more than once. Instead of feeling for her or rooting for her, I spent most of the book questioning how she handled things, not just in the serious moments, but in her everyday behaviour too. I understand she’s going through a lot, but she came across as too whiny and genuinely irritating at times.
And while I usually enjoy a slow-burn thriller, the middle section burned a little too slow for my taste. Some scenes felt repetitive and didn’t do much to move the plot forward. A few moments also came across as a bit too convenient or just not fully developed, which, unfortunately, totally pulled me out of the story.
About The Plot Twist
I’m really disappointed with this one. I love a good plot twist, I basically live for them. It’s usually what keeps me reading, even when I’m not fully hooked by a book. I keep going, always hoping the twist or the ending will turn things around and actually surprise me.
But that just didn’t happen with The Perfect Psychopath. You can see most of it coming pretty early on, and the ending felt flat, confusing and unfinished. There were a few loose threads that never got tied up, and some things just weren’t fully explained.
Now, I’m not saying a book has to spell out every single detail, I actually enjoy a good ambiguous ending. But in this case, it didn’t land. After spending so much time slowly building the story, the ending felt rushed and didn’t wrap things up in a satisfying way.
Some Book Quotes
“We deal with some of the most challenging people and situations… we tend to forget how they impact us. We aren’t immune.“
“It’s been said that broken homes have a history of producing broken people… Don’t you think it’s the other way around? It’s the darkness in the broken person that affects the stabilisation of the home.”
“My skull is filled with an electrical thrum, competing thoughts buzzing around my mind. But these things are clear: Lucas is a serial killer. A predator. Being locked up doesn’t alter those facts“
Let’s Chat!
And that’s my take on The Perfect Psychopath by Alice Hunter.
Have you read The Perfect Psychopath? Drop your thoughts in the comments, I’d love to chat!
