REVIEW: Somebody Worth Killing by Jessica Payne

Synopsis

Meet Nadia Davis, a doting mom and loving wife who has a big secret: she’s actually an assassin. And she really needs a babysitter who shows up on time.

Nadia Davis is living the dream as a successful working mom with a career she loves, two adorable little girls, and a devoted husband who has no idea that she’s secretly a hired assassin and psychopath who kills certified bad guys. So when Nadia finds out she’s been “mommy tracked” by her assassin’s agency and is no longer getting the bigger, more exciting jobs, she demands an important mark…somebody worth killing.

But it turns out that big kill is the last person she expects—her husband. How is the sweet, kind, teller-of-dad jokes she’s promised her life to an evil villain who needs exterminating? Has their whole life together been a lie? Now Nadia must choose between the two things she loves most in life, the career that keeps her sane or the family she thought she knew.

Format 304 pages, Hardcover
Published June 16, 2026 by Berkley
ISBN 9780593954706 (ISBN10: 059395470X)

About the Author

Jessica Payne lives in Washington State with her daughter and husband and an internet search history that would raise eyebrows. A firm believer in strong coffee and stronger women, she writes about mothers who know how to handle a sniper rifle and a carpool schedule with equal precision. When she's not writing, you'll find her trail running through the forests of the Pacific Northwest as she plots her next fictional murder. She is the creator of the Substack community One Tired Mother.

Her other novels include Make Me Disappear, The Lucky One, The Good Doctor, and Never Trust the Husband.

Learn more about the author

My Thoughts

If it weren't for the fire ants crawling up my leg, I would be thoroughly enjoying the evening. It's another steamy Texas night, the wind scented with oncoming rain, and I'm tucked in the crook of a sprawling oak tree in the backyard of a multimillionaire's estate. He doesn't know it yet, but I'm going to kill him.

If you've ever wondered what would happen if Killing Eve and Dexter had a baby, and that baby grew up watching a slightly less ambitious version of both shows, Somebody Worth Killing is here to answer that question.

Nadia is a sociopathic assassin who only takes out "bad" people, which is a neat little moral loophole that lets us root for her without feeling too guilty about it. When she's not on the job, she's juggling soccer-mom duties for daughters Evie and Eliza, wrangling a very good pup named Bear, and playing devoted wife to Brian—basically living the ultimate double life. 

My emotions may be blunted, I may not feel love often or easily—but despite the common belief that those on the spectrum between sociopathy and psychopathy feel nothing—I do feel things. Sometimes. For some people.

Things kick off when Nadia, bored with her usual assignments, asks her bosses for something more challenging. Naturally, she gets exactly what she asked for, and then some.

They are prey; I am a predator. It's simple math without any rules, and so I have embraced the guidelines my grandmother gave me. They've gotten me this far.

Here's my honest hang-up: Nadia spends a lot of page time telling us how much she loves killing. I get it—that's the premise, that's her whole character—but after a while it started to feel less like chilling insight into a sociopath's mind and more like the book repeating itself to make sure I got the memo. It's the literary equivalent of someone explaining a joke after they've already told it. Once was intriguing. By the fifth time, I was bored and ready to move on.

The writing itself is perfectly serviceable—nothing dazzling, nothing offensive, just solidly gets the job done. And the plot, while entertaining enough to keep me turning pages to the end, doesn't really do anything new. 

Five words: predictable, familiar, derivative, competent, forgettable

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My final thoughts: All that said, I did finish it, and I wasn't miserable doing it—that counts for something. It's a fine airport read or beach book: low commitment, moderate payoff, and a fun-enough premise even if the execution (pun slightly intended) doesn't fully capitalize on it. Familiar territory, competently handled, but Nadia could've dialed back the murder monologuing. 3.5 stars—solid enough to enjoy, forgettable enough that I probably won't remember much about it in six months.

Trigger Warnings:

Murder, violence, mental health issues, kidnapping

My Rating:

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The Cerebral Girl is a middle-aged blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.

I received a copy of this book to review through BookBrowse in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not financially compensated in any way, and the opinions expressed are my own and based on my observations while reading this novel.

TLC BOOK TOUR REVIEW: Playthings by Ilan Mochari

 A Review of Playthings in poetic form 

These poems arrive like riddles in disguise,

small locked boxes that beg for your eyes.
I turned them around, tried each clever key,
ruminating on what they meant to me.

The author writes love notes to life, to the wild and the weather,
finds the sacred in spiderlings, bubblegum, feathers—
the mundane gets lifted, given wings, given flair,
proof that wonder hides in the mundane somewhere.

Some poems made me laugh, some left me undone,
tragedy and comedy sharing the sun.
Every page beautiful, none of them thin—
an aperitif that leaves you wanting seconds again.

So, call it a snack, an amuse-bouche, a bite—
but I finished it hungry, and read into the night.

About the Author

Ilan Mochari is the author of the poetry collection PLAYTHINGS and the novel ZINSKY THE OBSCURE. His short stories and poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Cincinnati Review, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Salamander, Hobart, Juked, J Journal, North Dakota Quarterly, The Louisville Review, Valparaiso Fiction Review, and elsewhere. His work has been nominated for multiple Pushcart Prizes, as well as the Derringer Award for crime fiction, and he has been the recipient of a Literature Artist Fellowship grant from the Somerville Arts Council.

PLAYTHINGS is now available on Bookshop.org and Amazon!

My Rating:

I would like to thank TLC Book Tours for including me on this tour. 

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The Cerebral Girl is a middle-aged blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.

I received a copy of this book to review through TLC Book Tours and the author in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not financially compensated in any way, and the opinions expressed are my own and based on my observations while reading this novel.