book-review – JULIA MCDERMOTT

Barbies hanging out together on the French Riviera

Imagine how I felt when I came across these Barbie dolls (and a few Kens) sitting or lounging on a vendor’s table, just steps from the Mediterranean Sea in the south of France while I was there during a holiday weekend in May.

Quelle trésor! (What a treasure!)

No, I’m not a Barbie collector, but a character in my new thriller THE BARBIE KILLER is–sort of. The Barbies in the photo were taken out of their original boxes long ago, I suspect. However, they look newer than the Barbie (and the Skipper and Midge) my sister and I played with when we were young. Like the ones my daughter had when she was little, they are wearing a variety of outfits, lots of different hairstyles, and lots of pink. But none have on the slim houndstooth skirt or red shoes worn by the Barbie on the cover of my novel.

THE BARBIE KILLER was published on March 31, 2026 in print and on Kindle by Red Adept Publishing, and is also available in Kindle Unlimited. Its launch at my local bookstore, Story & Song, was a smashing success: We had a packed house, and the store sold out of books that day. You can order copies there or at any bookstore, and once you pick it up, you won’t be able to put it down–I promise.

A recent reviewer described it as “a fast-paced psychological thriller that blends small-town paranoia, buried secrets, and serial-killer suspense into an entertaining, highly readable mystery.”

Another said: “The suspense grabs you from page one, and the tension steadily builds as the narrative shifts between the tortured thinking of the killer and the creepy coldness of the men and women who inhabit the superficially ‘normal’ Midwestern town where the book is set.”

Although pink isn’t my favorite, I love color, as you can tell by the dress I’m wearing here. And color is everywhere in the south of France, especially during the month of May. I don’t think the collection of Barbie dolls in THE BARBIE KILLER includes a French one, but I could be wrong. But I do know that there’s an assortment of them, new and old.

To find out why, well, you’ll just have to read the book!

Don’t worry – not in your neighborhood. But my new thriller is available on Amazon or at your local bookstore!

The Barbie Killer was inspired by true events – and the chilling intersection between true crime and personal experience. In the 1970s, 80s, 90s and beyond, serial killer Dennis Rader, known as “BTK” for Bind, Torture, Kill, terrorized the community of Wichita, Kansas. My family and I lived there from 1995 – 2000, a time when the killer was “inactive,” but no one ever breathed a word to us about him.

Not a neighbor, not a friend, and not a business colleague of my husband – who worked for a large company headquartered in Wichita then. Many people we met had grown up there, so they knew about BTK, but they kept mum about him. Back then, the Internet was in its infancy and Google didn’t exist yet, so before and during our time in Wichita we had no idea he was on the loose and perhaps living in that small town where everyone seemed to know everyone else – or so they thought.

Years later, after we moved back to Atlanta, we learned the town’s dark secret when Rader was captured and sent to prison. Then one day, I was asked to write a short story for crime stories anthology DOWN TO THE RIVER, and I chose to set it in Wichita and make it about a family new to town who are shocked to learn about a serial murderer in their midst.

Then, I decided to turn it into a novel.

And voilà! Yesterday, March 31, 2026, my thriller THE BARBIE KILLER was published by Red Adept Publishing. My book launch at local independent bookstore Story & Song Bookstore and Bistro was a wild success. Stacks of copies sold out to a full house! My friend, author Linda R. Sexton, interviewed me about the book, and I answered great questions that members of the audience posed. I’m told the bookstore is ordering more copies tout de suite – immediately – and I’m going to love seeing them on the shelf there, as long as they last!

Order yours or pick it up there soon – or order it at your own local bookstore. If you love a taut, tense thriller, here’s a quote from an advance reviewer that made my day: “Holy smokes, I love a quick read. I love a good thriller and this one was a perfect example of how a story doesn’t need to be 500 pages to be good. Multiple points of view and was fun to read.”

If you also enjoy it, post your own review so others will know about it. Merci!

Tag: book-review

A Collection of Barbies

The Barbie Killer is OUT!