Serial Killer Support Group is One of the Best Horror Novels I Have Read in 2025
I had found this novel by accident while going through the selection that was half price at Barnes & Noble. The only reason why I picked this novel, was because of the title. How could I ignore a title like that?
Serial Killer Support Group is way too original and already sounds like a fun horror novel. Of course, the horror fan in me could not resist!
I think the most shocking part about this novel, is that I wasn’t expecting this book to be one of the best horror novels I have read this year. I expected the book to be your typical slasher, but it was much more than that!
We follow the story of a young woman named Cyra Griffin, who has lost her sister, Mira. She goes to the police, but they don’t have enough evidence to figure out who killed her. All they know is that it was a serial killer. Upon learning this information, Cyra decides to take matters into her own hands.
One of her good friends named Eli, is working in the same police department. He gives in to helping Cyra, and leaks information that is linked to a serial killer support group. Cyra immediately gets to work, and somehow gets herself in this secret group.
She lies about being a serial killer, in order to convince this group she is one of them. She tells them that she likes to murder her own elderly patients in the hospital, (she works in a hospital, and that is why she picks this story), and the killers eat it up.
She meets a group of six serial killers, and their personal bodyguard.
They each are given code names to hide their identities.
Pea Crab: A junkie who kills anyone to get his next fix.
Lamprey: The hot killer who is the most dangerous one.
Cuckoo: The young killer who is way too energetic to be among his people.
Mockingbird: The trucker killer who is always the quiet one in the group.
Sand Fly: The creepy killer who thrives on murdering rich women.
Whipworm: The killer who preys on men.
Python: The bodyguard of the killers who keeps everyone in line. He is also hinted to be in a relationship with Whipworm. They had met in prison, and had fallen for each other.
Cyra is given the nickname Mistletoe, and the group has different reactions to her arrival. Cyra is able to put up a good disguise, convincing each of them that she is one of them.
Well…not all of them.
Lamprey founds out the real identity of Cyra.
It turned out that Cyra was not being 100% careful, and Lamprey bumps into her while she is buying snacks at a store. Right off the bat, Cyra knows that Lamprey is pretty damn creepy. He appears to get obsessed with her, and has taken a huge liking to her. Cyra decides to play along, and they both agree to help each other get what they want.
Cyra wants to know who killed her sister.
Lamprey knows a mole is in their group.
They team up secretly, and start to figure out the identities of who they are looking for among the serial killer support group.
Despite Cyra’s plan starting to set into motion, she is not experiencing this same feeling in her real life.
Cyra has lost a part of herself ever since her sister died. Even though they had a rocky relationship, they still loved each other, no matter what. Mira had dreams of becoming a photographer, and both sisters started a new life together. They meet Eli and his girlfriend Izzie, forming a powerful bond.
Cyra also meets a woman named Bea, who becomes her girlfriend.
Things are looking up for them, but Cyra knows that something is wrong with her. When she was younger, she had done something horrible to protect her sister. When she found out that Mira was dating an abusive asshole named PJ, she killed him to protect her sister.
The cycle continued later on in life, when Cyra learned that Mira got screwed over by Arthur, a man that was using Mira’s talent to sleep with her. Mira’s relationship ends up going public, and she founds out that Cyra unintentionally leaked this information to the world.
This realization leads to the last sighting that Cyra would ever have of Mira, because she is later killed by a serial killer. This tragic event leads to Cyra growing a little distant with Eli and Izzie, and breaking up with Bea.
Cyra is constantly asked by all three of them why she doesn’t react like they do; over the friend they lost. Cyra chalks up her emotions to a kind of numbness that she feels within her body, scaring her loved ones into believing that something is deeply wrong with her.
Poor Cyra definitely has it rough in her life, but that doesn’t stop her from continuing her investigation.
Cyra and Lamprey’s detective work lead to finding the mole within the group…and the murder of Pea Crab.
While Cyra is about to leave a meeting with the support group, she finds a photo of Pea Crab dead. Lamprey and Cyra believe that because he was a junkie, he was murdered in fear that he would reveal the support group to someone. Then the duo end up discovering who the mole was all along.
Cuckoo was secretly a cop, working in the same police department like Eli. He had joined the group, because he wanted the fame and glory of taking down an entire group of monsters like that. Once Cyra learns that Cuckoo had murdered someone to join their ranks, she does not hesitate to let Lamprey go after Cuckoo, murdering him off screen.
Cyra is left feeling horrible deep down, as Lamprey taunts her, telling her that he is impressed with the darkness she has lurking inside of her. Lamprey then tells her that he is willing to hack Mira’s laptop to get the information she needs to find her killer.
Since the police didn’t bother with investigating further into her death, she gives in to Lamprey’s offer. He tells her to wear red for the next support meeting, as a way to give permission to Lamprey that he can hack into Mira’s laptop.
This decision goes wrong, and it leads to Sand Fly going after Cyra.
Cyra and the group learn before the meeting ends, that Pea Crab had been secretly killed by Whipworm.
Upon learning about Cuckoo’s disappearance, they decide to throw him under the bus, to take the fall for Pea Crab’s death. Lamprey and Cyra can’t help but admit to themselves that it’s a genius plan to make Cuckoo the scapegoat, and the meeting ends.
While Cyra is waiting for the killers to leave, she goes back to their meeting spot to let Lamprey hack Mira’s laptop. She is confronted by Sand Fly, who she had believed to be Lamprey to meet up with her. They get into a scuffle when Sand Fly mistakenly believes that Lamprey and Cyra are a thing.
Cyra gets the upper hand by sticking her switchblade into his right eye, but he cuts her from the back as she tries to escape. As Cyra is feeling the blood seep out of her body, Lamprey comes to her rescue, killing Sand Fly. Lamprey checks her wound to make sure she is alright, and then agrees to check out Mira’s laptop.
Lamprey eventually hacks into the laptop, and Cyra learns who is her sister’s killer.
She finds back and forth emails of Eli and Mira, revealing that they were in a secret relationship behind Izzie’s back. Cyra freaks out over this information, realizing her sister’s death was posed on purpose to link a serial killer to her death.
Cyra knows that in order to pull off murdering Eli, she must get rid of Lamprey, that she knows will eventually kill her. She throws Lamprey to the killers, telling them that he killed the other three killers in the group.
Even though Whipworm and Python know that they were responsible for Pea Crab’s death, they don’t hesitate to use Lamprey as their scapegoat. Python and Whipworm decide to team up on Lamprey when he arrives to the meeting, and allow Mockingbird and Cyra to leave the meeting.
After Mockingbird leaves, Cyra finds Lamprey standing behind her, covered in blood. He reveals that he had killed Whipworm, possibly leaving Python alive, leaving his fate unknown.
Cyra gets the idea to have Lamprey help her kill Eli, to avoid getting murdered by him.
Cyra and Lamprey trick Eli into meeting them, and Cyra murders Eli with a rock, similar to how Mira was killed. Lamprey helps her dispose of his body, and tells her he is proud of her. Cyra hates that statement, and is relieved she had finally found her sister’s killer.
It bothers Cyra that she doesn’t have any sort of emotion, but she accepts that something is wrong with her this time around. She calls Izzie to comfort her, and decides to tell her the truth, that Eli and Mira were together behind her back. Cyra is shocked with Izzie’s reaction, leading her to wonder if Izzie is her sister’s killer.
Before she can go after Izzie, Lamprey breaks into her apartment. He reveals his true intentions, that he cannot let her live, because she is too special to share with others. Cyra and Lamprey fight in a brutal battle, and Cyra is victorious, murdering him with a knife.
She leaves the apartment to go after Izzie, and learns that she was the one who had murdered Mira. Cyra is disappointed that she killed Eli, but she now must take revenge for real this time. She murders Izzie, and goes back to her apartment to pack up and leave the city.
Cyra looks through a box she had containing trophies of her victims. She places Izzie inside, along with an item belonging to Lamprey, Arthur, and PJ. She does not add an item belonging to Eli, since he wasn’t a bad person.
The novel ends with Cyra embracing her dark self, becoming a serial killer who only goes after bad people.
In the final chapter of the novel, we learn that Cyra murdered Arthur, making his death look like a suicide. We get a different version of her character, appearing to enjoy the thrill of murdering Arthur and PJ, men who had harmed her sister.
I think Mira was a sort of tool for Cyra to unleash her dark side, and when she is murdered, she full on embraces her murderous self.
I couldn’t help but love how bittersweet the ending was, as she watched two sisters fighting, while holding hands, a metaphor for the sister relationship of Mira and Cyra.
I loved how cutthroat the book was. The story did not hold back on anything with Cyra’s character, she was so complex, and I loved how the novel didn’t pull a single cop out with all of the bad stuff that transpired with Cyra’s plan.
This was a fantastic novel, that brought to life the birth of a serial killer that will fight for good.
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