An Ethical Guide to Murder
By Jenny Morris
Review by Sophie TB
On the surface, An Ethical Guide to Murder looks like it could be a comedy of errors. A fun romp into the mind of a woman who discovers she has superpowers and doesn’t quite know what to do with them. The power in question? She can take the years of life off of someone, and give them to another. Fast-paced and punchy, it becomes difficult to not feel complicit as the problematic heroine, Thea, navigates her life knowing that she can both punish and reward people, just through her beliefs in right and wrong. As I read this, I almost couldn’t help feeling philosophical, which was not what I expected from it at all. Because how often do we contemplate the morality of murder, and should we even want to?
