Too Old for This: Aging, Murder, and Sharp Wit
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Life has been quiet. Simple. Rhythms of routine. Bingo nights. Serene mornings. Lottie Jones has perfected the art of being ordinary, especially when she is anything but. Too Old for This, bestselling thriller author Samantha Downing’s newest book peels back the calm veneer of a retired serial killer’s small town life. Revealing just how fragile reinvention can be.
When an eager journalist comes knocking, Lottie is anything but thrilled when her peaceful existence begins to unravel, what is supposed to be one darkly funny, razor sharp twist at a time. Downing delivers a thriller that feels both wickedly clever and hauntingly human. A story that makes you wonder how far will someone go to protect the version of themselves they’ve worked so hard to create. And can they do it successfully?
Title: Too Old for This
Author: Samantha Downing
Publisher: Berkley
Format: eARC
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
Release Date: August 12, 2025
Pages: 385
Star Rating: 2 stars
Spice Rating: 0 chili peppers
A Cup of Tea, a Knock at the Door, and One Very Bad Idea
Plum Dixon wants to make a docuseries… on Lottie Jones. Plum has decided that Lottie is innocent and she wants to prove it to the world. But Lottie isn’t who Plum thinks she is. In fact, Lottie did it…all of it. But Lottie is a now retired serial killer who’s been living a blissfully quiet life under a new identity. Her world now consists of bingo nights at the church with ladies who could be considered her best friends. Small town gossip that keeps her in the know, and making sure her neighbors don’t get too nosy. And honestly? She’s content with the life she’s created. After decades of killing, she’s hung up her chainsaw because murder, for her, started to feel less like joy and more like a chore.
And you know what? I kind of get it. We all deserve to do what we love—hers just so happens to be murder.
We listen, we don’t judge.
From the opening chapter, Samantha Downing makes it clear that Too Old for This isn’t your typical serial killer novel. The setup—a journalist showing up to dig into Lottie’s past—immediately disrupts her retirement. Plum’s death? You see it coming a mile away. (Though I’ll admit, I thought it’d be by poisoned tea rather than an umbrella to the skull.) No, it’s not a spoiler; it happens almost instantly in the first chapter. The problem is that after such a sharp beginning, the story starts to dull.
Where the Story Loses Its Bite
Lottie may be witty, calculated, and utterly self-assured, but as the pages turn, her choices start to feel…off. Reckless, even. There’s a specific moment involving another character that could have been a compelling turning point—a chance for Downing to dig deeper into Lottie’s psychology, her aging body battling her predatory instincts—but instead, the moment feels like a missed opportunity. What could’ve been a chilling decision instead becomes as implausible one.
And that is where the story loses me…as it goes off the rails. Because the core to any good thriller isn’t just tension—it’s believability. You have to buy the chaos. I was ready to pay in full, and then somewhere around the halfway mark, my card got declined.
The more I read, the more Lottie—and the book itself—seemed to unravel. The charm fades. The sharpness dulls. The repetition begins. Her status as a single mother is mentioned so many times that I started to feel like I was the one co-parenting with her. The mundanity of her daily life, while perhaps intentional to ground the story, starts to weigh it down. There’s a fine line between “suburban satire” and “I’m bored,” and unfortunately, this one leans towards the latter.
It’s not that the pacing is slow—the short chapters actually make for a quick read. It’s that the momentum never matches the premise. The humor that should have added levity (not in a laugh out loud way, but in a “this is darkly delightful” way) never quite lands. Instead, the tone sits in an uncomforatble middle ground between cozy and clinical. And when a book about a killer feels more mundane than menacing, that’s a problem.
Not Bad, Not Great, Just… Mid
By the time I hit 70%, I was reading out of stubbornness more than curiosity. Every few pages, I found myself sighing, muttering, or setting it down entirely. Not because I needed to process a twist, or understand what is happening, but because I was tired of watching Lottie stumble. She’s seasoned, clever, and used to control. Watching her decline, mentally and physically, should have felt tragic or haunting. Instead it just felt…sad. Not the kind of sad that lingers in your chest, but the kind that makes you pity her. And pity is not the emotion I want from a story like this. Not to mention Lottie would HATE that you were pitying her.
I’ll admit, maybe it’s a me thing. I have my eye on Downing’s other books (specifically For Your Own Good), and while I have heard great things about her other works this ultimately feels like it’s missing a spark. It’s not terrible. It’s just…mid.
And maybe that’s the most fitting irony of all. A story about a woman past her prime, written with all the weariness of someone too old for this.
Sometimes a book just doesn’t click—not bad, not great, just there. What was the last story that left you feeling mid?
Thank you to Berkley for sending me a copy of Too Old for This to review. Pick up a copy on Amazon (or preferably an indie bookstore)
