"Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer"

“Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer”

Written by Katie Alender

Review written by Diana Iozzia

Recently, I’ve been into reading young adult horror novels. Perhaps, this is a trip down memory lane for me, as teen horror used to be my favorite genre when I was in middle and high school. However, I have found that I’ve also loved historical fiction with a twist of horror. In addition, I’ve been listening to these types of books on audiobook, because I feel they do not always need undivided attention. After a long day of working with wild two year-olds, it helps to relax with an audiobook and not focus intently. These three recent reading preferences allowed me to begin listening to “Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer” on audiobook.

“Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer” was written by Katie Alender, most popularly known for her “Bad Girls Don’t Die” series. I personally read that series as a young teen, maybe fourteen or thirteen. In listening to the audiobook, I felt that this reading experience was much more dramatic, fun, and whimsical, since this takes place in an unrealistic ghostly Paris. Teenage Colette and her classmates are visiting Paris, France on a summer field trip. We receive her first-person perspective and then a third person perspective following the ghost of Marie Antoinette. While Colette unravels the mystery, she also falls in love, becomes a more mature person, and decides who her real friends are. Colette discovers that the ghost of the queen has been killing the descendants of the family that betrayed her during the final days of Marie’s life, leading to her death. Colette must unearth the secrets and figure out how to save herself and her loved ones from true disaster.

This is a fun read, with lots of ridiculous dialogue, characters, and plot. But it’s really entertaining, which allowed me to thoroughly enjoy it as a guilty pleasure. I enjoyed listening to the accents of the characters, the beautiful French imagery, and the soapy friendships and romance. Also, I liked the historical fiction angle. Although this was far less gory and murderous as I had hoped it would be, I do understand that it is primarily for teens. This felt like “The Lizzie McGuire Movie” in France instead of Italy, with a bit of murder thrown in. I also found myself curious to learn more about the French Revolution as a result. This book also reminded me of the recent French Revolution story “Enchantee” by Gina Trelease.

I implore you to listen to the audiobook, instead of only reading a physical copy. I found that the audiobook highly increased my interest and made it much more entertaining. Although this could be cheesy from time to time, I think it was worth the fun.