Pretty Evil
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Narrated by:
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Frankie Porter
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By:
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Zoe Rosi
About this listen
GLAMOUROUS. TOUGH. RUTHLESS.
Camilla Black is not your average serial killer. As the editor of fashion magazine Couture, Camilla is a commanding presence. Impeccably dressed and regularly snapped at the front row of Fashion Week, Camilla is respected and revered.
And yet, Camilla has a secret.
When she's not sipping martinis with London's elite, she's scouring the streets for the worst of the worst–the most despicable predators around. And then she finds them, she shows no mercy.
Camilla is the very last person a predator would ever want to meet....
Fans of novels such as The Mindf*ck Series, Sweetpea and Maestra, and TV shows including Dexter, I May Destroy You, and Killing Eve, will relish the dark, brutal world of Pretty Evil.
Pretty Evil was first published at the height of MeToo in 2020 and was at the forefront of the now popular "Dexter of bad men" trope.
©2020 Zoe Rosi (P)2025 Zoe RosiThere’s a delicious tension in Pretty Evil that grabs you early and doesn’t let go. Rosi knows exactly how to balance the glossy and the grotesque: Camilla’s life by day is dripping in designer handbags and champagne bubbles, but by night, there are shadowy alleys, sharp knives, and moral ambiguity so thick it almost tastes metallic. The contrast is thrilling: the viewer of fashion week, the woman who limps home with stilettos, the creature of rage who stalks her prey.
Camilla Black is a compelling anti-heroine. She’s not simply “evil” for shock; there’s real weight behind her actions — trauma, betrayal, horror — which root her vendetta in something far more complex than “revenge porn.” She wants to clean up the ugliness she’s seen. That gives her a kind of twisted nobility. She remains sympathetic — even when she commits morally reprehensible acts — because you see the fractures.
The pacing is relentless. Rosi doesn’t linger unnecessarily; the tension ratchets page by page. You feel Camilla’s inner turmoil, the guilt, the adrenaline, the absurdity of having to maintain appearances while committing atrocities. The detective storyline brings in a cat-and-mouse game that keeps you doubting: can justice catch up? Or will Camilla always be ten steps ahead?
Also: the book doesn’t shy away from the dark stuff. The violence, the psychological scars, the sexual abuse — these are uncomfortable. They hurt. But they’re handled with enough grit that they don’t feel cheap. Rosi uses them to provoke, not just to shock.
What Doesn’t Quite Land
And yet. There are moments where the duality of Camilla’s life feels almost too neat. The glamour vs. the horror, while central to the book’s appeal, sometimes leans toward trope: the high-fashion killer is a familiar idea, and although Rosi gives it emotional heft, occasionally scenes slip into cliché. In particular, some of the inner monologue feels so drenched in poetic torment that it borders on self-indulgent. Not always bad — sometimes it works spectacularly — but at times it pulls you out of the momentum.
Also, the ending is ambiguous. If you like neat conclusions, this probably won’t satisfy you. Rosi seems to want the reader to decide: is Camilla ultimately monster, or saviour? Was she right, or was she doomed from the start? I liked the ambiguity (because messy ends are real), but I can see other readers being frustrated. A bit more resolution wouldn’t have hurt.
The Audible Experience
The Audible version is an absolute corker. Frankie Porter’s narration is impeccable — dramatic, dynamic, and utterly entertaining. What makes it stand out is the restraint: there’s no theatrical enunciation, no over-egged modulation, just a performance that draws you in and keeps you hooked without ever becoming a distraction. It’s engaging in the truest sense — you lean in, you listen, and you don’t want it to stop. The story’s tension and glamour are amplified through a delivery that’s both sharp and fluid, and it elevates the novel into something even more immersive.
My Take
If I’m being honest: Pretty Evil left me breathless and conflicted. There was a part of me rooting for Camilla Black — not because I condone what she does, but because her rage makes sense. Because sometimes evil isn’t born; it’s forced. Because stylish shoes and ruthless vengeance can coexist, in fiction at least.
This is a book that doesn’t allow you to relax. You can’t quietly root for hero or villain; you’re always shifting, questioning, squirming. And I love that. It’s a reminder that the darkest stories — the ones that stay with you — are often those that force you to look in the mirror and wonder: what would I do, if the line between justice and revenge were so thin?
Verdict
If you like psychological thrillers with a punch, with anti-heroes you can’t help but root for (and then recoil from), Pretty Evil is for you. It’s rough, it’s stylish, it’s morally tangled. Not for the faint-hearted. But if you enjoy the uneasy, made-beautiful, made-bloody kind of story — this is one hell of a ride.
Pretty Evil by Zoe Rosi: Vogue-Meets-Vengeance in A Glass of Blood
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3.5⭐ Solid, easy, enjoyable read!
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Love the narrator!
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