Plenty of people have lousy parents, but Nicola Fischer’s father has just been convicted of murdering five young women, including her best friend. Fired from her job and hounded by reporters, Nicola passes the time by doomscrolling and drunk-dialling Greer Woods, the alluring host of the hit show To Catch a Killer, who cracked the case and turned Nicola’s life upside down before disappearing along with her so-called ‘best intentions’.
When an email from Greer finally shows up in Nicola’s inbox, there’s no apology or explanation, just a cryptic invitation. The Death Row Club is an annual weekend getaway for the adult children of serial killers – and Nicola is the newest reluctant member. Desperate to escape her small town, she accepts the offer with barely a second thought, forging tentative bonds with her fellow club members, most of whom seem intriguing, and only slightly unhinged.
But when an uninvited guest shows up at their remote wilderness retreat, everyone is put on high alert, and the next morning paranoia turns to outright fear. Because one of their own is dead, and the rest of them are left with only one question.
If the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree, which of them is the bad seed?‘
Hello and welcome to damppebbles. Today I am delighted to share my review of The Death Row Club by V.A. Vasquez. The Death Row Club was published by Simon & Schuster on 18th June 2026 and is available in hardcover, audio and digital formats. I chose to read a free eARC of The Death Row Club but that has in no way influenced my review.
Yes, please. I’ll take five copies! Sold to the woman with the daft sounding blog (damp….pebbles?!). Anyone who has been following my blog for any length of time would look at this book and go, ‘there’s no way on earth Emma will be able to resist this one’. And you’d be right. I couldn’t resist this one. The cover, the blurb, the whole darn idea. It’s one of those books that you feel was written for YOU. Just you. If the book had a description of the target audience on the back cover, it would be a photograph of me. I’m sure you know what I mean. We’ve all been there, right?! I had to read it. I was set to move heaven and earth to get myself a copy. Thankfully, the publisher very kindly sent me a copy before plans had been put fully into place!
Nicola Fischer is an art teacher at an elementary school. Well, she was until her father was convicted of murdering five young women. Then she became a social pariah. Sneered at by friends and colleagues, jeered at by complete strangers. Nicola’s life is suddenly not her own, and there’s no hiding from the overwhelming hatred towards her. Not with the reporters hounding her at every turn. So Nicola voluntarily, perhaps understandably, allows her life to implode. Becoming a recluse, reading damning articles online, drinking from dawn to…well, dawn, and drunk-dialling the one person (other than her father) she deems responsible for her downfall, Greer Woods. Greer is the host of the show that pointed the finger at Nicola’s father as the true Ellicott Creek Ripper and brought the police to his door. Greer, once a friend and confidant of Nicola, has gone very quiet though, never returning Nicola’s calls. Until one day when an invitation arrives in Nicola’s inbox. The Death Row Club is an exclusive, invite-only group for the adult children of serial killers. They’re having a weekend retreat, miles from anywhere, and would like Nicola to attend. It all feels a little…far-fetched to start with. Until Nicola realises that these are people just like her. Kindred spirits. And the draw of Greer being present is very enticing indeed. Dismissing her initial apprehension, Nicola packs a bag and heads to the airport. It’s all very cloak and dagger though, very mysterious. On arrival, she meets the others. Names she’s ‘sort of’ familiar with. Perhaps being more familiar with their parents, more than the eclectic group gathered before her. And the isolation is a little unnerving. No phones, no internet, no way to call for help… Stranded in the woods, completely cut off from society, events take a strange and frightening turn for the worse. The arrival of an unexpected stranger. Followed the next morning by a highly suspicious death. Who can you really trust when you’re trapped in the woods with the children of killers…? After all, everyone knows the apple rarely falls far from the tree…
The Death Row Club is a very engaging, inventive and highly readable debut. As anyone who reads these locked-room-type of thrillers will expect, there is a fairly large cast of characters to keep the tension high and the suspicion constantly shifting. As is the norm, some of the characters are key players whilst others are there to help progress the story. All the characters, whether main or secondary, are interesting, intriguing people. Perhaps it’s because they’re the children of serial killers and that, in itself, is a draw. Particularly when they’re thrown together in such an isolating situation. Nicola is the new girl. Her story is very much fresh in everyone’s mind and so she arrives needing to somewhat prove herself (despite being invited). But when a stranger stumbles into the secretive, off-the-grid camp, everyone is put on high alert. Not helped when one of their own shockingly turns up dead the following morning. Everyone is a suspect, but no one more so than Nicola.
Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. The Death Row Club is a rip-roaring, character-driven debut thriller that I know will appeal to many readers. It certainly appealed to me; I’m so glad I read it. Sign me up for V.A. Vazquez’s next book now, please! It’s a highly entertaining novel full of twists and turns, great characterisation and a pretty perfect locked-room location (if you can call a remote house and the surrounding woodland ‘a locked-room’, which I think you can!). I enjoyed the relationships between the characters, the multiple points of view and the cleverly done sleight of hand. I did think the ending was a little convenient. But it certainly didn’t take anything away from the novel for me. All in all, a well-written, engaging and gripping debut that puts V.A. Vazquez well and truly on the map of authors to keep a look out for in the future. Original, compelling and pretty darn irresistible. Recommended.
I chose to read and review a free eARC of The Death Row Club. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.
V. A. (Victoria) Vazquez was born and raised in Buffalo, New York, where she currently teaches English. She received her BA in English from Barnard College and her MS in Teaching from Fordham University. She’s currently pursuing an MFA in Fiction from Spalding University. A former Fulbright Distinguished Teacher at the University of Glasgow, she spent five years living in Scotland, in a town inhabited by countless lambs!
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