A novel set in the Wild West with teenage serial killer Belle King telling her story from prison - despite her dead husband showing up to claim that it’s all a lie.

The premise of this book sounded right up my alley, and I was right. “Belle King” is exactly my kind of character - cold, unflinching, and sure of herself. Forced in many ways to grow up faster than she should have had to, she claws her way out of an insane asylum, away from an abusive husband, and into the spotlight as the most wanted performer in the Wild West. 

Recalling her sordid history and confessing her crimes, her plans to hang for them are cut short when her husband - the man she killed to escape - shows up to reveal that nothing she says is the truth. Forced to do anything she can to stay away from him and to ensure her own death, she’ll have to resort to all her skills in her arsenal to do so. 

I’m unfamiliar with the story of Belle King, or the story for which this book takes its title from, but I feel like neither are necessary to enjoy this book. I was hooked on her story from the very start, and was eager to see how her confession would play out. Her past is haunting and dark, and forces her - in a way - to either embrace the tiger within her or be crushed by it. And rather than simply survive the hand life had dealt her, she had thrived. Even when inklings of her crimes were starting to come to light, men would still flock to her for a chance to be with her, finding the risk worth the potential reward. 

Told in both flashback and current day jail time confession, Alice recounts her life leading up to this point - and why she is so insistent on ending her life on her own terms. Despite her having committed all these crimes, you - as the reader - can’t help but to also be swayed to her side and rooting for her until the very end.