Kill Switch - Penelope Douglas

WINTER

Sending him to prison was the worst thing I could've done. It didn't matter that he did the crime or that I wished he was dead. Perhaps I thought I'd have time to disappear before he got out or he'd cool off in jail and be anything but the horror he was.

But I was wrong. Three years came and went too fast, and now he's anything but calm. Prison only gave him time to plan.

And while I anticipated his vengeance, I didn't expect this.

He doesn't want to make me hurt. He wants to make everything hurt.

DAMON

First thing's first. Get rid of her daddy. He told them I forced her. He told them his little girl was a victim, but I was a kid, too, and she wanted it just as much as I did.

Step two... Give her, her sister, and her mother nowhere to run and no fuel to escape. The Ashby women are alone now and desperate for a knight in shining armor.

But that's not what's coming.

No, it's time I listened to my father and took control of my future. It's time I showed them all--my family, her family, my friends--that I will never change and that I have no other ambition than to be the nightmare of their lives.

Starting with her.

She'll be so scared, she won't even be safe in her own head by the time I'm done with her. And the best part is I won't have to break into her home to do it.

As the new man of the house I have all the keys.

Kill Switch is the third book in the Devil's Night series written by author Penelope Douglas. It's a romantic suspense published in 2019, and a continuation of the story from the previous books, alas, with different main characters: Willow and Damon. This book, as the other two can be read as standalones, though it is adviced to read it following the order of the series. Kill Switch is told in alternating POVs; Willow and Damon knew each other before the fatal night, and as in Corrupt, the male main character is seeking revenge after been wronged by Willow. The story is told through flashbacks and current events, and the plot is a bit more complex than the other two, giving us insight for the reason behind Damon's hateful character.

Willow has always had a difficult relationship with Damon. He is her nemesis, and also her closest friend, unbeknowst to her. Damon had a rough life. Very rough. So obviously, he's a dick. Events are set in motion that are not either of them's fault and when she purposefully sits in court and let's him go to jail for a crime he did not commit, the game is on. He is cruel, he is taunting, he is broken. He is also, very much desperate for her. Willow, on the other hand is badass, not in the same way as Banks, she wasn't a fighter in the strict sense of the word, but oh she was fierce. She was rebelious. And she stood her ground. She fought with all she had: a whole lot of heart.

There is no justification possible for everything Damon did. There is a strong reason behind it, though. Our childhood molds us, it gives us the tools we need to deal with the ugly, and Damon did not have a childhood. I feel like in certain ways he remained the child that was suppressed before it had the chance to bloom, only not the good parts of him. The tantrums, the envy, his black and white view of things... made him a monster. This has been by far, my favorite book of the series. I give it four point six inconspicuous stars.