A Love That Kills

Critics Review

• Clear eyed and compassionate, Anna Motz’s expertise as a national and international commentator on female violence makes this a powerful read, which is moving in its compassion and hopeful in its message that it is possible to break the connection between trauma and violence

  GWEN ADSHEAD, author of THE DEVIL YOU KNOW

• A fascinating book bursting with humanity. A LOVE THAT KILLS reminds us all that a wrong decision can change everything and teaches us not to judge without first understanding. What a tour de force

  PROFESSOR SUE BLACK, author of ALL THAT REMAINS

• In this compelling book, Anna Motz, one of the most experienced of the world’s forensic psychologists, examines complex criminal cases involving women. Insightful, brilliant and illuminating, she reveals the unspoken truth about women and violence

  BARONESS HELENA KENNEDY QC

• A fascinating look at shocking crimes, which peels back the uneasy and destructive relationship we have to the very idea of women and violence. An important book which exposes these truths in the same way that THREE WOMEN did for female sexuality

  ARAMINTA HALL, author of PERFECT STRANGERS

• Judicious, compassionate, gripping, A LOVE THAT KILLS takes us on a journey into women’s violence and the ways in which honed instincts and therapeutic knowledge allow a forensic psychologist to work with the hardest of cases. I couldn’t put it down

  LISA APPIGNANESI

• Combining deep professional expertise with compelling writing, this is an essential read for anyone who wants to better understand why women commit the most extreme crimes. At times harrowing, Anna Motz’s account is above all compassionate, an argument for why empathy and understanding are the key to breaking generational cycles of violence

  LUCIE WHITEHOUSE, author of BEFORE WE MET

• Based on thirty years of practical experience of working with violent women, Anna Motz’s extraordinary book is a visceral assault on the senses and rebuts almost everything that we have come to believe about women who kill and commit the most appalling of violent crimes

  DAVID WILSON, author of MY LIFE WITH MURDERERS

• I love this book. Motz is undaunted by the dark depths of life and my heart raced while reading it. She’s courageous, compassionate and honest. Each chapter allows for surprising twists and turns in the nuances of human experiences and the pain of relationships. It’s a riveting and fascinating book that’s edifying and necessary. Motz explores heartbreaking agony and horror with respect and curiosity, and brings personalities and hidden stories to life

  Charlotte Fox Weber, author of WHAT WE WANT

• A LOVE THAT KILLS is fascinating, not only about women who commit violence, how so many of them have been subject to abuse themselves, but also on therapy as giving a “sense of home, being kept in mind”. Always: we need a politics of care.

  Hannah Dawson, author of The Penguin Book of Feminist Writing

• Female violence is often misunderstood because it counters “idealized notions of women as sources of love, nurture, and care,” according to this visceral study from forensic psychotherapist Motz…This challenges and enlightens.

  Publishers Weekly

• A much-needed corrective to stereotypes about the reasons behind some women’s acts of violence. This title spotlights highly personal stories of trauma, while signaling the need for systemic change.

  Library Journal

• A forensic psychotherapist offers a series of moving case studies of female offenders….A well-considered and sobering look at the psychology of women who commit violent crimes.

  Kirkus Reviews

• A Love That Kills is not a boastful record of one success after another. Some patients do remain beyond Motz’s reach. But her successes are moving because they give hope. They show that people can surprise themselves with change.

  The New Yorker

• An empathetic and necessary corrective to the stereotypes peddled by so many sensational true crime shows.

  Ophrah Daily