Rewriting the Rules of Feminine Rage: Bree Despain’s The Killing Rules

In her seventh YA novel The Killing Rules, author Bree Despain mixes horror with romance, bloodlust with happy endings and monstrosity with girlhood. The Killing Rules follows Harper Westbrook, a cheerleader with an insatiable hunger for killing terrible men. “It’s a supernatural thriller mystery romance with horror elements,” Despain says. “It’s like my other books on crack.” Written from a love of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural, The Killing Rules is part slasher, part supernatural curse — and all feminine rage.

Despain’s initial idea for The Killing Rules was born during in the #MeToo movement. “There was a big blowup in publishing,” she says. “I was seeing people that were my friends realizing that they had been harassed and assaulted, having my own experiences in the industry, seeing people that I once considered friends being accused.” 

In 2018, Despain and a few other authors attempted to hold “a certain author” accountable for sexually harassing a woman author during the Salt Lake comic-con FanX. “We were working behind the scenes to make sure that he was not allowed to come back to the conference,” she recounts. “One of my friends, Shannon Hale, ended up getting doxxed because of that whole incident. And again, this female rage, this anger — I needed a place for it to go.” 

The Killing Rules is the place she made. “I created this story about this teenage girl who decides to get some vigilante justice for herself,” Despain says. After experiencing firsthand the often futile challenge of holding someone accountable for their harm, she wanted the catharsis of justice. “And I’m not condoning actual murder,” she adds. “This is fantasy.”

Despain is the author of YA trilogies The Dark Divine and Into The Dark. “I think my voice just really lands in YA,” she says. Society sees teenage girls as frivolous, silly and unimportant, and Despain pushes back wholeheartedly. “There’s just something about giving that power to a teenage girl,” Despain says of her protagonist. “I think teen girls are awesome. I think they’re the best. And I love writing from that voice.”

The morally complex character of Harper Westbrook came to Despain as a cheerleader, which immediately excited her. “Cheerleaders are amazing athletes,” she says. “But they get a bad rap. They can symbolize the quest for perfection or popularity. They can also be a symbol of femininity. A lot of people attach frivolousness to that femininity.” Despain plays with the pink and bubbly cheerleader stereotype as Harper uses it to lure in men who see her as prey. “I wanted this girl’s girl kicking some ass!” Despain says.

Throughout the book, Harper grapples with the question of whether she is a girl or a monster. “The story is about her finding the balance between those two, and she doesn’t necessarily question whether or not enacting this justice is wrong,” says Despain. “She realizes she can’t get rid of the monstrous part of herself, that she needs to accept and embrace it for what it is, that she can be both things.” There’s no redemption, because Harper doesn’t need it — and a romance because she deserves it. Despain is fervent about the value of writing darker themes for a young audience. “Our teens are experiencing this sort of stuff every single day, and to give them a place where they can see and process it in a safe environment is really important.” At its heart, The Killing Rules is about claiming power. “Girls put up with a lot of crap,” says Despain, “and we can start to fight back, speak up and find our voice.”

The Killing Rules releases on August 4, so go pick up a beautiful, sprayed-edged copy! And bring your inner monster and all her rage with you — this is the place to let her out! —Rebekah Bowman

Read more about stories of complex female characters:
Film Review: Forbidden Fruits
Film Review: Mother Mary

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