Rebecca Novack Brings "Murder Bimbo" to Kinderhook Books
Novack's attention grabbing debut novel is getting praise as "Gone Girl" for a new generation.
April 11 | Kinderhook, NY | 6pm | Free
Kinderhook Books hosts a conversation between Rebecca Novack and Temim Fruchter on Saturday, April 11, centered on Novack's debut novel "Murder Bimbo."
The premise is bracingly direct: a 32-year-old sex worker is approached by undercover government agents to help assassinate a politician. Once the job is done, she realizes she was recruited precisely because she's disposable. Holed up in an off-the-grid cabin, she has two days and a laptop to save her own life. The novel unfolds as a series of emails, told in three acts that keep reshuffling the story's facts and allegiances.
Novack wrote the first draft in 2022, before a series of real-world political assassinations made the premise feel less speculative. Born in Colorado and now living in the Hudson Valley, she has a master's degree from Harvard Divinity School and, before turning to fiction, spent time considering a career as an Episcopalian priest before pivoting to academic publishing and educational technology.
The book has earned strong notices from the New York Times Book Review, Publishers Weekly, and Electric Literature, among others. Catherine Lacey called it "Gone Girl for the Luigi Mangione era."
In conversation with Novack is Temim Fruchter, whose own debut novel "City of Laughter" (Grove Atlantic) was a New York Times Editors' Pick in 2024.
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After a decade of writing for RI (along with many other publications and organizations) Jamie took over as editor in 2025. He has a masters in journalism from NYU, a wonderful wife, two kids and a Carolina dog named Zelda.
