Jennifer Holdich’s debut novel Julie Tudor Is Not a Psychopath arrives like a perfectly timed punchline—dark, unexpected, and uncomfortably hilarious. This psychological thriller masquerades as a romantic comedy while delivering something far more sinister: a portrait of a woman so thoroughly deluded that she transforms murder into an act of misguided love.
Julie Tudor, a 49-year-old administrative assistant with an unhealthy obsession with spreadsheets and an even unhealthier fixation on her 25-year-old colleague Sean, believes herself to be the heroine of her own love story. The reality, as readers quickly discover, is far more disturbing. When Sean becomes involved with colleagues—first Susannah, then Xanthe—Julie decides that eliminating the competition is simply what any devoted woman would do.
The Art of Self-Deception
Holdich’s greatest achievement lies in her creation of Julie as narrator. Every page drips with Julie’s self-serving justifications and spectacular misreadings of social cues. When she announces her “relationship” with Sean on Facebook, she genuinely believes she’s staking legitimate claim to her territory. When colleagues react with horror rather than congratulations, she attributes their response to jealousy or misunderstanding.
The author’s decision to structure the narrative across multiple timelines—from Julie’s childhood in the 1970s through her nursing training in the 1980s to her office romance delusions in the 2000s—reveals the careful construction of a killer. This isn’t a sudden descent into madness but a lifetime of entitlement, rejection, and increasingly violent solutions to emotional problems.
Julie’s voice remains remarkably consistent throughout these time jumps. Whether she’s a student nurse “accidentally” poisoning patients or a middle-aged admin worker planning elaborate murders, her tone maintains the same breezy confidence of someone convinced of her own righteousness. It’s a testament to Holdich’s skill that Julie never becomes a caricature despite her obviously monstrous behavior.
Dark Comedy with Genuine Bite
The novel’s humor emerges organically from Julie’s spectacular lack of self-awareness rather than from forced comic situations. Her matter-of-fact approach to murder—discussing victims like minor inconveniences rather than human beings—creates a uniquely unsettling comedic tone. When she describes Susannah’s death as solving a “pest control” problem, the casual callousness is both horrifying and darkly amusing.
Holdich demonstrates particular skill in her portrayal of office politics and social media culture circa 2009. Julie’s attempts to navigate Facebook—declaring relationships that exist only in her mind, misinterpreting every interaction—feel painfully authentic. The author captures the awkwardness of early social media adoption while using it to illuminate Julie’s complete disconnection from reality.
The supporting characters, particularly Gareth (Julie’s only genuine friend) and Frank (her eventual prison pen pal), serve as effective counterpoints to Julie’s toxicity. Gareth’s patient attempts to redirect Julie’s romantic obsessions highlight just how obvious her delusions are to everyone except herself. Frank’s eventual acceptance of Julie, criminal record and all, provides the novel’s most genuinely touching moments.
Technical Mastery and Minor Missteps
Holdich’s prose style perfectly mirrors Julie’s personality—precise, controlled, and utterly lacking in emotional intelligence. The clinical descriptions of murders contrast sharply with flowery romantic fantasies, creating cognitive dissonance that keeps readers constantly off-balance.
The timeline structure, while generally effective, occasionally feels forced. Some transitions between time periods lack the smooth narrative flow that characterizes the novel’s strongest sections. Additionally, certain secondary characters—particularly Julie’s family members—feel underdeveloped, serving more as plot devices than fully realized individuals.
The novel’s exploration of workplace toxicity and romantic obsession feels particularly relevant in our current cultural moment, though Holdich wisely avoids heavy-handed social commentary in favor of character-driven storytelling.
A Prison That Suits
The novel’s conclusion, set ten years into Julie’s prison sentence, provides a satisfying if somewhat unsettling resolution. Julie has found her place in the prison hierarchy, continues her correspondence with Frank, and maintains her artistic pursuits. Most disturbing of all, she seems genuinely content—perhaps for the first time in her life.
This ending raises uncomfortable questions about justice, rehabilitation, and whether some people are simply better suited to institutional life than freedom. Holdich resists the urge to provide easy answers, leaving readers to grapple with their own feelings about Julie’s fate.
Literary Context and Comparisons
Julie Tudor Is Not a Psychopath joins a distinguished tradition of unreliable narrator thrillers while carving out its own unique niche. Readers familiar with:
- Gillian Flynn’s “Gone Girl” – Will appreciate similar explorations of toxic relationships and narrative unreliability
- Caroline Kepnes’ “You“ – Share themes of romantic obsession told from the stalker’s perspective
- Oyinkan Braithwaite’s “My Sister, the Serial Killer“ – Features comparable dark humor surrounding murder
- Ruth Ozeki’s “A Tale for the Time Being” – Offers similar multi-timeline narrative structure
- Iain Reid’s “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” – Explores psychological deterioration through unreliable narration
The Verdict
Julie Tudor Is Not a Psychopath succeeds as both a darkly comic thriller and a genuinely unsettling psychological study. Holdich demonstrates remarkable confidence for a debut novelist, creating a character who is simultaneously repulsive and compelling. Julie Tudor may insist she’s not a psychopath, but she’s certainly an unforgettable literary creation.
The novel’s greatest strength lies in its commitment to Julie’s perspective. Even as readers recognize her delusions and recoil from her actions, Holdich never breaks character or winks at the audience. This unwavering focus on Julie’s worldview creates an immersive reading experience that lingers long after the final page.
While the novel occasionally stumbles in its pacing and secondary character development, these minor flaws pale beside Holdich’s achievement in creating such a vivid and disturbing portrait of romantic obsession taken to its logical extreme.
Final Thoughts
Julie Tudor Is Not a Psychopath announces Jennifer Holdich as a significant new voice in psychological thriller fiction. Her ability to find humor in horror while maintaining genuine psychological insight marks her as an author to watch. This debut novel delivers exactly what its premise promises: a deeply unsettling yet oddly entertaining journey into the mind of a woman who has convinced herself that murder is just another form of housekeeping.
For readers seeking intelligent dark comedy that doesn’t shy away from uncomfortable truths about human nature, Julie Tudor Is Not a Psychopath offers a reading experience that is both deeply disturbing and perversely satisfying. Just don’t expect to feel entirely comfortable laughing at Julie’s antics—and that’s precisely the point.