Olivia Hodges is not religious, but she is superstitious, and she does believe in divine intervention; she hopes the universe will forgive her for her past actions. In Olivia’s past, before she was a loving wife and a mother to two young daughters, before she occupied her days with pilates and brunches with other mums in the Dandenong Ranges, she was a hitwoman. Olivia was once, in fact, an assassin for the Spanish mafia. She used the stereotype of the trusting, friendly Australian tourist to her advantage as she carried out the murders of whomever she was assigned to kill, whether they deserved it or not. But when she’d had enough of that bloody lifestyle, Olivia escaped and started a new life in Australia, and now she prays every day that karma will not bite her where it would hurt the most.

But when one of Olivia’s daughters is tragically killed by a gang of thugs, Olivia swears she’ll have bloody revenge. However, not wishing to anger the universe anymore, she plans to orchestrate situations whereby each man responsible for killing her daughter mysteriously gets themselves killed. And, naturally, the plan is to continue to evade the police – and her own past.

The Hitwoman’s Guide to Reducing Household Debt is set in the heart of Melbourne, with many familiar places brought to life on the page, and Olivia is a formidable force to be reckoned with. With nods to Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill (Olivia is referred to as ‘The Mother’ by the thugs), Mark Mupotsa-Russell’s debut tells of the powerful, primal nature of a mother’s love for her children, and the lengths to which some mothers, particularly this mother, would go to protect or avenge their children. Beneath the violence, intricate plans for revenge, and constant lying to her family and the police, Olivia is still a woman who is frightened of losing those she loves most, and she tries her hardest to prevent that from happening, even at the risk of losing them all.