Pearl's son Rhett, who is suffering from severe anorexia, does not want to use this machine despite his mother's insistence and highly values his own autonomy and self-determination.
Writing for NPR, Jason Sheehan stated that the work was "sci-fi in its most perfect expression — no robots, no explosions, no car chases.
"[3] Writing for the New York Times in a favorable review, author Matt Haig said that the work, unlike many other science fiction examples, features characters that are warm, endearing and complex which the reader is apt to develop a personal connection to.
With Haig concluding: "...what raises it above another clever-clever slab of science fiction is that its characters are complex and contradictory and real.
Reviewing the book for the New York Times, writer Dan Chaon stated: "'My Murder' is on of those rare emotionally intelligent books that are also fun reads, and it even manages to perform two or three plot turns that are so masterly that they would make Ira Levin blush.