You'd Look Better as a Ghost

You'd Look Better As A Ghost is the first novel by British author, Joanna Wallace. The only bright spot in Claire's life as she accepts condolences at her beloved father's funeral is the news that her entry into the Keiver Emerging Artist prize has been shortlisted. When she gets an apology email telling her that was in error, she veers between anger and wanting to swallow a handful of pills. Impulsively, she stalks the sender, Lucas Kane from his office to a nearby pub.

Pleased to have pulled an attractive blonde, Lucas willingly goes home with Claire, who has decided his sincerity is lacking and punishes him accordingly, then disposes of his remains in her back garden. He's not the first, and won't be the last, although she hasn't taken her usual level of care. Claire is a serial killer with no tolerance of those who try her patience. She always feels her art is much better when she's meticulously planning a murder

Attending a Bereavement Support Group at the suggestion of her GP demonstrates for Claire that each person handles grief differently. Quite a quirky bunch, they are: a Robust Welshman, a Camilla Parker-Bowles imitation, a relentless note-taker, and a weirdly-dressed hoarder, with an overweight touchy-feely facilitator. One of them latches onto Claire for an unexpected and alarming reason.

It turns out that someone knows about her occasional pastime, and intends to profit from it. But is it a good idea to blackmail a serial killer? At one stage, Claire muses "I thought it would be difficult killing someone as pleasant as XXX, but it turned out to be just as easy as killing all those people I didn't like."

What a brilliant debut! Wallace's plot twists and turns and keeps the reader guessing right up to the final reveals. The narrative occasionally slips into Claire's youth, giving a bit of background to her unusual tendencies. Wallace gives the reader laugh-out-loud dialogue with a good helping of (often delicious) irony.

For all their funny ways, her characters have depth and appeal, and are endowed with some insightful observations: "…having the word 'care' in a job title is not necessarily indicative of a caring nature" and "I've never given grief the respect it deserves. Drawing no distinction between strong, weak, rich or poor, it ploughs through everyone's lives the same, leaving identical mounds of emotional debris behind."

This is a clever, blackly funny and highly irreverent read, and more from Joanna Wallace is eagerly anticipated.

This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Serpent's Tail/Viper.