Title: You’d Look Better As A Ghost
Author: Joanna Wallace
ISBN: 978 1800 8113 00
Publisher: Viper Books
Pages: 336
Source: Jonathan Ball Publishers
I have a gift. I see people as ghosts before they die.
Of course, it helps that I’m the one killing them.
The night after her father’s funeral, Claire meets Lucas in a bar. Lucas doesn’t know it, but it’s not a chance meeting. One thoughtless mistyped email has put him in the crosshairs of an extremely put-out serial killer. But before they make eye contact, before Claire lets him buy her a drink, even before she takes him home and carves him up into little pieces, something about that night is very wrong. Because someone is watching Claire. Someone who is about to discover her murderous little hobby.
The thing is, it’s not sensible to tangle with a part-time serial killer, even one who is distracted by attending a weekly bereavement support group and trying to get her art career off the ground. Let the games begin…
Official Summary
14 November 2023
This book follows Claire, a woman who has recently lost her father and is grieving in her own way. That way just so happened to be killing a guy over a typo he made. Not exactly the advice she gets from her support group for grieving people. However, after being reckless and sloppy with her killing due to her grief, someone has been following her and knows what Claire has done and who she really is.
I enjoyed the group meetings in this book. They were so chaotic and funny. I liked how we got to know all of the characters within this group and all their little quirks.
Claire was such an interesting character. Throughout the whole book, you cannot help but root for her even though she does some horrendous things. You also get to see parts of her childhood which explains why she is the way she is. This just leads to you rooting for her more and feeling bad for her.
For some or other reason there is just something about crazy female serial killers that make the best characters. I think if this character was a man, I would not be rooting for him to get away with all that Claire gets away with in this book.
I will say this book was not nearly as light-hearted as my mother promised and honestly made me sick to my stomach at times. However, I think there are so many important topics in this book that need to be spoken about more. Overall, this book was great and if you are looking for a funny and quick-witted character with a good plot line then I genuinely could not recommend this book more.
Joanna Wallace studied law at Birmingham University before working as a commercial litigation solicitor in London, during which time she represented litigants in many fascinating cases and became remarkably proficient at unjamming photocopiers. Her debut novel You’d Look Better as A Ghost will be published by Viper in September 2023. The screen production rights have been optioned by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.
Joanna lives near London with her husband, four children and two dogs, and is currently working on her second novel.
While this book centres on a dark theme and includes some graphic scenes, it manages to remain a light a very enjoyable book. Do not give this one a miss just because it sounds a little dark and creepy. It includes some brilliant humour. I do not laugh easily and this book had my family giving me amused looks as I could not resist laughing out loud!
Thank you so much for reading, let me know what you think in the comments below.
See you soon.
