You’d Look Better As A Ghost by Joanna Wallace
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.
#YoudLookBetterAsAGhost @JoWallaceAuthor @ViperBooks #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour
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…
My Review
As soon as I read the synopsis, I thought of one of my literary heroes – Will Carver. Dark and funny, You’d Look Better As A Ghost reminded me a bit of Psychopaths Anonymous. And this certainly was dark, and very funny if you love that kind of humour.
Claire is a serial killer. There’s no other way of putting it. Sometimes she just can’t help murdering those who annoy her. She clearly sees them as ghosts and that’s when she knows exactly what she must do. And it’s often going to be gory and gruesome. No subtle poison and body dumped in a lake somewhere. She quite likes to carve them up and bury the body parts.
Of course they have to REALLY upset her, though that’s not difficult. Like Lucas when he emails her to say she’s been shortlisted in an art competition and then informs her that he made a mistake, and it’s another Claire. Not even an apology, after lifting up her spirits and then shattering her dreams.
Not helped by the fact that her beloved father has just died, having spent the last years of his life in a dementia ward. Claire is distraught. So she attends a bereavement support group, where she meets some VERY annoying people, so no prizes where I’m going with this.
At intervals, we see Claire as a child, on her fifth, sixth and seventh birthdays. Her mother is one of the nastiest, most selfish and horrible people you will ever meet in a book. In fact the passages about Claire’s childhood are amongst my favourite, dark but not remotely funny. What a brilliant and unusual book – you might even find yourself rooting for Claire.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Joanna Wallace worked as a solicitor until an autoimmune condition took away some of her sight. She now volunteers at a charity helpline and runs a family business with her husband. She was partly inspired to write You’d Look Better As A Ghost following her father’s diagnosis of early onset dementia. Joanna lives near London with her husband, four children and two dogs.
