A splendid thriller debut. Grieving the loss of her father, Claire is triggered into a riotous killing spree, but someone is watching. Witty, sly and harrowing.

Joanna Wallace’s debut novel You’d Look Better as a Ghost is not your typical serial killer chiller. Funny, irreverent and original, You’d Look Better as a Ghost is a terrific crime novel you’ll want to recommend to all your friends and family.

While most people might think about killing someone but never even dare follow up on their murderous thoughts, Claire is not most people. When Claire thinks about murdering somebody, she actually goes ahead and commits homicide. Having just lost her father to dementia, Claire has already got her next victim lined up: Lucas. She is all set to make Lucas pay for all his transgressions and misdemeanours, however, grief has caused Claire to take her eye off the ball lately. She has started to get careless and unbeknownst to her, somebody is watching her and if she isn’t careful, Claire could end up getting caught…

Claire has a lot to lose and she cannot risk anyone finding out the truth about her passion for murder. As if coping with her dad’s passing isn’t bad enough, Claire is trying to finally get her art career off the ground and she really cannot afford anyone to mess up her plans – or discover where the bodies are buried. Claire is not about to lose this fight and she’s prepared to do whatever it takes to keep her secret. But just how far is she willing to go? Will she manage to outfox whoever is on her tail? Or is it game over for Claire?

Nobody ever told me that a serial killer thriller could be this much fun! Joanna Wallace’s You’d Look Better as a Ghost is a witty and hilarious page-turner perfect for Killing Eve fans. Clever, pacey and chilling, You’d Look Better as a Ghost is a superb read you are going to thoroughly enjoy.

A great and very dark novel. I found this a bit Fight Club-y and Dexter-ish in places. A good example of an extremely flawed protagonist who you empathise with in places, but absolutely despise other times. Her motivations are clear most of the time, and the explanation of her backstory is really interesting in context of the "future". Great twists and turns. Enjoyed this a lot.

This story reminded me of the TV show Dexter, much as you know the main character is a murderer-their intentions are good, so you strangely find yourself supporting them in their unusual method of justice.
As the main character Claire finds herself making mistakes after the death of her father, someone catches on to her murderous ways and starts to follow her, making her doubt who she can trust and trying in vain to correct her mistakes with hilarious consequences.
It is cleverly thought out and interesting.

A lot of fun - sort of How to Kill Your Family vibes with the comedy and seriously enjoyable murderous iconic characters.

Oh this was a fun book and I never thought I'd say that about a novel where the main character kills people.

Claire has recently lost her father and upon receiving an email with a great offer in error which is rescinded, she targets Luke, the sender who pays for this accident with his life. We also learn that this is not her first kill.

She attends a grief group and when she meets one of the women there, she realises that killing Luke has opened a can of worms of sorts. Luke was involved in something concerning this woman and thus unravels a lot of people's secrets.

There was so much personality in this book and dark humour. Claire's inner monologue was hilarious. Combining this with a more serious side, flashbacks to Claire's childhood, it makes for a very entertaining read. If you like the TV show Dexter, you will enjoy this.

What an unusual book!

This is a crime novel but not really a mystery, as we get the story as a first-person narrative from main character – and serial killer – Claire. In fact, we follow her from abused child to adult sociopath (undiagnosed) and join her as she cuts a swathe through her acquaintances in the name of revenge, self-protection, or just for a bit of fun.

The story explores the grief of loss from this very unique perspective and with plenty of dark humour, but obviously anyone who struggles to read about torture, child abuse and/or elder abuse should probably give this one a miss – Claire is pretty straightforward about righting certain wrongs and prefers the judicial irony of the eye-for-an-eye approach to crime and punishment… it’s not pretty.

The plot and tone are entertaining and almost light though, with some amusing and unexpected twists and turns. I found the ending a little less memorable than the beginning and middle of the story, because after such a striking, shocking peek into Claire’s inner world it felt like things just fizzled out with no real resolution.

A good fun read, though, and ideal for crime readers looking for something different from the usual.

The female serial killer seems to be becoming a genre all of its own and this is a tremendous example.

Claire is an unrepentant killer, with little regard for morality and a failure to understand the feelings and motivations of ordinary people. Claire does not take rejection easily, particularly after the recent death of her father, and this latest killing sparks a series of events which Claire struggles to control.

The sardonic 1st person narration is reminiscent of the Dexter novels and extremely entertaining and Claire’s commentary on the ordinary’ world can be very funny. It’s disturbing how quickly the reader (or is it just me?) can sympathise with a psychopath for Claire is a brilliant character.

Hugely readable and one of my favourite reads of 2024 so far. Loved it.

What I liked -
🔪 Quirky female serial killer
🔪 Reminded me of Sweet Pea, How to Kill your Family and How to kill men and get away with it
🔪 Genuinely funny in places
🔪 interesting three dimensional backstory with goof character development

Things I didn’t love so much -
🔪 I didn’t actually like the main character
🔪 Plot seemed a little jerky sometimes

Overall a fun quirky read that’s a great addition to the female serial killer genre.

This book started well but it didn't hold my attention as much as I wanted it to. There does seem to be a lot of female serial killer books to choose from so we are perhaps a little spoilt for choice in this genre. That said, it raised issued around abuse of the elderly and vulnerable and Claire's efforts to right wrongs with her skewed approach to justice.

The tension in this book is palpable from start to finish. A true nail-biter that will leave you breathless, this is a one of a kind in my opinion and was just fab!!!!

What a little riot of a book You'd Look Better as a Ghost was! I've read a few books in the woman-becomes-serial-killer-for-payback/revenge genre recently and this one can hold its own!

Lead character Claire is definitely Marmite - she's both funny and annoying but engaging enough so you just go the ride with her. Ultimately I was sucked into the story and found I couldn't stop turning the pages - always a good sign!

You'd Look Better as a Ghost is a fast paced thriller, with the interesting perspective of being written via the perspective Claire an artist turned serial killer who returns grudges and frustrations in the form of sadistic brutal murder and somehow gets embroiled in a case of blackmail at a retirement home, something well outside her comfort zone given she is very much not a detective and more so the killer.

I would say if you have enjoyed books about a strong female lead that would be considered as anti-hero (e.g. Jennings Villanelle) then you'll likely enjoy this book.

I was intrigued by this book, however I did struggle to get into it. I may have a break and try again.
Thank you netgally for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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.

Another week, another female serial killer novel. Don't you just love'em? I do! Other fans will enjoy this addition to this growing niche genre or rather subgenre in which women take their revenge on men or on anyone who gets in their way or who the killer believes should suffer for their crimes.

While most of these novels' main characters are women who kill, not all of them are funny. Claire is pretty funny. She's also not someone to mess with. She is portrayed as being not just fierce but quite complex; we also get some insights into her past and what led her to become who she is now.

Not much more can be said without spoilers. If you like the genre, give it a try. If a measly 3 stars seems a bit low, it's only because we are rather spoiled for choice in this genre for the moment and other books have just appealed to me that bit more.

Morally grey? Check! Female serial Killer? Check! Dark humour? Check!

I enjoyed this read! there wasn't anything refreshing about the plot, but I loved how it was told. I enjoyed the humour and appreciated the dark content as I believe it was intended to be read. It had more exploration beyond the masked dark humour surface and you actually uncover some very important topics that are expressed really quite cleverly - that I applaud.

Claire is a part time serial killer whose hobby is about to be discovered as she is being watched. When she's not killing people, she is attending a weekly bereavement support group and trying to make a career out of her art. She will do anything to keep her secret hidden...

I thought I'd absolutely love this book because of it following a female serial killer but unfortunately, this one was just okay. I started off really enjoying the book but as the book progressed, I felt my enjoyment dwindle. It had two timelines - then and now - the then provided a backstory to Claire's character and her first kill, which was quite obvious who this would be and the now following her present day murders. I definitely found the then timeline to be more interesting as I wanted to know more about why she started killing, as well as what her childhood was like.

There were some things in this book that felt too convenient for me like some murders where it seemingly made all of Claire's problem disappear for a short while. At first, I did like Claire and found her quite funny but the more into the book I got, the more I began to feel bored by her and started to not like her as I found her to be irritating and rude. I didn't find the plot twists to have as much shock factor as I hoped, with some being very predictable. It also uses a lot of stigmatised language, especially around suicide and people with alcohol and substance use disorders.

⚠️ CWs: elderly abuse, cursing derogatory language, child abuse and neglect, alcohol use, grief, murder, blood, dementia, gun use, domestic abuse, person with alcohol and substance use disorders, panic attack, vomiting, cheating; mentions death, suicidal ideation, fatphobia, racism, animal cruelty resulting in death, miscarriage ⚠️

Thank you Viper and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Always interesting when you're not sure whether you should be on the side of the main character or not. Claire was such an interesting main character.. I laughed, I pulled my face into a grimace more than once and overall really enjoyed this.

Fans of 'How to kill men and get away with it' look no further. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, never quite knowing whether I wanted to route for or against our FMC Claire. The descriptions were so vivid I felt truly immersed in the story.

I listened to the audiobook of this and the narrator really did a fantastic job of bringing the story to life, I was even laughing out loud at various points.

The overall plot really did keep me guessing, with constant little reveals and plot twists - I went into this book semi-blind and I'm so glad I did, it felt as though I was experiencing everything live along with the FMC.

Definitely a fun book to read (or listen to), I devoured it!