Claire is mourning the loss of her father, Claire also happens to be a serial killer. If people do her wrong whether by accident or deliberately they are in trouble. Will her killing come to an end when someone discovers her crimes, or will she keep on going regardless?

This book did make me chuckle in places which I was not expecting and I really enjoyed the book.

Claire has recently lost her father after a struggle with dementia. She joins a bereavement group but things don't go smoothly. Claire is funny, witty and...a serial killer. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Its not your typical serial killer story. This has so much more. Do check trigger warnings.

When we meet Claire, she is at the bar mourning the loss of her father on the day of his funeral where she meets Luca….but it’s not a chance meeting.
If you’re a fan of books that are like Dexter/Killing Eve you will thoroughly enjoy this book. I enjoyed aspects of it, but overall It just fell a bit flat for me and i found myself skimming through pages rather than fully taking them in.



Thankyou to @viperbooks and @netgalley for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review

You'd Look Better As A Ghost starts out strong, I immediately liked main character Claire. Her spontanous decision to kill a stranger on a minor irritation draws Claire into a pocket of unseeming criminals.

One thing that always strikes me in stories like this is how utterly useless the police are at investigating, though not entirely unbelievable considering the enormous cut backs in British policing over the last fifteen years [irrelevant rant redacted].
That an entire group of people knew one of the victims had been with Claire before her death yet still she had no interactions with the police was a little hard to swallow.

The pacing is inconsistent, perhaps too much time spent in repetitive mundane scenes at the bereavement group with a cast of purposely irritating characters.
Claire's cutting speculation of those around her amused me and kept me reading through their cringe worthy behaviours. It's funny how Wallace manages to write serial killer Claire as the most relatable in a book full of normal people, or maybe that just says something about me!

Despite the title and opening of the synopsis, there are no supernatural elements to this story, Claire seeing her victims as ghosts is mentioned briefly and seems to be more of a gimmick to facilitate a catchtly title. I found You'd Look Better As A Ghost under horror on Netgalley but this is definitely a thriller.

Between present day chapters Wallace takes us back to Claire's childhood birthdays to explore her history and troubled upbringing. These were among the best written scenes, watching a very yound Claire learn to manipulate her abusive mother.
Abuse and neglect of children and elderly feature heavily in this book, but not in a graphic way. Too the violent scenes are vicious but clean, there is no real gore and little tension.

An average but fun read to pass an afternoon.

Claire is blazing her way through life - clearing her path of people who have crossed her in any way shape or form like they are weeds......get rid, get rid, kill, kill, kill! The night after her father's funeral, she meets up with Luca in a bar, he had accidentally emailed her instead of another Claire following an application to be included in an art exhibition, turns our this Claire WASN'T shortlisted after all, and Luca's 'apology' email pretty much signed his death certificate....

This is a story of murder, grief, abuse and a tangled web of lies told from Claire's POV - some of the people who cross her really do deserve a little comeuppance, and in Claire's world, that means she will 'off' you. Despite being a serial killer Claire is quite a likeable character, and in some way you root for her a bit - not condoning murder here, but you start to feel for her. This was a really enjoyable read, occasionally sick but usually in a funny way - I know that shouldn't make sense but read it and you'll know what I mean - full of humour with a great plot and well-fleshed out characters.

Huge thanks to Viper Books for granting me early access on Netgalley to read this ahead of today's publication day.

You probably shouldn't say you enjoyed getting to know a serial killer...but I'm glad Claire came into my life, she's a riot!

More Eve than Dexter, in my opinion - Claire isn't your straight-forward sociopath, she's nuanced. For possibly the first time she is starting to experience (or at least acknowledge) feelings other than frustration and rage, and this is something of an occupational hazard for a part-time murderer.

The writing is delicious, dark and droll. Joanna Wallace has done such a good job of making this morally ambiguous, unhinged main character someone that you find yourself rooting for. I started to share her exasperation when people just kept getting in the way of her plans to off her next victims...all of whom were not nice people (here is the comparison to Dexter, I will say) so it's ok to read on in the hope that they gets theirs soon, isn't it?

For all the black humour and blasé approach to murder, there is real heart buried in this book too. There's a reason I can empathise with Claire and it's the layered way she is written - she's more than a bloody hammer and trigger fuse.

Add all of that to a thoroughly entertaining mystery and you've got a great book.

An interesting mystery thriller with different storylines that come together nicely. I als loved the throwbacks. Unfortunately Claire is not the villain you’d like to hate. I found her rather annoying. But overall an engaging read.

I got this arc in exchange for an honest review.

‘You’d Look Better as a Ghost’ is the debut novel from Joanna Wallace—a darkly funny thriller that follows Claire, who’s dealing with the aftermath of her father passing away. Unfortunately, it seems the way she deals with this is by killing people. As Claire begrudgingly joins a grief support group, she soon discovers her secret murderous streak may have just been rumbled…

I had a super fun time reading this book! It has a very strong opening that hooked me into the story straight away. Besides the present day plot, we also have flashbacks to Claire’s childhood where it quickly becomes clear that Claire didn’t have a great relationship with her mother (to say the least.) I enjoyed seeing how these flashbacks unfolded and acted as a sort of side plot, revealing how Claire became the person she is today, whilst the dynamic between her and her late father added an additional layer of intrigue.

I can see people comparing this to ‘How to Kill Your Family’ by Bella Mackie which I didn’t really feel hit the mark with its so-called humour. Wallace’s writing, on the other hand, actually had me giggling to myself throughout and ended up being everything I wanted the former book to be, with plenty of twists and turns along the way!

There have been several young female serial killer books this year but You’d Look Better as a Ghost stood out for me with its brilliant characters and the fact that it is laugh out loud funny in places.
Clearly Claire has done quite a bit of killing in her time, blamed on a pretty horrific childhood and, frankly, her rather psychotic nature. As we meet her she is deranged with grief from her father’s death which leads her to a grief counselling group and a whole new chapter of her life. The scenes in the bereavement group were the stand out for me, a brilliant bunch of characters who force Claire into actions that make her confront her past and why she is how she is.
This is a book that never takes itself too seriously yet holds up a mirror to how we view and treat old people. It’s clever and I can wait to read Joanna Wallace’s next book.

I didn't expect to struggle with this one as much as I did. After all, there's a female serial killer and maybe the promise of some dark humour. What's not to like?

Well, first of all, there didn't seem to be much of a plot. Yes, Claire is a serial killer. It is a hobby? A way of coping with life? Claire doesn't seem to have any criteria as to who should be her next victim. It could be someone as random as the person cutting in front of her at the coffee shop. None of that "having a type" kind of thing for Claire. Anyone will do. And there's your plot for the first half of the book. One of the murders in that first half leads to trouble and more murders in the second half, which then sort of start to make sense as to why Claire is doing what she's doing. But it's all a bit out there, and soon the whole thing starts to fizzle out entirely.

There are a few flashbacks to Claire's childhood, which were infinitely more interesting. They could also be a good starting point for a discussion on nature versus nurture. On the other hand, these chapters lacked depth, and despite knowing Claire's mother was a piece of work, a whole lot of questions remained unanswered.

If at any point I was supposed to muster any kind of empathy for the main character, it didn't work. I didn't like her at all, couldn't really understand her. Killing seems to be a compulsion for her, but not one she's actively trying to fight against or find help for. It's that need that gets her into trouble. Serial killers seem far more intelligent to me than Claire.

As for the dark humour that I was expecting, there's really none of that. Dark, yes. Disturbing, as well. But not at all funny. I wasn't all invested in these characters' lives, not even the ones in the support group. They all just felt like potential items on Claire's hit-list to be crossed off. And many of these supporting characters came across as caricatures, stereotypes ... almost like they needed to be mocked so when Claire swings her hammer it wouldn't seem like such a big deal.

This is one of those books I probably wouldn't have finished if it hadn't been a review copy. It all felt rather flat, repetitive, dare I say even dull sometimes. I can't say I was entertained, but I kept reading hoping things would pick up and the end reward would make it all worth it. I don't think it did. This book was quite clearly not for me, but I'm most definitely in the minority so don't take my word for it. Personally I think you'd be better off reading the "You" series. But that's just me.

Described as a darkly humorous female serial killer novel and yes this just about sums it up. Claire is the serial killer and tells the story from her POV in the present and the past. Her much loved father recently died from natural causes (which is one of the few such deaths in the book!) and she has received an email saying she has been short listed for an Arts award. Then she is told it was a mistake so she decides to teach the writer Lucas a lesson he will be unlikely to forget …

Briefly, after killing Lucas Claire finds out that somebody saw her and her life becomes a bit difficult as she tries to work out what to do. Her childhood wasn’t good with both Claire and her father suffering from her abusive mother.

Claire is clearly a psychopath, and weirdly quite a likeable one, I mean who else would walk around with a claw hammer in her pocket! With a disparate set of characters to keep the reader intrigued the story moves at a steady pace. It’s an extremely unusual read, certainly dark and definitely strange, with some dark humour and a great ending. An entertaining read.

The premise of this book sounded awesome to me - a female serial killer getting up to hijinks is right up my street (I love Killing Eve and it also made me think of How to Kill Your Family). The concept of Claire 'seeing people' as a ghost before she kills them is clever, although this didn't come across as a major part of the book - I think I misunderstood and thought it would have a weird sci-fi/horror element with ghosts!

The book is fun however I wasn't a fan of the flashbacks and the storyline did get a bit tangled towards the end. But I had fun and would recommend this to readers who love thrillers but with a side of fun and snark.

This novel is very akin to Will Carver’s Psychopaths Anonymous telling the story of Claire, a serial killer who sees her victims as ghosts in the moments before they die. The difference between the two is the narrative styles as we are told Claire’s story in first person and while it is riddled with darkly humorous asides and corresponding thoughts of antagonising protagonist, the voice isn’t enough to carry the whole novel.

I was taken in by the title and cover of this one and initially with Claire’s voice, but aside from the monotone of that, too much happens in the first third of the novel and the rest really seems to drag because you’re geared up for something fast, fun and wild and it just kind of tails off a bit. The comparison with the Carver title is probably rooted in things escalating from the Grief Support Group Claire starts attending following the death of her father and when she is sat beside the ever dramatic Lisa, she begins to suspect something afoot with her neighbour in grieving.

Others will pick this up and love it because there are some great elements there, but it sped out of the gates and quickly ran out of energy for me.

A debut author, Joanna Wallace’s You’d Look Better as a Ghost (2023) features a female serial killer. On the day of her father’s funeral, Claire’s painting is rejected for an art exhibition, reawakening her fetish for killing people. Claire then joins a community bereavement support group and mimics normal behaviour in order to fit in. Her involvement leads to complications and an ensuing humorous tale unfolds. Its enjoyable, ironic narrative includes flashbacks to Claire’s childhood which insightfully captures the reasons for her psychopathic personality. A satiric serial killer romp of a read with a delightful four stars rating, that accurately depicts the five stages of grief. With thanks to Viper and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own, freely given and without inducement.

I seem to be enjoying books about female serial killers far too much lately 😅 I always feel like I shouldn’t like the main character as much as I end up liking them!!

In this book, we meet Claire who is struggling with the recent loss of her Dad. The book starts on the day of her Dad’s funeral where she is struggling to process her feelings of grief, but an email informing her that her painting has been shortlisted in a competition lifts her mood considerably. However, that all comes crashing back down when she later receives a further email from a very apologetic Lucas stating that he had sent the email to the wrong Claire, and she hadn’t in fact been shortlisted at all. Lucas might just have made the biggest mistake of his life, as Claire sets her sights on finding out just how sorry he really is. By killing Lucas, Claire gets herself involved in more than she ever intended to - leading to more fatalities. Can she keep her killing spree under wraps or is she about to be rumbled?

Claire was such an interesting character - the flashbacks to her childhood gave a very clear insight into why she is the way she is. I’m not saying that a bad childhood is an excuse for becoming a serial killer (!!) however I did really feel for her because her upbringing explains a lot! She was witty and funny and had a certain charm about her that made her such a magnetic force - I could feel myself being pulled in by her and by the end I was hoping and praying that she would get away with everything - which you would just never think about a real life serial killer!! 🙈 Claire was a really well written, complex, morally grey character who you just couldn’t help falling in love with.

An enjoyable read - you do have to suspend all belief as there are just so many things that happen that you think no way could all this happen in real life, but that didn’t taken away from the enjoyment for me. A great gory read!

Claire is at her father’s funeral when she receives an email regarding a piece of her art she has recently submitted into a competition. Unfortunately for Claire it was sent by mistake. It was meant for another woman named Claire.
She needs to find this guy called Lucas who sent her the email. Was he really sorry? for sending her the email when she had been so pleased about being shortlisted

The first part of this book had me wondering if it was for me. I was uncertain about some of the aspects of death and some of the other strange things that Claire did, but once I carried on I found myself glad that I had.
A strange book considering the serial killer aspects, but having said that there was a story through it that kept me interested.
The book moves from present to past chapters told by the protagonist, which give snippets of insight as to Claire’s childhood.
It covers some sensitive topics, However they’re described with humour and they didn’t upset me.
A different kind of book for me, but I thought it ended well, considering the theme of the book.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Publisher for an advanced e-book copy. Opinions about the book are entirely my own.

A very dark and twisted novel with a very likeable female lead.
Claire has grown up with a very hostile mother, she is a bully and abusive woman, who treats both her husband and young daughter disgracefully. The story starts with Claire at a support group for the recently bereaved, her beloved father has recently died. She is angry, and grief is taking the form of a desire to kill, but her choice of victims is discriminating, she does have a sort of code of honour. Her exploits are by turn sympathetic and vindictive, the readers emotions are pulled in all directions.
Some cruelty should be punished, do extreme crimes demand the final penalty? There is humour, black of course, but this is an interesting and very thoughtful read, quite empowering at times, it is also surprising to care so much about Claire, the flashbacks about her mother help to set the scene and explains so much about her behaviour and deadly purpose in life. Is Nature or Nurture responsible?
If Claire was your friend, you wouldn’t want to upset her! There is blackmail, deception and numerous bodies to pursue, a really fast paced and very entertaining book. Highly recommend this as a five star read.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers Serpents tail/ Viper/ Profile, for my advance digital copy, freely given in exchange for my unbiased review. I will leave reviews to Goodreads and Amazon UK.

I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher in return for an honest review. This review is based entirely on my own thoughts and feelings.

Overall rating : 4*
Writing skill : 5*
Plot: 5*
Pace: 4*
Characters: 4*

I couldn’t help but go into this comparing it to the Sweetpea series by CJ Skuse. It’s one of my favourite series and was so unique at the time, focusing on a female serial killer. There’s been a few in recent years but I think this is the best and closest in comparison.
There were a plethora of characters in this but they were so easy to follow and they grew as characters throughout. I like her no nonsense writing and descriptions, again like Sweetpea the Britishness of the language is super refreshing.
If you like a blasé attitude yo killings with a black humour twist then this is the book for you. Will be recommending a lot.

Claire isn’t your average artist. Straight after the death of her beloved Dad, she gets an email to say her painting had been shortlisted for a prize…only to be told later, there has been a mistake and they have emailed the wrong artist. What’s a girl to do? Claire knows; she will find the culprit and add their body to the rest buried under her vegetable patch.

You’d Look Better As A Ghost is a great addition to the serial killer genre and it’s written in such an entertaining way. Claire is so witty, I chuckled my way through the book, especially at the bereavement group sessions. I found myself rooting for her, weird as that may be. I liked the mystery in the latter part of the book. I found the whole “ghost” part of the plot a bit vague. I felt like I needed more detail to flesh (sorry, awful pun) the idea out a bit more. But I really enjoyed the observations Claire made about “ordinary” people, humorous and often apt. I thought the ending was brilliant, totally satisfying and the better than the other books I’ve read in the genre.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an opportunity to review as advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my goodness, I’ve laughed out loud at this book! Think Eleanor Oliphant meets Villanelle and meet serial killer Claire, and what a brilliant character she is! I loved her warped sense of humour, her quirky personality, her comments and observations about normal life. Who’d guess you could love a serial killer so much! Great plot line too, certainly has quite a few surprises! And some great supporting characters. I’ve not been able to put this one down.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for a review.