For everyone that loved 'How to kill your family' this is the next book for you. Claire is struggling with grief after the death of her father, and ends up joining a breavement group. Unknown to those in the group is that Claire finds deep pleasure in killing those that she dispises especially Lucas Kane who tells her she has won an award when she hasn't. From there her life slowly unravels, as her past catches up with her, and the trauma she faced as a child at the hands of her mother. This has all the potential to be the next big book, and is perfect for those that love killing eve.

Wow, this book was such a funky read. I definitely compare this great read to the series You – I felt such a connection to Claire, I didn’t want her getting caught for her extracurricular activities!

Joanna’s characterisation of Claire was on point for me. Although Claire’s a little strange, her thoughts, interactions and memories made her seem like a completely normal person, which actually led to me being on Claire’s side and convincing myself that all of her victims deserved it (which, come on, most of them did!). Joanna’s writing style was perfect for this novel.

I didn’t expect the twists and turns in this novel, but this was the part which really shone for me. I loved all of the connections which unfolded and the part blackmailing played in it, it was really ingenious. I’m really tempted to re-read this book already to see all of the hints I missed originally.

I would definitely recommend giving this novel a read if this is your style when it’s published. I haven’t read anything like this before and really appreciated its uniqueness. I’m not sure if Joanna has published her work before, but I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for her name!

Thank you again to Joanna Wallace, Rachel Quinn, Viper Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The story of Claire who has been a serial killer since a child. Slightly humorous in parts, most of the characters other than Claire were sparsely written, their purpose only to proceed the story. I have read a few preventing serial killer novels and this one is on a par. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

Told from the point of view of serial killer Claire we follow her life as she attends a grief support group following the recent death of her father – Who she didn’t kill, and are there with her every step of the way as she murders those who she thinks deserve her harsh punishment.

We also go back in time to when Claire was a youngster and see where her rage began and watch as she becomes quite unhinged.

For a book about a serial killer, You’d Look Better as a Ghost has plenty of humorous moments and is quite light-hearted. It may also make you feel sorry for our murderous protagonist, especially after delving into her past.

The plot flowed naturally and was easy to follow and had me hooked from the beginning. There were quite a lot of characters but as you can imagine some don’t last very long. There was also a predicament with someone who knew her little secret, though I did expect this to play out longer than it did.

Overall, You’d Look Better as a Ghost was entertaining and had me giggling in places. It is certainly quite dark and seductive too. Original, deadly, funny, twisty, surprising, and sarcastic, this is a 2023 must-read.

You'd Look Better as a Ghost follows Claire a people hating serial killer (there is a select few who she may like)who is attending a grief counselling group after the death of her father. After killing a man she mets in a bar she finds herself mixed up in something that could see her murderous ways revealed.
This was a great read although I did feel most of the time that Claire didn't want me reading it. It had a lot of laugh out loud moments which were great. You are given a view into Claire's childhood she had the most awful mother but I don't think that's what contributed to her killing I think she was born to be a killer. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the copy of the eARC.

Serial killer point-of-view books are becoming their own popular subgenre in the thriller-horror axis. Probably most famous is You by Caroline Kepnes, an amazing series of books, I would argue better than their well-known Netflix adaptations. But the subgenre has been growing, perhaps starting out with Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates, and running all the way up to this latest submission from Joanna Wallace. The surprising things about this subgenre is its capacity to not only horrify, but be funny. This is a tightrope Wallace walks to perfection.

You’d Look Better As a Ghost is told from the perspective of Claire, an artist who tends to take frustrations out of her grudges in imaginative and fatal ways. When Claire determines to kill a man who mistakenly told her she had won an art prize, Claire finds herself embroiled in a blackmail conspiracy bizarrely centred around a retirement home. The fiasco makes her start to question her murderous impulses.

This is an unlikely mystery novel. The premise is deepest darkest horror, and there is gore and sadism here — Claire can at times be a chilling narrator. But this book genre bends in unexpected ways when the heart of the story turns out to be a mystery. For all Claire is an excellent serial killer, she’s not the best detective. Although in fairness, the turn is delivered in a way I certainly didn’t expect!

And beyond the genre fiction, this book actually has quite an important message — something else I don’t necessarily expect from a book about a serial killer. Claire may lack empathy for almost everyone, but she also has an inherent (sometimes skewed) sense of justice. Her father recently died of Alzheimer’s, and Claire accordingly develops a righteous fury about the treatment of the elderly and infirm. Following her father’s death, Claire also joins a bereavement support group, and has some interesting thoughts on grief and handling it that might not be recommended for everyone.

You’d Look Better As a Ghost is recommended for anyone who likes a healthy dose of pitch-black humour with their horror. Fans of Kepnes will have a good time here, as will readers of Joe Hill or Grady Hendrix.

The evening after her father's funeral, Claire meets Lucas in a bar. Lucas thinks this is just a chance meeting Claire knows this is not the case, one mistyped email has put Lucas in the path of a serial killer. After accepting a drink from him and inviting him back to hers, she chops him up into pieces.
But something about that night is off.
Someone is watching Claire and knows her secrets.
But everyone should know its not sensible to get involved with a serial killer is it?

I loved this! This was fast paced, twisty, and keeps you gripped from page one. I didn't want to put this down as there was always something happening. This is told in dual timelines with childhood Claire and adult Claire. This also deals with bereavement very well and I loved reading about all the characters in the bereavement group and watching how differently people handled grief. This also has great representation with dementia and alzheimers. There were some gory scenes but nothing too shocking.

Honestly this is a new favourite of mine! I highly recommend picking this up when it come out and I'm so grateful to netgalley for giving me the chance to read this.

Another vengeful vigilante female serial killer. The way that the psychopathic Claire thinks and writes about the other people she encounters is arrogant and unpleasant. The other characters are only seen through Claire's perspective so came across as caricatures. There is a lot of repetition of expressions.

The plot is as deep and dark as it gets, multi-layered with 'who knew what when?' as the strands come together and the finer details get filled in. This is an absolutely compelling, gripping book full of mystery and suspense. Only a few authors can write deeply involving psychological drama of the very highest quality.

The E-Book could be improved and more user-friendly, such as links to the chapters, no significant gaps between words and a cover for the book would be better. It is very document-like instead of a book. A star has been deducted because of this.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

You'd Look Better As A Ghost is by far one of my favourite recent reads. Firstly, what a fantastic title - from the moment I discovered it, I knew I had to read it! The lead character Claire is written with so much attention to detail - she's super savage and the author has captured her psyche brilliantly. She reminded me slightly of Joe from the series, You. She's such a credible character and despite the darkness within her, the reader is always on her side because she's funny and just raw with honesty. At no point did I guess where the outcome of this book would lead. Fans of Death of a Bookseller should definitely read this!

I'm unashamed to say that I was all-consumed by this book. It's thoroughly entertaining and I will be keeping my eyes peeled for what Joanna Wallace writes next!

3.5*

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

When I saw this pitched as Killing Eve meets Dexter, I was in. I liked that it added a whimsicality to it, to make it easier to relate to Claire - this is always a big challenging when writing a character who is technically "bad".

The way that Wallace balances grief, loss, and murder into a cohesive and enjoyable read is something that should have been a challenge but she made it seem the most natural thing in the world.

I'd love to see this as a black comedy on the big screen!

A popular topic right now, this book gives us Claire, who is a serial killer.

I didn’t feel that Claire wanted me to read her story, if you will and I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had hoped to.

I love the originality of this book and the approach it took. I was enthralled by the story and had to keep reading.

'You'd Look Better as a Ghost' by Joanna Wallace follows Claire, an artist turned serial killer, who dispatches people she doesn't like in inventive ways.

For years, Claire has managed this side of herself, only killing when her father is away on a business trip. However, after his death things get more complicated due to her being unmasked by someone far more scary than the elderly neighbours dog. But do some people deserve to die for the crimes they've committed and is Claire doing society a favour.

For me this novel started as a slow burner. The story is all told from Claire's perspective and I found this hard to get into. As the plot progressed thought, I did become hooked into the mystery within the book and I enjoyed the irreverence and oscillating moral compass at the core of it.

This was a quick paced thriller, where we learn all about Claire and her little hobby. I really liked the intertwining of the plot with the grief counselling, but at points it seemed like we were not delving that much on the why of Claire's personality. Overall, an entertaining read!

This was a fast-paced, quick-witted book which fit in perfectly in my current crime fiction phase. I loved the frankness of the main character and her attitude towards her actions, I would have loved for there to be more focus on her past and her character development as this would have really strengthened her character. The book was an easy read that was so hard to put down and I found it highly entertaining as Claire interacted with the variety of different characters. The tone of the book made it so much easier to read through the grief that was represented, it was an interesting take to see both murder and grief together and it was an effective way to show the different stages of grief. The secondary characters provided comedic relief that was needed and worked really well amongst the narrative.

Struggling with the grief of losing her father Claire receives some unexpected positive news during the funeral. One of her paintings has been shortlisted for a competition. The following day when she receives an email explaining it was an error (the email was sent to the wrong Claire), she decides to seek revenge on the person who sent the email. This sets in motion a series of shocking events.

The genre of the young female killer/serial killer seems to be on a high at the moment, with many of them being full of dark humour. You'd Look Better As A Ghost from Joanna Wallace fits nicely into this category.

The opening chapter really doesn't prepare you for what is about to come. There is a fairly mundane scene of small children performing a dance routine for an audience of parents. Everything is completely normal, even funny until the very end when there is a shocking confrontation and we realise that this is a very young Claire and her evil mother.

As Claire seeks revenge on the person who has upset her I initially thought that her grief may have been the trigger that tipped her over the edge, however, we quickly learn that she is an established serial killer, although we never really find out how many people she has killed in the past.

Claire isn't a people person, she tolerates people at best using stock statements and cliches in an effort to fit in and pass for normal. Claire has her own moral code, sometimes it's a slight against herself, other times it's abuse she has witnessed.

Every now and again we get a glimpse into Claire's childhood. For me, these events are the crux of the story. Is Claire a serial killer because of nature or nurture? It's obvious from a very early age that she's different but is it the emotional abuse she suffers at the hands of her mother that brings out this nature? Thankfully she has a loving father who is sometimes there to temper the situation. Over time her father realises exactly what she is capable of, this reminded me a little bit of the father/son relationship in the Dexter series.

I couldn't help but like Claire. As she solved one "problem" only for it to reveal another I was worried about how she would resolve everything by the end. I certainly didn't spot the twist at the end but loved the way it was concluded.

Really good fun. I started this intending to just read 50 pages or so, but before I knew it, I was two-thirds of the way through.
Claire is a great character, seriously troubled, but her harsh take on other human beings is usually both funny and true. The plot is, as they say, "unputdownable", as our capable serial killer is in turn stalked by someone else. The author throws in plenty of red herrings - I will admit that I'm a lazy mystery reader, I prefer the author to do all the work: she definitely does here - so the pace gets increasingly frenetic and engrossing, before finally culminating in a surprising and satisfying climax.
Minor quibbles, the 4-star rating is more of a 3.5, as the writing isn't completely polished (I'm sure her next one will be far better). Also, the title didn't really do it for me: yes, it was worked into the story, and subtly too, Wallace doesn't belabour it. But it a tad deceptive, as there is little supernatural in the book.
Overall, though, an engrossing read, searingly funny, and a very clever denouement. Puts all those slightly nauseating "cosy" mysteries in their place.
My thanks to Netgalley and Rachel for the ARC of this book, l'll be delighted to recommend this to patrons and friends alike.

I really enjoyed this book! It was incredibly easy to read and the plot was really creative, different from your normal murder mystery. Instead, you follow the path of the serial killer trying to discover who knows what they had done. It’s very quirky, very cool and the twist at the end is a shock, I didn’t guess that coming. However, I did rate this 4 and a half stars, the only reason it didn’t get the 5 was because the plot throughout was quite predictable but the twist made up for it.

A quick and light-hearted read despite the subject matter. Overall I enjoyed it. Though I was left wanting more. More of an explanation as to why the main character was the way she was. More about why she was so cold and unfeeling. Just More in general.

I also object to the repeated description of one of the characters being overweight like that made them a terrible person.