One of the most deliciously satirical books I've read in a VERY long time. There's just something about McDougall's premise of satire, the end of the world, and somewhat feminist leanings... I never quite knew if we were talking about now or the not-so-distant fate of the planet? After all... most people are only a day away from absolute calamity due to shortages and pestilence.

THOUGHTS:
- I read something somewhere that said that people who are highly intelligent are intelligent enough to know how intelligent they aren't. This, in turn, affects their relationship with their inner selves and how they perceive the outside world. It made me want to know the inner thoughts of those people and our unlikely heroine, Alice (with an incredibly high IQ), has become one of my favorite characters of 2023!!! I loved living this story through her eyes and seeing the world from her perspective. Her snarky commentary with her imaginary best friend gave me LIFE when I was feeling burnt out from other reads!

She's A Killer was refreshing, and all I can think now is: GIVE ME MORE UNLIKEABLE, YET DARKLY AMUSING HEROINES!!!

- I won't ruin the story for you because I desperately think you need to read it for yourself.. but if ever there was a macabre Charlotte's Web... I feel that it would illicit much the same feelings as McDougall's work. Being around people who are more intelligent than you is fascinating. You never quite know what they're thinking, and I found myself sucked in so many times trying to figure out different character's motivations!

NOTES:
- 🌶️/5 - Some s3xual elements - but not romantic in almost any way.
CWs: Some of the characters are a bit unnerving, but overall I didn't feel even the slightest bit uncomfortable.

**Thank you to Gallic Books & NetGalley for my advanced reader copies. I received this book for free, but all thoughts are my own. – SLR 🖤

For me there were hints of Miranda July in elements of this book (the relationship between Alice and Erica) and I found the themes topical and interesting to consider in the context of the climate and refugee crisis.

The main character of Alice and her imaginary friend Simp really engaged me. I would say I tend to like rather macabre books and this certainly delivers in buckets. And I must confess I laughed a lot which I wasn't expecting from the title!

I was into this in the first have but ultimately felt the lag, almost an after school special with the amount of issues being addressed. Also the bitchy lead wore me out some. Maybe just not in the right headspace at the moment for this read.

This book is quirky, funny, and full of wry social commentary without being preachy. The combination of end times gallows humor and eccentric characters was reminiscent of Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut mixed with a bit of Catch-22.

In this book we meet Alice. She's a smart cookie (one point shy of genius) who lives in the downstairs part of a house she shares with her mother, with whom she has a strained relationship, never seeing each other and communicating only in Morse code. She has one real friend and one imaginary one, who has only just popped up again. She's a bit of a cow to be honest. But there's something also that's endearing about her at the same time... It's hard to explain.
Anyway, it's set in a time where climate crisis is a real proper crisis and there has been mass migration from places lost to the elements. In New Zealand, where the book is set, they have allowed only rich refugees, more commonly known as wealthugees (genius name). And it is one such person that Alice meets when Pablo approaches her at her work in the University. They hit it off and arrange a date but Alice is a tad miffed when he brings his daughter Erika along for the ride, and doubly so when she finds out why...
And so begins something refreshingly unique. Brilliant and also a tad bonkers in places but such a very well crafted story. I loved the "world building" where Alice has to ration stuff, and also explaining the cost of certain items. If you think the cost of living crisis is bad now...! But aside from all the doom and gloom, there are some real comedy gold moments that had me proper laughing. The author manages to make some real simple scenarios so very very funny. I'd love to explain further but, spoilers... Suffice to say they are peppered throughout and assist with lighting the tone.
It can be read as a political statement, or just a cracking fiction book, or somewhere inbetween. I think it'd make for a cracking book club or buddy read as I think I would have liked to have talked to someone after (or even during) it. But I fly solo...
This is my first book by this author but will definitely be checking out her back catalogue and also keeping my eyes peeled for her next book. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Alice lives a boring life. She has a mundane job in New Zealand, lives with her mother but separately - they converse using flashlights and morse code - she’s rude to almost everyone and Alice is almost a genius (159). She meets wealthugee Pablo at the university, he wants to study Russian Literature but they don’t offer the course. Alice gets to know Pablo and quickly he leaves her in charge of his teenage daughter Erika.

The twist is the killer. This is a dystopian scorn on society, all the worst things that could happen which left me feeling a bit negative about the book. Some will definitely enjoy the satire and dark humour but I found the unrelenting pessimism and largely unlikeable characters a bit of a downer.

Contrary to its title, this book did not slay. It barely grazed the skin. I found the concept interesting and the New Zealand setting fun, but ultimately the book just did not satisfy, which isn’t ideal, especially considering its size.
And I think what dragged the book down was its protagonist, Alice, a thirty-seven-year-old woman one point off genius-level IQ, who is basically a loser. She hasn’t done a thing with her life, apart from working in a tedious desk job and living in an apartment under her mom’s, which is technically her mom’s place subdivided. And no, they don’t get on. They chat via Morse code.
Alice also chats with her imaginary friend, incessantly.
That’s kind of this novel in a nutshell—quirky. But not quirky enough. And far from likable. Considering that the reader is forced to spend the entire 400 pages inside Alice’s mind, you’d want Alice to be someone interesting, engaging, something. And she isn’t. She doesn’t even come across that smart despite the constant mention of the IQ thing. She’s just like snarky at best. Mostly mopey.
She lives at a time in the very near future when NZ is flooded with wealthugees, which is exactly what it sounds like—wealthy refugees from climate change-ruined places who reshape NZ’s socioeconomic reality. The most interesting thing that occurs in Alice’s life is meeting one of these wealthugees, who then leaves her with his fifteen-year-old daughter who turned out to be all kinds of different. Specifically, a real genius and much closer to the title. Just a whiff of Killing Eve there, but nowhere near enough.
The book is well written and reads easily (and quickly for its size), but it doesn’t offer much for your time. The overall impression is somewhere between disappointing and unsatisfying. Didn’t much work for me. user milage may vary. Thanks Netgalley.

Loved this. Offbeat and strange but oddly comforting in some ways. Not your average everyday type of story. The writing was really well done and made this book an easy read.

This was a DNF for me around 25% and I know I’m in the minority. It just wasn’t for me - I thought it would have more of a crime and thriller feel to the plot based on the title.

I'd like to thank NetGalley for the ARC. Unfortunately, I think I'm one of the few who didn't enjoy this story. It wasn't until about 60% in that I had any clue what was happening in this story. I was interested in Erika's character and would have been interested to learn more about her and the organization.

The world is in a global climate crisis and wealthy immigrants are flocking to New Zealand, causing the cost of living to sky-rocket, but Alice is more concerned with keeping hold of her best friend and saying as little as possible in meetings at her boring job. Things quickly change when she meets wealthugee Pablo, and his radical teenage daughter, Erika.

Not a huge amount really happens in this book; the focus is on Alice, her mental struggles and personal development, but it somehow manages to stay interesting throughout.

It is an apocalyptic novel, but the apocalypse is a background feature, providing context for the influx of wealthy refugees to New Zealand, and the protests that follow.

I really liked Alice. She’s a bitch to everyone but this is portrayed in such a relatable, self-aware way that it was easy to empathise with her and understand where her behaviour is coming from. As explained in the story, Alice is *almost* a genius and only a few marks off being a sociopath, but has enough awareness to consider both of these things to be example of how she underachieves in every area of her life.

She’s a Killer is well-written and darkly funny, just could have had a bit of a faster pace for me.

DNF @ 40%. I really wanted to like this, and I think I'm in the minority in not liking it. The set-up of a dystopian present/not-too-distant-future where "wealthugees" have come to live in New Zealand because their home country is uninhabitable, but the people already living in New Zealand are struggling. The wealthugees are putting even more of a strain on resources in New Zealand, as they continue to consume at the rate they're used to. It's a really interesting premise, and that was my favorite part of the book.

But every character sucks. It ranges from "they are generally unpleasant" to "this person is truly human garbage." And even the least offensive ones don't really have any redeeming qualities. I generally don't enjoy books where all the characters suck, and this one isn't an exception. (I know that it could be a good social commentary! It's just not for me.) Content warnings for disordered eating throughout.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallic Books for providing me with an eARC of She's a Killer in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this, the writing had me hooked and I did not want to put it down. Would recommend if you want a fast read that keeps you hooked.

Already assured a spot in my Top 10 of the year, She’s A Killer by Kirsten McDougall is an absolute tornado of fresh air in the thriller genre. I totally loved this book in all its weird, wonderful, mordantly funny, did I mention weird, cleverness, yet crucially, at it’s heart a chilling treatise on the burgeoning pressure, and increasingly damaging effects of climate change for communities across the globe. Billed as an eco-crime thriller, this sassy and whip-smart book is one to be savoured…

Alice is an absolute gem of a character, highly intelligent but lacking in empathy and also imbued with a self destructive CBA (can’t be arsed) attitude to life. She inhabits a small claustrophobic world of tedious job, shabby flat, ineffectual relationships both with the opposite sex, increasingly with her best friend Amy (and yes, we all hate Amy’s husband Pete too- what a c**k) , and, oh yes, a dysfunctional relationship with her mother too- don’t mention the pineapple. She also has an up-and-down relationship with her imaginary friend Simp too, but that’s a whole other level of weirdness in the story. Then there’s weird Brian, an ex-workmate, boring Alan, her mother’s latest squeeze, but, hang on a rooting-tooting minute. Who is this ?

Pablo.

An intriguing intelligent, attractive man who sets Alice’s world, and lady parts, aflame. But there’s always a catch. This being his teenage daughter.

Erika.

And this is where Alice’s real troubles begin, as McDougall sucks us in to a dark Fargo-esque adventure with petty jealousies, physical violence, a hugely uncomfortable road trip, murder and a hapless central protagonist whose (almost) genius IQ belies her sheer ineptitude at life itself.

All of this plays out against a clever allegory to the current migration crisis, where the richest inhabitants- ‘wealthugees’ of countries ravaged by the effects of climate change, move to still functioning countries, and infiltrate society to the detriment of the existing population- in this case New Zealand. McDougall references the devastating effects of flood, famine or heat across the globe, and how less scrupulous members of society are harnessing resources and land, and stock piling essentials to ride out the climate change crisis. It’s clever, it’s pertinent to the world we currently live in, and depressingly prescient of how the world will potentially come to be at the current rate of environmental destruction.

What more can I say?

She’s A Killer is a dark, twisty joy from start to finish. Highly original, very funny, yet cut through with the most important issue facing the world today.

Absolutely loved this one.

Intriguing though this set-up is, it feels a little unfortunate that Eleanor Catton's take on this kind of scenario (in the excellent Burnham Wood) came out earlier this year. Tonally, however, this is very different - satirical, wry, disaffected, with a suitably twisted twist. 3.5 stars.

I'm definitely in the minority with this review but I don't really get the hype around it. I really struggled to actually finish the book as there didn't seem to be a plot point that I wanted to see through to the end. I felt that the story was very slow-paced and also thought that the first 100 or so pages could've been cut.

The FMC was quite annoying and her character didn't seem to develop. However, I found Erika really interesting and found that I wanted to know more about her side of the story.

The story did get really interesting around the 60-70% mark but then I felt that it all of a sudden came to an end without an explanation about what happened or why. I'd have liked to have seen more of the aftermath personally.

4.5 ⭐️

This book is about Alice, a 30-something woman with an imaginary friend whose IQ is one point short of being a genius. Her strained relationship with her mother, whom she still lives with, has led them to communicate through Morse code. Her mom, constantly nagging her in many ways, has always made her feel like a failure. But this doesn't affect Alice; she never lets anything affect her, especially with what she can achieve. She knows she can do anything, but what's the end goal? Any answer never seems to satisfy her.

Everything changed for her the night she met Pablo, a wealthugee in New Zealand. Of course, she didn't realize it yet, but she knew something would change, mainly because of the sudden appearance of her imaginary friend, Simp. The last time they had talked to each other was when Alice was seven years old, and she thought it was weird that she just popped out of nowhere again.

Pablo has a 15-year-old genius daughter, Erika, whom Alice had the pleasure (not really) to meet. We see Alice form a weird friendship with her, their grating yet funny arguments/banters, and their unhinged personalities.

Do any of these characters seem who they are? Can a manipulator manipulate a fellow manipulator?

Personal thoughts:

Wow, wow, wow! I did not have any expectations when I started reading this book, but I was very intrigued by the blurb. This book did not disappoint me! I love the dark humor presented and the brilliant banter/answers the FMC responds with. I feel like I've become friends with the main character by reading this book and following her story. I was very interested while reading this and wanted to know more about her past. The author did a fantastic job writing this book!

Thanks again, Netgalley and Gallic Books, for letting me read this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion/review!

Full of very dry humour. A near future New Zealand, climate change is having an effect, the economy is in the doldrums and foreigners with money are taking over. The story is told from the perspective of Alice, ‘near many things’, loner by choice, bit of a slob gets mixed up in more radical action than she ever intended. Thank you to Gallic Books and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

An uproarious and relentless rollercoaster ride of laughter + much more!

How did the book make me feel/think?

I couldn't contain my laughter as I delved into the pages of “She's a Killer” by Kristen McDougall. Within the first 40 pages, I laughed so uproariously I had to put on noise-cancelling headphones to spare my eardrums. My raucous laughter caused such a disturbance I was promptly asked to leave the library where I had been residing.

As I continued reading, the story took an unexpected turn. The world was in dire straits, teetering on the brink of destruction. Everything was completely askew. New Zealand emerged as the last beacon of hope in this bleak scenario, the final paradise.

Our protagonist, a near-genius woman, trudged through life with a spectral imaginary friend by her side, simultaneously taunting her and offering guidance. The impending end of humanity rendered life utterly meaningless. To make matters worse, New Zealand was being invaded not by desperate refugees fleeing war-torn nations but by the ultra-wealthy individuals responsible for the destruction through the disease of greed and entitlement.

These “wealthugees” sought to purchase paradise, evading the inevitable downfall of humankind with their affluence. In the midst of this chaos, Alice, our near-genius protagonist, unexpectedly falls in love with a wealthugee who exhibits a conscience and a desire for a better world.

Their connection brings Erica, his daughter, into Alice’s orbit. Erica, surpassing Alice on the genius scale by two points, proves to be far more than she initially appears.

“She’s a Killer” takes readers on an uproarious and relentless rollercoaster ride of laughter and shines a blinding light on the true meaning of being a refugee. It challenges our preconceptions about those in need and those who have contributed to the mess in the first place.

With the final word devoured, I can guarantee readers will yearn for another page.

WRITTEN: 29 August 2023

I did not finish it so it's not really a review. Just some points why it didn't work for me. Not posting it anywhere else.

It started on a intriguing note. It was a little slow, yet I liked it. The conversation and all that. But then, it got really slow and I lost the connection and my patience.

I must admit that I am a very impatient reader so maybe it gets better later. If you're a patient reader, you may like it.