Book Review for She's A Killer by Kirsten McDougall

 

Name of Book: She's A Killer

Author: Kirsten McDougall 

ISBN:9781913547684

Publisher: Gallic 

Type of book: Near future New Zealand, pineapple, slacker, inertia, secrets, murder, activism, satire, dark humor, imaginary friends, cli-fi, dysfunctional relationships, friendship 

Year it was published: 2023 

Summary:

ALICE: 30-something, IQ of 159 (almost a genius), only communicates with her mother in Morse code. Her imaginary friend is back.

ERIKA: 15, daughter of hot ‘wealthugee’ who loves Russian literature, genuine genius, killer eyeliner and killer instincts.

The climate is in crisis and wealthy immigrants are flocking to New Zealand for shelter, stealing land, driving up food prices and taking over. But Alice has far more important things to worry about: hating her best friend’s husband, getting free wine and quiet-quitting her dull day job.

Until she meets Erika.

Now, Alice is about to find herself drawn into action of the most radical – and dangerous – kind. Just what is a slacker to do?

Bold, darkly funny and brilliantly bizarre, New Zealand publishing sensation She’s a Killer is the satirical dystopian cli-fi thriller you never knew you needed. Until now.

Characters:

The main character is Alice, an almost forty year old woman who has an IQ of 159 but despite being an almost genius, her life is anything but. She lives in the moment, thinking and caring very little for the future and she either seems to suffer from debilitating anxiety or depression or both. There is also Simp, Alice's imaginary friend who convinced Alice to burn down her house when she was nine (Nope, not joking about that) but who seems to be the other half of Alice that Alice doesn't want to acknowledge. Secondary characters would be Erika, a fifteen year old girl who seems to complete opposite of Alice, but is also quite similar to her as well. Erika has plenty of salacious secrets of her own, of which Alice is extremely curious about. Other characters would include Alice's mother who seems to have an unhealthy relationship with Alice as well as Alice's best friend who is trying to survive the oncoming changes and a possible love interest who cares a lot for Alice. (Not Erika's father) 

Theme:

Is it possible to change in the face of inevitable disasters?

Plot:

The story is in first person narrative from Alice's point of view, and while the story is very character driven in that the reader examines Alice as well as Erika, there is a bit of a plot. I do think that the character of Alice did go through some change at the end of the book, but at the same time I don't think I'll be surprised if she remains the same. The story takes place in what seems to be very near future and concerns with wealthy people (wealthugees) arriving en masse to New Zealand in hopes of escaping climate effects from their previous nations. Alice meets one of the wealthugees as well as fifteen year old Erika and then she asks to babysit Erika, much to her dismay. Rest of the story involves her dysfunctional relationships as well as growing (somewhat) as a person and discovering some ugly secrets about Erika and Erika's father and that of her best friend. 

Author Information:
(From goodreads)

N/A

Opinion:

In my opinion 382 pages is too short for this story. Any chance there might be a sequel or prequel or even a spinoff? I definitely loved the characters of Erika as well as Alice so I would like more of them please. The story and characters were very gripping and I also loved the sense of humor that the novel had as well as the characters. What I also liked is the unusual female protagonist because its not often if ever there is such an unlikable character that at the same time one finds themselves understanding a lot more than necessary. I also loved the cover which seemed to capture the title as well as the surprising humor within. For a social commentary on the future and the hopelessness of situation, then come this way for a wonderful read. 

This was given for review

5 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)