A wild ride set in New Zealand! Wealthugees are invading the country, eco warriors are trying to stop them. An unlikeable genius protagonist, a young girl full of secrets...entertaining satire.

I think this is the best book I’ve read this year. I like anything else I’ve read. Alice is a 30 something genius who shares a home with her mum in New Zealand. Climate change has reached crisis point and rich welthugees are buying their way into the country. As parts of the world are left under water or burning. This was such a terrifying subject to read about as it seems scarily probable in the future. Food prices are sky high and water is limited. Alice never wanted to push herself and could have been a psychologist. Instead she settles for an admin role on enrolments at university. She meets Pablo one day and an attraction is sparked. Pablo introduces his 15 year old daughter Erika also a genius who gives Alice a run for money. What happens next completely knocked me sideways I would never have seen it coming. I had to reread a couple of pages because I just couldn’t believe it. This book is so well written I got Sweetpea and how to kill your family vibes. It had me laughing yet terrified of what our future could hold. Absolutely brilliant

Initially, I was very confused and tempted not to finish the book. But the further I went, the more I read. The book's political theme wasn't very clear to me, but I loved the rest of it. In this book, I found basic thoughts about everyday life. I loved Alice, but especially her simple and honest answers. (Also Simp!) It was a very different book from what I usually read, but I liked it a lot. And of course, I'm not even talking about the plot twist, which was truly mind-blowing!

She's A killer is a skilfully written satirical thriller and a really fun read. Although it was a slow starter it is worth sticking with as I did find this to have amazing twists full of great characters.

Really funny, I likeable but likeable main character. I felt like there needed to be more conflict sooner and that the twist was a little far fetched… still 4/5.

I think you’d probably need a certain type of dark humour to enjoy this one!

Initially, I was very confused and tempted not to finish the book. But the further I went, the more I read. The book's political theme wasn't very clear to me, but I loved the rest of it. In this book, I found basic thoughts about everyday life. I loved Alice, but especially her simple and honest answers. (Also Simp!) It was a very different book from what I usually read, but I liked it a lot. And of course, I'm not even talking about the plot twist, which was truly mind-blowing!

This was a great concept in the satirical dystopian cli-fi thriller genre. The story worked well overall and it had a fun feel to it. I enjoyed getting to know the characters in this universe and thought they worked in the story. I enjoyed how good satirical dystopian sci-fi thriller Kirsten McDougall wrote this and can’t wait to read more from her.

In a world plagued with poverty, disaster and climate collapse, 37-year-old Alice is far too busy worrying about her own life. Despite her near-genius IQ, she's at her wits' end with a mundane university job, her relationship with her mother has deteriorated, and her imaginary friend, Simp--what a name--has resurfaced after a three-decade disappearance. Alice's social circle is limited: excluding a handful of colleagues and her childhood best friend Amy who's been raised to riches by her annoying architect husband Pete, she spends most of her time talking to Simp and kind of just being a whiny bitch.

Then she meets Pablo, a wealthugee--the new (and very clever) term for rich immigrants who have fled to New Zealand to escape the climate crisis. She's only looking for sexual distraction in him. Definitely nothing serious. (Famous last words.) But when Pablo's unusual teenage daughter Erika shows up unannounced, the novel branches off in a totally unexpected and very exciting direction. The opening is slower paced and seems to deal little in the external environment (with lots of stuff on Alice's personal life), but as the novel progresses the author masterfully weaves in some really critical dystopian themes. Be patient--Kirsten McDougall knows exactly what she's doing!

She's a Killer is the kind of novel which rewards you the more you read. Every chapter was a genuine surprise. I've read a lot of deeply depressing dystopias, so it was so refreshing to find a book which balanced urgency and humour in the way every good satire should.

Thank you Gallic Books for the copy!

I had a hard time reading this book. There's a real possibility our world will end up as messed up as the world in this book and it made me sad. Anyway, the main character in this book is a little hard for me to relate to. I don't think she's very likeable but she does grow on you a little throughout the book. Erika, the secondary character, makes her appear more likeable. The plot is confusing and meandering. All in all, it was a difficult book for me.

This was a DNF for me. I spent a long time forcing myself to read it but just wasn’t enjoying the story or the characters. I got halfway through and forgave myself for putting it aside. Maybe it’s just the wrong book at the wrong time, or I’m the wrong reader !

If you're searching for a quick, crisp read that's oozing with black humour, go no further! Kristen McDougall's She's A Killer will satisfy your craving and more. McDougall creates a dystopian side-splitter with all the trademarks of current American literature.

Shes A Killer follows Alice a slacker with an IQ of 159 her life takes a turn when she mets Pablo and Erica. Alice has an imaginary friend who I quiet liked but I didn't like Alice which was strange. I was really pushing myself through the book until about 60% when the twist happened. I had high hopes for this book but it just didn't hit the mark for me. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the digital copy for an honest review.

She’s a Killer is a dystopian satire, making sharp observations on society and humanities continual apathy and desensitisation towards our eventual self-inflicted doom. While I delighted in the astuteness of these societal narrations, the books' unrelenting nihilistic nature and pressing belief of the inherent selfishness of humanity, became rather draining after a while. The continual lack of hope or characters possessing any sort of empathy, the main character being entirely selfish and apathetic, with side characters who weren’t much better, made the book rather a slog at times, and I was forced to question why I continued reading when I couldn’t care less about the fate of any character.

Then about halfway through the novel, a plot shake up; which both felt way too late in the novel as well as being a rather unfeasible twist, added a strange element of surrealism to the formerly grounded novel. Not to mention a throwaway fantasy element popped up at one point and was completely unexplained, leaving me somewhat dumbfounded.

All in all this book is well written, a biting satire on society, however it gets weighed down by its constant pessimism and its veer into absurdity in the closing chapters. Readers who love a bit of dark humour will probably delight in this novel, but I personally found its continual insistence on the flaws of humanity to be rather sobering, leaving me unable to form an emotional attachment to the novel.

This is a Cli-Fi book, that takes place in the future. The main character Alice (IQ of 159) does a boring job and lives a pathetic like. Things start to change after Erica a wealthugee enters her life and starts making drastic changes.

The book is slow paced, it mostly talks about Alice's sad life. Though the book is named 'She's a Killer' the killings (and the identity of the killer) isn't revealed until later. There isn't any character development in the book. However, the ending has a good amount of suspense and is interesting. Overall, it is a good read but could have been better.

I don't love the standard practice of selling a book by saying it's "popular book meets other popular book!," but "She's A Killer" will inevitably be compared to "Birnam Wood" by Eleanor Catton. Think of it as a kind of "Birnam Wood" meets "Fight Club"-type situation.

Our primary protaganist is Alice, a certified near-genius who choked on her own potential years ago & settled for a boring desk job so that no one would ever expect too much from her. At the same time her imaginary friend from childhood makes an unwelcome reappearance, she is tasked with looking after Erika, the 15-year-old daughter of a wealthy climate refugee, who seems more than capable of looking after herself.

Which is a good thing, as Alice is in no fit state to be anyone's caretaker. She only communicates with her mother, who lives upstairs, via Morse code. She's having a rather listless & one-sided affair with her married boss. & there's distance building in her relationship with her only friend, Amy. They had been teenage fuck-ups together once upon a time, but now Amy is married to a successful, wealthy architect, homeschooling their three precocious children, & planning a precipitous move to the country, where she hopes to ride out the climate apocalypse safely with her family.

Like "Birnam Wood," this is a dystopian cli-fi thriller set in New Zealand. I think it's safe to say that New Zealanders are experiencing some country-wide anxiety about the fact that their nation is being perceived as the bolthole of the world by the same extractionist arch-capitalist billionaires that have made all their money from ensuring the planet uninhabitable for humankind--so much so that a genre seems to be emerging. But it's not a genre I'm tired of yet, & "She's A Killer" has its own take on the topic, which moves the story in a different direction. Alice, like The Narrator of "Fight Club," is plagued by her own demons & makes for a somewhat unreliable narrator, failing to see obvious clues falling into place right in front of her, despite her great intelligence, & this haplessness, combined with her complete lack of fucks to give, propels the plot forward.

This book is getting a lot of great pre-publication press, but for my money, a lot of the plot hinges on a lot of people being willfully oblivious, & the ending in particular reminded me of the climaxes to the terrible climate thrillers I wrote myself in elementary school in the 80s, where someone was always barely surviving an acid rain tornado or something. (That's not the ending here; just offering some context.) However, if "Birnam Wood" meets "Fight Club" sounds good to you, you will LOVE this book. & bonus points: it has a sense of humor as well. "Darkly satirical" will come up a lot in review copy.

If you're looking for a fun, sharp read dripping with black humor, don't look any further! She's A Killer by Kristen McDougall will scratch that itch and more. With all the hallmarks of contemporary American writing, McDougall crafts a dystopian side-splitter reminiscent of Pynchon or DFW while being less obtuse and more readable.

Thanks to the author, the publisher, and to NetGalley for the digital advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

I was intrigued and drawn in immediately by the cover and then by the insightful and darkly funny writing. Despite this not being my usual genre, I was completely absorbed. I love an unlikeable character and this delivered in spades — although I could definitely relate to her in more ways than might be comfortable!

This just didn't hold my interest at all. I'm glad others are enjoying it, but ultimately it wasn't for me. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read it early.

This book was really interesting; it was full of things I didn’t expect. For one, I did not expect the main character to have an imaginary friend that she genuinely saw and heard speaking to her. Second, I didn’t think the writing would be so blunt and matter-of-fact. Alice leaves very little room for interpretation when it comes to her inner monologue.

I was intrigued by Erika and who the heck Pablo was. I wish we had gotten to know more about how Erika got into her profession and how she learned to do what she did. For me, it was a little to vague to understand how she could do all the cool stuff she could.

I honestly expected the writing to be more humorous considering the genre was listed as a comedy, or maybe it’s just that the humor wasn’t for me. Alice’s sociopathic view of the world and the people around her made her difficult to empathize with and I found it difficult to care about what happened to her. For example, she kept calling a runner “the anorexic runner” because she was thin, and then refused to believe she had any other condition other than anorexia despite being told differently by the woman herself, and THEN bogged her down with cynicism until she didn’t want to run anymore, despite doing so for years. I found it difficult to root for someone so callous and with little redeeming qualities.

Also, I don’t think it was too clear why the “wealthugees” chose to move to that particular city in New Zealand; it was never explained why the wealthy kept picking that spot despite prices being driven up and things sucking all-around.

The book was good, but not the right kind of book for me.

I truly loved this book and am so thankful I was able to read an advance copy of it via NetGalley!
“Satirical dystopian cli-fi” is the genre I never knew I needed in my life. This book is set in the pretty near future, but climate change has escalated even more rapidly than it currently is. The main character, Alice, is dealing w depression, serious ennui, an eating disorder, her dead-end job, and her mother (enough said), when a wealthugee named Pablo and his daughter Erika walk into her life. I laughed out loud a bunch of times, mainly because it was too real. Human beings… we’re going nowhere fast but at least there are some super talented ones who can make art about it before we all burn up when the sun explodes, amirite?