“…I smile, enjoying my favourite part of the process. The part when I know they’re going to die soon. The part when I can anticipate every moment of their deaths. The part when I already see them as ghosts.”

Grieving the recent death of her father, the disappointment of being rejected for an art prize triggers Claire’s worst instincts. Eschewing her usual careful planning, she impulsively takes her revenge, luring art critic Lucas Kane to her home where she dispatches him with the satisfaction death always brings her, but unbeknownst to Claire, someone was watching.

This propels Claire into a battle of wits with a similarly sociopathic foe who has infiltrated Claire’s bereavement support group in order to blackmail her. I enjoyed their attempts to out manoeuvre one another and gain the upper hand. But solving that problem leaves Claire with yet another, and as it happens Lucas’s murder isn’t the only recent killing that is haunting her. Though the later plot tends to rely on coincidence, there are some surprise twists which are entertaining. There are also dark moments with descriptions of killing, elder abuse and child abuse.

Claire’s childhood experiences, revealed in a series of flashbacks, help to explain her compulsion to kill, and engender some sympathy. Still Claire is a serial killer, and her motives for selecting a victim are generally self-serving and petty. I’m not sure I ever warmed to her exactly, but I did find myself on her side, most of the time.

Told from Claire’s first person perspective, the tone is generally irreverent. I found the humour to be dark and dry, rather than laugh-out-loud funny. There’s some tension in the narrative at times but not really any suspense, however the pace is good.

A quirky, diverting read, You’d Look Better as a Ghost is an engaging debut from Joanna Wallace. ( )