February 19, 2024
An irritable 30-something serial killer narrates Wallace’s deliciously eerie and darkly funny debut. While attending her father’s funeral, struggling visual artist Claire receives an email from Lucas Kane, administrator of a prestigious art prize, informing her that her painting has been shortlisted. Claire is elated, but the following morning, Lucas sends a contrite follow-up clarifying that the first message was sent in error. Considering his apology insincere, Claire stalks, seduces, murders, and buries Lucas in her back garden. Then her doctor, believing there’s a link between Claire’s blinding headaches and her grief over her father’s death, suggests she join a bereavement counseling group that meets weekly in a suburban London church hall. She reluctantly agrees, and it’s there that her problems truly begin: one of the group’s fellow members knows about Claire’s killings, and attempts to pressure her into joining a “grubby startup blackmailing business” that Lucas was involved with. As that cat-and-mouse game unfolds, Wallace weaves in poignant flashbacks from Claire’s childhood that shed light on her relationship with her father. Wallace nails Claire’s prickly voice (regarding her hippie-ish grief counselor: “I’m not disputing any of her credentials, but to me, Star looks like someone out-of-her-bloody-mind-fulness”), making readers more than happy to root for the unrepentant murderer as she navigates a series of surprising obstacles. It’s an uncommonly assured debut from a promising new voice in crime fiction. Agent: Cathryn Summerhayes, Curtis Brown U.K.
February 15, 2024
Claire's life could be used in a debate between proponents of the nature versus nurture argument. Was she destined to be a serial killer? Or was it her abusive mother and passive father who laid the foundation for her current lifestyle? Joining a support group to manage her grief after losing her father, Claire finds it's full of people who deserve her own brand of justice rather than companionship. Can Claire continue to bury victims in her backyard without getting caught, or will the increase of recent deaths finally point the bony finger of blame her way? British debut novelist Wallace occasionally alternates scenes from Claire's childhood with the present to provide background for a character who not only acknowledges a lack of emotional engagement but also devises methods of covering up social missteps. Understanding the how and why of Claire's choice of victims could almost make some of her selections seem acceptable. Dark, creepy, and wholly fascinating, Wallace's imagining of the mind of a successful serial killer will be appreciated by readers who don't mind sleeping with one eye open.
COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
March 1, 2024
Dexter meets Killing Eve in Wallace's dark comic thriller debut. While accepting condolences following her father's funeral, 30-something narrator Claire receives an email saying that one of her paintings is a finalist for a prize. But her joy is short-circuited the next morning when she learns in a second apologetic note that the initial email had been sent to the wrong Claire. The sender, Lucas Kane, is "terribly, terribly sorry" for his mistake. Claire, torn between her anger and suicidal thoughts, has doubts about his sincerity and stalks him to a London pub, where his fate is sealed: "I stare at Lucas Kane in real life, and within moments I know. He doesn't look sorry." She dispatches and buries Lucas in her back garden, but this crime does not go unnoticed. Proud of her meticulous standards as a serial killer, Claire wonders if her grief for her father is making her reckless as she seeks to identify the blackmailer among the members of her weekly bereavement support group. The female serial killer as antihero is a growing subgenre (see Oyinkan Braithwaite's My Sister, the Serial Killer, 2018), and Wallace's sociopathic protagonist is a mordantly amusing addition; the tool she uses to interact with ordinary people while hiding her homicidal nature is especially sardonic: "Whenever I'm unsure of how I'm expected to respond, I use a clich�. Even if I'm not sure what it means, even if I use it incorrectly, no one ever seems to mind." The well-written storyline tackles some tough subjects--dementia, elder abuse, and parental cruelty--but the convoluted plot starts to drag at the halfway point. Given the lack of empathy in Claire's narration, most of the characters come across as not very likable, and the reader tires of her sneering contempt. Squeamish readers will find this isn't their cup of tea.
COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.