She's A Killer Synopsis
Eleanor Oliphant meets Killing Eve in this darkly funny and gloriously unhinged New Zealand sensation, longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award 2023.
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 and brilliantly bizarre, She’s a Killer is the satirical dystopian cli-fi thriller you never knew you needed. Until now.
About This Edition
Kirsten McDougall Press Reviews
'Smart, assured, and extremely funny, She's A Killer is a marvellously eccentric book that both skews and skewers the anxieties of our age... This is satire at its best.' Eleanor Catton, Booker Prize Winner, author of The Luminaries
'A fabulously dark pleasure, delivered in prose of singing tautness' Luke Jennings, author of Killing Eve
'McDougall’s dystopian future is no distant vision: it’s disturbingly familiar, urgently relevant. Narrator Alice is a brilliant creation – complex, prickly, often hilarious – and I was utterly in her thrall as she swept me along to the book’s astonishing finale. Unputdownable' Catherine Chidgey, author of Remote Sympathy
'Darkly funny, utterly terrifying . . . A powerful, pre-apocalyptic book that’s an inspired scream at our fingers-in-ears approach to the climate crisis. I couldn’t stop thinking about it’ Fran Littlewood, author of Amazing Grace Adams
‘Deeply weird, compulsively readable, and a relevant allegory of a very possible future. I loved it’ Julie May Cohen, author of Bad Men
'Original, unputdownable, darkly funny . . . I don't think I'll ever forget it' Becky Hunter, author of One Moment
'Pitch black, wildly compelling, enormous fun' Heather Parry, author of Orpheus Builds a Girl
‘A thumping good story’ New Zealand Herald
‘Damn funny . . . a dextrous and talented writer who has really hit her stride’ STUFF Magazine
'Brilliant' Greg Fleming, NZ Listener
‘Lively, engaging and often hilarious . . . McDougall has created a world that slips easily between the entirely recognisable and the slightly strange’ Academy of New Zealand Literature
‘Equipped with an exhilaratingly badly-behaved protagonist, She’s a Killer builds from a slice of very strange life into a thriller by way of a succession of stunning comic set pieces. You’ll laugh – a lot. And then you’ll cry and be really surprised about it since you were laughing so much’ Elizabeth Knox, author of The Absolute Book
‘The novel’s sense of humour – it’s full of sharp one-liners and witty writing – doesn’t detract from the seriousness of the subject underpinning the narrative, making She’s a Killer a great read for those who like a bit of edge to their literary fiction’ Books & Publishing
