She's a Killer

'Satire at its best' ELEANOR CATTON
'Outrageous, comic, disturbingly timely' THE GUARDIAN
Bold, darkly funny and brilliantly bizarre, She's a Killer is the story of what happens when a stubborn slacker is forced to confront a very weird world.
Thirty-something Alice has an IQ of 159 (almost a genius) and lives at home with her mother, with whom she communicates only by Morse code.

Meanwhile, the climate is in crisis. Wealthy immigrants are flocking to New Zealand for shelter, stealing land, driving up food prices and taking over.
When Alice meets attractive wealthugee Pablo, she thinks she has found a way out of her dull existence. But then in walks his teenage daughter, Erika, an actual genius with impeccable eye makeup, and Alice finds herself drawn into action of the most radical - and dangerous - kind. Just what is a slacker to do?

About the author

Kirsten McDougall is a New Zealand novelist, short story writer and creative writing lecturer. Her 2017 novella Tess was longlisted for the Ockham NZ Book Awards and shortlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Award. She lives in Wellington.

Summary

'Satire at its best' ELEANOR CATTON
'Outrageous, comic, disturbingly timely' THE GUARDIAN
Bold, darkly funny and brilliantly bizarre, She’s a Killer is the story of what happens when a stubborn slacker is forced to confront a very weird world.
Thirty-something Alice has an IQ of 159 (almost a genius) and lives at home with her mother, with whom she communicates only by Morse code. 

Meanwhile, the climate is in crisis. Wealthy immigrants are flocking to New Zealand for shelter, stealing land, driving up food prices and taking over. 
When Alice meets attractive wealthugee Pablo, she thinks she has found a way out of her dull existence. But then in walks his teenage daughter, Erika, an actual genius with impeccable eye makeup, and Alice finds herself drawn into action of the most radical – and dangerous – kind. Just what is a slacker to do?

Foreword

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  Our largest galley print run in several years, to appear in two waves, to garner the widest possible pre-publication endorsements. 
  

• First galleys to target high profile endorsements from writers such as Bella Mackie, Ottessa Moshfegh, Margaret Atwood, Jean Haniff Korelitz, and more. 
  

• Authors who have already requested copies include Taylor Jenkins Reid, Chelsea G. Summers, Georgina Moore, Julia Armfield, Ore Agbaje Williams and Lucy Clarke. 
  

• Second wave of galleys, featuring endorsements, will be released to booksellers and further influencers in late Spring 2023 in a supplemented and highly Tiktok and Instagram-friendly package, including sweets and seeds. 
  

• Broad review copy mailing to encourage reviews, interviews, blog posts, podcasts, essays and media coverage, to print and online venues including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The LA Times, The LA Review of Books, ForeWord, Air Mail Weekly, Wanderlust, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Wall Street Journal, NPR, World Literature Today, Literary Hub, Shelf Awareness, O- Magazine.com, Zibby Magazine, The Book Riot, Shondaland.com, Washington Independent Review, SF Book Review, The NY Journal of Books and more. 
  

• Promotion through publisher’s social media, website and newsletters. Targeted promotion on social media including paid advertising.
  

Report

'A wild ride . . . made me think about similarities between NZ and Ireland as we face climate change, housing crises and the righteous anger of the young' Sarah Moss, Best Books of 2023, Irish Times

'Savagely funny . . . An outrageous, comic, disturbingly timely novel' The Guardian

'Funny, thought-provoking, bold and unusual . . . McDougall's humour, pointed social observations and shocking plot twists combine with moving insights on self-knowledge, family and friendship' The Independent

'Satirical thrills' New Scientist, Best New Science Fiction Books of October


'Darkly funny, scarily prescient' Red Magazine, 10 Best Books of October

'Alarmingly prescient . . . tightly-written . . . [She's a Killer] comes into its own as the pace of the action increases, and makes for a propelling finale' The Telegraph

'Savagely witty and oddly moving, this is a dark and timely satire to savour' Editor's Choice, The Bookseller

'Kirsten McDougall's brisk speculative novel takes a clifi premise and moulds it into a bizarre and bracing thought experiment, twisting the psychology of disempowerment into fast-paced action' Sydney Morning Herald


'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 Birnam Wood

'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 Mae 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 gem . . . there is a surprise on every page, as Alice's behavior is never routine, and Simp is a wild card. Not quite a misanthrope, not quite a sociopath, Alice is compelling, hilarious, and dangerous all at once' Booklist (Starred Review)

'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

Product details

• Authors: Kirsten McDougall
• Publisher: Gallic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 10.10.2023
• EAN: 9781913547684
• ISBN: 978-1-913547-68-4
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; FICTION / Women, FICTION / Dystopian, FICTION / Satire, Narrative theme: Politics, Dystopian & utopian fiction, Personal & social issues (Children's / Teenage), Narrative theme: Environmental issues / the natural world, Thriller: serial killers