Kiwi chaos
A novel explores what happens when clean, green New Zealand is taken over by wealthugees
Darkly funny, dramatic and disturbing, this novel is set in the near future and presents an image of a New Zealand that none of us would want to live in.
The world is being destroyed by climate change, but Aotearoa still remains relatively unscathed and so the rich are flocking here. These so-called “wealthugees” are enjoying luxury lifestyles, buying up land to retreat to and pushing up the price of everything in the process. Ordinary Kiwis are struggling to survive.
Alice, our narrator, is one of those struggling Kiwis. She is an oddball, a near genius who has never fulfilled her potential and her relationships are fraught. She only has one real friend along with an imaginary one, called Simp, who follows her everywhere. And she lives with her mother, communicating only using Morse code.
When Alice walks out on her job, it seems like she is pretty much giving up on life. But by then she has met Pablo, an intriguing wealthugee. He takes her out for dinner, buys fancy wine and cheese, and Alice finds herself unexpectedly attracted to him. So, when he asks her to look after his teenage prodigy of a daughter Erika in return for a wad of cash, she agrees.
Suffice to say neither
Pablo or Erika is exactly what they seem and life for Alice is about to get a whole lot more interesting.
There is no single character to like or even particularly sympathise with in this novel, which is flavoured so strongly by Alice’s strangeness. A chunky read, it makes for a long time to be inside the mind of someone so troubled.
Still, this is a richly imagined and compelling story with a message it drives home powerfully. The world that it portrays doesn’t seem so far-fetched, the humour bites hard and it ramps up to an action-packed finale.
A dystopian thriller, She’s a Killer is designed to unsettle its readers, as well as entertain them, and does a very skilful job of both.