3.25*

I had heard amazing things about Joanna Wallace's debut, You'd Look Better As a Ghost, so I knew, after seeing the premise of The Dead Friend Project, that I really wanted to read it. Overall, I'm glad I read it but I didn't love it like I hoped I would.

In this humour led, mystery style contemporary fiction story we meet Beth, a struggling mum of young children. Her husband left her for a close friend, she feels that she doesn't match up to the other mums on the school run, and her best friend - Charlotte, was killed in a road traffic accident with too many loose ends for it to have been accidental in Beth's alcohol addled mind.

What follows is a story of a woman spiralling ever downwards into alcoholism and despair whilst her friends and family watch on, unable (or unwilling) to help as she sets off on a single person mission to solve the mystery of Charlotte's death.

I'll admit, I'm not a mum so I've not encountered the school run types which make up the character tropes we see here and so they come across for most of the novel as unfunny and pretty one dimensional. That is aside of Ana, who I loved and Emily, who gets her redemption at the end! I also struggled Beth's issues with alcohol. I'm sure they were trying to be handled realistically and sensitively, especially towards the end, but they were repetitive and for the most part read like 'Wine Mom' memes that are all over social media, and the attempts to make them humorous felt a little uncomfortable to me. There was also generally a lack of empathy from other characters, not helped by how dramatic Beth is throughout the book which made for uncomfortable reading

The humour though, when it worked, worked well, and I'm sure for parents the exhausting merry go round of children, activities and play dates rings so true and adds to the experience of the story - The reveal for why one of the characters unfortunately died was awful and so funny at the same time that I can absolutely see it happening in many a home.

I was fortunate enough to get the eBook and Audiobook for this and despite my misgivings about elements of the story, found that it absolutely flew by and I basically read it in one sitting. The audiobook is well produced and Imogen Church makes for an incredibly effective narrator. I think that is what saved the reading experience for me. She truly captured the pace and style of the narrative and did so many different voices so well that each one had an identity and personality that came to life and she captured the breathless exuberance of youth brilliantly.

This is a fast paced story that fits the mania of Beth's mission and has almost cosy mystery elements to it. I identified in Beth traits I've seen in many other people who have substance use problems and so the ending, whilst frustrating in many ways also felt realistic.

Definitely a hit and miss book for me but it hasn't put me off trying Joanna Wallace's first book which I think may suit me better as I really enjoyed the humour when it landed and I did like the writing style. I just think the setting wasn't right for me but I think fans of Jane Fallon or those with children or who do the school run will delight in the character tropes, conversations and sense of identity seen in the characters here.

Thank you to NetGalley and Serpent's Tail / Viper / Profile Books | Viper for a digital review copy of "The Dead Friend Project" and Profile Books Audio | Viper for a review copy of the Audiobook, both in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.