What do you think?
Rate this book
Just Kill Me
From the author of Play Me Backwards and I Kissed a Zombie and I Liked It comes a “narrative brimming with delightfully macabre irreverence” ( Kirkus Reviews , starred review) about one teen’s unusual summer job as a ghost tour guide in Chicago.
Megan Henske isn’t one to heed warnings…
When the last letters in her alphabet cereal are D, I, and E, she doesn’t crawl right back into bed.
When her online girlfriend won’t text a photo, she just sends more of herself.
And when she realizes that Cynthia, her boss at a Chicago ghost tour company, isn’t joking about making stops more haunted by euthanizing people there, she doesn’t quit her job—she may even help.
But soon she learns people in the murdermonger industry are being murdered, and doesn’t know who it is doing it. Could it be the head of the rival tour company? Or could it be someone near and dear to Megan?
After she realizes she has an uncanny resemblance to a flapper who disappeared in 1922, Megan receives a warning she can’t the next ghost on the tour might be her…
Megan Henske isn’t one to heed warnings…
When the last letters in her alphabet cereal are D, I, and E, she doesn’t crawl right back into bed.
When her online girlfriend won’t text a photo, she just sends more of herself.
And when she realizes that Cynthia, her boss at a Chicago ghost tour company, isn’t joking about making stops more haunted by euthanizing people there, she doesn’t quit her job—she may even help.
But soon she learns people in the murdermonger industry are being murdered, and doesn’t know who it is doing it. Could it be the head of the rival tour company? Or could it be someone near and dear to Megan?
After she realizes she has an uncanny resemblance to a flapper who disappeared in 1922, Megan receives a warning she can’t the next ghost on the tour might be her…
352 pages, Paperback
First published August 30, 2016
14 people are currently reading
563 people want to read
About the author
Adam Selzer
56 books196 followersAdam Selzer blocked Goodreads on his computer for years but now he's on here, so let him have it. His first book was HOW TO GET SUSPENDED AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE (now available in a "Now With More Swearing") edition, his next one is PLAY ME BACKWARDS (for satanic young adults), and his best known is probably I KISSED A ZOMBIE AND I LIKED IT, a Twilight satire that was not marketed as a satire.
He also writes the SMART ALECK'S GUIDE series and has published a bunch of Chicago history/ghostlore books.
You can also find him under the name SJ Adams, the name he used for SPARKS: THE EPIC, COMPLETELY TRUE BLUE (ALMOST) HOLY QUEST OF DEBBIE, which won a Stonewall honor and made the YALSA popular paperback list.
He also writes the SMART ALECK'S GUIDE series and has published a bunch of Chicago history/ghostlore books.
You can also find him under the name SJ Adams, the name he used for SPARKS: THE EPIC, COMPLETELY TRUE BLUE (ALMOST) HOLY QUEST OF DEBBIE, which won a Stonewall honor and made the YALSA popular paperback list.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
June 18, 2018
There is nothing - I repeat, NOTHING - more frustrating than a book that started off amazingly and then had a disappointing ending!! I was gonna give this book a solid 4.5 and I was confident in that rating up until maybe the last 25-30% of the book, which is when things took a nosedive.
A quick summary of where things went so terribly wrong:
- cheating bisexual trope
- I understand that it kiiiinda happened for *plot reasons* but SURELY THERE WAS ANOTHER WAY OF HANDLING THIS
- I have SO MANY QUESTIONS about Zoey
- the most SUDDEN change in tone, like we go from dark comedy to just plain dark and it happened FAST. things got spooky real quick - until all of a sudden WOW THINGS ARE CHILL AGAIN HELLO APOLOGIES FOR THE TURBULENCE FOLKS
- rick just?? vanishes?? for the last third of the book? where did he go? i mean i get that he has a stomach bug but all of a sudden he is just NOT THERE and he gets totally excluded from HIS OWN BUSINESS VENTURE
- the whole book was chill until all of a sudden the ENTIRE PLOT was shoehorned into the last 150 pages and it felt so rushed?? I was getting whiplash here, my guys. like here we go with this nice, slow set-up (which was good, by the way, genuinely) and then OH LOOK THINGS ARE HAPPENING AT 900 MILES PER HOUR, BLINK AND YOU'LL MISS IT!! oh look there it goes
- the plot twist that was dark as HECK and then ended up being twisted back on itself and the secondary twist was nowhere near as good
Honestly I'm quite let down because this book was SO GOOD when it was just Megan and her friends chilling and running ghost tours, killing people to create more ghosts, making death puns... the plot actually let this down a lot, purely because it was so rushed. If the ending had been as brilliant as the beginning, this would have been such a solid book. I definitely enjoyed it for the most part, despite my qualms, and if you're looking for a fun spooky read then I'd recommend it - but it let itself down at the end.
A quick summary of where things went so terribly wrong:
- cheating bisexual trope
- I understand that it kiiiinda happened for *plot reasons* but SURELY THERE WAS ANOTHER WAY OF HANDLING THIS
- I have SO MANY QUESTIONS about Zoey
- the most SUDDEN change in tone, like we go from dark comedy to just plain dark and it happened FAST. things got spooky real quick - until all of a sudden WOW THINGS ARE CHILL AGAIN HELLO APOLOGIES FOR THE TURBULENCE FOLKS
- rick just?? vanishes?? for the last third of the book? where did he go? i mean i get that he has a stomach bug but all of a sudden he is just NOT THERE and he gets totally excluded from HIS OWN BUSINESS VENTURE
- the whole book was chill until all of a sudden the ENTIRE PLOT was shoehorned into the last 150 pages and it felt so rushed?? I was getting whiplash here, my guys. like here we go with this nice, slow set-up (which was good, by the way, genuinely) and then OH LOOK THINGS ARE HAPPENING AT 900 MILES PER HOUR, BLINK AND YOU'LL MISS IT!! oh look there it goes
- the plot twist that was dark as HECK and then ended up being twisted back on itself and the secondary twist was nowhere near as good
Honestly I'm quite let down because this book was SO GOOD when it was just Megan and her friends chilling and running ghost tours, killing people to create more ghosts, making death puns... the plot actually let this down a lot, purely because it was so rushed. If the ending had been as brilliant as the beginning, this would have been such a solid book. I definitely enjoyed it for the most part, despite my qualms, and if you're looking for a fun spooky read then I'd recommend it - but it let itself down at the end.
May 3, 2017
Megan Henske doesn’t believe in superstitions, being a mortician’s daughter and all. However, there are strange things happening in her home city of Chicago and her unusual summer job, a ghost tour guide, has her helping kill people. This is a great dark comedy and perfect for Halloween (or any other time of year you crave a good spook)!
December 8, 2020
2.5
Meh.
I was nervous at first cause Megan kind of got on my nerves, but I started to like her. It was a quick read, but it’s not a book I say I really got into (except for the end cause I thought I’d find out who Zoey was... nope). Why add the mystery of Zoey if their identity wasn’t going to be revealed?
Anyway, it was alright.
Meh.
I was nervous at first cause Megan kind of got on my nerves, but I started to like her. It was a quick read, but it’s not a book I say I really got into (except for the end cause I thought I’d find out who Zoey was... nope). Why add the mystery of Zoey if their identity wasn’t going to be revealed?
Anyway, it was alright.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 17, 2016
I loved this book - except the ending was incredibly abrupt and left me with more questions than answers. Very disappointing
April 15, 2017
Not AS good as the Leon Harris books, but still worthy.
However... this book totally makes me want to drive down Blood Road at midnight so I can catch a glimpse of the so-called Satanists that supposedly used to gather there. Or at least encounter the alleged Ghost Dog you can supposedly hear barking if you stop your vehicle by the swamp and roll down the windows. And naturally I'd go home via the route that takes me over the Crying Child Bridge.
However... this book totally makes me want to drive down Blood Road at midnight so I can catch a glimpse of the so-called Satanists that supposedly used to gather there. Or at least encounter the alleged Ghost Dog you can supposedly hear barking if you stop your vehicle by the swamp and roll down the windows. And naturally I'd go home via the route that takes me over the Crying Child Bridge.
September 24, 2016
I'm not sure what I think of this book. I started out really enjoying it. The main character is kind of a hoot, and I liked her a lot. I have my doubts about other characters. The mother was not really present. Her bosses, Cynthia and Rick, were interesting at first, and I continued to like Rick, but I'm less enthusiastic about Cynthia. SPOILERS from now forward. Cynthia performs mercy killings, and she ropes Megan into it. Megan is cool with it, and I have no issue with euthanasia, but it seemed like they were killing a lot of people out of the same nursing home and I would think at some point someone would get suspicious and see that Cynthia always signed out patients the night they died. Which would turn into a very different kind of book. And that bothered me. This book was trying to be realistic fiction, and that made it unrealistic.
At one point, Cynthia also became a subject of distrust. Even though it was later cleared up, I continued to distrust Cynthia and her motives and values. Did she kill the drunk guy? She said she didn't, but she's off killing everybody else like she has a tic about it, so who knows? And the way the very end was written was also odd. Cynthia is driving Megan somewhere and has to make a stop on the way. She doesn't say what the stop is, and then the book ends, and it made me wonder if Cynthia was off to do another hinky thing, possibly to Megan. Why did the stop have to be mentioned? Was there some inference there that I missed? Couldn't they just be on their way somewhere without bringing up this mysterious stop at all? It pulled me out of the flow of the book.
I'm also not a fan of cussing in books. I'm not a fan of it in real life. People are capable of expressing themselves without throwing around a lot of curse words. I just find it distasteful and unnecessary.
The competing ghost tours dilemma was handled well until one of the tour guides came up dead. Who killed him? We never really find out. Was it Cynthia? Was it his boss, as suggested? Or was it random? If it was his boss, why was he not brought in for questioning? If it was suicide, as was also suggested, why do it there? Why show no reason behind it?
Then the other ghost tour guy, the boss whose name I can't remember, started talking to Megan. Was he really trying to woo her to his company? Why? Did he kill someone to make it happen? The evidence was murky. Would he have killed her himself? I never understood why that was an actual thing being considered. So I didn't think that part was very well written at all. And as a murder mystery, it was introduced to the plot so late that it didn't have time to develop.
What was the phone call from Zoe at the end about? She asked for help. Why? Was she being murdered? By whom? For what reason? Why did her call end abruptly? Why did no one try to call her back to see why she needed help? Why did no one but me ask why she asked for help? It seemed like a pointless thing to insert into the plot. It didn't give closure to the Zoe situation, so why put it there?
Other than that, I really liked Megan. She was an interesting character with flaws and weirdness and inexperience and determination and comedy to her. I guess I would have rather seen her in a book about exploring her own thoughts, growth, and changes, or in a book that was a murder mystery, but not a book that tried to do one for a while, then hit on a hot topic, then switched gears, then became confusing.
Book description:
Megan Henske isn’t one to heed warnings…
When the last letters in her alphabet cereal are D, I, and E, she doesn’t crawl right back into bed.
When her online girlfriend won’t text a photo, she just sends more of herself.
And when she realizes that Cynthia, her boss at a Chicago ghost tour company, isn’t joking about making stops more haunted by euthanizing people there, she doesn’t quit her job—she may even help.
But soon she learns people in the murdermonger industry are being murdered, and doesn’t know who it is doing it. Could it be the head of the rival tour company? Or could it be someone near and dear to Megan?
After she realizes she has an uncanny resemblance to a flapper who disappeared in 1922, Megan receives a warning she can’t ignore: the next ghost on the tour might be her…
At one point, Cynthia also became a subject of distrust. Even though it was later cleared up, I continued to distrust Cynthia and her motives and values. Did she kill the drunk guy? She said she didn't, but she's off killing everybody else like she has a tic about it, so who knows? And the way the very end was written was also odd. Cynthia is driving Megan somewhere and has to make a stop on the way. She doesn't say what the stop is, and then the book ends, and it made me wonder if Cynthia was off to do another hinky thing, possibly to Megan. Why did the stop have to be mentioned? Was there some inference there that I missed? Couldn't they just be on their way somewhere without bringing up this mysterious stop at all? It pulled me out of the flow of the book.
I'm also not a fan of cussing in books. I'm not a fan of it in real life. People are capable of expressing themselves without throwing around a lot of curse words. I just find it distasteful and unnecessary.
The competing ghost tours dilemma was handled well until one of the tour guides came up dead. Who killed him? We never really find out. Was it Cynthia? Was it his boss, as suggested? Or was it random? If it was his boss, why was he not brought in for questioning? If it was suicide, as was also suggested, why do it there? Why show no reason behind it?
Then the other ghost tour guy, the boss whose name I can't remember, started talking to Megan. Was he really trying to woo her to his company? Why? Did he kill someone to make it happen? The evidence was murky. Would he have killed her himself? I never understood why that was an actual thing being considered. So I didn't think that part was very well written at all. And as a murder mystery, it was introduced to the plot so late that it didn't have time to develop.
What was the phone call from Zoe at the end about? She asked for help. Why? Was she being murdered? By whom? For what reason? Why did her call end abruptly? Why did no one try to call her back to see why she needed help? Why did no one but me ask why she asked for help? It seemed like a pointless thing to insert into the plot. It didn't give closure to the Zoe situation, so why put it there?
Other than that, I really liked Megan. She was an interesting character with flaws and weirdness and inexperience and determination and comedy to her. I guess I would have rather seen her in a book about exploring her own thoughts, growth, and changes, or in a book that was a murder mystery, but not a book that tried to do one for a while, then hit on a hot topic, then switched gears, then became confusing.
Book description:
Megan Henske isn’t one to heed warnings…
When the last letters in her alphabet cereal are D, I, and E, she doesn’t crawl right back into bed.
When her online girlfriend won’t text a photo, she just sends more of herself.
And when she realizes that Cynthia, her boss at a Chicago ghost tour company, isn’t joking about making stops more haunted by euthanizing people there, she doesn’t quit her job—she may even help.
But soon she learns people in the murdermonger industry are being murdered, and doesn’t know who it is doing it. Could it be the head of the rival tour company? Or could it be someone near and dear to Megan?
After she realizes she has an uncanny resemblance to a flapper who disappeared in 1922, Megan receives a warning she can’t ignore: the next ghost on the tour might be her…
December 18, 2016
"Let us deprive death of its strangeness, let us frequent it, let us get used to it . . . To practice death is to practice freedom."
-MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE
"Usually, when a man shoots a woman, he attempts his own life. When a woman shoots a man, she seems to think that's enough for one day."
- NELISE CHILD (LILLIAN COLLIER), CHICAGO MURDERS
______________________
Words can not describe how much this book spoke to me. I loved the subject matter so much that I started visiting local graveyards and found a mysterious ghost town near my house that has been all but forgotten. I might try some other works by the author in the future because I loved the way this was written.
Some of my many favorite passages:
The Red, Orange, and Brown Line trains have better views out the window, and the Green Line has more entertaining panhandlers, but the Blue Line is the weirdest. I have no idea why, but almost every time I ride it, the other passengers are a regular carnival of grotesques, ghouls, and freaks of nature.
_______
Panhandlers panhandle. A guy plays passable Jazz on a saxophone. Some drugged-up freak with a beard smacks his own ass like a prince whose villain put him under a "spank yourself" spell.
_______
I've learned that people putting up with your weirdness is important.
_______
. . . you have to be flippant about death. I mean, when you laugh at death, it loses a bit of its power over you.
_______
I take another bite of my dinner and feel like I've arrived in my element for the first time. Like my life is finally beginning.
_______
It was probably some girl who identified as a ghost. Maybe she only every wanted to be referred to in the past tense or something. I've seen people identify as stranger things online.
_______
The sandwiches are made with mayonnaise and look like they've been in the bag long enough to turn. But Rick tears into his, and Cyn looks at me expectantly, so I take a bite of mine and smile. It's terrible and possibly poison. But I don't want to hurt her feelings. I nibble the edge and put the rest in my purse when she isn't looking.
_______
"God, that was hell," says Cyn. "Pages in every nook and cranny, and that house had thousands of nooks and crannies."
"Nooks and crannies and psychotic grannies," Rick says. "Rust and must and cobwebs. Dust and bones and skeletons."
_______
Maybe that's what ghosts are. The reeks and fumes of your puddled brain, floating around in the environment.
_______
The line of registers beep and ding. The clang of the grocery carts sounds like the gurneys that carry bodies through my basement.
_______
"I wish I was a ghost," Ava says. "That way I could suck people's souls out of their ears."
"Oh, Ava!" says her mom, who obviously doesn't find this disturbing in the slightest.
_______
Even the ads with elves baking cookies next to the train line maps by the benches freak me out today. Those ads have been going on for decades, and the elves didn't look young when they started. They have to be dead by now. Or they would be, if they were real to start with.
_______
Every time she catches me looking, she smiles. Her teeth are perfect. I wish any part of me was as perfect as her teeth. I pretend not to notice when she brushes her shoulder against mine in the Alley of Death and Mutilation.
_______
I swear, the central core of some of the houses, near the train station, even look too old to be in the Chicago area. The oldest house in Chicago proper is from the 1830s, and nothing on the outskirts is that much older. The Magwitch Park houses look too old to be real. It's like we've driven through a time warp or a portal or something, and now we're in some whole other dimension, not the edges of Chicagoland.
-MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE
"Usually, when a man shoots a woman, he attempts his own life. When a woman shoots a man, she seems to think that's enough for one day."
- NELISE CHILD (LILLIAN COLLIER), CHICAGO MURDERS
______________________
Words can not describe how much this book spoke to me. I loved the subject matter so much that I started visiting local graveyards and found a mysterious ghost town near my house that has been all but forgotten. I might try some other works by the author in the future because I loved the way this was written.
Some of my many favorite passages:
The Red, Orange, and Brown Line trains have better views out the window, and the Green Line has more entertaining panhandlers, but the Blue Line is the weirdest. I have no idea why, but almost every time I ride it, the other passengers are a regular carnival of grotesques, ghouls, and freaks of nature.
_______
Panhandlers panhandle. A guy plays passable Jazz on a saxophone. Some drugged-up freak with a beard smacks his own ass like a prince whose villain put him under a "spank yourself" spell.
_______
I've learned that people putting up with your weirdness is important.
_______
. . . you have to be flippant about death. I mean, when you laugh at death, it loses a bit of its power over you.
_______
I take another bite of my dinner and feel like I've arrived in my element for the first time. Like my life is finally beginning.
_______
It was probably some girl who identified as a ghost. Maybe she only every wanted to be referred to in the past tense or something. I've seen people identify as stranger things online.
_______
The sandwiches are made with mayonnaise and look like they've been in the bag long enough to turn. But Rick tears into his, and Cyn looks at me expectantly, so I take a bite of mine and smile. It's terrible and possibly poison. But I don't want to hurt her feelings. I nibble the edge and put the rest in my purse when she isn't looking.
_______
"God, that was hell," says Cyn. "Pages in every nook and cranny, and that house had thousands of nooks and crannies."
"Nooks and crannies and psychotic grannies," Rick says. "Rust and must and cobwebs. Dust and bones and skeletons."
_______
Maybe that's what ghosts are. The reeks and fumes of your puddled brain, floating around in the environment.
_______
The line of registers beep and ding. The clang of the grocery carts sounds like the gurneys that carry bodies through my basement.
_______
"I wish I was a ghost," Ava says. "That way I could suck people's souls out of their ears."
"Oh, Ava!" says her mom, who obviously doesn't find this disturbing in the slightest.
_______
Even the ads with elves baking cookies next to the train line maps by the benches freak me out today. Those ads have been going on for decades, and the elves didn't look young when they started. They have to be dead by now. Or they would be, if they were real to start with.
_______
Every time she catches me looking, she smiles. Her teeth are perfect. I wish any part of me was as perfect as her teeth. I pretend not to notice when she brushes her shoulder against mine in the Alley of Death and Mutilation.
_______
I swear, the central core of some of the houses, near the train station, even look too old to be in the Chicago area. The oldest house in Chicago proper is from the 1830s, and nothing on the outskirts is that much older. The Magwitch Park houses look too old to be real. It's like we've driven through a time warp or a portal or something, and now we're in some whole other dimension, not the edges of Chicagoland.
January 11, 2017
Nope. This was not for me. The only reason it got 2 stars instead of 1 is because of the words and definitions used. Otherwise, the story didn't really flow, characters aren't fully developed, and the ending was pretty unsatisfying.
February 6, 2018
What a book! I wasn't sure what to expect with this title but I was not disappointed at all. The pacing was slow but not dead, just slow enough to make you think you can take a break before slapping you in the face with the smallest new information that suddenly peeks interest. The constant mention of says/said/asks/asked was quite annoying, but very much looked over due to the story. Megan, our main character, was completely shown. We got her anxiety and paranoia (which affected me more than necessary since I, too, share some of her traits,) and we got her sexual orientation (which wasn't the focus of who she was). Secondary characters were just as well-known as Megan, but from her point of view. We see how she learns to trust people, fear things and suspect others. No one goes without being part of Megan's progress. Even her invisible girlfriend has character!
The cliff-hanger of an ending! Am I the only one that got straight up anxiety when this book finished or is this what Adam wanted to happen to his readers. Because if it the latter...you are one sick man sir. This is the first book that I've read the author's note for - I am glad I did. I got to learn that these very elaborate and border-line realistic stories were as real as I felt they were. Good on you for actually finding real stories to teach readers while being highly entertained by this book.
Finally, I wish I could have met Mrs Gunderson before she died. I know she isn't real but she felt like she could have been. A lot of these characters did...I dare say all of them. If you're not into stories that don't take you all the way out of reality, sucks for you. This was damn well-written and has me looking around every now and then for strangers that want to 'ghost' me. And looking for a few ghosts myself.
The cliff-hanger of an ending! Am I the only one that got straight up anxiety when this book finished or is this what Adam wanted to happen to his readers. Because if it the latter...you are one sick man sir. This is the first book that I've read the author's note for - I am glad I did. I got to learn that these very elaborate and border-line realistic stories were as real as I felt they were. Good on you for actually finding real stories to teach readers while being highly entertained by this book.
Finally, I wish I could have met Mrs Gunderson before she died. I know she isn't real but she felt like she could have been. A lot of these characters did...I dare say all of them. If you're not into stories that don't take you all the way out of reality, sucks for you. This was damn well-written and has me looking around every now and then for strangers that want to 'ghost' me. And looking for a few ghosts myself.
May 29, 2017
A Funny Thing About Death
So what does an independent, slightly snarky, and bright 18 year old do when she doesn't necessarily want to join the family funeral business, but also doesn't want to continue bagging groceries at the local mart? Why, she takes a job with a local Ghost Tour company. And so begins "Just Kill Me", which is, in fact, a "dark comedy".
Actually, I'd emphasize the "comedy" part. The "dark" part comes from the ghosts, tales of serial killers and killers' victims, crypts, ectoplasm, and so on. Oh yes, and the actual murderer who's actually murdering actual people. But, this feels more like Scooby-Doo than Lovecraft, which is fine by me. Our heroine is sort of emo-Goth-lite, and I'm happy to just kill the summer with her.
Here's the real best part. There are lots of comic mysteries out there with implausible premises and antic characters. Lots of them are blecchh, mostly because the heroines aren't as funny or appealing as the author hopes and because the situations aren't as riotous as intended. Well here the author follows something of a less-is-more strategy. Our heroine is funny, but in the way a normal witty, smart, interesting teen would be funny. Here ghost tour pals are just as smart and quick-witted, but in the same appealing way your favorite friends are smart and quick-witted, after a few beers. Secondary characters are more quirky, as they should be, and more colorful.
The upshot is that this is clever, entertaining and goofily upbeat. It's well written and fast paced, (which you sort of need to get over the bumps and holes in the plot). There are some nice set scenes, some very interesting stuff about Chicago's ghost history, and amusing twists and turns. It isn't really dark, and it isn't hysterically funny. But it manages to deliver what it promised, and that counts for a lot.
(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
So what does an independent, slightly snarky, and bright 18 year old do when she doesn't necessarily want to join the family funeral business, but also doesn't want to continue bagging groceries at the local mart? Why, she takes a job with a local Ghost Tour company. And so begins "Just Kill Me", which is, in fact, a "dark comedy".
Actually, I'd emphasize the "comedy" part. The "dark" part comes from the ghosts, tales of serial killers and killers' victims, crypts, ectoplasm, and so on. Oh yes, and the actual murderer who's actually murdering actual people. But, this feels more like Scooby-Doo than Lovecraft, which is fine by me. Our heroine is sort of emo-Goth-lite, and I'm happy to just kill the summer with her.
Here's the real best part. There are lots of comic mysteries out there with implausible premises and antic characters. Lots of them are blecchh, mostly because the heroines aren't as funny or appealing as the author hopes and because the situations aren't as riotous as intended. Well here the author follows something of a less-is-more strategy. Our heroine is funny, but in the way a normal witty, smart, interesting teen would be funny. Here ghost tour pals are just as smart and quick-witted, but in the same appealing way your favorite friends are smart and quick-witted, after a few beers. Secondary characters are more quirky, as they should be, and more colorful.
The upshot is that this is clever, entertaining and goofily upbeat. It's well written and fast paced, (which you sort of need to get over the bumps and holes in the plot). There are some nice set scenes, some very interesting stuff about Chicago's ghost history, and amusing twists and turns. It isn't really dark, and it isn't hysterically funny. But it manages to deliver what it promised, and that counts for a lot.
(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
October 27, 2021
The book got me semi-hooked then things got accelerated at about the last quarter of the book. Altogether, the story leads to an unsatisfactory ending.
Some questions left answered : Who the hell is zoey ? Is she an internet creep ? A young girl ? What was the point of including this character if she is constantly left unexplained ? Also what was the whole “Megan.. help me” call on the radio station at the very end about? Is it a prank call? Or the actual zoey ? It seems every time we are getting close to figuring out who zoey is, we are left just hanging there. The identity of zoey keeps getting suspended. If the point is for us to not know who zoey is, then i dont understand the point.
The consistency of rick being there along the story, then his sudden disappearance from the storyline seems … unsettling in a way. He was gone from the story for quite a while as if he just pops off the book, then got pop in like the very last chapter.
I do like the dark humor that is at play throughout the book, although this diminished towards the end of the book. The humor fades away just as rick fades away. Unlike rick, the humor did not pop back in. It’s a shame since the main thing i like about megan is her light dark humor.
The story is definitely unique. Never read a book centering around ghost tours before.
Conclusion : Decent book. Might read again in a few years idk. The ending is a let-down.
Some questions left answered : Who the hell is zoey ? Is she an internet creep ? A young girl ? What was the point of including this character if she is constantly left unexplained ? Also what was the whole “Megan.. help me” call on the radio station at the very end about? Is it a prank call? Or the actual zoey ? It seems every time we are getting close to figuring out who zoey is, we are left just hanging there. The identity of zoey keeps getting suspended. If the point is for us to not know who zoey is, then i dont understand the point.
The consistency of rick being there along the story, then his sudden disappearance from the storyline seems … unsettling in a way. He was gone from the story for quite a while as if he just pops off the book, then got pop in like the very last chapter.
I do like the dark humor that is at play throughout the book, although this diminished towards the end of the book. The humor fades away just as rick fades away. Unlike rick, the humor did not pop back in. It’s a shame since the main thing i like about megan is her light dark humor.
The story is definitely unique. Never read a book centering around ghost tours before.
Conclusion : Decent book. Might read again in a few years idk. The ending is a let-down.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 31, 2019
Just Kill Me can’t decide if it wants to be horror, comedy, or mystery, so it just melds them all together as the book’s own unique style. This both helps and harms the book. It makes it appealing to a wider range of readers while simultaneously not giving enough attention to any one of these genres to really refine the product.
I have a few issues with the book that I noticed somewhat detracted from my experience reading it. Many of the jokes in the book take the same specific form, and it gets tiring quickly. Even worse, at some points when the main character is very stressed, she uses jokes of this same type to calm herself down. While this may be a realistic scenario, the jokes often end up ruining the suspense of the situation, and still usually aren’t very funny. My only other major issue was that the ending was underwhelming and felt rushed or crammed into the last few pages. It should be noted that there are other jokes in the book as well, including at least one that made laugh so hard that I had to put down the book for a full minute to recollect myself.
Overall, Just Kill Me is a flawed but good book. I would give it a 6.5/10, which translates to about 3 stars, but don’t be fooled by the seemingly low rating -- I would recommend this book to almost anyone due to the general quality and wide range of themes.
I have a few issues with the book that I noticed somewhat detracted from my experience reading it. Many of the jokes in the book take the same specific form, and it gets tiring quickly. Even worse, at some points when the main character is very stressed, she uses jokes of this same type to calm herself down. While this may be a realistic scenario, the jokes often end up ruining the suspense of the situation, and still usually aren’t very funny. My only other major issue was that the ending was underwhelming and felt rushed or crammed into the last few pages. It should be noted that there are other jokes in the book as well, including at least one that made laugh so hard that I had to put down the book for a full minute to recollect myself.
Overall, Just Kill Me is a flawed but good book. I would give it a 6.5/10, which translates to about 3 stars, but don’t be fooled by the seemingly low rating -- I would recommend this book to almost anyone due to the general quality and wide range of themes.
Read
March 5, 2020I loved the premise, loved the beginning, loved the goth vibes. Loved the Chicago history. Loved the bi characters. Loved the tone, at least for the most part. I’m a big fan of dark comedy as a genre, and usually my big complaint with dark comedy books is that they don’t go far enough. That’s my big problem with this book. It’s like, it wants to be a super dark comedy, but it gets too wrapped up in worrying that it’ll get too dark to be funny and then it’s not really dark or funny at all. The pacing was not quite right for the book I wanted it to be — way too much time setting up Megan’s job on the tour before the literal death is introduced, and the bad omens don’t come into play soon enough (plus there aren’t enough of them) for them to be effective as a source of the comedy. Also she doesn’t ignore things enough, and that made it hard to lean into the darkness in the first place.
I didn’t mind the inconclusive ending at all. I actually really like the idea of it. It’s just that it needed more set up to work in the way that it was intended to work. The Zoey plot was wrapped up too quickly so it felt like the character just kinda... forgot? Again, this is a pacing issue. And, I guess, explaining more would have offered a chance to make that a darker (and funnier) plotline.... Fix the pacing and lean into the darkness more, and this would be a top-tier book.
I didn’t mind the inconclusive ending at all. I actually really like the idea of it. It’s just that it needed more set up to work in the way that it was intended to work. The Zoey plot was wrapped up too quickly so it felt like the character just kinda... forgot? Again, this is a pacing issue. And, I guess, explaining more would have offered a chance to make that a darker (and funnier) plotline.... Fix the pacing and lean into the darkness more, and this would be a top-tier book.
March 31, 2021
i’m not sitting here saying this is the best book ever but i’m standing by the fact that this is a fun, quirky story that’s really weird and relatable at the same time.
i love Megan as a protagonist. i see myself in a lot of her specifically her fear that other people will find her weird. she hangs on to the one person who accepts even though she actively realizes that it’s probably not a good idea. she’s also kinda morally gray (especially towards the end) and has very questionable character development but i think she’s realistic and i love her.
(also i love how a running theme is megan loving when villains win over heros and i mean there’s definitely an argument for megan being a villain or inheritantly bad character who has a positive ending)
i love the dialogue and the banter and the relationships between the 3 main characters. i love the positive single mother/daughter relationship (and the small details like how her mom is called “mother dearest” in her phone)
i love the ghosts and the mystery and the weirdness that is packed into this story. it was so much fun and although i had some small complaints, this was such a successful reread that it may have just taken me out of my reading slump
please read this if you like ghosts, murders or realistic teenage protagonist
~ella
i love Megan as a protagonist. i see myself in a lot of her specifically her fear that other people will find her weird. she hangs on to the one person who accepts even though she actively realizes that it’s probably not a good idea. she’s also kinda morally gray (especially towards the end) and has very questionable character development but i think she’s realistic and i love her.
(also i love how a running theme is megan loving when villains win over heros and i mean there’s definitely an argument for megan being a villain or inheritantly bad character who has a positive ending)
i love the dialogue and the banter and the relationships between the 3 main characters. i love the positive single mother/daughter relationship (and the small details like how her mom is called “mother dearest” in her phone)
i love the ghosts and the mystery and the weirdness that is packed into this story. it was so much fun and although i had some small complaints, this was such a successful reread that it may have just taken me out of my reading slump
please read this if you like ghosts, murders or realistic teenage protagonist
~ella
January 4, 2018
this is one of the best ghost books i've read in a while, and ghosts weren't even a big thing in it. it was more of the concept of ghosts. the idea of them? anyways it was great.
megan was a fantastic character - a bi 18 year old with an online girlfriend she's never seen and a love for writing weird disney/star wars cross over fanfiction that she posts from an anyonymous computer away from her house because she's so paranoid about it getting traced back to her. i loved it. the fact that she isn't concerned when her boss/friend cyn decides they should "ghost" (kill) older people from the old folks home she works at? i've never really read a character like this before but she was incredibly enjoyable to read.
and the fact that lillian collier, the woman from the 1920s that megan becomes fascinated with researching, was a real person? that's amazing! i was so excited when i learned that. it added so much to the story.
this is definitely a good read for anyone who is more interested in ghost hunting than ghosts, but i'd recommend it to pretty much everyone.
megan was a fantastic character - a bi 18 year old with an online girlfriend she's never seen and a love for writing weird disney/star wars cross over fanfiction that she posts from an anyonymous computer away from her house because she's so paranoid about it getting traced back to her. i loved it. the fact that she isn't concerned when her boss/friend cyn decides they should "ghost" (kill) older people from the old folks home she works at? i've never really read a character like this before but she was incredibly enjoyable to read.
and the fact that lillian collier, the woman from the 1920s that megan becomes fascinated with researching, was a real person? that's amazing! i was so excited when i learned that. it added so much to the story.
this is definitely a good read for anyone who is more interested in ghost hunting than ghosts, but i'd recommend it to pretty much everyone.
March 12, 2022
This is a good dark humor comedy. The book starts out with your protagonist Megan, 18 yr who believes in villain supremacy and loves writing fanfiction on it. She is reuniting with her old babysitter/childhood friend Cyn. Part of the reason for reconnecting is because Cyn is offering Megan a job on a ghost tour bus in their city of Chicago. Throughout the book, you are hit with lots of history and ghost stories with a bunch of banter between characters which I really enjoyed. I also love how the main concept is executed. The book however at its second half starts pulling plot twists with multiple storylines. While I like the direction it took the book does sort of compress everything and undeveloped some ideas. I wish the author had more pages to develop these ideas more. Overall though, I did enjoy the book! Recommended for anyone who likes ghost stories and jokes about them.
7/10 Murdermongers (Read to find out what that means)
7/10 Murdermongers (Read to find out what that means)
July 5, 2017
JUST KILL ME is a book that will appeal to the Goth and death obsessed readers out there. The book’s main focus is death or to be more specific, murderer. The plot started getting very creepy about halfway through the book. It switched from funny murder joking to hardcore death obsession. Don’t let the cover trick you into thinking this is a “sweet” book about death. The twist in the book will be just what the young adult readers will enjoy.
This book would be a great pre-unit read for historical research.
My favorite part of this book was the vocabulary and the ghost tales. Megan was alway researching new words from the Oxford English Dictionary. I love the way Adam Selzer worked this idea and her new words into the story. I also loved the historical accuracy in the ghost tales told in the book.
This book would be a great pre-unit read for historical research.
My favorite part of this book was the vocabulary and the ghost tales. Megan was alway researching new words from the Oxford English Dictionary. I love the way Adam Selzer worked this idea and her new words into the story. I also loved the historical accuracy in the ghost tales told in the book.
February 7, 2021
I rate it 3 stars.
P.S: This review does include some vague/minor spoilers, so read at your own risk.
There were some parts that dragged on a little bit too much for me, as well as some chapters in the beginning that felt a little too long. Also, the whole "weird fan fiction" thing to me seemed a bit forced and like a "I'm not like other girls!" quirk. The author never shows some excerpts of the fan fictions and only tells us it's some weird and freaky smut.
However, I did like the twists and the characters had pretty natural relationships/friendships with each other. I'm really glad the author didn't include any real cringy or stereotypical 'teenage' dialogue. For the most parts it was realistic, except for some moments.
Overall, I enjoyed it and would recommend to others who like darker humor.
P.S: This review does include some vague/minor spoilers, so read at your own risk.
There were some parts that dragged on a little bit too much for me, as well as some chapters in the beginning that felt a little too long. Also, the whole "weird fan fiction" thing to me seemed a bit forced and like a "I'm not like other girls!" quirk. The author never shows some excerpts of the fan fictions and only tells us it's some weird and freaky smut.
However, I did like the twists and the characters had pretty natural relationships/friendships with each other. I'm really glad the author didn't include any real cringy or stereotypical 'teenage' dialogue. For the most parts it was realistic, except for some moments.
Overall, I enjoyed it and would recommend to others who like darker humor.
June 12, 2017
I read this as part of a grad school assignment where I had to pick a book from the GLBTG list. I'm not a big fan of "life lesson/moral" stories so I chose this one (I'm always a fan of ghost stories). This book was really good and entertaining. The writing is good and it held my interest. There's mystery in the book and humor. The relationship between Megan and Zoey is natural and doesn't seem overdone for entertainment or shock value.
The ending drove me nuts though! It is unresolved and while I know it was on purpose, it's maddening to not know what happened! I don't know if Adam plans to write a sequel or not (I think it could go either way).
I'd recommend this book, it's a great, easy read!
The ending drove me nuts though! It is unresolved and while I know it was on purpose, it's maddening to not know what happened! I don't know if Adam plans to write a sequel or not (I think it could go either way).
I'd recommend this book, it's a great, easy read!
August 11, 2017
I initially liked the premise and the main character. A bi girl who grew up in a funeral home and has a girlfriend will forever bring Fun Home to mind. (Or Wednesday Addams, who I always loved). This is a story about some queer kids but it isn't ABOUT being queer. It's not a coming out story, and it's not a romance. It's a book where the weird kids get together and you can imagine yourself as a part of their circle. The Chicago history was interesting too. Early on I enjoyed the book as a fluffy summer read, but it lost me somewhere along the way. It didn't quite live up to its potential.
March 24, 2018
Very interesting plot. I enjoyed Selzer's way of telling the story and the characters that he creates. It's easy to get attached to them and still be on their side even if they're clearly doing something wrong or immoral. Another one of the few books I read in one sitting because once I started it I just wanted to keep reading. My only complaint is the ending. While I'm pretty sure I know what he was hinting at it's really left up to the reader to decide what happened. It felt as though the story stopped very abruptly. However, it was a great book overall. I particularly like that he used real cases and articles.
June 10, 2023
Megan is a bit of a goth that lives above a funeral home. Her ex-babysitter hires her as a tour guide in her ghost/history tour business in Chicago, and things are all fun and games until they decide to start bumping people off to have more ghost sightings on their tours. Now, Megan isn't sure who she can trust.
This booked is peppered with real bits of Chicago with detailed info about the type of research used. The bad part is that some of it gets tedious, and there is a running gag about looking up outdated slang that gets extremely overused. There are a few other jokes that get beat over the head. That could have used an editor to real some things in.
This booked is peppered with real bits of Chicago with detailed info about the type of research used. The bad part is that some of it gets tedious, and there is a running gag about looking up outdated slang that gets extremely overused. There are a few other jokes that get beat over the head. That could have used an editor to real some things in.
October 11, 2017
2.5 Stars ***
If you would like to see all my thoughts on this book, be sure to check out the review on my blog:
www.abooktropolis01.blogspot.co.za
But here is a snippet and overview of what I thought:
Overall, I think this book is a huge hit and miss for me. It could be that I had hyped this book up way too much. At the end of the day, I didn't really enjoy this book. I struggled to get into the writing and the plot was slow and boring. Nothing happened until the last one hundred pages. I constantly dreaded picking up this book. I was hoping for so much more. Thank you so much to Jonathan Ball Publishers for providing me with a copy of this book!
If you would like to see all my thoughts on this book, be sure to check out the review on my blog:
www.abooktropolis01.blogspot.co.za
But here is a snippet and overview of what I thought:
Overall, I think this book is a huge hit and miss for me. It could be that I had hyped this book up way too much. At the end of the day, I didn't really enjoy this book. I struggled to get into the writing and the plot was slow and boring. Nothing happened until the last one hundred pages. I constantly dreaded picking up this book. I was hoping for so much more. Thank you so much to Jonathan Ball Publishers for providing me with a copy of this book!
May 11, 2017
I picked this up at the library based on the cover. It ended up being a quick, enjoyable read. As someone who actually did live in a funeral home for part of my life, I found parts of it to be outside the realm of what would actually happen, but it didn't bother me too much. I'm not sure I would recommend it to others, but I enjoyed reading it.
July 11, 2017
Obviously, I'm not the intended audience for this book, but we got it into the library and the premise sounded good, so I dug in. This book was all over the place. While there were fun facts about the history of ghosts and murders in Chicago, and the author had obviously done a lot of research, it just fell flat for me.
November 23, 2016
It was kinda fun & there were queer characters, but...the whole Zoey thing was never actually explained? & holy shit, they were literally killing chronically ill old people?!?!? (& there was no guilt about it?!?!?!? Wtf?!?!?!? What sort of ableist bullshit is this?!?!?)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 14, 2017
I literally read this in two days. What a fun and yet informative read! I'd recommend this to anyone with a twisted sense of humor and an interest in the macabre or atrocious, awful, dreadful, frightful, ghastly, grisly.
August 7, 2017
OMG this was such a wonderfully morbid book! I loved it! Keeping you on your feet and second guessing the whole time. A must read for anyone who has a dark sense of humor!
Warning : the ending is NOT an ending :(
Warning : the ending is NOT an ending :(
January 31, 2019
This was a fun book. Dark. But fun. I loved a lot of the Goth references. I only gave it three stars because I felt the ending felt a bit rushed and a little forced. Like the author ran out of time to finish it or was just hurrying to get it done. But mostly a very enjoyable and spooky read!
June 21, 2019
Ooooh! This book was really fun and entertaining to read, though the first few chaps were boring the middle really got me! I liked the events and the conflicts, and for the very best I think the ending gave me spooks! I really liked this book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews