Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Book Review: Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock


Set in a world of the near future, the celebrity elite have access to a technology that allows them to make perfect copies of themselves, known as Portraits. These Portraits exist to fulfil all the various duties that come as the price of fame.

Our protagonist is the thirteenth copy made of the actress known as Lulabelle Rock. Her purpose is very simple: to track down and eliminate her predecessors. While initially easy, her task is made difficult by the labyrinthine confusion of Bubble City and the unfortunate stirrings of a developing conscience. When she makes the mistake of falling in love with one of her targets, the would-be assassin faces the ultimate question; when you don’t want to kill yourself, what’s the alternative?

Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock, the debut novel by Maud Woolf, will be released on January 9, 2024. Angry Robot Books provided an early galley for review.

I do enjoy an interesting premise for a sci-fi novel, and this one certainly has that. The concept is an interesting one to be sure. Having a copy of you to go to work or to do the stuff around the house or run your tedious errands is an appealing idea indeed. I also instantly jumped on to the references to the major arcana of tarot right on page one and was curious how they would play out within the story itself.

Naturally, "Thirteen" learns a lot about the woman upon whom she is based as she goes through her mission. From each of the other Portraits (clones), we, along with her, discover the different aspects of Lulabelle's life that they for which have been made responsible. The story gets much more complex as the days pass and "Thirteen" realizes that everything is not as straightforward as it would first appear. The reader might be able to piece together the ending before she does, but there are a few twists that will keep folks guessing.

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