Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock (SF)

Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock (SF) - Maud Woolf ****

In the old days books were described as 'X meets Y', while more recently it's the fans who get the mention - in this case 'perfect for fans of Orphan Black, Killing Eve and Keeping it Real' though we also get in the title tag 'Blade Runner meets Barbie'. There's an element of truth in most of these, but Maud Woolf has nonetheless pulled off an entertaining and different novel.

Lulabelle Rock is a film star who over the years has accumulated 12 Portraits - these are not human (so not clones as they are described in the blurb), but are replicas, pretty well only distinguishable by not having palm prints or the usual stuff inside their body. The idea is that the Portraits can be used to do boring tasks that Lulabelle can't be bothered with, from social media to guest appearances. But for whatever reason she has create a thirteenth Portrait, the first person narrator of the book, who is given the task of decommissioning all the rest. (If a human did it, they would be sued, but a Portrait can do so without legal comeback).

That being the case there is an element of Blade Runner, and though they're not clones I'd also reference the brilliant Orphan Black for all the different versions of the character. However, Killing Eve is entirely the wrong parallel - the central character here is no psychopath. Woolf does a great job of making the thirteenth Lulabelle relatable in a naive way as she learns about the reality of her non-life and struggles through the role of destroying the others.

A rather neat additional framing is that early on the central character gives a lift to someone who gives her a pack of Tarot cards, and we get each version of Lulabelle framed in terms of one of the cards of the Major Arcana, with 'our' Lulabelle inevitably being the Death card. After the first couple of killings I was wondering if it could become a little samey, but as things spiral away from the initial plan, it's a genuine page turner.

As often is the case with a book like this, the ending isn't perfect, though it does come with a nice twist. There is one aspect that could have done with a bit more thought, though - the Portraits, we discover, neither need to eat nor breathe. And the certainly don't plug in. So how do they get their energy? This doesn't spoil the enjoyment, though, and despite those 'X meets Y' speculations it's an original and engaging piece of writing.

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