This is a wonderful suspense novel. It's what I call a "twisty tale," a thriller with a wonderful twist at the end that you never see coming.
I think this book will appeal to fans of Gone Girl and Girl on the Train who would enjoy a twisty tale without the marriage element.
I'd been interested in reading this novel for some time, ever since I'd read Stephen King's enthusiastic assessment in one of his end-of-the-year "best of" columns he writes for Entertainment Weekly. What struck me was that he is a very skilled writer, and he obviously believed that Alex Marwood is one, too. His admiration filled me with curiosity. I couldn't help thinking, with this recommendation, this book must be great.
What I see here is a wonderfully suspenseful novel, written in a very colloquial, accessible manner, with lots of real-life details that gives it a great sense of reality and immediacy, as well as finely drawn characters.
This is a hard novel to summarize, because the plot is intricate. Kirsty Lindsay is a stringer, a freelance journalist. Two murders have occurred in Whitmouth, a seaside resort town. When a third murder occurs, Kirsty is sent to cover the murders. The police aren't releasing much information; in her desperation to find something to write about that isn't already on the AP wire, she bribes her way into the scene of the third murder, the hall of mirrors in an amusement park. In the event, she isn't actually able to get inside, but she encounters someone shocking: someone whom she hasn't seen since she was a child, and who will change her life forever.
This is a hard novel to summarize, because the plot is intricate. Kirsty Lindsay is a stringer, a freelance journalist. Two murders have occurred in Whitmouth, a seaside resort town. When a third murder occurs, Kirsty is sent to cover the murders. The police aren't releasing much information; in her desperation to find something to write about that isn't already on the AP wire, she bribes her way into the scene of the third murder, the hall of mirrors in an amusement park. In the event, she isn't actually able to get inside, but she encounters someone shocking: someone whom she hasn't seen since she was a child, and who will change her life forever.
I think this book will appeal to fans of Gone Girl and Girl on the Train who would enjoy a twisty tale without the marriage element.
My Penguin paperback has admiring blurbs by other thriller writers on the front, the back, and in the first two pages. My favorite quote was from Elizabeth Haynes. She wrote: "I loved it. I thought it was a brilliant exploration of the sins of the past colliding with the mistakes of the present; really well-written, multi-faceted characters, who behave in ways you wouldn't expect them to: in other words, like real people."
I really felt that in addition to being well-crafted, this book was thoughtful. India Knight called it "haunting," and that's how I feel. I found myself feeling really engaged with this story, as if it were happening down the street.
Alex Marwood is the pseudonym of journalist living in London, Serena Mackesy. The Wicked Girls came out in 2012 and won the Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original in 2014; she has since published two other books, The Killer Next Door and The Darkest Secret.
Alex Marwood is the pseudonym of journalist living in London, Serena Mackesy. The Wicked Girls came out in 2012 and won the Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original in 2014; she has since published two other books, The Killer Next Door and The Darkest Secret.
