Friday, August 2, 2013

The Wicked Girls



Alex Marwood



Eleven year-old Jade and Bel met for the first time one summer day, a day that began innocently enough, but that ended in calamity: six-year old Chloe is found dead and Jade and Bel are charged with her murder. This story follows the lives of these two girls, who will never be able to fully erase the events of that day and whose destinies are forever intertwined because of it.

Both women have tried to forget the horrific circumstances of their childhoods—Chloe’s death and the juvenile detention, isolation, and series of hard-knocks that followed it. Twenty-five years later, Jade and Bel have become Kirsty Lindsay and Amber Gordon, their true identities kept secret from their friends, families, and loved ones. Kirsty works as a journalist with two children and a loving husband. Bel, recently promoted at the amusement park in the seaside town of Whitmouth where she works, owns a house and lives with her long-term boyfriend. Neither has set eyes on the other since that fateful summer day.

But when a series of deadly attacks on women shakes the town of Whitmouth, Kirsty is sent there on assignment to cover the investigation. Amber and Kirsty, both entrenched in the growing turmoil, are forced to confront each other once again and to face the past that they have struggled so hard to hide.

As the Whitmouth murders escalate, Amber and Kirsty’s lives are threatened in ways neither could have foreseen, endangering the sense of normalcy that they have desperately struggled to maintain since changing their identities. As circumstances draw Amber and Kirsty closer and closer together, the two women are forced to make an incomprehensible decision that will cement their fates together forever.(from Netgalley)



My Thoughts

We first meet Kirsty (formerly Jade) and Amber (formerly Bel) when they are adults. We find out early that something “wicked” happened when they were young girls. The details of what happened unfold slowly and we don’t get the specifics until close to the end. As adults, the women were ordered to never, ever see each other, so when their worlds collide, all hell breaks loose.

This was very good. I thought the author did a great job of building suspense until I was reading faster and faster to see how it would all end. I also thought it was interesting how she incorporated into the story how the media can take a topic and spin it to get the most sensationalism. How often do we see this happen in real life? Too often as far as I’m concerned.

Does this end happily for everyone? Hmmmmm, I think you should read this to find out.

Many thanks to PENGUIN GROUP, via Netgalley, for allowing me to read this in exchange for an unbiased review.

Publish date: July 30, 2013

No comments:

Post a Comment