BookBrowse Reviews The Stone Girl by Dirk Wittenborn

BookBrowse:

The Stone Girl is a fast-moving, topical thriller that offers readers a satisfying escape.

The Stone Girl by Dirk Wittenborn was a hit with our First Impressions reviewers, with 19 out of 21 rating it a 4 or a 5. Wittenborn is a screenwriter and the author of several previous novels, including Pharmakon.

What the book is about:

Evie Quimby and her adoptive parents Flo and Buddy live in a log cabin in the Adirondacks. Evie and Buddy are outdoors people and this seems a wonderful place for her to grow up, however, the author has other ideas (Amy E). From a terrible rape that goes unreported comes a tale of intrigue, murder, revenge and justice. The list of characters is long but the main women are Flo, Evie, Lulu and Chloé (Susan B). Dirk Wittenborn has created four incredibly strong, incredibly different female characters who join forces to expose one man and his horrible behavior, but end up discovering a network of men protected by money, class and one another (Amy S).

Readers appreciated the multitude of themes addressed in The Stone Girl, both age-old and recent.

The Stone Girl intrigued me from the first page. It is the story of abuse, misogyny, the cruelties of humans... It is also a tale of survival, fortitude, friendship, family, resilience, generosity, determination and the fact that decisions often fall within those gray areas where there is no true delineation of black and white or right and wrong (Vivian H). It's coming of age, rich man vs. poor man and current with today's "me too" movement (Colleen L). This story is about love, friendship, revenge, justice, fear, power—all the makings of a great read (Karen S).

Some reviewers pointed out that the book isn't particularly realistic or nuanced, though many enjoyed it despite or because of this...

There seemed to be several stories in one larger overall story and the plot seemed very unrealistic, especially the many escapes of Evie from innumerable life-threatening situations. This is one book that might be better as a movie. I did like the last few chapters but most of the novel seemed like a soap opera on steroids (Dorothy L)! The characters are all extremes, which make them interesting. Some are flawed and decent, and some are flawed and bad. Not much subtlety, but lots of fun to read. I want more like this (Molly B)!

...while others remarked that the story's strength lies in its fast pace and visual details.

When I read the book Jurassic Park, all I could think of was how great a movie the book would make. I feel exactly the same way with Stone Girl. It would make a suspenseful movie as it has many interesting aspects. The action is very fast-paced and the characters are well-developed. The action in the forest made me think of Deliverance. I would dearly love to see this movie (Colleen L)! Dirk Wittenborn really knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat! The cast of characters are so well-described, each location lends to the action and I could visualize that action (Ruth H).

Overall, readers found Wittenborn's novel to be a great escape.

From a personal standpoint, I loved this book. It was a perfect dose of escapism and exactly the kind of fast-moving, not-terribly-deep novel I needed right now (Kim K). I looked forward to picking up the book to read both morning and night (Pamela W). I enjoyed this book, and it would have been a great read even if I did not need a good distraction during a long period of self-quarantining! I would definitely recommend this to people who like a good mystery, and perhaps need a good beach read. I had the luxury of being able to stay up late reading to complete it rather quickly, which I did (Karen S).

This review was originally published in The BookBrowse Review in June 2020, and has been updated for the August 2021 edition. Click here to go to this issue.