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Liz B. (McKinney, TX)
A Promising Debut
I enjoyed this whodunit surrounding a decade-old murder that has resurfaced among college friends. I especially appreciated the constant appearance of the title character, who provided a silent but effective addition to the novel. While the ending was not completely satisfying, I enjoyed the tangled relationships, deceptions, and ultimate realizations of what happened that fateful evening 10 years ago. I would recommend this book to book clubs and mystery lovers. A quick read.
Eileen F. (Drexel Hill, PA)
Ghostly secrets
A page turner with a ghost lurking around for one member of group of friends who were part of a missing person story when they were young. The story moved quickly and kept you guessing. Everyone had something to lose but only one person knew the truth. True friends came forward in this riveting story.
Irene O. (Laguna Beach, CA)
The author will improve
I was disappointed in this book for many reasons. The plot felt contrived as if the author tried every trick ever used in all mysteries put together. There were way to many of them. Then there were the characters, not that the reader has to like them but it's important to feel a connection with them, something I never felt. And the ending was a let down. Kind of a what just happened? I hate to be so negative, I could never write a book that was even readable and there were some readable and interesting parts among the evident flaws. I see the author as having great potential, she was just trying too hard her first time around.
JW Davis, CA
Tight editing may help
I'll probably be in the minority with my opinion of this book but, Oh well.
The letter from the publishing group, that came with the book, made it sound like it would be an in-depth study of six friends and a week of debauchery that took place 10 years prior. The six friends played a roll but most on a superficial level. Only three, maybe four, had any real part in this story. The premise of the story was intriguing. The characters could have been interesting. Perhaps after the final editing, this will be a better book.
At present it is just a poorly wrought story of jealousy and angst among spoiled, callow
…more millennials.
There was little to like about the characters and their development left much to be desired. After describing someone as having brown eyes in three different ways on the same page, this reader no longer cared if the eyes were brown or pink. Pink would have been more interesting. Bankers and lawyers - what kind of empathy can be found for that group?
Sorry, just didn't care for this book. I'm sure it will have fans but I am not one of them. (less)A ghostly self-possessed companion, a decade dead, keeps appearing in our narrator' s life with the femme-fatale-like name of Severine. Her death will sever the relationships of our Oxford University group of 1990's graspers. Reminiscent of Donna Tartt's 1992 "The Secret History", Gillian Flynn's "Gone Girl, and other spirited page turners, "The French Girl" by Lexie Elliott has a welcomed morality-driven protagonist, who though somewhat irritating, understands the meaning of friendship and ultimately will be liberated by it. The drama of relationships and the beginnings of making one's way in the world should
…more interest thirty to forty-year-olds, who enjoy exploring the motivational underpinnings and the "get ahead " strategies of the striving. I particularly enjoyed the minor characters: the French detective, Paul, Alina, and Gordon. Class divides, shattered psyches, and differences in the British and the French legal systems share pages with "poison-whisperers" and a corporate father figure. This novel is a fun read that ends in love. (less)I waned to love this book. I enjoy mysteries and whodunnits, and I like to read stories about long-term friendships and their changes over time.
The plot line is excellent, but its path meanders with too many frivolous conversations, over wrought writing ("almost fiercely", p.74), and dull characters. The only really interesting character is the young woman who is dead.
Kate, the protagonist in this adventure, did not draw me in, nor did any of the college chums.
Still, my wish for this writer is that she continue to write stories with well developed plots and stronger players. I believe there are possibilities.
Peggy K. (San Diego, CA)
Secrets
Kate Channing has made a lot of her life in the past 10 years. The week in France with friends that ended with the break up of a relationship still stings but barely. She has almost forgotten the French girl who disrupted it all.
Then the girl's body is found and remaining friends come together and Kate is haunted by the past and her imperfect memories.
Nicely written novel that grows from a mystery to dangers that Kate could never have imagined. She looks closer at each friend and begins to wonder what really happened 10 years ago. What does she really know about each of them and their deepest secrets? For that
…more fact what does she really know about her own?
Readers will come to the end of this story wondering about these characters and then perhaps relating to their own friends in the same way. Do we ever really know someone and how far they might go to protect their own secrets?
Good discussion panel here to delve into the idea of what friendship means and how much you really should or need to know. Good reading for ages 16 and up. (less)This was a fairly decent book. I can't say that it overwhelmed me, but it certainly wasn't underwhelming either. It was thrilling and had some very good twists in it. I would definitely read another book from this author.I would recommend this to readers who have enjoyed books by Paula Hawkins or Gillian Flynn.
