REVIEW: The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood
On a fateful summer morning in 1986, two 11-year-old girls meet for the first time. By the end of the day, they will both be charged with murder. Twenty-five years later, journalist Kirsty Lindsay is reporting on a series of sickening attacks on young female tourists in a seaside vacation town when her investigation leads her to interview carnival cleaner Amber Gordon.
For Kirsty and Amber, it's the first time they've seen each other since that dark day so many years ago. Now with new, vastly different lives - and unknowing families to protect - will they really be able to keep their wicked secret hidden? Gripping and fast-paced, with an ending that will stay with you long after you've listened to it, The Wicked Girls will appeal to fans of the Academy Award–nominated film Heavenly Creatures and the novels of Rosamund Lupton and Chevy Stevens. (Via Audible)
Review
The Wicked Girls is a perfectly readable popcorn thriller, nothing terribly groundbreaking or unique but it will definitely satisfy your crime thriller cravings. The most exciting part of the book is the setting; Alex Marwood paints a gloriously gritty portrait of Whitmouth. I felt transported listening and thoroughly enjoyed all the seedy details, particularly when it came to the amusement park.
Other than the general lack of innovation (not a complaint, I don’t think every book needs to be some evolution) the overall problem with The Wicked Girls is the unevenness of the plot. The word that immediately comes to mind is patchy. There is a lot of focus given and details added to a few sections of the story and very little to others. That in itself is completely normal but the most important plot points to the overall story were frequently those getting less attention, specifically what happened between the girls committing the crime and them ending up in the places they are when the story begins. I am tempted to think that is was supposed to be a device to throw the listener off but it was more likely just poor writing.
The one thing about this book that I just could not abide was the gratuitous, graphic dog killings. They served no point to the plot and was clearly just for shock value. Having such a pointless scene of animal violence was very upsetting to me and did cause me to knock half a star from my score.
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