The Wicked Girls: A Novel Author: Visit Amazon's Alex Marwood Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0143123866 | Format: PDF
The Wicked Girls: A Novel Description
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Convicted of murdering a 4-year-old girl when they were 11, Jade and Bel spent the rest of their youth in two separate British correctional facilities. Upon their release as adults, they are given new names and the probationary condition that they never have contact again. But a series of murders in the struggling seaside town of Whitmouth brings renamed journalist Kirsty Lindsay face to face with the woman now known as Amber Gordon, a janitor at Funnland, where the latest body has been found. The two again find themselves connected over a violent crime. Marwood, the pseudonym of a British journalist, intersperses the contemporary serial-killer story line and hour-by-hour accounts of what happened the day the girls met and killed a preschooler. This chilling debut is chock-full of surprises. If Tana French and Gillian Flynn stayed up all night telling stories at an abandoned amusement park, this is awfully close to what they might come up with. --Karen Keefe
Review
“The suspense keeps the pages flying, but what sets this one apart is the palpable sense of onrushing doom.” – Stephen King, “The Best Books I Read This Year”, Entertainment Weekly
“Harrowing… while the received wisdom on violence committed by children seems to be that ‘some people just are born evil,’ Marwood makes a strong case that these crimes are more likely rooted in poverty, abuse and parental abandonment.” – Marilyn Stasio, The New York Time Book Review
“The swirling mass of perceptions and happenings behind the main drama of Kirsty and Amber’s past crime is what makes The Wicked Girls more than a plot-driven mystery novel. (Not that it isn’t also that; Marwood sacrifices no speed, no engaging details or cliffhangers for the sake of the book’s spiky undercurrent).” – The Rumpus
“In addition to being an excellent intelligent dark thriller in the vein of Gillian Flynn, The Wicked Girls presents an intriguing insider’s account of salacious British tabloid journalism” – BoingBoing
“[Alex] Marwood is equally at home with terrifying, potentially violent scenes and quieter ones revealing the tensions of work and family life. She is also adept at depicting the subtle and not so subtle ways differences in class shape the lives of the girls and the women they’ve become.”—Columbus Dispatch
“The pacing is whip-smart…The Wicked Girls makes a compelling novel not easily forgotten.” – South Florida Sun Sentinel
“Riveting from first page to last… A suspenseful, buzz-worthy novel.” – Kirkus (Starred Review)
“If Tana French and Gillian Flynn stayed up all night telling stories at an abandoned amusement park, this is awfully close to what they might come up with.” – Booklist (starred review)
"The Wicked Girls is ingenious and original -- a novel that surprises and rewards its readers, delivering a twist of an ending that I never saw coming, then realized it was the only ending that could truly satisfy. Real, chilling, true to its world and its characters. In short, a knock-out."—Laura Lippman, New York Times bestselling author of And When She Was Good and What the Dead Know
“The Wicked Girls is utterly compelling. It's psychologically rich, complex and masterfully plotted. I couldn't put it down, even when I sensed it was taking me somewhere very dark indeed. I can't wait to see what Alex Marwood comes up with next.”—Jojo Moyes, New York Times bestselling author of Me Before You
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- Paperback: 378 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books; Reprint edition (July 30, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0143123866
- ISBN-13: 978-0143123866
- Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
- Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Alex Marwood is a pseudonym for a journalist who has worked in the British press for many years. Wicked Girls was her debut novel and I was looking forward to reading it. If I am totally honest the synopsis seemed pretty dark but I still eagerly started it on my way into work. Two young girls at the age of 11 were imprisoned for the murder of a four year old girl. They weren't even friends, having met that very day. Once inside prison they both have separate experiences and eventually get released and move on with their lives.
In the present time we meet Kirsty Lindsay, a journalist who is reporting on a number of attacks on young women in the seaside town of Whitmouth. We also meet Amber Gordon who is a cleaner at a funfair and is introduced to us when she is unfortunate enough to come across a dead body. Sadly when the two women meet they realise that this is just the beginning of their living nightmare
The story was really well constructed and I liked the way the story jumped between the present day and the past. The story of the two women as young girls and how the events unfold that terrible day are done slowly. The layers are peeled back as at the same time the reader sees what is happening in their lives currently. It seems like these two women have no chance to redeem themselves as once again their lives clash in the worst possible way. The thing that I did enjoy was the writing style, it was easy to get into and the story was well paced. I did however have that uncomfortable feeling while reading this book, which was more to do with the subject matter than the author's talent!
This particular book certainly has lots going on, and it certainly doesn't shy away from dealing with the difficult subject of child killers.
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