The French Girl by Lexie Elliott
“Kate, do you remember that summer?”
I loved The French Girl. Bulging with tension and suspense, I couldn’t put it down and spent the hours away from the book barely functioning as mind swirled around with the possibilities – who did it?
A cold fear is twisting my insides…
The characters individual traits and the relevant events of the past are revealed gradually. An unreliable narrator whose memories are vague, insecurities corrosive and emotions in turmoil. Put together these burn into palpable tension.
Looking back the most striking thing about her is that she knew I didn’t like her and she didn’t care.
Although other reviews describe it as slow, and its not a fast-paced, gripping the edge of the seat thriller, I was captivated throughout.
… his face is starkly bleak; one could photograph him and name it A Study in Grief.
The French Girl is my first 5-star read of 2018 and just what I needed to catapult me out of a six-week reading slump.
We’re now in a macabre version of pass the parcel; when the music stops nobody wants to be holding this prize.
Title: The French Girl
Author: Lexie Elliott
Publication Date: 20 February 2018
Publisher: Berkley Books
Source: Review copy
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They were six university students from Oxford–friends and sometimes more than friends–spending an idyllic week together in a French farmhouse. It was supposed to be the perfect summer getaway–until they met Severine, the girl next door.
For Kate Channing, Severine was an unwelcome presence, her inscrutable beauty undermining the close-knit group’s loyalties amid the already simmering tensions. And after a huge altercation on the last night of the holiday, Kate knew nothing would ever be the same. There are some things you can’t forgive, and there are some people you can’t forget, like Severine, who was never seen again.
Now, a decade later, the case is reopened when Severine’s body is found in the well behind the farmhouse. Questioned along with her friends, Kate stands to lose everything she’s worked so hard to achieve as suspicion mounts around her. Desperate to resolve her own shifting memories and fearful she will be forever bound to the woman whose presence still haunts her, Kate finds herself buried under layers of deception with no one to set her free. – Abstract from Goodreads
The fact that I received a complimentary advanced copy of this book does not influence my policy to write an honest review.
Disclaimer: The quotes appear in my review copy and may not appear in the final version.
Karen Blue
Yay for your first 5 star read of 2018! It feels so good to break a reading slump, amiright?
I have been seeing this book around but alas, I can’t fit one more book into my February schedule. Thanks for sharing your honest opinion, I might have to add this for down the road reading. I love thrillers!
crushingcinders
Thank you! I hope you get the chance to read it soon. Happy reading.