Title: The Broken Girls
Author: Simone St. James
Publisher: Penguin Group (Berkley)
Date Published: March 20, 2018
Genre: Suspense/Thriller, Historical Fiction, Horror
Rating: ★★⍣☆☆
REVIEW
I've read three of James' books now and each one I've enjoyed less than the previous one. The Sun Down Motel I rated 4/5 stars and The Book of Cold Cases I rated 3/5. I found this one to be much less of a thriller and more of a gothic book. By that I mean that the main setting was a dilapidated building in present day, where in the past it was a female boarding school. There was also a very atmospheric nature of this book, with a large emphasis on a haunting. If I had gone into this book expecting that, I most likely would have enjoyed the experience more. But because it was sold and advertised as suspense novel, my expectations were for just that.
The present day mystery wasn't much of a mystery at all, and I sort of feel like it shouldn't have been included at all. The narrator's sister was found murdered twenty years prior, the murderer was already in prison, and it felt very disconnected from the narration taking place in the 50's. I feel like if Fiona, who was the narrator and journalist digging into the murder of the missing girl from the past, simply was investigating her murder, the book would have had a much higher rating from me. But instead we spent a large chunk of the book beign constantly reminded that Fiona's sister was murdered, and even though she suspects the actual murderer was arrested, that there's something off about it. I also felt like the grand mystery was much too easy for Fiona to unravel. She wasn't even an investigative journalist. She wrote lifestyle pieces, yet she was able to find clues that no one else had been able to? It didn't feel realistic at all.
I also didn't entirely enjoy the reveal of who Mary Hand was. The 1950's portions were much more compelling, and I did think the legend of Mary was creepy, but I was let down by the reveal. It was never explained why she was haunting the school. You would think, that given her background, she would be sympathetic to the girls, but instead she basically terrorized them for no explained reason. The group of girls I did very much enjoy reading from. The all had great backstories, so I wish they were the main focus of this book. The school was very interesting, but it all felt very surface level due to the back and forth nature.
I may give this author one more chance because I loved The Sun Down Motel. This one, though, was just not what I expect from a thriller.
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